"Uh-huh. No April!" I tried my best to glare at that cute little face before me and smiled as I scooped her up.

This was by far the best job I've ever done. And that's all April. She sleeps most of the time and the rare times she's awake, she just stares at me and smiles. Recently she found out that pulling my hair is an interesting hobby. Apart from that, I'm getting paid for doing almost nothing.

"Thank you, Evelyn. Care to join for a coffee?" Claire asked as she came home finally and took April from me.

I can't say the offer didn't surprise me. This is the first time and I've been doing this for almost three months.

Before I could say anything, my phone rang, flashing Jake's name across the screen.

"Thank you, but I've gotta go." With a polite smile, I got out and called Jake.

"Where are you my dear señorita?"

"On my way, señor."

"Make it fast señorita, your favourite person in the world is here." He mumbled.

A groan escaped me. "I'll be there soon."

"You should be. See, I don't think I can do your work for even a minute anymore. The girls are swooning over me and it's getting so difficult." he whined.

Yeah, right.

"Shut up, you complete modest human."

"A human señorita? I'm offended. You know I'm an angel reincarnated."

An angel he was.

When I reached the cafe, I had to sneak in through the kitchen door. And when Tyler suspiciously eyes me an hour later, Jake backed me up. He said we switched places for a bit because of his sprained wrist.

His wrist was alright.

"Where's the other woman?" I was startled by Tyler's voice but Jake just shrugged.

"She went home. An appointment or something."

"You can leave." He mumbled.

My eyes were about to bulge out with surprise. But then I realised he was talking to Jake.

"My shift isn't- "

"I know, but you can go now."

"Fine." Jake muttered as Tyler went back to his usual table, eyes glued to his phone.

"Argh, he's probably gonna make me work late today." I sighed, "Do one thing, just tell Noel I'll be late and not to worry."

"Sure. But I ain't leaving, honey." He gave me a smug smile, taking off his apron.

"Why?"

"Because Tyler asked me to." He looked at me as if it was the only answer to that question.

It took Tyler exactly ten minutes to realise Jake wasn't leaving.

"Why are you still here?"

"I'll leave later." Jake mumbled, pulling his phone out.

"I just said you can leave. You don't need to stick around here now."

"Sure," Jake smiled at Tyler. An innocent, bright smile. A smile that was meant to mock Tyler.

A second later, Jake walked towards one of the empty tables and sat there. And of course, Tyler followed him with a glare plastered on his face.

"You're deaf or what?"

"My shift is over and I'm here for a coffee." This time he smirked.

Tyler was confused and...speechless. And that surprisingly made me feel good. By the time I returned with a coffee, Tyler was sitting as far as he can from Jake.

"Ah, I see you're not an expert in coffees." Jake muttered after taking a sip. "I take it that your handsome talented barista isn't here today."

"Really? Be happy you're getting this, sir." I said emphasizing the word with a nudge.

Finally when it was ten o'clock and Jake showed no sign of leaving, Tyler left with a glare.

"Such a baby. Just stomped out when things didn't go according to his plan." Jake snickered. "And now we can close this goddamn cafe."

"Why didn't you leave today?"

"He's asking only me to leave but not you. Something fishy, right?" He smirked, with a nod.

"That's not something new." I shrugged.

"Yeah, but asking me to leave when it's only us and with no customers around? Fishy?"

He was right. There weren't any customers.

"But he had already done that." A few weeks ago, to be exact.

"Yes, but I didn't know then, did I?" He mumbled and for a second, I saw guilt in his eyes. "But that old lady was here until the shop closed, which by the way is very creepy if you think about it."

It was. She didn't talk to anyone. Just sits here and asks for a black coffee and sips it slowly until we close. That day Tyler didn't close until midnight and she stayed. God, she was creepy.

But then again, it took me more than ten minutes to clean everything up and close the shop, so Tyler did have a few minutes with me alone.

"So-"

"Yes, Ms Evelyn Grace Ridge! I don't trust his bloody ass behaviour. Now could you please agree that it's fishy? I'm being a fool here asking you the same thing over and over again!" He sighed with a glare.

