Notes

# +
001

/It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me, and i’m feeling good.... dadum dadum./

There was some movements on the bed before a hand appeared from under a thick blanket. It reached out to silence the alarm as the phone vibrated on the table. Once the room became quiet, the blanket was pulled down, revealing a bush of curly hair.

She pushed her hair out of her sight, her nose scrunched up as she spit a hair out of mouth. She stretched her body out, loving the feeling of bliss wash over her as her joints popped.
Momentarily, she relished in the warmth of the sun as its rays shone through her window, before she turned on her side. Picking up her phone, the screen lit up on its own, revealing the time and date.

/22 November, 06:03./

Shay sighed deeply. Training always begins at seven thirty so she had about sixty minutes to shower, eat and pack her bag for the day. Then
she would need to run to catch the bus that headed towards the fire department. There she would meet Kiah and quickly change into her gym clothes before class started.

It sounded achievable but for someone who got as distracted as Shay, it was not.

She used to wake up an hour before she had to workout in the gym in the past. Everything went well and she came on time. However, after a while, she arrived later and later. At first she was late because she forgot her phone at home or the bus didn’t show up. But then she was running late because of trivial things that could be easily avoided like stopping to pet a homeless cat for fifteen minutes

This went on for two weeks until one day, she had a wake up call.

Shay was fifty minutes late one day, when her supervisor had enough. He told her that she needs to leave if she wasn’t serious about her training. She had to change her attitude or she can forget about becoming a firefighter.

After that day she was never running late again.

/It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day, it’s a new life for me, and i’m feeling good.... dadum dadum./

Groaning, she turned off her second alarm and stood up within a second.

To say that her supervisor’s words influenced her, would be an understatement. Whenever she thought about sleeping in, she reminded herself of his yelling that left a permanent mark in her mind, and she was out of bed before she could change her mind.

That and the conversation she had that night with Micheal.

He was quite startled when he found his friend on his doorstep at one in the morning. After inviting herself in, she told him all about her day, her supervisor’s words and the doubts she was having. When she came close to saying that maybe she should just quit, he cut her off.

He told her that she has come too far to stop now, that it would be such a shame if someone as awesome and courageous as her wouldn’t become a firefighter. He promised to stick by her side and help her by sending her wakeup texts and going to the gym with her to support her until she got her degree.

When he was finished, she was on the verge of crying and hugged him, thanking him.

She needed those words of encouragement.

While entering the bathroom and turning on the shower, she heard a familiar ping. She smiled, picking up her phone. /Speaking of the devil./

Angelicious: Good morning, Shay! I hope you’re not still sleeping and out of bed, or else i‘ll be very disappointed.

Me: morning to you too, dad

Me: And yesss, i’m awake

She rolled her eyes fondly.

Ever since he made that promise months ago, Micheal never forgot to give her a text to wake her up in case she was still in bed. It became a part of her mourning routine. She did act like she was annoyed by his constant nagging, but they both knew that she was grateful for the support. She should tell him that one day.

Angelicious: Ha ha ha. The dad joke, it sure never gets old. And besides, it’s not like i’m reminding you to be on time, so Raymond doesn’t give you an earful again.

Me: please stop. Sarcasm doesn’t suit you.

Me: Stick to your image as the concerned yet slightly annoying friend you are deep down, and everything will be fine.

Angelicious: Duly noted.

Me: And i haven’t been late in ages soooo

Angelicious: Yet.

Me: Jerk

Angelicious: What can i say? The truth hurts, Shay.

Me: i am gonna ignore you now in favor of a shower

Me: byeee

Placing her phone on the counter, she ignored the new messages and shed her pajamas. She jumped into the shower, beginning to wash herself thoroughly. While humming to some songs under her breath, her third alarm went off, signaling that it was six thirty, meaning the end of her shower.

+

“Out of my way!”

Shay pushed the door to the changing room open and stepped to the side, laughing when she saw Kiah stalk to the nearest bench. As the door fell shut behind her, she entered the room.

“I’m dead,” Kiah said, grimacing when her side stung after she took a seat.

“What happened to your motivational words of this morning?” Shay raised her eyebrow as she stood before her locker. “/Shay, stop being lazy and get up. We can do this, it’s just training./“

Kiah’s nose wrinkled, offended. “I don’t sound like that.”

“You do,” she mussed and rummaged through her locker for fresh clothes, her eyes roaming through the pile of mess.

“I don’t,” Kiah persisted, head leaning against the cold metal of her locker, “besides, you know that morning me is too caffeine high on five cups of coffee to be thinking rational.”

