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Date27/6
Time 7:15 am

"Explain yourself," I pushed Kaeya to the back of the changing room and as sure as hell feeling anxiety eating me inside out. " Let me make this as clear as possible, if this business flops I'm broke! I'm screwed! And I'll be seriously fucked! "

Stiffening, Kaeya chuckled awkwardly and that was when I realized he still had the glass of wine held between his black-gloved-fingers . "Kaeya. . . " My throat felt dry and maybe I did growl like I was ready to bash his face into one of the red lockers lined up against the dark brown walls of the room.

He set the glass down on a stool and leaned against a locker with his lips forming a thin line and folding his arms over his chest, taking a deep breath. " I did find a perfect person willing to work, but she's in Sumeru city, she'll be here by next week," he reasoned, but his eye did not meet mine .

I slapped my hand over my cheeks. Hard. Obviously this was not a nightmare. "Tomorrow give me her file," I demanded as my hands dragged down my cheeks like I was a walking dead. " Unbelievable."

"Also," he started talking again as I reached for the door's handle. " A birdie said you've been asking around about me ."

He pushed himself off the lockers and this time kept his eye on me . . . That eye patch certainly did make him look hotter in a scary way. " So what? You're working here it normal I want to know you're clean ," I vaguely reasoned, feeling my jaw harden as tension sparked over the palm of my skin, making it feel slightly numb .

"My savior doesn't trust me?" He smiled. It was freaky.

Was this all a mistake? My lower lip pushed back and my upper lip pushed out slightly like a little duck. This was one of those moments that , my brain would shut down and my face would just crash and stop responding to my feelings. I could feel my cheeks puff a little as I looked up at him, both of his arms hand inned themselves to the door behind me. I was trapped. "I'm here because I was simply amused when I just discovered you owned this place Lisa recommended, It seemed like it was meant to be," the last words made my guts cringe and everything that was once intimidating about him seemed to poof just like that and get replaced with his amused attitude.

" Um . . . " my mouth opened like a fish, but no words left it.

" Boss you okay ?" His face was now right in my face, a the night sky looking down at me and I could almost spot the dim stars shimmering and the northern star shinning bright. " Did my charm stun you?"

My throat had gone dry and every muscle in me tensed as I could not to look away. Damn, he had pretty eyes to the point it was frustrating. " Fat chance princess," I spat and smacked the back of my hand over his chest, for a moment I sensed the light muscle down there . " A-Anyway next time give me a heads up on your progress, we might also need a person to manage our finances at some point it's hard to keep track of everything."

The arms that had caged me fell; now he was the one sighing while pinching the bridge of his nose and said, " You're giving me a headache, can you doing anything aside from ' research ' about your employees or worry about work ? When was the last time you rested ? "

Rest? My restaurant is about to open . The only rest I was looking forward to is the moon pie Childe had promised me. " You're drooling . . . And spacing out," he snapped his fingers inches from my face to bring me back to earth.

"I-Its nothing."
" Doesn't sound like nothing."
" It. Is. Nothing," I insisted, but that only made a smile tug at the corners of his lips. "Period."

"I won't complain," he held his arms in front of him defensively before reaching out for his glass of wine. " But you could use a drink more than I do."

What I needed was not a drink. What I needed was an empty mind and peace, which I could not afford, hence I may never have that peace. When was the last time I had peace? Probably my university days. My thoughts drifted off again as I dragged my feet over the white- rough- floor and to the door across the room leading to the small office. Ayato . . . He was gentle like a breeze. I missed him, and I hated him, but I mostly hated myself for ever trusting him. All this was because of him. My gaze flickered back to Kaeya who seemed awfully content with tasting the fermented drink against his lips. "Gimme that," I growled, frowning as I made my way back to him. " Is it that good?"

"It's not bad," he grinned watching me as I nervously held the glass with both hands and stared at the contents of the cup. " Unles you prefer white wine."

