CHAPTER 124: SUBTLE LUXURY

The commotion outside María’s building had finally died down. Ethan stayed in his room until the last of Solterra’s higher ups left the street. He didn’t need María asking awkward questions he wasn’t ready to answer.

She was smart, extremely so and this happening just after he had offered to fix the building was reason enough for her to question if he knew anything about it.

So it was better to avoid her for now.... At least for just a short while.

Besides, tonight he had other plans.

His phone buzzed on the nightstand as the reminder Athena set popped up.

{Class of 2010 – Reunion Gathering: 7:00PM, Franklin’s Bar & Grill.}

Ethan stared at the screen for a long second before letting out a quiet chuckle. How long had it been since he’d willingly gone to something like this in his first life? Oh right—never.

He had skipped the get together since at this time, Carter Corp was just starting out, thanks to a loan from Mrs Harper and Newton academy.

Speaking of which, maybe he should pay them a visit since it had been a few months since he quit.

Anyway, since he was starting a company with basically zero experience he had no time for other stuff and that included this get together.

But now he could afford to attend it even though he wasn’t that big on going, Athena had already planned everything for him, from how he’ll dress to the car he’ll drive.

Every single detail had been taken care of, so he couldn’t not attend.

Besides, he was hoping to meet someone at the get together, so going wasn’t a choice anymore.

Ethan sighed, rolling off the bed.

"Athena, you’re really set on me attending this thing, huh?" he muttered as he loosened the top button of his shirt and made his way toward the bathroom.

{You need to maintain the balance, Ethan,} Athena replied in a calm tone, {you have to establish connections, not just with ones that’ll be useful to you in this life.}

He gave a dry chuckle, splashing cold water on his face before responding, "every thing in this world is judged by how useful they are, Athena."

"Everything is judged by the value they provide, whether it’s a person, a tool, or an idea," Ethan muttered, gripping the edge of the sink as droplets of water slid down his face. His blue eyes reflecting himself on the mirror, "and once that thing becomes useless, it is discarded."

"In my past life, I couldn’t see it, I was only useful because I was a man with ideas, a genius rarely see," he paused as a small smile appeared on his face, whether it was a trick of the light or just his imagination, Ethan could see his past self reflected on the mirror, "and when Nathaniel successfully got all my planned ideas, I was discarded of."

"I was discarded because I had become useless." He finally moved back from the mirror, "so no Athena, it’ll be hard for me to establish connections that do not benefit me in some way."

There was a moment of silence for a while before Athena spoke up again, her voice coming out softly, {then what about Lillian?}

The question made him freeze but Athena wasn’t done yet.

{According to you, she worked for you because of her future self being known as Midas,} she paused for a short while, {but with all your future knowledge, you could have gotten some even more ’useful’ in the same position right? Maybe even someone more experienced as Lillian hasn’t even graduated yet.}

Ethan genuinely thought about it for a while.

She was right, Midas was a gem in the future, but that didn’t mean there was no one he remembered from the future that was just as bright, just as effective—maybe even more so and even more experienced.

"...I suppose," he said slowly, "because at the time, she seemed the easiest to gain loyalty from."

{And now?} She asked.

"....." He turned silent at her question.

{See?}

"I never expected a talk about convincing me to attend the get-together, to get this deep," he said with a chuckle, before turning on the shower.

{....} Athena didn’t reply, she knew he was trying to avoid this conversation so she didn’t press, as he took his shower.

She had no idea what he faced in his past life that helped shape his current mentality so she couldn’t just force ideas born from data she collected, on him.

His shower took a couple of minutes before stepping out just in time to hear a knock on his door.

Opening the door, Ethan was met with a delivery man holding a matte-black garment bag. The man offered a polite nod before handing it over.

"Special order for Mr. Carter?"

Ethan signed without a word, shutting the door behind him as he carried the bag into the room.

{Your attire for tonight,} Athena chimed in with a hint of pride. {Custom-tailored. I ensured the measurements were exact.}

"When did you order this?" He asked as he walked into his room and dropped the bag on his bed.

{When you landed.} She said, yet again showing how proud she was.

Ethan let out another sigh before emptying the on the bed, revealing a carefully ensemble.

The first thing he noticed was a custom tailored charcoal gray suit with its pants, alongside a white shirt he could wear underneath the suit.

Besides them was a pair of neatly polished handmade Italian shoes and lastly, on the nightstand box sat a timepiece, a minimalist black-faced watch with a clean silver frame.

To anyone else, it looked like a simple, maybe elegant looking stuff since they had no brand logo on them, but the receipt told exactly of how expensive they were.

"Twenty five thousand dollars?" He muttered as he looked at the recept.

{Yup,} Athena said moving from his phone to PC screen, {I would’ve spent a lot higher but that would just make you stand out too much.}

He was silent for a while.

Since Sentinel’s launch, he hadn’t really checked his or OmniTech Corp’s account so he didn’t know exactly how much this affected them but he was sure it wasn’t by much, if at all.

So, with a nod of appreciation, he said, "thanks."

{You’re welcome,} she answered, {now try it out, let’s see how it looks on you.}

With that, the preparation for tonight was complete...well, almost, Athena still had one more thing planned.