“Caffeine high doesn’t exist,” Shay said matter-of-factly as she looked for her shampoo. Once she found it, she happily grabbed the bottle, but quickly realized that it was empty. Again.

“Hey, can i borrow your—“ she turned around and had to act fast when a bottle of shampoo was thrown to her head. She caught it, just as it was about to fall to the ground. “...shampoo.”

Shay blinked, startled. “Thanks.”

The corner of her mouth quirked up as Kiah watched the dazed look in her friend’s eyes. “No problem.”

“I am going to take a shower.” She shivered in disgust while drops of sweat ran down her back. “I really need one.”

“Truer words have never been spoken because you stink,” she teased, “and that is putting it lightly.”

Shay opened her mouth, ready to reply with an equal snarky remark, but she got interrupted by a familiar ping before words left her mouth.

“I wonder who that will be?” Kiah asked out loud, knowing well who it was.

Her cheeks reddened as her eyes detected the look she was sending her way, (her eyebrows raised, a smirk plastered on her face as she looked smug). “Shut up.”

Her best friend laughed wholeheartedly. “I didn’t say anything.”

“Uhuh.” She narrowed her eyes, her eyebrow raised. “You eyes say enough.”

“And what do they say then?” She countered back with amusement twinkling in her eyes. “Is there something i need to know that you aren’t telling me?”

She chose to ignore her words and stuck her hand in her bag, her fingers latching on her phone when she felt it. After she entered her password, her screen lit up and revealed the texts she had ignored this morning.

Angelicious: Hey, don’t go. I was just joking.

Angelicious: Shay?

Angelicious: You know it is rude to leave when you’re in the middle of having a conversation with someone.

She chuckled, muttering. “He clearly hasn’t met himself if he talks about me being rude.”

“What?” Kiah yelled from behind, having stood up and looking into her own locker.

She waved her hand without turning around. “Nothing.” She continued with reading.

Angelicious: Never mind, you’re most likely trying to shove breakfast down your throat right now while packing your bag.

/Like i said/, went through her mind, /rude/.

Angelicious: Hey, do you want to have dinner at Lynn and Wafae’s?

“Ohh, is he finally asking you out on a date or is this one of your /not-dates/ where everyone else thinks that you’re dating except you two idiots?” Kiah’s voice was so close to her ear that it caused Shay to jump.

“Kiah!” Her scream echoed throughout the room as her heartbeat increased. “You scared me!”

“What?” She returned absently, her eyes still on her phone as she read the messages.

“Excuse me.” Shay placed her phone to her chest, hiding her screen as her eyes moved to her side. “Privacy, ever heard of it?”

“I have three brothers, two sisters and a baby brother. I don’t even remotely know what that thing is that you are talking about right now,” Kiah snorted, amused, “privacy, she says. ”

“It couldn’t have been that ba—“ she trailed off, knowing better than to continue when Kiah’s glare landed on her. “You know what, how about we take a shower and go downstairs?”

“Wise choice to stop while you still can,” she said, dropping her glare and replacing it with a smile, “and don’t think i haven’t noticed you deflecting my question.”

“What question?” Shay decided to play dumb as her hand fiddled with her phone.

“The one where i insinuated that gorgeous and you are blind to the fact that you both like each other.” Kiah responded, direct as ever.

“I don’t like him.” She said weakly. “And he is not that handsome.”

She winced at the tone of her voice. She wasn’t being extremely convincing since she wouldn’t even believe herself either with the way she was talking.

“His name in your contacts is angelicious.” Kiah pointed her finger accusingly to the phone in her hands. “Do i really need to say more?”

Shay pursed her lips, biting back words. “No,” she eventually whispered.

“Great, because then we would still be arguing until the late evening,” she began, placing her hands on her shoulders, “and lets be honest, we don’t want that because i have a dog, ice cream and a thick blanket waiting for me at home while you have to be on time for your date with pretty boy.”

“Man, you talk much,” she chuckled before she pushed Kiah’s hands off her shoulders. “Come on, lets shower and freshen up.”

“Mark my words, one day you’re going to wish you listened to me and had made your moves on the guy while you still can.” Kiah stated.

She gave her a salute. “Duly noted.”

Kiah wrinkled her nose. “Oh god, you’re even starting to sound like the guy. I’m going before i am going to be infected.”

Her friend swiftly grabbed her clothes from the bench, a bottle of shampoo laying on top of the pile, and walked towards the showers.

