= CHRIS POV =
Hana worked at Jun’s Café, which was just a few blocks away from the florist. I was quite familiar with the place, seeing as I was a co-founder, so I knew I wouldn’t be getting in the way if I popped by for a second.
Around this time there were barely any customers as it was just after the lunch rush, and the café closed its doors from 3 pm to 4 pm to give some time for the afternoon kitchen staff to do a handover and to take stock of their supplies while the morning shift clocked out for the day.
I checked my watch. It was 2:45 pm, Hana would probably still be at her station, backing up. I could go in and surprise her for a bit.
However, what I saw as I pushed open the café door made all my happiness wash away immediately.
Sarah was at the counter, innocently talking to a girl with a cute blond pixie cut who I recognized as Amber, and just as I walked in, a very familiar slender arm grabbed Sarah by the forearm, and she disappeared into the corridor on the other side of the counter.
I took a deep breath.
I put down the bag of flowers.
I was fine.
I was in control of myself.
I was in control of myself.
I strode down that café’s dining space as calmly as I could, and I turned down the corner to find just what I expected to see; a familiar tall, lanky black-haired foe, leaning over Sarah, blocking her ability to escape, bearing down on her.
“Heather has been hogging you all day. I have a new cake recipe I want you to try,” Ruby said as she held Sarah’s chin in her hand while leaning in close “Come on, just five minutes, I promise it’s good” she purred.
I was barely in control of myself.
I reached out and yanked Ruby back by the collar.
“Hey! What the- ?“ She yelped as I released her and let her go, letting her stumble back into the dining area, stalking after her as I firmly planted myself between Sarah and Ruby.
“No, you tell me. What the Fuck do you think you’re doing, Ruby?” I snapped, crossing my arms as I stared daggers at her.
Ruby rubbed her neck, looking at me confused.
“Hi to you too, Chris. Someone’s got her panties in a twist” Ruby grumbled as she glared right back at me.
“So, you caught me being a little naughty at work again, big deal, since when did you give a shit?,” she snorted nervously. “ Are you going to write another police report and report me to the police again?”
“Why? So that you can use your lawyers to bail you out of jail again? So much for our justice system” I snapped back.
“Hey, you’re one to talk” Ruby shot back, getting right in my face, “ I hear you’re still sleeping around with anything with boobs that smiles at you,” Ruby retorted, smirking as she crossed her arms, mirroring me.
“And I heard that you still haven’t learned that no one wants to eat your crummy alcohol-laced cakes! You always put too much alcohol and not enough thought behind the flavor combinations,” I retorted.
Ruby clutched her heart as if I had just stabbed her “You can come after my looks, you can come after my love life, you can even come after my criminal record…but not my precious cakes, you take that back!” Ruby exclaimed, with a horrified look on her face.
I narrowed my eyes and took a step forward. “That woman you were just manhandling? Do not mess with her again”
Ruby cocked her head to the side. “Oh? Are you two dating? I thought Sarah was single”
I froze.
Right… We were not dating.
Technically, Ruby could do whatever she wanted; why was I getting myself involved like this?
I also didn’t even know why Sarah was so close to Ruby that Ruby felt emboldened to do this.
A sly look passed across Ruby’s face, and she smirked. “Ah, so it’s ok for you to rob me of my first prize at a National Baking Competition, but it’s not ok for me to pursue a love interest of mine with which you have no ties?”
“L-Love interest?” I scoffed, “Hey, I won Nationals fair and square,” I said, unfolding my arms and balling up my fists.
Ruby sauntered forward, her smile widening as she saw she had managed to get under my skin.
“Yes, but we both made alcohol-based cakes. What was it about yours that the judges said was better than mine? Was it the chemistry between the ingredients? Well, let’s see who has better chemistry huh? Best chef wins” Ruby grinned and patted me on the shoulder.
I grabbed her by the wrist. “Don’t touch her. Sexually assaulting customers is bad for business,” I re-emphasized.
