Free Web NovelAfter finishing the rich yet slightly dizzying dinner, Lynch and Katherine said goodbye to Ms. Tracy and returned to Lynch’s residence.
“What did you think of the dinner tonight?” Katherine asked, curled up on the sofa while munching on an apple. She was curious about Lynch’s thoughts.
The dinner had a certain artistic flair. It was just a simple grilled fish fillet, but the chef had plated it to look like a whale surfacing on the ocean.
The fish fillet formed the whale’s body. Some kind of fish skin, lightly fried and placed on top, mimicked the whale’s dark blue-black back.
The accompanying sauce, paired with some vegetable leaves, became the ocean—visually striking and fragrant.
But the taste… as food critics often say, if you ignore the flavor, it was a great meal.
Lynch didn’t hold back. “Not enough. The portions were too small.”
Katherine laughed. “Yeah, way too little. I feel like I could still eat something.”
Maybe to preserve the aesthetic, the food served was more about presentation than actually filling the stomach.
Lynch looked at her. “What kind of flatbread do you want?”
“Onion and beef!” she answered excitedly. “And extra cheese!”
Lynch nodded and told the sergeant to order a few.
Back when Katherine lived with Lynch, ordering a flatbread was like a feast. For two people surviving on discounted supermarket scraps, $4.99 for a flatbread wasn’t exactly cheap.
Every now and then, Katherine would order one to treat them both. People always have those moments where they just need something comforting to eat.
She leaned against Lynch’s shoulder, gazing out into the dark night as if reminiscing.
Lynch didn’t interrupt her. After a while, her thoughts returned from wherever they had wandered and settled back on him.
“Do you really think one day women will have a place in politics?” she asked suddenly, uncertain about her future. “I mean truly hold power—not just be figureheads?”
Her recent internship at the presidential palace had made her feel the deep-rooted discrimination against women in government.
Not a single woman held a seat in Congress. None occupied senior cabinet roles. Yes, there were women in the presidential office, but they all held replaceable, ordinary jobs.
No woman held a key, irreplaceable position. It was disheartening.
She had also discovered realities unknown to the public. For example, one of the feminist movement’s proudest victories—equal rights in the military—was riddled with problems.
Years ago, critics mocked feminism with the idea that only men can defend the country, so men should dominate society. Feminists hit back hard.
If men could be soldiers, so could women.
And so, the military created a new category: female soldiers.
They underwent similar training to their male counterparts and weren’t far behind in many areas. Society at the time even praised this progress.
But in reality, things were grim.
Not long ago, Katherine came across a Department of Defense report that exposed abuse in the military.
The military was a closed-off, authoritarian system. Absolute obedience from subordinates to superiors created fertile ground for corruption.
Some female soldiers were forced to shower with their male counterparts, live in the same barracks, and endure other outrageous demands—none of which were ever publicly revealed.
Reading it was like a punch to the chest. Every redacted word, every blacked-out sentence hinted at horrors better left unspoken.
In this society, women still held no real power. They weren’t even weak—being weak would imply they at least had some position. They had none.
Could they really stand up?
Katherine wasn’t sure.
Sensing her turmoil, Lynch didn’t rush to answer. He thought carefully, then spoke slowly and firmly. “Of course they can.”
His tone wasn’t loud, but it carried unshakable conviction.
“It’s a trend. No one can stop it. Whoever takes the first step leads an entire era.”
Others might still hesitate, but Lynch had lived through it. Even the most desolate places had eventually been won over. Why not the Federation—a nation that practically breathed freedom?
Katherine didn’t say anything more. She just sat there quietly.
It wasn’t the path she loved, but she understood that if she didn’t want to be left behind, she had to walk it.
Sometimes, we all have to make choices.
“Do you like the life you have now?” she asked after a while.
Lynch didn’t answer right away. He thought for a moment. “I don’t dislike it. And that’s enough for us.”
“If you want to see the view from the mountaintop, you have to endure the climb. You want rewards? You have to pay the price.”
“No matter what you choose, I’ll support you and respect your decision. This isn’t about pressure. I just believe this might be the best path.”
“And the best path is often the one we like the least.”
After a brief silence, Katherine changed the topic.
“You know, some of my old classmates keep trying to get in touch. They even mailed letters to the presidential palace!”
Maybe she had already made up her mind, or maybe she just didn’t want Lynch to worry. Her tone was deliberately lighthearted.
She added with a wry smile, “Some of them I don’t even remember. I can’t match their names to any faces. But in their letters, they act so familiar.”
“Life is full of surprises. And my brother—if you remember him…”
It was Katherine’s cousin—her uncle’s son—who came to take her away back then. Not her biological brother, but in the Federation, distinctions like that don’t matter. He was just called her brother.
Lynch nodded. “I remember him. Kind of punchable.”
Katherine burst out laughing. “Yeah, that’s him. He even called me, asking about finding a job here. Everyone thinks I’m some kind of all-powerful little witch. Just wave my magic wand…”—she lifted her hand and mimicked the motion—“…and everything gets solved.”
Ever since Katherine appeared on TV and people learned she was interning at the presidential office, she’d become a big deal in the eyes of those who used to know her.
Meeting the president daily—if that doesn’t make you important, what does?
Naturally, some people tried to cozy up to her. If she could say a few good words to the president on their behalf, what couldn’t they get?
These changes left Katherine briefly confused, but she quickly found clarity. Their friendliness wasn’t because of who she was—it was because of where she worked.
People live in reality. Those who had never spoken to her before now bent over backward just for a taste of potential power. That’s probably why power is so irresistible.
Everyone treated her like royalty—it wasn’t a bad feeling.
Soon, the sergeant came back with several flatbreads. He and the other bodyguards each got one too.
Lynch wasn’t a stingy boss. Everyone came by to thank him for his generosity before taking a slice and returning to their posts.
It wasn’t that they couldn’t afford it—Katherine knew full well that their salaries could buy more flatbreads than they could eat. But this wasn’t just food. When the boss treats you, the flatbread carries more than flavor—it carries goodwill.
It was like… the president’s flatbread. Just being able to eat it felt like an honor.
Now that they had their flatbread, the two of them only ate the toppings and centers, tossing the crusts back into the box.
They watched TV and chatted about the plot. Most of the time Katherine talked while Lynch listened. He didn’t watch much TV himself.
Oddly, this scene overlapped with a moment from their past: living in that tiny room, eating cheap junk food, and arguing passionately over some TV drama.
Now they ate better, lived better—yet the arguments were gone.
The night passed quietly.
The next day, after dropping Katherine off at work, Lynch headed to the financial center. After more than two months, Lime had become noticeably more docile.
He hadn’t believed Lynch would cause him such massive losses. All the money he’d made under Lynch had gone back into the game—and vanished.
That taught him a hard lesson: his so-called experience might work at the lower levels of finance, but to the major players, it was child’s play.
To minimize risk, Lynch had split a company and filed for bankruptcy. Whether the other party sued or not, they preemptively launched litigation and dragged the bankrupt company into court.
A company worth tens or hundreds of millions—gone, just like that. Like a bubble bursting.
Lime, who had always played at the bottom, had never seen anything like it. He didn’t just lose—he lost badly. That one lesson erased two years of hard work.
Fortunately, he recognized his mistakes and realigned himself with Lynch. That was the only way he still had a place in Eminence.