“Don’t forget to text back,” she shouted over her shoulder as she exited the room, “pretty boy is too cute to be left waiting.”

Shay rolled her eyes before sending a reply to Micheal. She placed her phone in her bag, closed it with the zipper and left to the room with shampoo and clothes in her hand.

Me: sure, i’ll see you there at seven

+

Dipping her head, Shay shielded her face from the cold air with her wool scarf as she strolled through the streets, heading towards the diner of Avalynn and Wafae.

As she walked down the street, Shay had her eyes on two homeless men. They were fighting over a can of tomato soup, yelling for the other one to drop their hands as they claimed it theirs. Her eyes may be looking but her own mind was somewhere entirely else.

Since she left the fire department, Kiah’s words ran through her mind over and over again until it was the only thing that consumed her mind. Her remarks bugged her, but she didn’t know why. It wasn’t the first time that her best friend directly told her that Micheal liked her, even though she did not see it. Kiah has been doing it from the moment she met him.

So, what was different about this time?

After pressing the button five times, the light turned green. Shay crossed the street and took a shortcut by entering the park.

Maybe it was because she was slowly hoping for it. Hoping that he did, in fact, like her.

When Kiah started to joke about how clueless she was, Shay always laughed and brushed it off, reminding her that they were only good friends. Because he was. She didn’t feel that way about him so she didn’t lie when she told Kiah that she didn’t like him.

But that was in the past and things have happened in the meantime, including that one late night conversation at two in the morning.

She hadn’t felt it coming. She knew she should have since she took pride in her sharp senses. But this time she wasn’t as perceptive as she would’ve liked to been.

It all happened to sudden.

One moment she was hugging him goodbye, thanking him for his comfort and then it was the next morning and all she could think about was the feeling of his arms around her. At first, she brushed it off as being thankful. She was just happy to have a him as a friend. But then, she caught herself when she was thinking of the earnest look in his brown eyes when he told her that everything will be okay for the fifth time in a day.

That was when she knew that his place in her mind was more than a friend.

Her thought process got interrupted by a high-pitched cry. Alarmed, she turned towards the sound and exhaled when it was just a little boy who had fallen from the swing. He was crying in his father’s shoulder as he tried to comfort him but not really succeeding at it.

“Kids.”

Her head turned, her eyes instantly landing on an old lady who was reading the newspaper.

“They only cry in the beginning but it will all be worth it once they grow out of it,” she stated wisely as she stared at the father and son.

“Yeah.” Shay nodded with her brows furrowed before she gave giving her a hesitant smile and continuing with walking.

/You’re going to wish that you had made your moves on the guy while you still can./

She grumbled as she kicked a can forward, her words echoing in her mind.

It wasn’t like she hasn’t tried it before. She was making moves left and right whenever she could. She flirted with him without trying to be cautious about it. Her touches have increased in the past months and lingered longer than that was acceptable for friends. She has even been caught numerous times checking him out, but he has never commented about it.

It was like he was protected from the signals she was sending him, making him as oblivious as a one could get.

But maybe, that was what she did wrong.

She was sending /signals/ instead of voicing her thoughts to him.

It would probably be a whole lot faster if she just opened her mouth and told him. She only needed to stop beating around the bush for something to happen, but she couldn’t.

Not right now at least.

She was still afraid of what his reaction would be. Her thoughts only came up with negative results like facing those dark brown eyes filled with pity because he didn’t feel the same or rejecting her before making a run for it. Or worse, disregarding her feelings as being fake and afterwards acting like nothing happened.

She did think it would be good for her to get it off her chest but would it be worth losing their friendship?

She would be lying if she said yes.

A couple walked by her, hand in hand. The guy who was dressed as a punk, pushed hair of his girlfriend to the side when it blew before her eyes. The girl smiled shyly up at him, the love clearly evident in her eyes as it was mirrored in her boyfriend’s ones.

But maybe it would go well.

Maybe he would send her a smile, telling her he liked her too. Maybe he would showed with actions instead of words that he reciprocated her words, preferably by kissing her. Maybe he would take her hands in his and the rest would be history.

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

Everything could happen. Everything was possible. She only needed to say the words to find out. But not right now. She would do it later when she was more sure of herself.

Shay nodded, having made her decision.

/Yes, later./

+

The bells sounded above her head as Shay stepped into the diner, welcoming the warmth as it surrounded her. After pulling her gloves off, she made her way into the room while her eyes scanned the place filled with regulars and new customers. She waved at Donna and her kids who were smiling her way as she stood in front of the counter.