"Okay fine. It is fishy." I threw my hands in the air, surrendering.

"God, you're so boring. I was expecting something like 'Omg Jake! You're so right! How come I didn't think about it?! I'm happy I've got you'
And there you are 'Okay fine, it is fishy.'" he left murmuring and I followed him with a laugh.

He's right in one thing though.

I am happy that I've got him. Noel and Theo are too.

They laughed hard when I told them about Jake falling on his ass when he tried to jumpscare Marissa. Jake was the reason Theo had a goofy smile on his face as he drifted into a good sleep.

Well, good until he woke me up from my good sleep.

"What?" I asked him, grabbing my phone and saw that it was two in the morning.

"Hungry." He mumbled with a grimace.

I yawned and got up from my bed, against my tired body's will.

"Cornflakes or toast?" I asked as I scooped him up, placing him on the kitchen counter.

"Cornflakes." I grinned as he started patting his stomach.

He told me stories about his friends as he ate. Stories about his friend who had a girlfriend.

Five-year-olds are having girlfriends. Well, how about that?

"So, how's your girlfriend?" I asked. And boy, he started blushing. I laughed so hard that my stomach started aching.

"Oh, come on, I know there's some girl." I poked him teasingly.

"Um...She's sitting next to me and-"

I choked on my water.

"What?!"

Does he actually have a girlfriend?

"She plays with me." He beamed and I, on the other hand, narrowed my eyes.

"And?"

"She said she likes me." He said, turning into a tiny tomato.

"What?"

"She even gave me a rose."

By then, I was back to that stomach-aching laugh again.

"What's her name?" I finally managed to bring out the words.

"Mira." He couldn't stop blushing.

"Oh. Is she annoying my Mr world? Want me to stop her?"

"No!" He replied a little bit too fast, still blushing as he finished eating.

Oh, I've got to say this to Noel and Jake.

"Okay, time to sleep. You and I, have got class tomorrow." I placed him on the floor as he wrapped his fingers around mine. "And by the way, you are too young to be Romeo."

"What's Romeo?"

I sighed and shook my head, "My boyfriend."

"You have a boyfriend?" He gasped.

"Woah, you can have a girlfriend and I'm not allowed? Do you even know what a boyfriend is?" I ruffled his hair as we headed to my room, leaving a snoring Noel alone in his room. It took half an hour and a tickle war to sleep again with a drooling Theo in my arms.

And that resulted in a glaring Noel who woke us up, complaining about my laziness and lack of responsibility.
And I couldn't really blame him since was a little bit late for tutoring.

Things went well until Janet asked me something.

"Evelyn, honey, we've just got some financial crisis going on, so would you mind if I pay you a bit late this month?"

"Um... Okay, then. Not too late, right? It's just that I've got everything like a schedule so..." I trailed off, not wanting to sound rude.

I always assigned my earnings to certain things. Waitressing is for school fees and books, the bookstore got me food and clothes, tutoring for mom's medicines and other household needs, and babysitting was something extra, which I'd probably spent to make my boys happy.

I'll just have to spend money more carefully.

"Of course, I will. Thank you for understanding." Her shoulders relaxed as she hugged me.

I very well know what a financial crisis can do. Especially when we had to sell dad's car and almost everything else to overcome it.

Luckily not my home. I wonder what I would've done if mom gave away the papers of ownership. My two little brothers on the street? That's something that haunted me in my dreams more than any horror movie I've ever watched. And that's why I've hidden it from her. I can't trust her when she's drunk, she'll probably sell the house for a bottle of liquor.

So, I assured Janet everything was okay and headed to college.

I guess Tyler skipped the classes or something because I wasn't bothered a single time today. And that's how my day was so good.

"I hope he ran away." Sasha mumbled as we started eating.

I knew exactly when Zack told her about mom and my suspicions. She didn't say anything but there were subtle changes. She didn't tease about me working always anymore. And she was stubborn in driving me to the cafe every day. Not that she didn't do the same thing before, but recently, she made it her goal to drop me everywhere.

Sometimes I feel bad about that. If I hadn't said anything, she wouldn't have felt obligated to drive me around.

