01

THREE YEARS AGO

Only the two of us stood beneath the frigid sky on a snowy December night.

He grabs my hands and pulls me in closer. His eyes, like mine, are full of bliss, which I believed could only happen in movies. The butterflies in my stomach began to tickle my entire body.

For me, it's a lovely night, and I'm feeling like a princess.

He's speaking with his heart rather than his words when he says, "Thank you for coming into my life, Selena."

My shaking hands smiled at him as they touched his face.

"Thank you for always making my heart warm, even when the weather was so chilly."

My eyes immediately closed to his lips' every contact on mine, it was so lovely and pure, as he pushed me closer and grabbed my lips.

I felt a searing stab in my back, and my eyes were shaking as I stared at him in shock that he could do such a thing to me.

His face is now covered in dark, and he appears to be a new person.

"Please accept my apologies."

He takes the knife from his pocket and positions it to stab me in the heart.

"NOOOO!"

My face was drenched in sweat, and my throat was parched. I touched the spot on my back where he stabbed me, but nothing seemed amiss. Because of that dream, my heart is racing.

My feet rushed to the restroom as I was going to lay down in my bed again. I'm running late!

"Oh, Selena, you're not going to eat breakfast?" Hax inquired as she sipped her coffee.

"No, I have to leave; just tell Britt, okay? Bye."

My endurance suddenly increases, and I board the last bus to the station.

I sat at the window, reminiscing about my previous dream.

Who is this mystery man?

What was he thinking when he stabbed me to death?

Even though it was only a dream, the sensation of betrayal was real and has never left my system. My heart continues to pound loudly as if it will explode at any moment.

"How could you have betrayed me?" I asked myself in hushed tones, expecting that the answer would come to me.

When I observed that the bus had just gone by the café where I work, my eyes widened.

"Sir Driver! I have to leave right now!" The bus came to a halt when I yelled.

I take a breather before continuing on my way in; there are a lot more customers today than there were before.

Lorraine, my co-worker, whispered to me as she prepared an ordered coffee, "You're late again, rush to change your clothes while Ma'am Dianne is busy."

I changed into my work clothes and went to work.

"Good morning, Sir, what is your order?" says the waiter. I greeted the client.

While on the phone, he said, "One espresso and a blueberry cake." To create a receipt, I encrypt his order.

"Sir, it's $27."

He returned to his table after giving me the money.

"Lorraine, did you see the customer I spoke with earlier?"

"Yeah, but why?" Lorraine asked, also looking at the guy. 

"I believe I've seen him before; he looks so familiar."

Lorraine gives a nod as she looks at the man I'm referring to.

"It's my first time seeing him here; perhaps you've met previously, back in your childhood?"

I simply shrugged my shoulders and took up the gentleman's order. He's now glancing out the window of the café; perhaps he's just looking for some alone time.

"Sir, your order has been received. Enjoy!"

When he touched me for a second, I felt lightning rushing from his hand.

He inquired, "You are familiar, where did I see you?" I turned to face him and pretended not to know or observe anything.

"I don't know, maybe we went to school together?"

He was going to speak again when I realized that more customers were arriving, and I needed to go take all of their orders.

With a raised eyebrow on her face, the girl customer bratty inquired, "Did I order a bread roll?"

You're not beautiful enough to have that attitude, Bitch.

"Yes, ma'am," I said sweetly, despite the fact that my hands wanted to hit her.

"Change it, I want a red velvet cake," she stated emphatically.

Argh, Selena, you need to calm down, I rolled my eyes.

"Excuse me, Ma'am," I say.

I substituted red velvet cake for the bread roll. Lorraine was irritated as well, but it's all part of the café's routine. We just need to be folks with a lot of patience, fudge.

The café half-day went nicely. Lorraine requested  to transfer the glasses to clean the shelf while I was cleaning the rinsed glasses.

I need to move gently because the floor is damp, but if you're born with clumsiness, everything will be a jumble.

My boots slid on the moist floor, causing the tray of glasses to fall and break into pieces, some of which landed on my skin, causing a laceration.

"What in the world did you do?!?" yelled ma'am Dianne.

Lorraine and her both walk into the kitchen, and Lorraine assists me in getting up.

"Oh my goodness, you're bleeding."

"You moron! Look at what you've done!" Ma'am Dianne smacked my head hard, my head hurt so much and felt dizzy, my body was going to fall, so I used to stand, but my hand accidentally touched the broken pieces.

"Ah!" I exclaimed because of pain. Ma'am Dianne left the room in frustration.

Lorraine rushed over to me and helped me sit in the sink to treat my wounds.

She inquired, "What happened?"

"I tripped and fell on the floor."

When Lorraine uses alcohol and cotton, my hands tremble.

I walked straight to Ma'am Dianne's office once we cleaned up the mess.

I went up to the door and knocked.