" I never had wine," I admitted while keeping my gaze locked on the deep red liquid and could have sworn a pair of familiar pale eyes stared back at me . "I'll kill him."

A laughter ringed into my ears, a little too loud and uncalled for. Kaeya's head flug back as he wrapped his arms over his stomach with tears in his eyes, clinging to his lashes . " I doubt you can kill an ant ,Boss," he spoke between choked laughs and my dead ass indifferent reaction only made him fake a cough. " How did you choose which wine brand to buy for the bar?"

He stole the drink from my fingers slowly as if I would throw a tantrum at him and whack him on the head. " On second thought we don't want you drinking that," he words irked me a little, but he seemed too amused to pick on the fact I was this close to snapping, but before I could yell at him again an urgent knock came from the door leading to the dinning room. " We'll continue this later, " Kaeya only held his hands in front of him with wine glass still in his grasp.

" My lady," Thoma poked his head from behind the door with a distressed look over itched into his soft features. " we just got a few customers, but there's a table that's refusing to be served."

Both me and Kaeya shot him a confused looked. " Refusing to be served ?" Kaeya repeated and glanced over at me with his mind seemingly deep in thought" Last time I saw something like that was in Angel's Share, the customer apparently had a thing for one of the servers and refused to get served by anyone else."

"But we just opened," I reasoned although I was worried if something or someone suddenly got on their bad side. " Kaeya."

Upon hearing his name leave my lips a little amusement sparked in his eyes, I was sure he got the message. " I got you covered," he laid the wine glass back into the stool and pulled the door open without another word, brushing shoulders with Thoma along the way.

Part of me got worried about Xianling having to serve all these people on her own. It was perhaps my fault for getting . . . Distracted. As the man's back disappeared out of my line of sight, a strange yet familiar feeling clutched at my chest. So I did what I new I had to do, busy myself till I thought of nothing. Pushing every thought and feeling that dared to claw at my mind, I turned at my heel and made my way back to the office at the other end of the changing room. " My . . .Lady," a series of quick footsteps came from behind, before Thoma gripped at my shoulder to held me back . "About what happened before . . . "

His cheeks flushed a light shade of pink that deepened into a love rose color as he tried not to look away from me; fingers squeezing and tightening nervously on my shoudler as he tried to find the right words as every memory found its way back to my consciousness. I should have been disgusted with myself. I'd given him hope. Given myself hope. But I tightened the muscle at my jaw and stopped myself from letting anything show on my face . . . Alas I could not do much about the heat of the memory finding its way to me ears and cheeks. "Right, that . . . " Before I could think of a response his lips found their away to my cheek, clumsily pecking as his hands remained at his side opening and closing. "I liked it . . . My lady."

He liked it? My brain stopped functioning for a moment. " Wow Wow Wow, " I hurriedly stepped back until my back touched the door of the office. " Y-You liked it?! I'm really not ready for another relationship Thoma. Look, I messed up, big time. Trust me. . . You don't want me. I'm not as great as you might think."

And that was the truth. I was needy, pathetic, and childish. Who would want that? Oh, I was also in debt a little too. Owed Janet about a five hundred thousand mora. Yes, she was my friend, but when money got involved our interactions are not , friendly, especially if I start taking too long to pay her back. I swallowed and pushed open the office door open, before shutting it behind me. I had to fix things alone , before I mess up again. I had left Thoma there, and a big fat chunk of me felt a crushing guilt, because God damn he was like a little puppy in my eyes, left in the rain. . . And I . . . Was foolish and too kind . His face haunted me. In the reflection of the the wine. In the back of my mind. . . And with every decision I made, with every person I met. Those pale eyes followed me .

"I'm broke, broken, and alone,"And there was no one to deny that, because I was indeed alone, and spank into the creaky office chair alone behind that small table scattered with documents and files, confined into the cold grey walls, and locking myself up with looking up at all the costs of the week with a heavy heart and water gliding down my cheeks.