Ruby laughed and snatched her hand away. “Oh? But she’s not a customer. She is staff,” Ruby said with the hugest grin on her face and took a step closer to me, forcing me to step back.
“ I get to see her every day she works here. How did you two meet? Did she used to work at the hotel? Well she is all mine now,” Ruby purred as she loved to rub it in.
Growled, getting toe-to toe with Ruby, a second away from ripping her head off.
“There, see! Ms. Jun is fighting with Ms. Fairfield again!” I heard Amber suddenly pipe up.
A pair of familiar slender hands grabbed both Ruby and I by our collars and pulled us apart, forcing us to stumble back, our eyes still locked on each other.
“Firstly, Sarah is employed under my department; so no, you *don’t* get to see her everyday Ruby, I do” came Heather’s voice, smooth and calm, cutting through the raging storm that was blowing up in my head.
“And Christina Fairfield, the last time you stepped in here to check on your financial investment was a year ago. Are you seriously telling me that you can’t come by for five minutes just to say hi and let me give you a rundown of our business portfolio?” Heather snapped, glaring at Ruby, and then staring daggers at me.
The sudden shift towards finances made my raging blood cool a little. I sighed and tore my eyes away from Heather sheepishly.
“Oh right I err…I’ve been busy” I murmured.
“Heather, you trying to kill us or something? That really hurt!” Ruby whined as she rubbed her throat area.
“I will kill you. I will kill you and bury you somewhere your corpse wouldn’t be able to smell baked bread. Stop giving me so much trouble!” Heather exclaimed, exasperated.
She then turned back to where Amber and Sarah were staring at us with wide eyes, watching us like we were two out-of-control wild beasts.
“Sorry, girls, these two idiots are always at each other’s throats every time they see each other. Why don’t you pack up, and I’ll drop you off at your homes as compensation for witnessing this shit show,” Heather said apologetically.
“I-“ I started but stopped when Sarah nodded and went over to Heather.
“That would be great. I just want to pick up something for tea,” Sarah said nervously.
“And I want to pick up something for tea AND dinner,” Amber added, beamed up at Heather. The girl really didn’t know how to hide her emotions when she was around her crush.
,“Alright, I’ll see you girls outside,” Heather sighed, and the two women disappeared into the kitchen.
Heather turned back to us, and I don’t know why, but now I felt kind of jealous, not of Ruby, but of Heather.
What kind of relationship did Heather have with Sarah? Heather was just as much a raging lesbian as me and Ruby, albeit the mommy-domme type.
“Look, Chris, as a silent partner, I need you to turn up at least quarterly so that I have one level-headed person to talk to about the running of our business. The airhead over here just wants to flirt with everyone and bankrupt us; I’m struggling here!”Heather said exasperatedly, pulling me out of my sulking thoughts.
I shrugged and crossed my arms “The reports seem fine, and you didn’t leave a footnote about requiring me to be more present, so I assumed you had things handled” I replied a little more curtly than I had intended.
“Hey, I’m right here, don’t talk about me like I’m not in the room” Ruby grumbled, crossing her arms as well.
Heather rolled her eyes.
“Look, If not for Sarah helping with the data and finally compiling an actual list of what this Idiot genius is and isn’t selling well from her barrage of new recipes every week, we would be in the red. Please, you are literally the only one here who can hold a candle to Ruby; just… come in, occasionally, and help, this was supposed to be your café too” Heather blurted out, running a hand through her hair.
Ruby looked down guiltily at her feet, and I sighed, scratching my arm.
I had been neglecting my side of this business. I guess I could find the time, especially now that I was promoted at work, I did have a new work arrangement…
“I mean I’ll try... This whole thing started right after college and I invested a huge part of my savings. You can’t blame me for working hard to build that back up” I said, trying to downplay how much I had neglected my friends.
Heather and Ruby exchanged looks and I sighed.
“Alright alright, I can see that I am half-assed about things over here. I’ll email you about my availability and try to come by more often. Ok?” I replied.
