Chapter 3

Hayes Linville, from Krelthos, pushed up his glasses and asked me in Krelthosian, "Do you speak Krelthosian?"

I nodded and replied in Krelthosian, "Of course. Would you like some wine?"

Hayes's lips curled into a rare smile. For a guy who'd kept a poker face the whole time, that was basically him cracking up.

The representative from Zephyris slammed his hand on the table and shouted in Zephyrisian, "I can't believe it. Say something in Zephyrisian!"

I replied in Zephyrisian, "Would you like some wine too, sir? Oh, and by the way, the Zephyrisian ham on the table is top-notch."

The Zephyrisian representative nearly jumped out of his seat.

The client from Xandor couldn't sit still either and asked a question in Xandorian.

I replied in Xandorian, as fluently as before.

The whole table erupted.

On our side, Gideon was frozen, his fork holding a piece of steak in the air. His mouth hung open for a full thirty seconds.

Kevin's face was priceless.

First, he was totally lost.

Then, he looked like he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Next, he looked downright terrified.

Finally, he stared at me as if he were wondering if he was dreaming.

He looked at me like he'd seen someone who'd been faking a limp suddenly get up and start breakdancing.

I finished pouring the last glass of wine and straightened up.

I met Kevin's gaze.

I gave him a small smile.

"Kevin, I'm done pouring the wine. Anything else you need?" I asked.

Kevin's lips moved, but no sound came out.

I set the tray down, ready to slip back into the corner.

But then Grady spoke up.

He stood up and spoke to Gideon in Prixanian, all formal and businesslike this time.

Everyone at the table turned to look at him.

Grady's two assistants kept their heads down, looking like they wished they could disappear into their plates.

Grady said, "Mr. Johnson, if you don't mind me asking, is this person your company's head translator?"

Gideon was speechless.

Kevin was speechless.

Everyone from our company was speechless.

No one answered. Because honestly, no one knew what to say.

They couldn't exactly say, "Oh, that's the guy in operations who spends all day goofing off."

The awkwardness hung in the air for about five seconds.

Then Gideon did something I never saw coming.

He cleared his throat, instantly switched to his classic smooth-operator mode, and said with a slight smile, "Well, Ethan is one of our top picks for international business. We brought him here today especially so he could get to know everyone."

I was floored. Was he for real?

Three years in, and he still couldn't get my name right. Last month, he called me Nathan.

But I didn't call him out.

That was the third rule of slacking off: play along with the act.

I smiled, gave a slight bow, and put on a face that said, "Yeah, that's me."

The whole room erupted in applause.

Grady kicked off the clapping. Sophie was the most enthusiastic, and Andrew stood up and shouted in Dravanian, "Bro, you're a legend!" He must've picked that up in Clusia.

I was basically shoved into the main table.

Kevin got bumped to a side seat.

He looked like he'd swallowed a live toad.

Things totally went off the rails after that.

I wanted to sit quietly and wait for the whole thing to be over.

But these foreign clients acted as if they'd struck gold, taking turns to chat with me.

Grady started chatting with me in Prixanian about anime.

We spent ten minutes geeking out over the storyboard design for an animated movie, and he got so hyped that he almost jumped up to hug me.

Andrew started chatting with me about the online shooting game, asking what my ranking was.

I told him that I was ranked in the global top 500.

Andrew was stunned into silence.

Then he immediately pulled out his phone and asked for my Steam, so we could be friends.

Peter and I got into a deep discussion about wine regions. When we started talking about the unique terroir in Burcundie, he paused and said, "Man, you know more about this stuff than my own sommelier."

When Sophie found out I'd learned Zevanian to follow my favorite idol, she got all excited and asked who I was into.

I blurted out the name of someone from a girl group.

It turned out to be her niece.

What a small world.

Two hours later, the whole party had basically turned into an "Ethan Kline fan club meetup."

All the clients were gathered around me.

Gideon was grinning from ear to ear the whole time, looking like he was the proudest leader ever and giving me a friendly pat on the shoulder every now and then.

Kevin was sitting in the corner, knocking back drink after drink, his face livid.

The admin girl next to him leaned over and whispered, "Kevin, when did Ethan get so impressive?"

Kevin's grip on his glass was so tight that his veins were popping. "How should I know?"

"Then why did you have him pouring drinks earlier?" she asked.

Kevin didn't say a word.

But the look he shot me was pure murder.

By ten o'clock, the party was finally winding down.

Gideon grabbed my hand, reeking of booze but with eyes sharp as a hawk. "Ethan, come by my office tomorrow. Let's talk about your career development."

"Sure thing, Mr. Johnson," I replied.

When Kevin passed by me, he stopped for a second.

He looked at me. His lips twitched, as if he were about to say something.

I called out to him, "Kevin, thank you for tonight."

He didn't respond to me.

He sped up and walked off.

I stood at the restaurant entrance, letting the cool autumn breeze wash over me.

I pulled out my phone and shot Mike a message. [I failed to keep my mouth shut.]

Three seconds later, Mike hit me back with a laughing emoji.

Then he followed up with: [See? I knew it. No way you were gonna zip it.]

I let out a sigh and looked up at the sky.

Honestly, I really did plan to hold it in.

But that Prixanian assistant shouldn't have insulted all Clusians.

I might be a slacker.

But I was still a Clusian.

I was done slacking.