Actually, everyone was in a mask. No one knew what the other looked like, so there was nothing to be embarrassed about. Everyone could pretty much let loose, even more so than usual. The lights in the bar were exceptionally dim today too. At some point, the woman who had led her to the dance floor disappeared. Everyone around her had lost themselves in the music. The specious dance floor was completely crowded, with zero space in between people. It was difficult to avoid rubbing against a stranger, and many people who were stuck together were complete strangers. The dance floor shook along with the booming music, making it difficult for anyone to stand still. One had to sway their body along to stabilize their footing. Arianne couldn’t find Tiffany at all due to the obscene crowd. She couldn’t even leave the dance floor, even if she wanted to. She had been squeezed into the center of it for some strange reason. Suddenly, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her from behind. She
By the end of it all, Arianne’s face was covered in tears. She had been screaming hysterically. Her voice echoed with helplessness and hurt throughout the silent night, crashing into Tiffany’s heart. Back when the situation unraveled, Arianne simply wept. She did not display too many emotions. Now, Tiffany understood how much hurt Arianne had to endure, “I’m sorry, Ari… I shouldn’t have said those things. Don’t cry, okay? We’re not going back; we’ll stay right here. Pretend that I never said anything. I’ll stay with you from now on!” … The dessert shop was due for a reopening in six days. Arianne had decided to go on with the reopening on New Year’s Day. Mark’s sudden appearance in the bar had affected her mood. She didn’t want to remain idle and have her thoughts preoccupied by people who should not cross her mind. It was best to keep herself busy. She had initially thought that she could let it all go, say goodbye to her past, and forget that man. On the contrary, she ended
Arianne was already starting down the stairs by the time Regina finally understood her.Regina went ballistic. “You think this is it, b*tch?! Did you forget that I can always buy a sh*t ton of SIM cards and rotate them in use and dislike-bomb you every single goddamned day? And then I’ll demand refunds from your stinking shop by telling everyone that the quality of your food is sh*t! B*tch, you drag me to hell, imma do the same!” She fumed. “Oh, and FYI? I’m sick of eating your stuff!”In contrast, Arianne was more tranquil than fuming. “Go ahead, Beautiful. Youths gotta’ dream big, so if this is your break, go for it! Besides, it’s not like I’ve just taped everything you’ve screamed, which is about enough evidence to sue you for slander. I guess being sent into prison at such a ripe young age is pretty legendary, so hey! I’m rooting for you achieving the impossible, Regina. Don’t hold back!”Regina’s clique quickly reconsidered their plan. “Um, Reggie? We kinda always finish everythin
The girls’ bustling day finally ended with Tiffany gleefully counting their earnings. “Oh my god, Ari, we hit the jackpot on the very first business day of the year!” she exclaimed. “Honestly, that office building across us alone will keep our shop afloat forever. In fact, I’m sure we’ll be hiring more hands a few days from now! Oh, by the way, having people order from a takeout app rather than directly from our shop made us lose some revenue to the middlemen. If they’d ordered directly, we could have earned even more! I’ll have Tanya give them a little contact card next time.”“Already done that, Tiffany,” Tanya interjected. “I’ve presented them with our business cards during today’s deliveries. Told them that they could give us a ring the next time their cravings struck them.”On cue, Tiffany brought the girl’s bonuses, wrapped in a nice little packet, to her. “Here’s a little something for you, our little smart alec.”At first, Tanya was delighted to receive her reward, but then her
Lynn let loose a quick curl of her lips. “Oh, no, no. Held my breath when I was bending down just now.”While the two were bantering, a group of twenty-something men strode through the front door, all of them donning business suits with their nameplates pinned to the chests.Strangely, there was no woman among them; this curiosity hooked Tiffany’s attention. Experience told her that men didn’t typically visit cafés in throngs, and women were usually better appreciators of all things sweet.Instinctively, she reasoned that these men were here to buy for their girlfriends. “Welcome! What would you like? Here are our latest goods, and they are guaranteed to be a favorite among the ladies. Would you like me to introduce them to you?”A clean-shaven man leading the troop was a little bashful. “Um, well… Just giving all of us a set of your recommendations will do.”Tiffany cocked an eyebrow. “Hmm? Dining-in? You’re not buying for your girlfriends or female friends?”The man’s friends had alr
The man fumbled out an excuse, “Makes takeouts more convenient.”Tanya mused between reciting each of Arianne’s numbers, “Don’t you guys always ring up the shop directly? Ari may be one of the two bosses, but she’s always busy in the kitchen, so she rarely manages orders. I think directly calling the shop is a better idea.”The man stored the girl’s number gingerly while replying, “I see, I see. Thank you very much for your help.”Tanya thought of telling Arianne about the little exchange regarding her phone number once she returned to the shop, but the bustle of the day kept coming, and soon, she forgot about it altogether.Night fell. The café was near its closing hour when Arianne’s phone beeped: ‘A cup of warm milk. Less sugar.’It baffled her to see someone ordering through her number, but she replied patiently, ‘Please tell me the address for delivery.’The other side was quick to respond. ‘The office building opposite your shop. I’ll send you the details when it’s ready.’The pr
Tiffany was so startled that the fish fell out of her agape mouth and bounced off the table. “W-wait, this isn’t from you? Then someone… Someone delivered this to the wrong room, and I opened it and ate it clean!” she cried. “O-or worse, if this wasn’t a wrong delivery, then it’s an assassination attempt through poison — and I fell for it! I’m gonna dieeeeee!”Jackson suddenly roared into laughter. “Enjoy your meal, Dum-dum. Of course I didn’t cook it — I ordered someone else to do it instead! I’ve opened a branch around your corner and thought that you girls might be hungry after work, so I asked the cooks to prepare some dinner before the restaurant closed and had them deliver it to you. You girls must have worked really late into the night if they decided to just hang it on your door instead of waiting.”Tiffany heaved out a long sigh of relief. “Gawd, you naughty, naughty devil! You could have told me right away instead of setting me up like in a horror movie! You know what, screw
Mark Tremont never did turn toward her direction. He just melted into the gathering crowd.A morose smile shadowed her pale lips. She wanted to not be seen, did she not? It was for the best, she told herself. That embrace in the club? Forget it. It was for the best.At the highest floor of the block, flanked by his company’s higher-ups, Mark visited every department in the building in turns. Behind those glasses, dour eyes coated in a thin film of frost scaled his nervous employees while they did their best to ensure no slips came to pass.Narrowly after ordering two cups of coffee through Messenger, Nick’s periphery vision caught Mark approaching his direction. He quickly placed his phone down and went back to work. His superior had already informed him earlier that the boss was coming today. If Mark found him fiddling with his phone, Nick would lose his job right there and then.His fortune, however, took a dip. When Mark was passing by Nick’s aisle, the steely man suddenly stopped a