010 Shake Him Off

"Morning, sunshine!" Erebus put the cup in his hand down on the table and stood up to greet Kitty when she appeared at the staircase, "How did you sleep?"

"It was great! I don't remember when was the last time I ever slept so well actually!" Kitty finished the last pair of stairs in a jump.

"I don't suppose you remember much about last night either?" Erebus laughed.

"Well, yeahhh..." Kitty made a face, "What happened to the last shot?" She assumed Erebus drank it, but she couldn't remember much after she finished the fourth one.

"Well, you scared him away, the way you finished his friend." Erebus teased her, smiling.

"You said it would still be here today!" Kitty protested, feeling as if something was unfinished.

"We will, we will. You will have your second lesson soon enough. As for now, what do you want to have as breakfast? I'll get you a coffee first." Erebus walked towards the kitchen with Kitty before he made a sudden stop: "Oops..."

"What?" Kitty looked up at his hesitation.

"Well, we didn't take enough stuff home yesterday..." Erebus gave her a defeated smile, "Should have gotten you a mug."

"Haha, it's okay. I'll just use a cup at the bar." Kitty was amused by him getting upset over such a small thing.

Erebus didn't rise any objection. He hates making promises before actually fulfilling them.

Kitty cupped both her hands around the glass with hot coffee, looking cozy. Autumn's morning can be a bit cold. Her long grey blue hair fell casually on her back, almost reaching her waist, as if a warm, smooth waterfall. She was wearing a large, loose turtlenecks. With the collar dropped low, the sun got to shine on her beautiful collarbone, and Erebus was lost in the basking autumn scene in front of him.

"What do you do during the day?" Kitty retrieved her gaze from the yellow-leaf-covered avenue outside the window.

"..." Erebus seemed reluctant to answer that question.

"What?" Kitty blinked in confusion.

"Well... training." Erebus said dryly.

"...Hahaha..." Stunned speechless for a second, Kitty burst into laughter and mocked him: "Sounds 'fun'!"

"I have enough fun with my real work." Erebus struck back with a smirk.

"Really? Try me." Kitty leaned towards him; eyes fixed on his.

"I..." Lost again in her eyes, Erebus couldn't think of anything "fun" in his work either. He only realized his world had been black and white all these years before he met her.

"Haha..." Kitty burst into laughter again at his clumsy stammer and gave him a helping hand: "So, what's your plan for today?"

"Hmm, might have to leave the city for a few days. We have to escort Perses and his people to the King." Erebus sighed. He wanted to take Kitty, of course. But he also worried that it would make it harder for Kitty to feel settled here. She was only here for a day.

"Ohh..." Kitty lowered her eyes quickly. She didn't want to show her disappointment. So much happened in the past two days that she actually hadn't given too much thought on the fact that she will not be spending all her time with Erebus. After all, she was only a stray cat Erebus rescued out of pity.

Watching her face sadden, Erebus almost let the words "do you wanna come with me" slip out of his mouth. He didn't want to leave her any more than she did, but this was the right thing to do, he knew that.

"I'll only be gone for a short time. Maybe..." He started to comfort her, but stopped because he just couldn't make empty promises. He'd rather come back early as a surprise, than getting her hope up only to disappoint her.

"It's okay!" Kitty replied quickly with a surprised tone, "Please don't feel like you have to make time for me. I appreciate a lot for all that you have done for me already!"

Actually Erebus DID feel like he has to make time for her, except it was more for his own urge of being with her than for her benefit.

"... Oh, right!" Erebus took a card out of his pocket and handed it to Kitty, "Some advance payment of your salary. Only three months' share." He added the last part quickly seeing the hesitating look on Kitty's face, afraid giving her money might hurt her feelings.

Kitty hesitated for a second, but didn't reject. It's not like she had any other way to get money, besides, he IS her boss now. Although, she DID literally sleep through her fist shift yesterday.

Giggled at that thought, she took the card: "Mucho appreciated, BOSS."

Kitty tried to get back on enjoying her breakfast by the window scene of a beautiful autumn morning, but she found herself growing more and more anxious and fretful.

Erebus booked a flight in the middle of the night so that Kitty could spend less time awake during his absence. He could spend the next day on the presentation before the King, and get back by the third morning. But now he didn’t know how to cling to her side with no good enough reason. He was feeling guilty of leaving her at a brand-new place all by herself.

Kitty got upset at herself for relying on Erebus so much so easily when she had been used to lonely and suffering for so long, only to become a child again in front of a man she just met two days ago.

Her instinct called out danger at her opening up to him so fast. She needed to feel independent again. She hated the feeling of being at someone's mercy that came from affection, and that kind of expectation brought her fear.

"Are you alright?" Erebus asked treading on eggshells there. He could see she was bothered.

"Of course." She got her drifting mind at his question. "I... I'll clean up."

She stood up fast, not having any good reason to stay with him. Erebus held her hand down gently: "It's okay, I'll do it."

"I'm fine with it, I know you have important stuff to do. I..." Kitty realized hearing her OWN words that she WAS upset because she didn't have any reason to expect attentions from Erebus, and that bothered her. She had loved ones before, but never with any of them had she felt this kind of jittering of her heart as if it was trying to escape from her.

She took the plates out of his hand and ran. Erebus hesitated on chasing after her because any pressure on her now is making her life transition harder. Too many things were new to her at that moment, and he didn't want to push her too hard.

He just hated the fact that he had to leave at this moment. It was important for him to stay and calm her down, also it was extremely painful for him to not be by her side too. Thought for a while, Erebus turned and headed to his own room.

Kitty took her time with those two small plates, because she didn't feel like she knew how to face Erebus again. It felt so natural to be so intimate with all those horrible things happening, and under the effect of alcohol, too. But not anymore. Suddenly the fact that he was still a total stranger to her kicked in, and the lonely stillness came back hard, taking over her mind.

When she finally found a shred of courage to come out again, Erebus was gone. There was no one in the bar, for it being still morning of course. They didn't even open yet.

Kitty started to really check out the place for the first time, and it calmed her down to feel alone for a while again and to really FEEL the place that she was going to live in.

The most attention attracting thing in the whole room would be the huge wine shelf. With all kinds of different bottles lined on there neatly, it gave the bar an aroma of all different bouquet around the world, because of the liquors' different birthplaces.

Kitty stood there for a while, and looked through the whole shelf. She found several with the same name of the liquor she tasted yesterday, but she still didn't know what the one she actually liked was called.

There were three different kinds of seats in the bar: Soft sofas with dine tables by windows; small, round, wooden tables with wooden chairs in the middle, and high chairs around the bar. Looks like Erebus just took a random table by the window to have his breakfast, but Kitty would totally pick the one in the southwest corner: One of the sofa was against the west side wall, and sitting here, you will have the whole street's view by your right hand, and the whole bar in front of your eyes. It was the safest seat with the best view!

Kitty walked towards that seat fast and landed herself on the sofa, feeling a lot better. But before she realized she had nothing to do there, she found a book left there leaning against the arm of the sofa. Looks like someone forgot it there.

Kitty moved inwards and picked up the book curiously. It was Victor Hugo's Les Miserables.

Curled up in the corner of the cozy sofa in such a beautiful morning, it felt only right to open the book and read. Kitty had seen this book on her father's shelf too many times, but she always thought there would be enough time to read, someday. And the she lost all the possibilities all together.

Kitty was so lost in the book that she didn't notice Erebus was checking up on her from the stairs. He disappeared into the second floor after he watched her reading for a while, having a satisfied smile on his face.

Thank God.

Les Miserables was the ONE book he had at hand that might interest her, and he was glad he bet on the right seat that she would pick, too.