‘Zieg, I need to tell you something?’ says Max with a serious expression on his face.

‘Come and sit down,’ he adds, taking hold of her hand and leading her towards the settee.

‘You know my boss at work, Trevor,’ continues Max, looking at Zieg intently. ‘This morning, he called me into his office and asked about your stories.’

‘What?’ says Zieg sharply. ‘He asked you about my stories. What about my stories?’ she continues quickly.

‘Wait?’ says Max. ‘I’ll get us both a drink, and we’ll sit at the dining table, then I'll tell you all about it,’ he adds.

‘Max hurries towards the kitchen while Zieg sits at the dining table in their modest-sized, rented apartment, and then Max joins her with two glasses of chilled water from the fridge.

‘You’re not gonna believe this?’ says Max, putting the drinks on the table before sitting next to Zieg.

‘Max! Stop messing about,’ says Zieg, ever protective of her creative writing. ‘Tell me what’s going on … now!’ she adds sternly.

‘Well! Erm!’ mumbles Max before taking a large swallow.

Then! …

Trevor found out about your ‘ZandaBot Dawn’ story posted on your blog. Someone was telling a co-worker about it at work, and Trevor overheard their conversation, so he checked it out!’ says Max.

‘Geez! Is that all? You had me worried for a minute,’ says Zieg, sighing with relief.

‘No! No! That’s not the best part,’ says Max, excitedly. ‘This has gone up the chain of command in our company to my BIG BOSS, our company CEO, Mr Sawn,’ he continues.

‘AND! Mr Swan called me into his office this afternoon to say he’d like to chat with you about your story?’ he adds.

‘What! Your CEO. Why?’ asks Zieg, completely surprised.

‘Well!’ says Max, shuffling up closer to the table. ‘This has to be kept a secret between you, me and Mr Swan!’ whispers Max, tapping the side of his nose.

‘MAX! Tell me what this is all about NOW, or I’m going out,’ says Zieg, getting a little peeved at her boyfriend.

‘As I said, Mr Sawn, the CEO of Chuckle Technologies Ltd, UK division, would like to discuss with you, Zieg, my girlfriend, the coolest girl in the world and author of the ‘ZandaBot Dawn’ story, what your plans or ideas are for taking your story forward?’ explains Max, before punching the air.

Zieg sits staring at Max in disbelief! …

‘This has gotta be good news, right?’ says Max, taking a drink of water.

But! …

Zieg sits perfectly still in complete silence, just looking at Max.

Then! …

‘Wwwooo! Hold on. Just back up here a little!’ says Zieg, now reaching for her glass of water.

‘Your big wig company CEO, this Mr Swan, wants to talk to me about my ZandaBot Dawn story? Why ever would he want to do that?’ adds Zieg before taking a sip of water.

‘I mean, your company is massive,’ continues Zieg. ‘It’s gotta be one of the biggest tech companies in the world,’

‘Yep! And Yep!’ replies Max. ‘Chuckle is a massive global company, and I know we’re working hard and putting a lot of resources, including money, into developing LLMs and more?’ he adds.

‘EXACTLY! You’re one of the leaders in AI and tech. Well, that’s what you’ve been telling me for years?’ says Zieg.

‘Yeah! Yeah! We are,’ answers Max.

‘SO! WHY! Does your Mr CEO want to talk to me?’ replies Zieg.

Then! …

‘I have, NO IDEA?’ says Max, short and sweet.

‘All I know is what Mr Swan asked me, and that was. What are your plans or ideas to take your story forward?’

‘So! Mr Swan wants to talk to you. And our MR CEO is a genius. So if he wants to talk to you, it’ll be about something important because he never wastes his time,’ continues Max.

‘So, whatever this is about is important, and it concerns you and your story,’ adds Max with a glow of excitement on his face.

‘JEEZ!’ says Zieg, resting her elbows on the table and nestling her cheek into the palm of her right hand as she stares across the room.

The two guys sit silently in thought for a minute.

Before! …

‘Well, Max! You can tell your Mr Swan I’d be delighted to chat with such a pragmatic man as himself,’ says Zieg, smiling.

‘Ha! Who said he was pragmatic?’ replies Max before chuckling.

‘You did, ages ago,’ says Zieg getting up.

‘Come on, Maxie Boy. Let’s go for a walk to the shops,’ continues Zieg before kissing Max on the cheek while needing a breath of fresh air.

‘Sounds good to me,’ answers Max. ‘Let’s get ice creams,’ he adds, grabbing Zieg around the waist from behind and making her jump and scream before breaking into laughter.

‘You’re buying then!’ says Zieg, chuckling in agreement as she starts to tickle Max.

Zieg and Max continue their weekend fun without another thought of Mr. Swan while meeting up with friends. Well, not outwardly anyway, because both guys occasionally give Mr Sawn some head space.

‘Zieg! Zieg!’ shouts Max down the phone on ringing his girlfriend on his way home from work on Monday evening.

‘Where are you? Have you eaten? Let's meet up!’ he continues before Zieg can say a word after answering her phone.

‘JEEZ! You’re excited about something?’ says Zieg, walking through the front door of their apartment and throwing her door keys into a glass bowl on the shelf over the radiator in the hallway.

Zieg finishes her phone convo with Max, then immediately turns, grabs her keys, and heads out of their apartment, locking the door behind her.

‘Guess who I spoke to today?’ says Max, now sitting with Zieg in their local pub and waiting for their food, having ordered at the bar.

‘Stop with the guessing game, spit it out!’ says Zieg, looking intently at Max.

‘What did he say?’ she continues, thinking this has to be about Mr Swan.

‘He wants to meet, both of us!’ says Max, straight out.

‘Really!’ mutters Zieg.

‘Yeah! So, you’ll have to book a day's holiday off work,’ smiles Max. ‘Can you do it next week?’ he asks.

‘Mr Swan suggested next Wednesday, at nine o'clock sharp, and he has something brewing. I know it?’ adds Max, waving his crossed fingers of his right hand in front of Zieg’s face.

‘Okay! Yeah! I’ll book it off tomorrow,’ replies Zieg, feeling a little flutter in her stomach.

‘I’ll say it’s a family emergency because it's short notice. Yeah, let’s do this,’ replies Zieg, getting a few more butterflies in her stomach.