04:29 PM.

Abel was not in for today.

The absence of his loud but exuberant energy instantly left the restaurant in quite a humdrum. With no one entertaining the customers, even the constant murmurs of the regulars and Mairi's colleagues did not compensate for the blue-head's lively and contagious vibes. It had been barely a week passed since he signed up for work, but already something was missing without him.

His swollen ego and the way he bragged about himself might have blinded her. Beneath all of that though, Abel was the one who willingly gave her those savory Timbits, and even waited for her during their night shift yesterday. He could have gone home and left her alone, but chose not to. And this morning, he finally called her by her nickname, and that... actually made her feel so warm.

Truly he was something.

However, he was currently not her top priority.

Retreating to the washroom, Mairi flipped open her travel mirror and rubbed every corners of her face, ensuring all of her foundation buried all the stupid defects of her skin. She subsequently ogled at the brows she had drawn, gingerly brushing them. After the jogging with Abel, sweat wasted no time barging in and nearly obliterated her valuable makeup, exposing her bare face to the world. Luckily for her, they were pretty resistant... but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Can't let anyone else see me like this or else... it would be the end of me.

Just as she finished tidying up her failed attempt at a hair bun, a thundering smash snapped the cosplayer out of her thoughts as the floor shuddered under her feet. However, this exceptionally unmistakable sound barely made her flinch, and instead it had her curling her lips while she breathed out a huge sigh. Ah yes, here we go again.

Stepping out to the dining area, as expected, there were splinters of what once used to be two glasses, with tea seeping out of the shards. Needless to say, it belonged to the repeated offender who just seemed to love murdering these fragile beings. She turned to Mairi with heavily glazed eyes, while still having the gall to carry the other glasses.

"Mai..." Michelle's voice was on the verge of breaking, just like those poor mugs, while another coworker of theirs — Judith? Jodie? Judy? Whatever her name was — merely sneered at her as if she was the embodiment of disappointment.

The purple-eyed cosplayer maintained her poker face as she pulled out and folded her handkerchief. "Your clumsiness never fails to impress me," she commented as she crouched down and started gathering all the sharp mess. "But I'm more shocked you didn't drop the rest. Awesome improvement."

If she could applaud right now, she would.

"I'm trying my best! I don't know why these glasses just hate me so much, ugh!" Michelle huffed before she lowered her head in shame. "But I'm really sorry you guys have to clean my mess all the time..."

Don't worry. By remembering you and how many things you have broken, you make my life much easier.

"Oh well, guess it can't be helped," she remarked. "Let her take your stuff and go get a paper bag for me." She beckoned to the Judith lady — she was certain that was her name, but not even the server's distinct caramel balayage hairstyle did anything to help  jog a memory. At least I got one trait right.

"Yes ma'am..." Michelle murmured, lending the glasses to their co-worker before she dragged her heavy steps to the kitchen.

"Sweet lord, it's the third time this week. I don't even want to talk about it anymore..." The server groaned as she shoved down the dirty glasses and utensils on their respective containers.

"I mean, you just talked about it," Mairi pointed out.

"Well yeah, but seriously... Michelle needs to pull her shit together! I get it if it's her first week, but it's been months, and she's not showing any improvement!" The server continued ranting. "How's Jeanne not freaking out? She must have the patience of a saint. I bet most of our expenses went to replacing all the stuff she breaks!"

Oh yeah, you're the extremely chatty one.

Mairi continued mopping up all the shards on the floor. Perhaps Jeanne understood Michelle's proneness to these calamities, so at this point, acceptance was the only option. At least she managed to get her job done, and for Jeanne, that deserved compliments. I guess that works.

Both guilt and shame clung hard to Michelle as she helplessly trod back with the paper bag. While so, Mairi instinctively jerked her head at the rattling noises of the doorbell. "Michelle, can you get the couple there?" She instructed.