When she saw a familiar blonde, a grin began to form on her face. /Avalynn/

Her hands were swinging from left to right as she argued with another man. With eyebrows furrowed, she kept talking faster and faster by the second. By the looks of her body language and the man’s facial expression that screamed he wanted to be anywhere but here, the man probably did or say something to make Lynn so upset.

She decided to announce her presence.

“Hey,” she called out over the noise in the dinner, “Lynn!”

Her head snapped upwards as she scanned the room before her eyes landed on Shay. She smiled briefly, a noticeable stiffness around the corners, and signaled that she would be right with her before turning back to the man.

Shay winced after seeing the look in Avalynn’s eyes. Knowing Lynn’s fury and having been on the receiving end of it, she pitied the man.

“Poor guy.”

“Tell me about it.” Shay turned to the left when she heard someone speak up from beside her, coming face to face with Wafae.

“Hey, good to see you.” She greeted happily and hugged her. “Haven’t seen you in a long time.”

“Good to see you too, Shay.” Wafae returned the hug. “And i was visiting my parents for the week because one of my cousins, Sarah, got married.”

“Oh, that must’ve been fun.” She commented, pulling back. Then she raised her eyebrows, a playful look in her eyes. “I hope you didn’t get too drunk.”

Wafae gasped dramatically. “Pfff, what do you take me for? I only had about three glasses of champagne and stopped afterwards. Even shared a glass with my father.” She joked, her hand adjusting one end of her red headscarf.

“Of course, you did.” Shay teased before laughing along.

After calming down, Wafea nodded her head towards the pair.

“She has been going at it for five minutes,” she began, rolling her eyes as she watched. “I stopped trying to get her to calm down after a minute since it’s, you know, kinda...”

“Pointless?” Shay finished for her with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Wafae shook her head while chuckling. “You know about the party that’s taken place here tomorrow at six?”

“Micheal told me something about.” She licked her lips, trying to remember. “It was for a charity that raises money for kids, right?”

“Almost. The goal of the organization, AOSIN, is to raise money to support kids and students in need of school supplies, books, food or a home. A fundraiser will be taking place here tomorrow and we’re suppose to provide the meals and drinks. But deliveries got mixed up so the food we ordered, was delivered to a restaurant a few cities away while we got their orders.” She explained with pursed lips.

“We didn’t have a problem with it because this isn’t the first time they made a mistakes.” She nodded her head to Lynn, continuing. “The thing is that when they said that there was no possible way for us get our order until tomorrow at seven, we weren’t entirely happy about it and Lynn has been arguing with the guy ever since.”

She grimaced. “Oh, that’s tough. But don’t you have a backup plan?”

Wafae looked sideways, a corner of her mouth lifted up. “Way ahead of you. David, a friend of ours who owns a diner, said he could help us out. I’m just waiting for her to finish.”

Her eyebrows drew together. “If you already solved the problem, why not tell her?”

A glint shone in her eyes as she spoke. “I’m just letting her blow some steam off.”

“Oh really?” She had her eyebrows raised. “That’s all?”

“And maybe a tiny bit to see the man suffer.” She laughed. “I mean, to be fair, this is the first time he has come to personally apologize to us so i am not about to stop this.”

“Of course.” Shay laughed along. “That would be letting him off easy.”

“Exactly.”

When Avalynn started to slowly calm her voice, clearly not hearing what she liked, she sent the man off with a strained smile. After the door was closed, she stormed towards them with fury in her eyes.

“That prick!” She said with preamble. “He did it again. Just one delivery that goes as planned is all i am asking for, but, no, oh no, there is no way they can deliver without something going wrong like companies. Pff, and he even has the nerve to tell me to calm down.” She turned, eyes of Wafae. “I’m telling you, Wafae, this is the last time we’re ordering from them.”

Wafae nodded in agreement. “I’m with you. We’re wasting our money with them.”

“But what are we going to do about with the fundraiser? He did tell me he would call if they could fix something up for me, but i think i blew that off after calling his company terrible three times. Not that i regret it though, because what i said was only the ti—“

She got interrupted by Wafae shaking her shoulder. “Lynn.”

Lynn blinked, momentarily dazed as she came out of her angry daze. “What?”

“I called David. He said that he would love to help us with our little problem,” she explained. “We can pick up the food around nine o’clock he said.”

Lynn stared at her, deadpanned. “Couldn’t you have told me that first or better yet when i was wasting my time yelling at that idiot?”

