Chapter 445: Surprise, A Guest
"I am late! I completely lost track of time, and now, I have already spent over 7 hours training here. What am I going to do?!" Kate spoke frantically as she stopped training.
Due to the motivation that she had received from seeing Michael training, she had completely immersed herself in the training. Therefore, she completely lost track of time.
It was only a few seconds ago that she suddenly remembered that she might have forgotten something. And as soon as she remembered what she had forgotten, she immediately asked the AI in charge of the training chamber about how long she had been training.
The moment that she was informed that she had been training for 7 hours, she freaked out. They had already arranged to meet with Alex, so that they could depart for the headquarters of NEXUS.
According to the prior arrangement, she had planned to train for about an hour, before leaving. But now, she was over 6 hours late.
Even as she shouted, preparing to leave the training chamber, she realized something. All this while, she had not received a call or a text message from Lina. After all, if she was late, she believed that Lina would have given her the reminder.
Could it be possible that Alex had changed the plans? And with Lina knowing that she was here training, had decided not to disturb her?
"Hey, why the long face?" Suddenly, Michael's voice reached her ears.
She looked at him with a resentful gaze, as if he was the cause of all this. After all, if not for him training by going all out, and giving her the motivation, she might not have forgotten about the schedule.
Michael could already read what she was thinking. He revealed a smile, asking, "Perhaps, were you planning to go somewhere, and you are late?"
"Do you really have to rub it on my face? Hmph!" Kate asked as she puffed her cheeks, feeling resentful at Michael.
Then, she decided to ignore him for now. Instead, she quickly took her phone from where she had left it before she began training. She looked at the phone, realizing that there were no missed calls or text messages.
That somehow made her relieved. But then, looking at the screen, she noticed something that did not make sense. The time displayed on the screen at this moment was 10:42 a.m.
She remembered, before she began training, it seemed that the time was about 10:27? She could not remember clearly, but from the looks of it, only a few minutes had gone by?
Of course, Kate thought of several possibilities, such as the AI having malfunctioned, and given her the wrong amount of time spent here. But that was almost impossible, considering that she also could remember that she had been here for quite a long time.
Another thought was that, maybe there was a problem with the time displayed on her phone. Therefore, she looked at the main display screen of the training chamber, and she realized that the time displayed there was exactly the same as the time displayed on her phone.
Immediately, her thoughts became chaotic. She looked at the date, only to realize that it was still 22nd of October 2025.
This left her even more confused, as she failed understand what was going on. And just as she was still puzzled, trying to figure out what was going on, Michael suddenly embraced her from behind.
"What are you thinking about?" Michael asked in a low gentle voice.
Kate, who was just about to panic, suddenly began calming down. She took a deep breath before she responded to Michael's question, "I don't know what is happening. I have been here for hours I believe, but according to the time displayed by the training chamber and my phone, it seems that not even a quarter of an hour has gone by did"
Hearing her confused voice, Michael suddenly burst out in laughter. This totally confused Kate, as she could not understand what Michael found funny about what she had said.
At the same time, she began doubting herself, could it be that she was hallucinating? Otherwise, it seemed impossible to explain what was happening here.
"I'm sorry about that. But, this is the surprise that I had planned for you. Actually, we have been here for a little over 7 hours. That is the amount of time that has passed inside this training chamber.
But outside the training chamber, about 15 minutes have gone by. Therefore, there really is no problem with the time displayed on your phone, or the AI of the training chamber." Michael whispered in her ears.
Despite her ears turning red slightly, from the tickling of Michael's breath as he spoke, she still tried to make logic of what Michael had said.
Not even for a moment did she doubt what Michael had said. By now, she believed Michael completely.
It was just that, she just could not understand what Michael was trying to tell her. At least, her mind could not make sense of it.
Michael seemed to have sensed her confusion. Therefore, he went ahead and explained, "I have installed a device here, which makes the time inside the training chamber to move at a speed 30 times outside.
Therefore, 1 minute outside is equal to 30 minutes inside here. So, you can continue training without any worry."
Kate was left completely shocked when she heard this. It was not the first time that she had heard about such a concept. It was just that, she believed that it was something fictional.
But then, she realized, since she could possess such incredible capabilities as she did at the moment, why would a device like this not exist?
As she thought about this, the confusion in her mind turned to surprise. Then, she smiled brightly and turned around, kissing Michael on the cheek.
At the same time, she said brightly, "Thank you so much. But, next time, could you at least not try scaring me like this?"
Touching his cheek, Michael smiled back at her as he nodded. Then, he said, "Okay, there is no need for you to worry. You can continue with the traini-"
He was just about to continue saying something when he paused for a moment. His expression shifted slightly, but he looked at Kate and continued, "I will tell you when it is time."
Kate seemed to have noticed the subtle change in Michael's expression. Therefore, a little worried, she asked, "Did something happen?"
She had already noticed that Michael always wore an earpiece. Therefore, it would not be surprising if he had received some news through the earpiece.
"Nothing major. It is just that there is a guest here to see me. Let me handle it in a bit, I will be back." Michael shook his head as he took her hand, while responding.
Assured, Kate nodded. She did not doubt him in the slightest, and so, she decided to continue training. But before that, she watched as Michael left first.
Then, she looked at the training number that looked no different from before. She was trying to figure out what had changed in here.
"Could you let me know about what happened? I'm quite curious about the changes that have occurred, to allow the time flow here to be faster than outside." Kate spoke out loud, addressing the AI of the training chamber.
...
While Kate was dealing with her curiosity, Michael went back to the Mansion. While he was speaking to Kate, Onyx had just informed him that he was going to have a guest in the next few minutes.
As for the guest, Michael was quite familiar with her. It was just that, he wondered why she came looking for him.
Despite the questions that he had, he still went ahead and returned to the mansion. Then, got back to his room, freshened, before changing into a new pair of clothes.
Just like before, he was dressed in a casual outfit, not much different from the one that he had before.
Then, the moment that he reached the living room downstairs, the door of the mansion was opened. Andrew led in a lady that Michael had already met before.
Andrew had not expected that Michael had already returned. He had been preparing to go and inform Michael about the guest.
But now that he was here, that made it easy. As a butler, of course, he could recognize Margaret. Therefore, he treated her courteously, inviting her into the living room.
Looking at Michael, he spoke respectfully, "Mr. Santos, you have a guest. She claims that she has something important to discuss with you."
Michael nodded at Andrew and said, "No problem, you can go back to what you were doing. I will handle the rest."
After giving a slight bow, Andrew left the living room. Michael on the other hand pointed towards a couch, inviting Margaret to sit down.
Margaret smiled at him, and went ahead and sat down. Then, as soon as Michael sat down, he looked at the maid that was present in the living room and asked her to give Margaret a drink.
The two then remained silent, until the maid had served Margaret with a cup of coffee that she had requested for. Then, after she left, Michael finally spoke, "May I know the reason why you came looking for me? But please, I hope that it is not the same topic as before. Because if it is, you are free to leave, because I'm not going to change my mind."