While the brunette scampered for the incoming patrons, Mairi came in direct contact with a pair of dilated brown eyes accompanied by a profound frown from her beloved co-worker.

"You remember her name but not mine? Seriously?!" She protested, crossing her arms.

The cosplayer tilted her head. "Jodie?"

She stared hard. "Jasmine."

"Ah." No wonder that sounded even more familiar compared to the other names. With all the remains stashed away, she folded the paper bag and stood up. "Close enough."

"That's not even close!!" cried out Jasmine as she smacked her palm on her face. "You're just as hopeless as Michelle, I swear."

"Right, but at least I have the decency to ask for details instead of walking around literally complaining about everyone," rebutted Mairi, and her coworker's expression fell into oblivion. "Don't worry, you're not alone. We each have our own strengths and issues, that's why we're helping each other. It's like a win-win situation." Tapping Jasmine's stiffening shoulder, she sauntered to the back and dumped the rest of the mess.

As pretty as it sounded, the fact she never registered her name and filtered it out instead, was kind of a mystery. Perhaps Jasmine had attributes not worth being committed to her memory, or maybe she was simply that... unremarkable. I guess my brain has other stuff to be concerned about.

"WAAH!!!"

It barely reached a minute or two since Mairi stepped foot out of the dining room, and already there was a shriek tearing throughout the vicinity. There was no need to put too much thought into it; yet an additional evidence of Michelle being abundantly blessed by the god of accidents. Basically it's another mundane day... but how many blessings did she receive?

Wiping her hand with the handkerchief, Mairi marched back to the unfolding scene, shoving a new paper bag just in case.

Much to nobody's surprise, Michelle was the perpetrator, but there was one difference — which albeit not original, it had Mairi's brows raised. A young man had kept Michelle on her feet as she practically leaned against his chest, preventing her from performing an epic nosedive to the ground and squashing her pitiful face. Yes, very pitiful.

"God, I'm so sorry!" Michelle flailed her arms, scrambling to get out of the way. "I didn't mean to step on you!"

Judging from the clean floor, she didn't break anything at least.

"All good!" The customer chuckled as he massaged his neck. "It happens."

Happens all the time. Fixed that for you.

With pink hues tinting her cheeks, the clumsy server skittered straight to the kitchen, disappearing from everyone's penetrating gazes. Can't blame her.

Jasmine shrugged nonchalantly, before she withdrew her attention towards an old lady who was waving her hand. Well, that left Mairi to be serving this man Michelle had abandoned and should have been grateful for. Strangely, his brown eyes glittered when they hovered over her, while his smile ripped into one cheeky grin. It seemed as though he had known her for a long time, and that they finally met again.

"Oh hey, you're Abel's friend!" He exclaimed out of the blue, nearing her when she lent him the menu. "Thanks for helping him!"

Abel?

Mairi blinked, before she surveyed this man up and down. With disheveled charcoal hair sweeping to the left side of his face, it complemented his black polo shirt and denim shorts. Did he look familiar? Shockingly, her mind concurred, fishing out past images of this particular customer and shoving them right in her sight. One of his friends? Definitely not that dumpling boy.

"Do I know you?" Mairi questioned.

The man's smile shriveled. "Goodness me, how did you not even remember me?" He sulked. "You're always the one helping me!"

"Too many regulars. It's tiring to remember them all," she muttered, pulling out her notepad and pen. "But I see you know Abel. If you're here to visit him, he's not in today."

"Brother. I'm his older brother. Jethro's my name." His toothy grin returned as fast as it had disappeared, as he wiped his hand on his pocket before he bestowed it to her. "Also I'm not exactly planning to visit him... Like I said, I'm a regular."

Jethro. Epiphany towered over her like a skyscraper, then it crashed hard upon her. Flashbacks of Abel launching into all kinds of rants about him came flooding into her head. This was the same dude who caused her friend to nearly greet him with a thrown fist if not for her. He better thanked me for that or his teeth would have been gone.