Unperturbed, she answered. “I could but it was nice seeing Liam get what he deserves.”

She blinked, remembering that she has yelled enough for the day, before turning to Shay.

“Hello, Shay.” Lynn sent her a grin, the first one since Shay entered the diner and hugged her. “Coming by to eat my wonderful food, i presume?”

Once she stepped back, she gave her a wink. “Of course, you know i can’t go a week without your apple pie.” She glanced at her watch. “But your stupid cousin is late so i’ll have to wait.”

Avalynn and Wafae exchanged a look before the former rolled her eyes. “When isn’t he?”

“Why don’t you take a seat until he’s here?” Wafae suggested. “We’ll bring you a milkshake so you’ll have something until you can order.”

“Strawberry?” Shay couldn’t help but ask.

Lynn laughed, amused. “Whatever you want.”

“Thanks!”

They shooed her away, urging for her to take a seat. She walked to the far corner of the diner, politely apologized when she bumped against another man, and slid into the booth. Picking up the menu, she looked though it, just for the sake of doing it.

She already knew what she was getting. It was what she always got. A double cheeseburger with fries on the side. But she still scanned the menu because she wanted to do something with her hands. It was too hard to stay still. It would quickly become boring and she could not stare at strangers because she would come off as rude.

/Rude/.

A few things did rub off on her, she admitted with a chuckle as she recalled Kiah’s statement. But, it was hard not to unconsciously imitate someone’s behavior when you spend most of your free time with them. Especially when you were particularly interested in them.

While scanning the menu for the fifth time, she heard the table rattle as something heavy was placed on it.

Placing the menu on the table, she looked up her head and raised her eyebrow as she came face to face with her dinner partner.

/Micheal./

“You’re late,” she said simply.

“I know. I know.” He smiled sheepishly as he slid into the booth, taking a seat opposite of her. He slid his bag, which stood on the table, off the surface and placed it beside him.

Turning to her, he scratched the back of his head. “I’m sorry. I was busy with creating my own version of tiramisu.”

“What did you invent in your lab this time?” She leant forward, head resting on her hand as she prepared for the oncoming rant.

His eyes lit up as he sat up right. “You should have seen it. It was perfect. I added a cup of lemon curd alongside the mascarpone to the filling and instead of using black coffee, i used lemon juice to enhance the lemon flavor and...”

“It was absolutely delicious.” She mouthed along as he said it.

“Hey,” Micheal playfully flicked her nose when he caught her, grinning. “Stop that.”

“Stop what?” She swatted her eyes innocently, trying to ignore the tingling left behind on her nose by his touch as it spread around her face. It would only be worse if she acknowledged it.

Micheal leaned forward until he was an inch away. He stared straight into her eyes, hoping for a reaction but she didn’t budge. “You know what.”

She held her nose high. “I’m afraid i don’t.”

While nodding his head slowly, he hummed and pulled back to only retake his seat. Then, he looked at her with this secretive smile that didn’t sit too well with Shay before he wiped it off his face.

“Well, then,” he began as picked up a menu. “I suppose i also forgot about my conversation with Lindsey today when she called me to her office.”

Lindsey was his boss at the restaurant. Michael has been employed as a cook there for almost five years, working long hours to get from washing dishes to creating his own recipes who were put on the menu. He rarely called in sick and was always on time. He was a great employee and his boss must’ve finally noticed it.

For over a month or so, the head chef from his restaurant has retired because he had health problems. His position needed to be filled so his boss has been hinting at him being one of the possible candidates for the position.

The new head chef was going to be revealed this week.

Shay sincerely hoped that he would get the job since it was all he talked about these past few weeks.

“Oh, please tell me you got the job.” She leant forward as she moved in her seat, not being able to stay still. “Did you?”

“Hmm,” he scanned the menu as he tapped his lips, unknowing to the way her eyes flickered momentarily down and then back up. “I don’t know.”

She narrowed her eyes at him as his eyes lifted upwards for a moment. He simply grinned, liking to see her getting annoyed.

“I’m afraid i don’t know,” he repeated, using her words against her.

But she was having none of that.

“Oh no, you can’t do that.” Shay grabbed the menu out of his hands before tossing it to the side. “You have been driving me crazy, talking about this for weeks, so i better be getting an answer.”

His fingers followed the menu but she was too fast. “Hey, i was looking at that.”

“Who are you trying to fool?” She rolled her eyes. “You always get a the club sandwich with fries on the side and a large diet coke,” she stated from memory.

