The heir of the Mayers finally arrived at the branch of McRonards. After the piece of information, he received from Gloria, the sight he had of the technically run-down burger restaurant downtown was radically different.

'My uncle got this place... just so he could keep supervising me? it doesn't make sense... why not something simpler? Or could it be that Gloria was lying to me?'

For the first time, Sophia was unexpectedly quiet, limiting herself to following him around, occasionally sending a few glances across the street.

'During your first resting period, could you accompany me somewhere, Andrew?' The ghost requested him, levitating next to him, quite close.

"Somewhere? Is there any place around here you wish to visit?" He didn't mind.

'Uhm, I want to visit my workplace'.

"You..." Andrew recalled the conversation they had previously and all of a sudden it all made sense, however, it was a huge coincidence that their workplaces were so close to each other.

'I told you we were similar in many regards, but you didn't believe me. I came to this restaurant a few times with my friends because we work the next block down the street, across... we only coincided during a single day of the week though, Wednesdays'.

It turns out Sophia of all people had also been working downtown.

'I wasn't preparing burgers though, I was managing my own workspace!' She said pridefully, openly looking down at his burger preparation skills.

"How can we be compared then?" The boy rolled his eyes and greeted everyone present, the restaurant was already running with everything prepared. A limited amount of employees, three in the kitchen, two cashiers. Sophia formed part of the cashier group while he worked in the kitchen.

'She hasn't arrived yet-' He mumbled inwardly and got into the locker where he prepared to change into his uniform which was only a shirt and apron.

"Andrew!"

A pair of massive lumps of flesh clashed on his back and he recognised them very well.

'Oh my goodness, they're bigger in person!' Sophia exclaimed much to his shock, the girl is more perverted or physically conscious than he thought her to be, perhaps becoming a ghost was starting to get rid of her inhibitions.

Beatrice arrived in all her giggling self, wearing jeans, a shirt and a leather jacket with a backpack; she greeted Andrew quite enthusiastically as usual, but when she didn't receive the usual enthusiastic response from him, she knew something was going on.

"Afternoon, Beatrice" He answered rather drily and continually changing. Usually, he'd take the chance to hug her back friendly and perhaps touch her here and there, but he didn't do so this time.

"Everything's right? something happened?" She leaned forward curiously, showing up her cleavage intentionally or not, but Andrew ignored it so thoroughly that it only enhanced her apprehension.

"Nothing... I'll talk to you later, alright?"

"Sure... you haven't called me. Could it be that you're that antisocial? I thought we were friends?" She giggled and scratched her silky brown hair slightly, trying to slant a reaction that never came. Unbeknownst to her, a malicious spirit was inspecting every single inch of her body and reactions.

'S-She's hot... as expected this guy is quite lucky. And she looks fairly interested as well. she's giving away too many signs, how many of them are fake?' As a fellow lady, Sophia was irritated that the ones of her kind had to be so complicated to decipher sometimes

"We are friends, Beatrice. I was just busy alright? There is this yoga class I was invited to" Andrew finished settling up his business, it was about this time he'd leave and give her some room to change, but the woman started changing in front of him while she continued to speak as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

!!!

"Yoga? Are you trying to relax? or get back in shape?"

She took out her jacket, leaving her only in a tight white shirt in which he could see her belly button clearly. Beatrice blushed and kept changing despite his gaze.

'She wants you to react, say something!'

"*cough!* both, anyway, I'll go to the kitchen now" A blushing Andrew fled the scene under the relentless scolding of a stubborn ghost.

'Coward! You can shamelessly ogle a bunch of yoga ladies, why are you running now?!'

'Shut up, you damn ghost, what do you know?!'

Beatrice gasped and saw how the boy she was trying to get a reaction from fled the scene, she bit her lips and clenched her hands tightly.

'What is going on with him?'

"You two, stop blabbering and get to work, customers are coming!" The manager yelled from the other side, earning two positive answers from the rushing cashier and 'chef'.

"Yes!"

They were asked to enter the shift immediately, Beatrice was determined to know what was happening before their shift finished at midnight.

**

**

Andrew skillfully prepared his burgers, fried his potatoes and overall showcased his skills as if he was trying to impress someone. In fact, he was. Andrew was determined to show this stuck-up ghost that preparing burgers wasn't child's play.

Sadly, the aforementioned ghost was too focused on haunting the cashier. It had reached a point at which Beatrice had checked up the weather in her phone many times because she was feeling colder than usual, she'd then check up the restaurant's heat meter only to notice that everything was as it should.