"I'm not that lucky." I mumbled and she smiled.

"So..."

"So?" She raised an eyebrow, looking at her phone.

"Where's Zack?" I asked, looking around.

He was almost always part of Sasha's drive around Evelyn mission.

"Him?" She took her eyes off of the phone and looked at me."Off to see his friends."

It'd be prying if I ask more, wouldn't it?

"He visits them once in a while. He'll just go away and make me cover up for him." She sighed, explaining anyway. "Mom thinks he's staying at his friends' somewhere here. Not dad though, I mean he's that idiot's dad."

That made me smile.

"I think dad's aware of it, just pretending he's not. And that idiot thinks he's fooling everyone."

"Why are you covering for him? That's not you." I asked. Usually, she waits for a chance to pounce upon him.

"Liam." She sighed, closing her eyes with a dreamy smile.

"Who?"

"My Liam. He's so damn hot, Eve. You should see him, he's so sexy." And I was sure she'll drool if she praised him anymore. "Whenever Zack's away from home he'll Skype me and so, I'll get to see Liam."

"Uh, hello? Did you forget about Mark?"

"Nope."

"And you have a crush on Liam." I raised my eyebrows at her 'so what' face.

"I have a boyfriend but that doesn't mean I can't have a crush on someone."

I just opened my mouth to say something when I realised what she said is true.

"And by the way, Mark knows it." She said.

"He does?"

"Yeah, he's super jealous of Liam. Because he knows he'll never beat Liam in looks. He's the hottest among Zack's friends. I mean all of them are good looking but still, Liam's the best." He brushed her hair off her face as she started describing their looks.

When she got to Liam again, she was the real-life representation of the heart-eye emoji.

                          ▪️▪️▪️▪️

"Theo! She's a baby, she won't eat your pasta." I warned him again as he continued to show his affection to little April.

Maybe it wasn't a great idea to take Theo with me. But since Noel had a game and Maria went to visit her granddaughter, I had no option.

"She looks like a doll, Ivy." He said, pinching her cheeks

"Yeah, she's beautiful."

"She has the same eyes as my old puppy doll."

Oh.

"Theo, please don't say anything in front of her mother okay? I'll make you brownies." I was leaning towards bribery because I had no idea what Claire's reaction would be if she hears the things that comes out of his mouth.

I don't expect it to be pleasant when her daughter is being compared to an old ugly puppy doll.

"But I need pancakes tomorrow morning."

"That's perfectly fine."

"But Noel said he wants bacon."

"There'll be pancakes as well as bacon and eggs. Now can you be silent when she comes?"

He nodded fast and turned back pinching April's ears. He looks adorable when he's adoring someone.

When Claire made an appearance at the usual time, I had everything under control. No pasta feeding, no pinching cheeks, no jumping on her couch.

"Is this your brother?" She asked as she placed her coat aside and walked toward him.

"Yes," I said with a smile.

"What's your name, sweetheart?" She patted his head, waiting for the answer.

My smile flickered when stayed silent.

'Say your name' I mouthed.

I mouthed again and he scrunched his nose. He had this you told me to do this face and I sighed.

"Say your name." I mumbled, mouthing pancakes and giving him thumbs up.

His eyes twinkled as he beamed. "Theo."

Finally!

"That's a good name." She nodded, pinching his cheeks, "I hope little April here didn't bother you."

Now that was a side of Claire I haven't seen until now.

Either she love kids so much that her personality changed around them or my Theo was charming as hell.

I'm inclined to believe it's the latter.

I told him so as we walked to the cafe. And when Sasha dropped by later, she gave him company until my shift was over.

"You should stop thanking me, Ivy. Don't think I'm offering you help out of formality, it's because I love you. You should accept help more often, it'll ease some stress off your mind."  Maria used to say.

I think I get it now, Maria. I think I get it now.

*************

Thank you so much if you're still reading this❤️

Who's the best character? The worst is
of course Tyler! In every single way.

Thanks again for reading 😍 and please do vote if you liked it 😌

Stay safe, stay happy ❤️