He cocked his head to the side, taken back by it for a bit. “You actually remember what i usually order?”

“Yes, now stop trying to avoid the subject and tell me before i start throwing things.” She said with a promise behind her eyes.

“I got the promotion.” He told her with a giddy look on his face, exhaling loudly like it was nice to have out in the open. “I am, as of today, the head chef of SICILIA.”

The corners of her lips quirked up as she stood up to celebrate his new position. It seemed that he caught catch on to her train of thought since he also stood up, just in time for her to wrap her arms around his waist.

“Congrats, dude.” Her words were muffled since her head was buried in his shoulder, but he could still hear her clearly. “I am happy for you.”

And she was.

Shay was beyond happy to hear that Michael got the job. It was better than the alternative she had in mind where he would be terribly disappointed in himself because she knew. She knew he would blame himself for not being chosen, thinking he hadn’t tried his best.

Which was totally the opposite.

The previous years had been hard on him. He was trying to prove himself as someone who was qualified to be a chef. Sometimes so much that he put his carrière before his health.

Shay tried to talk him about changing his awful habits but he shrugged it off as her being too worried. That was until one day he had been so exhausted that he passed out during movie night. She got mad at him for scaring her like that and refused to talk to him for weeks if she had to until he got his act together.

He broke after four days of no communication with Shay whatsoever. He promised to change his habits which he has been doing bit by bit ever since. He has been eating more, getting his seven hours of sleep and rested when he was tired.

Shay was elated to see some color in his face again.

“Thanks.” She could feel him smile against her hair as his arms tightened around her, lightly squeezing her waist. They hugged longer than what was appropriate for friends, but instead of pulling away like she should, she fisted her hands in his yellow-ochre sweatshirt, keeping him close.

Eventually Michael took a step back, making Shay worried that she might have overstepped her boundaries. However that thought went quickly away when she saw his smile.

He was the one who broke the silence in the end, causing her to come out of her reverie.

“I’ll be right back.” He pointed over his shoulder. “I still have to tell Lynn and Wafae.”

Her eyebrows furrowed as she watched him. “Didn’t you see them when you arrived?”

He nodded “I did.”

“Then, why didn’t you tell them then?” She asked, growing puzzled.

“Because i wanted you to be the first one to know,” he said, trying to play it cool but his twitching hands were giving away his facade of composure.

Her eyes softened. “Oh.” Shay tugged on her sleeve, momentarily looking to the side as she hoped that her expression had not given away too much, before she glanced back. She forced a smile. “That’s nice of you.”

Either he didn’t notice the slip or he chose to ignore it, because Michael acted like nothing happened out of the ordinary.

“I’ll be right back.” He squeezed her shoulder before walking away.

+

“Are you really not going to tell me what she said?” Shay whined, bumping their shoulders together.

After finishing their dinner, having celebrated his promotion with a number of their favorite milkshakes, (strawberry for her, banana for him), they said their goodbyes to Wafae and Lynn. But as they were about to leave, Lynn pulled her cousin back. She had to tell him something going on in the family, telling Shay to wait outside for him.

Shay wasn’t entirely sure she was telling the truth but all the same, she exited the diner.

Three minutes later, Michael appeared from the door.

Despite the darkness of the night, her eyes noticed that his face was ten shades redder than before. He also could only hold her gaze for a few seconds before he looked away. And when she asked about it, the blush on his face surprisingly became brighter.

“It was nothing.” He brushed off for what had to be the tenth time. “Just family business so i don’t want to bore you with it.”

“Hmm,” she turned around and started to walk backwards, her eyes connecting with his. “It sure didn’t look like that.”

“I am telling you it’s nothing.” He sniffed and them grinned. “But enough about me, what about you? How was your week?”

She raised her eyebrow, seeing right through his attempt at trying to change the subject. “You already asked me that.”

“Well, i must’ve forgotten.” He said, his eyes pleading to her to go along with it.

She shrugged, feeling slightly disappointed that he didn’t want to her since they told each other everything, (well, not everything, if she was being honest), but she decided that he would tell her on his own time. Pushing him would be no good. It would only result in him closing off.

She twirled around, walking face front again. “You know, working, training, disappointing my parents.” She shrugged. “The usual.”











+


On another day she actually talks to the man she encounters which turns out to be zack.
Scene 4:
Then she enters the shop and goes to the counter. She greets avalynn and talks about something mutual, greets wafae in the back, before turning to take a seat. But as she turns, she sees zacheriah, a man who works for her parents she met at gatherings. She greets him, has small talk.