Mairi found herself clicking and unclicking her pen while she shook his hand, but she kept her poker face. "Well then, I've heard a lot about you," she commented. "Not a lot of pleasant things, it seems."

His chest went up and down as deep laughs emanated from him. "That's mean, but coming from Abel himself, I can see that. I'm not all that bad though, I'm just being a wise and sincere man."

The purple-eyed server might not mutter a word, but inside, her nerves instantly shriveled and her muscles contracted from all the endless waves of cringe. Both the brothers might contain that same exact energy of spreading their egos far and wide, but at least Abel's pride never reeked like rotten eggs. Never did she experience difficulties of having to maintain her deadpan look. I feel bad for Abel now.

"But how was he here?" Jethro interrogated. "He's not lazing around is he?"

"For a lazy person, he sure does learn pretty fast and follows all of our orders, so he's doing better than you think. Thanks for your concern though, surely Abel will appreciate that," Mairi paused to take a breath. "So what are you gonna order for today?"

"Hmm, that's cool." He paid no heed to what she asked. "Abel's usually slacking back home... reading and watching those weird Japanese stuff and then dressing up like some kid. I guess he studies, but then he goes back to those things." He shrugged. "Okay, I got one of his comics, and that was actually good, but my point is he needs to step up and get in touch with reality. And finally... after like years... he woke up! I guess you guys helped open up his mind?"

The restaurant's ambiance and Mairi's clicking pen quickly filled in their conversation, leaving the man's question to hang in the air. Behind her straight lips she strove to maintain, she clenched her teeth. A variety of emotions began swirling in her head, battling against each other as they tried to gain control of her actions.

Wow.

Just, wow.

Finding the perfect description to convey her thoughts was like searching for common sense in whatever this guy had spat out. His thought-process... was way beyond her comprehension, so his speech did not deserve even her slightest commentary. However, Mairi was his only audience, while the rest of the world simply went about.

No choice but to say something.

"... I was about to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I really shouldn't have stopped Abel from going at you." It took every ounce of her energy to even utter all of this out. "Thanks to you, I now understand why your brother throws crap at you."

Jethro contorted his face. "Wait, what do you mean...?"

"You're wise. Surely it won't take you time to figure it out." She crossed her arms. "At least you're sincere enough to make fun of him and never care to see his passion and what he can do. Perhaps one day, he'll climb to the top and end up being more experienced than you... but if that's how shallow your mind is, guess I can't say much."

He immediately closed his mouth and fiddled his hands into his pockets.

"But hey, what do I know?" She went on. "You're hearing this from someone who also loves reading and watching weird Japanese stuff and then dressing up like some kid." She whirled around, but not before she pointed at her chest. "Definitely not wise to take advice from this stupid loser."

When her raising voice trembled at the two last words, she immediately flounced off and blocked off Jethro's distant calls. She didn't bother taking his order — Jasmine could deal with that — as with a lowered head, she mindlessly trudged to the kitchen. Her heart was practically bludgeoning her chest to its breaking point as her lips fumbled for breaths.

This was the same feeling I had when I was with Mama.

The storm of words rolling off her tongue as she shook Mama's shoulders, the unexplainable weight inside of her, and the way Mairi finally left her dangling in her chair... it was all feeling too similar.

"You, a cosplayer of all things?" Mama cackled. "You've always disappoint your mommy further and further... what a stupid loser, just like your father..."

That slurred remark had been haunting her ever since. No matter how much she tried getting rid of it... it somehow latched onto her again and again. Well, a very heavy sigh and a subsequent view of Mama's poker chip were the proper responses to all of this.

Ow. A pang of pain suddenly tore through her neck. My throat hurts.

***

A/N: After months of not updating, I finally published one with full Mairi's POV! Life has caught up on me combined with writer's block, but I hope you enjoy the entire chapter :) Thanks for reading and supporting my book <3