Heather smiled warmly, finally satisfied with my answer.
“Great, because Ruby has been such a handful. I don’t know what your fixation is with our new hire, but you must stop forcing yourself on her, Ruby; she can’t even safely come down to eat because you keep stalking her in the common areas; it’s downright creepy, even the rest of the staff have noticed” Heather scolded Ruby.
I stared at Ruby “Forcing? How many times has this happened?”
“The first incident—ah. You know, I don’t think I should disclose personal information about an employee. Just know that I personally stopped it before Ruby got out of hand again. I really would love it if you would consider a full-time support position here. Then Ruby can be demoted to entirely just R&D, and can take her flirting elsewhere,” Heather said solemnly.
“Hey, I can control myself! And Sarah likes me, she just…needs some time to warm up to her feelings towards me!” Ruby explained in a huff.
I ran my hand through my hair, a little overwhelmed at the onslaught of information.
There had been a previous incident?
Something happened to Sarah, and she didn’t tell me?
Fuck…
Just how much have I been neglecting her…
“Well, if you didn’t act like an impudent child, mommy and daddy over here wouldn’t have to send you to juvie every time you made a bad decision,” Heather said patronizingly.
“Which one of us is daddy?” I asked, laughing nervously as I tried to take stock of what was going on.
“Obviously you, because I majored in Economics, not Culinary, and Ruby clearly take after you,” Heather said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms.
“Ok, well, firstly, I need you both to know…” I said and took a deep breath, “Sarah is my tenant.” I said, letting it just hang in the air for a moment.
“She rents a room from me, so, we are pretty close…. anyway, she is a huge concern of mine-“ I began
“Ah Ha!” Ruby suddenly exclaimed, cutting me off, “ I know what this is about!”
Heather and I exchanged confused looks.
“Sarah! The same Sarah you were always whining about back in college? That straight girl who was your best friend from the art school? The one you never let any of us meet?” Ruby said triumphantly.
I sighed and rubbed my forehead. How in the world did Ruby still remember that?
Heather scratched her chin. “Huh. Come to think of it, it is funny that you are acting so possessive over someone… Chris…is this true?”
I sheepishly nodded. At this point, the cat was out of the bag.
“I knew it!” Ruby laughed gleefully. Oh…I can see why you were head over heels in love with her. Sarah is sexy. Innocent sexy. Like she doesn’t even know she’s so biteable. She is so cute!” Ruby grinned, standing akimbo and leaning towards me.
“ No wonder you never introduced her to us. I just want to gobble her up!” Ruby declared.
Heather raised an eyebrow and crossed her arm. “Seriously, Sarah…is the girl you have been pining over for years? Hmm… well she is a hard worker, and sweet… yeah… I can see why you like her…but she doesn’t seem your type at all”
“Oh, oh, now I must have her. To have Chris’ ultimate love interest, fall for me? Well, that just seals the deal; I must make her mine!” Ruby laughed and winked at me “One of us has to, and clearly, where your chemistry lies in your cooking, mine is all in my hands. She’s into me; I can tell”
I took a step towards Ruby and Heather stepped in between us immediately.
“Hey, no fighting in the café” Heather said to me, “And, no flirting in the café!” Heather then snapped at Ruby, “ At this rate, I’m going to have to fire the girl if you both cannot control yourselves. Do you want that? To be the reason a perfectly capable girl loses her job?” Heather asked us both.
We hung our heads in shame.
“No, I said and sighed, taking a step back, crossing my arms “Sorry, I shouldn’t behave like this; I’m getting more like Ruby every day”
“Hey, don’t use me as an insult” Ruby said “ Well I’m not giving up, starting now, I will make Sarah mine, one way or another; just you wait Christina Fairfield, I’m going to get your girl, and then we’ll see who is really number one” Ruby said and stormed off, leaving Heather scratching her eyebrow in irritation.
“Does that mean I can punch her if she can keep flirting?” I grumbled.
“Christina!” Heather snapped and hit me on the shoulder.
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