Alorah Reagen
"Alorah, what's the update on the products?" Julian asked. I switched tabs to check the Google sheets I had created a few days ago to keep track of the orders and customer information.

"So far, so good. The products arrived yesterday, and I'm halfway done counting the stocks. Emma, how's the poster so far?" I shifted my attention away from the screen to see her staring at me.

Emma flipped her laptop around so that we could see the entire screen. I pushed my laptop to the side and scrolled through the drafts she had made, and I'm not going to lie—she's doing incredible with her part.

"I love your creativity. I do have a suggestion on the display of the products, though. How about changing this part and then..." Cynthia began explaining to Emma, and I smiled at how productive this team was.

We're currently in one of our school's gazebos, finalizing the preparation so that everything is ready when the bazaar officially begins. A few days had already flown by so quickly because of how concentrated we were on writing our business plan, checking up on the cost and our stocks, which were sitting in the storage room of my house, while balancing our other assignments from our other professors.

"Cynthia, I think there are a few mistakes in the financial reports here."

"Where, where?"

"Right here. I think the computation is off by a little. I highlighted a few so that you will know where the mistake is," Julian pointed out as he began typing vigorously on his laptop.

"Oh, I didn't see that. Thanks for pointing it out!"

"Cameron, can you help double-check Cynthia's report for me? Alorah, update me on the progress of the 3D physical facility that you're creating," Julian said, his eyes fixated on his screen.

Cameron replied with a sure, while I switched my tab to discuss the progress of our physical facility.

"It's still not finalized yet, as I'm trying to reduce the amount of furniture we include in our store since we're in the negative based on the income statement. I don't know what not to include as I feel like everything I placed is essential to the business," I was exhausted at this point. I'd been staring at the screen for days, trying to figure out how to eliminate some of these items to assist Cynthia in getting us to the positive.

Our professors who taught us how to do financial reports told us that it was normal to be in the negative number since it was a start-up business, but for it to appear even in the 3rd year of our business was not a good sign.

"It's alright. You don't have to beat yourself up because of it. Here, let me see our facility," I told Julian as I handed him my laptop, and he began analyzing the blueprint while checking the income statement and trial balance.

"Did you guys research the expenses for each item listed?" Julian inquired, and I wasn't sure if he was speaking to Cynthia or me.

"Some of them we did," Cynthia responded, and I noticed Julian pulling up his phone and going back and forth between the two gadgets.

"I see what the problem is," he said as he put down his phone and looked at us, his hands on the table, "I think you guys weren't thinking about budgeting. Because we are a new company, we must find affordable prices while reducing the quantity purchased. Go for something normal rather than making it extravagant."

The both of us were quiet after hearing Julian's input. He's not wrong. Scrolling through the pictures, we both decided to include the items in the facility, but they looked out of our budgets as a start-up business.

"I guess we went overboard on the decorating," I confessed, feeling slightly embarrassed for letting my excitement get the best of me. Cynthia apologizes also, and Julian, feeling the sudden change of mood, tries to retract his comment and gives us a word of encouragement.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound harsh or belittle the work you guys are putting into," he apologized while scratching the back of his head.

Cynthia and I looked at each other, and I noticed the side of her lips twitching upward. I couldn't help but mirror her expression. We knew that we didn't take his comment in that kind of way, but I guess Julian couldn't help but see the negative side of life.

"I can speak for both of us when I say that we didn't think you were belittling us. Stop overanalyzing our movements," Cynthia chuckled, making me join in with her.

"If we're going to keep our honest session going, I like to share a word or two," Cameron says, stretching his arms before laying them on the table. He leaned forward, closing the distance between him and Julian.

"What?" Julian raised his eyebrow at him. We all stopped working, including Emma, and the thought of the remaining tasks we needed to complete went out the window.

Cameron had this serious look on his face as he eyed Julian from his head to his waist. Every single one of us silently waited for what Cameron had to say. Though I'm not in Julian's shoes right now, I can feel how suffocating this situation is.

"Cameron, just say what you want to say. This is getting awkward," Emma spoke up, breaking the awkward silence.

"Jeez. That was the whole point, Emma. I wanted to make him sweat," Cameron grumbled as he backed away from Julian, "All I wanted to say is that he doesn't look as tense as he used to."

"Doesn't look as tense as he used to? What did you mean by that?" I asked, intrigued by the topic. He stared at me with a poker face, and as the seconds passed, I felt uneasy.

Sensing the effect he has on me, he immediately let out a grin, saying, "Now this is the kind of reaction I wanted to see, but on him instead," Cameron pointed at Julian without facing his direction, keeping his eyes on me.

"I see..." I trailed behind, humoring him as I waited for his explanation.

No one said anything after that, and I felt my patience running thin. I don't know if Cameron was planning to explain himself, but if he's playing with us, I guess I could go back to finishing my remaining tasks.

I was about to type something on my laptop when my hands froze mid-air as I heard his explanations.

"He doesn't look in pain anymore. Like he wasn't being forced to do something or be someone else."