BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

"Guess it's time, huh?"

Snapping my eyes wide open and hitting the snooze button on my watch, I rubbed my eyes and said slightly tired. Although I only managed to get a few hours of sleep, it's enough for me to hop out of bed and get ready for work.

"I need some coffee."

After hopping out of bed, putting on some simple clothes, and washing my face, I told myself as I stared into the mirror. Eyes were slightly red but it was negligible. It won't get in the way of my work. Once I drink a cup of coffee, I'll be good to go.

"..."

Trying not to wake up the boss's daughter who's surprisingly a light sleeper, I crept through the hallway towards the stairs. But not before checking up on that girl, I brought her here so it's only right I do an obligatory check-up.

I slowly opened the door to not make any noise.

"Empty."

The bed was messy, showing signs that she was once here but other than that, there was nothing.

Where'd she go? 

My best bet, she's downstairs. Most likely talking to the boss lady. She's usually up before me getting the shop ready for customers. So if that girl suddenly got up in an unfamiliar environment, she's bound to try and explore it, leading her downstairs, thus resulting in those two meeting.

As I walked down the stairs...

"Amazing!"

"No worries. It's on the house. If you want, I can show you how I did it."

"Really? Thanks."

I heard those two chatting away. As for what the contents were, I don't know, but it must've been something they both like since they're both laughing together.

"Ah, Dominic. He's the one who found you last night. It was thanks to him that you didn't get sicker than what you already are. Dominic, this is Laura. Laura, Dominic, my best employee."

Catching the sight of me walking down the stairs, the boss lady introduced me. 

"Best employee? If John heard that he'd cry."

"True. Despite being a part-timer, he takes his job quite seriously."

"Yes, to a surprising extent."

I'm not going to say ' the reason why he's working so hard is that he's got a crush on you.' As a man who once had a crush, I can't do such a wicked thing. 

Plus, I can't blame him for having a crush on her, I know I do. Having long black hair tied up in a bun, pretty ruby red eyes, a bountiful chest, a curvy waist, and nice long legs, she's so beautiful that there are times when my heart starts to race just by looking at her.

Not to mention, she's only 29 years old, which's well within my strike range. 

As for the kid, while it may be seen as a negative to most men, I, on the other hand, think she's insanely cute. She reminds me of my sister when she was little.

But sadly, due to the nature of my other job, I don't dare act on my feelings.

"Like she said, I'm Dominic. Nice to meet you, Laura."

After putting on my work apron that was hanging on the wall, I shook Laura's hand and said with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too… T-thank you for saving me and I'm sorry for the trouble I caused. Achoo!'

The girl looked at me and said sincerely before letting out a small sneeze.

"No problem. It's a good thing you only caught a cold."

...Let's keep the fact I was going to dump her off at the hospital anonymously a secret. Her sincerity is starting to make me feel guilty.

"So, what are you guys talking about?"

To curb my guilty conscience, I asked offhandedly while pouring myself some coffee. I didn't bother putting milk or sugar in it since I find the bitterness of the coffee good for stimulating the senses.

"Latte art."

The boss lady said, pointing at Laura's latte that had a picture of a leaf in it. 

"I always wanted to try these but never had a chance to. So when Ms. Ivy here offered to show me, I happily agreed. Ah, delicious."

Taking the latte into her hands and looking at it with amazement, Laura said with a smile before drinking it.

"Is that so? Well, figuring that if the boss hasn't asked you yet, I should be the one that will: what's a girl who attended Wiltshire academy, a school not in this city doing here?"

Not beating around the bush anymore, I asked directly.

"Dominic, don't you think that's a bit rude?"

My boss said with a slight frown. It made me nervous with her beautiful face getting angry like that but I ignored it for the time being and continued.

"I'm sorry, boss but I couldn't help but ask…  I don't know if you heard or not but New Haven isn't necessarily a haven, it's more of like a den of thieves."

During and after the war, criminals of all kinds flocked here, whether by boat or plane or good ol' fashioned walking. Due to this influx of criminals, however, influential spheres started interfering with each other, resulting in fights over territory becoming more and more frequent and causing the town to slowly begin to earn its dreadful reputation.

I ain't saying that it's a bad thing since this relates to my livelihood but if I was her and I heard about New Haven, instead of going towards it, I'd steer the fuck away from it.

"Therefore, what's a girl like you doing here?"

"... The reason I came to this city was because I ran away from home."

"Ran away from home?"

Guess I was right. No ordinary person would want to come here unless they're in some type of trouble. 

"...My family is what you'd call rather strict. I'm not allowed to be 'me' there. All the 'I's are replaced with 'for the family'. They even went to the point where they sent me to a private boarding school to expand their influence."

"I see… Then, let's leave it at that then."

"Eh? You're not going to question me any further?"

"Why should I? I'm not your family. I just wanted to know why you came here. I don't need to know the in-depth story behind it. Also, because the boss is glaring at me real bad, allow me to apologize. I came off a bit rude."

Other than the fact she's in charge of my legal paychecks, she's also my landlord. I can't make her too angry or she'll probably cut my pay and jack my rent up. Not that it matters but still, that's money coming out of my pocket.

"It's alright. If it wasn't for me trying to hide from my parents, I wouldn't come here either. Hehe… Achoo!" 

"Haha, you might wanna get some cold medicine for that sneeze there… Anyways, Boss, it's bout time to open shop."

Looking at my wristwatch I said to my boss. It was pushing close to eight. Students from the university should be lining up outside right now.

"Oops! I almost forgot about that. Laura, I won't question you running away so if you want, do you want to work here? After you get over your cold, of course."

"B-but we only just met?" 

"That doesn't matter, you remind me of a certain friend when I was younger so I just wanted to help. Did you not want to learn latte art?"

Boss Ivy asked as she stared at Laura with a smile. Her eyes and smile were filled with both empathetic and sympathetic feelings.

"I- I do! I want to learn how to make pretty hearts and flowers with lattes!"

Laura said energetically as her face was gradually getting red.

"Okay. But before you do that, rest. Otherwise, you’re going to make yourself sicker. You can use that room you slept in last night. Make sure not to wake up Paige. She's easy to wake up but hard to go to sleep."

After placing her hand on Laura's forehead to estimate her temperature, Boss Ivy suggested.

"Okay. See you guys after work! Achoo!"

To which Laura cheerfully sneezed and agreed to as she ran upstairs.

"Congratulations on getting a natural airhead as your new employee. Hopefully, she won't do as bad as John did on his first day at work here."

"I hope so too. Come on. Let's get started."

Boss flips the 'closed' sign to 'open'.

It's time to get to work.

*** 

Author's Note

• It's been a while since I been on this story. Sorta hit a roadblock on where I should take it. I wanted this to be an action packed one right off the gate but I can't really jump into those scenarios. If you have any scenarios in mind, please don't hesitate to share them. I'm all ears.

• Another reason why I sorta fell off on writing this is because I find it weirdly odd how I'm writing this. Can't necessarily put my finger on it.

• Anywho, I might get back interested in this. Idk. My main focus is return of an unlikely hero rn.