"Come in," she said as she switched her focus to me from her swivel chair.

I insisted, "I'm sorry for what occurred earlier."

She cynically responded, "Do you think your apology will bring back all the glasses you crashed?" and dropped her pen.

"It was only a coincidence," I said.

"It doesn't matter if it was an accident or not; destroying the shop's inventory is still a terrible mistake."

I took a look around and prepared myself for whatever decision she made.

"You're fired because I don't need someone as clumsy as you," she replied as she walked out the door to her office.

"How's your conversation with her going?" Lorraine inquired as soon as she spotted me.

"Fired."

She was taken aback and shook me slightly.

"You should defend yourself; it was an accident, and no one wants it to happen," she expressed her concern.

I just gave her a kind grin and tapped her on the shoulder.

"I'm alright; she's the boss here, so I have to follow her orders."

We parted ways, and I headed directly to the mall to de-stress. The sores on my hands are still bothering me.

I purchase food and beverages, as well as biscuits for the beggars outside.

I went to the mall and handed out crackers and bottled water to beggars. They thanked me, and seeing how hungry they are made me almost cry.  I'm still lucky.

I sat in a nearby cabin and arranged all of the refreshments I had purchased.

I took out my phone and dialed Brittanny's number.

As she answered the phone, I said, "Hey, come here."

[Why? Is there something you want to tell me about?]

"Just... come here right now. When you arrive, I'll tell you everything."

[All right, I'll tell Hax. Wait for us.]

I searched around for something to do while I waited.

They arrived a few minutes later. When they saw the bandage and band-aids on my hands, their eyes widened.

"Hey! What went wrong with you?!" Britanny inquired, her gaze falling on my hands.

"Is that why you dialed our number?" Hax inquired, his brow furrowed.

"Please relax first, take a seat and eat some snacks." I gave them a friendly grin as I handed them the food.

"So now," Hax replied solemnly, "Tell us everything." Britanny was simply sitting there munching chips and watching us.

"I'm fired—" 

They exclaimed, "What?"

"Wait, let me finish first," I explained. "At the time, I was cleaning the glass shelf, and as I was about to transfer the glasses, I slipped, and the glasses cracked down."

"Did you pick all of the pieces to get that wound?"

Hax is furious right now.

"Wait, what's your strategy now?" Britanny had inquired. I just shrugged.

"Looking for a new job? I'm not sure, "I said while eating some biscuits.

"How did you get your wounds treated?"

I replied, "Lorraine, my co-worker."

When Hax suddenly rose and took out her car keys, Britanny and I were both taken aback.

"Can you tell me where you're going?" I asked.

"Let's go to a pub; I'm craving some alcoholic beverages."

We've already arrived at our favorite bar, La Casa Bar, which is operated by one of our pals.

"Hey, it's the Avengers Trio!" Jacy, a worker here and a friend of ours.

They believe our three, which we dubbed Avengers Trio in high school and college, is ideal.

Britanny is the proud owner of the most stunning.

When it comes to bravery and strength, Haxilla is unrivaled.

I'm the one with the intelligence; everyone in our trio is intelligent, but I'm the one who stands out.

The owner, Kaley, came down to speak with us.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you come to tell me what happened," she remarked as she led us to the VIP area.

Our order of hard cocktails and red wine was placed at the table by the server. There are also chips and food.

"How are you doing?" The talk was started by Kaley.

"We're alright, but Sel isn't," Hax stated as she sipped her beer.

Kaley was perplexed as she glanced at me. I take a sip of my wine that I pour it into my glass.

"Why? What happened to your hands, by the way?"

From the café to the mall, I told her everything that had transpired.

"Gosh, I'm sorry to hear that," she expressed genuine regret. I grinned and shook my head.

"Don't worry, I'm okay."

The discussion was a hit. Kaley got engaged last month, and they're throwing a celebration next month, as we all know.

"Please, Britanny, assist me in deciding what to wear." Kaley even did something cute to Britanny after she asked.

Britanny said, "Yeah, I got you."

I took a few steps back and took a look around. Even though I'm a touch tipsy, I'm still in command. When I spotted Hax sleeping on the couch, I had a small chuckle. Low alcohol tolerance is a concern. 

We drank more, and I felt compelled to use the restroom at that point. I attempted to stand, but my eyesight abruptly turned around, so I relied on the wall as a guide.

I'm aware that I'm outside the VIP area, and my dizziness worsens when I meet a large number of individuals on the dance floor.

When I feel like I'm about to puke, I cover my mouth. Unfortunately, I can't find the restroom, and I'm not even sure where I am anymore. As I walked and walked, I finally found the restroom.

I was about to enter when I was bumped, which caused me to fall, but someone is clutching my backside.

Because I couldn't understand what he was saying due to the crowd, my eyelids became heavy and eventually closed.