THE WAREHOUSE HOTLINE

|12|: Enjoyed The Charade?

"Welcome to the Warehouse Hotline. How can I make your day even more evil?"

"Sapphire!"

"Oh, Clarisse."

"How are you? Do you know I missed you?"

"Haven't heard that in a while."

"I heard you called."

"Yeah, I talked to a guy who didn't even know the hotline's catchphrase."

"You talked to the person who handles complaints."

"Really? He seemed so... mellow."

"Villains don't always get angry, you know."

Sapphire answered calmly with a tinge of amusement in her tone.

"Right, sorry, stereotype."

"So you're a girl."

"What?"

"Your co-worker/villain friend referred to you as 'she'."

"Give up the act, Sapphire."

"There was no act."

"Uh, huh."

Avery amusedly spoke as she heard a calm response.

"I just disclose my identity."

"Alright. Alright."

"I know this is random, but really, how old are you?"

There was a small pause, before a response came after.

"Maybe I'll tell you if we ever come face to face."

"Hmm, that's going to be a long time."

"Exactly."

"By the way, I heard you had the day off, yesterday. How'd it go?"

"Like normal."

"That is? And don't tell me 'hotline rules' because I'm not gonna stop asking."

"You sure do wanna know more about me."

"Of course I do!"

"Relax."

"I get hyperactive. I apologise in advance."

"Well, I just did the usual routine. I did the chores and then did some..."

Sapphire hesitated which Avery seemed to pick up on.

"Thinking."

"About your old life?"

Avery said this with a delicate tone not knowing if it'd hurt Sapphire's feelings.

"Yeah. You could say that."

Avery didn't know the difference between Sapphire's tones, because she was always speaking with a calm tone that it made it difficult to decipher her emotions, if she had any.

"Enjoyed the charade?"

"What?"

"Do you think I'm a sappy girl that goes crying over things on my free day?"

"Uh, I."

"Wait, so you didn't do any of those things?"

"I do that if needed. Besides the thinking part."

"Wow. I actually... don't know what to say."

"So, none of these things are true..."

"Like I say, sweetheart, hotline rules."