'Why am I feeling so cold then?!'

Maybe it was due to the ghostly girl that was technically glued to her body, checking her every action. When the break was close during the evening Sophia finally released Beatrice from her burden and flew back to Andrew, phasing through a wall to be face to face with a burger.

'She's been looking at you the whole time, Andrew... well, when she's not checking the temperature that is~ it seems my presence makes her chilling'.

"Is that so? you do realise you're technically haunting someone?"

'And it is so fun!~ are you still angry with her? you're being too obvious, she noticed and she doesn't like it, you know, as hard as it is for me to believe it, I think she could be really into you'.

"What do you mean hard to believe?!" He raised his voice and called for the attention of the manager and everyone else in the kitchen. The next second he apologised and kept preparing his burger.

'Andrew you know you're not that bad but this woman, she... she's a model, no offence'.

It wasn't like he didn't know. The boy sighed and contemplated the whole situation.

"I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed... or yeah, maybe I am angry".

'Wanna tell me why?'

"It feels like everything around me is a lie... you know, I really like her".

'Andrew, she's ten years older than you... even if by some miracle she was onto you, she's never going to do it, she'd be imprisoned if you were discovered, you don't really look like a boy that's in high school, but she knows'.

"I could have waited until I reached adulthood before doing anything" Andrew frowned, realising what sort of nonsensical thoughts he was having. By then he may not even be in Manhattan anymore, 'My uncle will send me away to study business, it is not necessarily going to be in the States'.

"Bro, who are you talking to?" The other chef noticed Andrew's unrest and leaned over, he'd been hearing the boy whisper all the time, but he didn't have any earpieces... so who was he talking to?

"S-Sorry, Richard, just me being a fool like always".

"Really? That's okay then, usual you".

*SNORT!*

The heir decided to ignore the comment from the other infamous chef who he knows was on crack cocaine and every single thing he could inhale through his nose and maybe even his bottom hole as well.

"By the way Richard, you have been working here for a while haven't you?"

"Yeah, I have been working here for five years, why?"

"Do you know if this place changed owners?" Andrew threw a bone, merely doing some small research.

"It did not too long ago... he changed the name of the branch and did a few changes".

"Do you know who he or she is?"

"I have no idea, only... he has a lot of money, the previous owner wondered why that person would even bother to get this branch... we thought he was planning to change it completely but so far nothing much has changed and it should still be in red numbers, so... who knows?" The man shrugged his shoulders and got back into his job, the best burger maker downtown... his burgers were especially tasty because they had a special ingredient, he wasn't that hygienic.

'Even if what he said is true, Andrew, it doesn't matter... isn't that something nice? it means your uncle does care about you -unlike what I thought- but I still don't understand his motives'.

"Neither do I, Sophia... neither do I".

...

Resting time was finally at hand, Andrew was drinking a Dr Pepper outside, at the back of the restaurant together with Beatrice who was smoking a cigarette, she hadn't taken her gaze away from him a single time.

"Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

Andrew had been avoiding the topic, but since she was so insistent, he decided to formulate his questioning. Even if his hypothesis was correct, she wasn't going to admit it.

"Some little thing. I heard that the new owner of this branch is called Christian Mayers, he took over recently, do you know anything about this, Beatrice?"

"N-No, why?" Her answer was straightforward after a little stutter, he could argue it was because she didn't expect this topic.

"Just curious, did you use to come to this restaurant before it switched names?" He continued, drinking from his can offhandedly.

Beatrice exhaled a mouthful of smoke and sat next to him, keeping his distance just so the smoke didn't make him uncomfortable as she knew it did.

"Not really, I was looking for jobs in this area and that's when I found this restaurant, it pays well and doesn't require experience. That's why I got it. Why? did you use to? is that why you're so roundy?~ this was your favourite branch?"

"..." The boy lost his smile and frowned. His reaction made her believe he had been offended by her statement about him being 'roundy'. But that wasn't the case, instead, Andrew felt exasperated... there wasn't anything odd about her response. But Sophia thought otherwise and she didn't cut her tongue on telling him.

'She's lying'.

Andrew exhaled deeply and stood up.

"Andrew...?" Beatrice was clueless, she didn't understand what was going on. Making all the right calls, always saying the right words, trying to unveil why he looked so angry, yet nothing seemed to work.

"I will walk out for a bit," He said, trying to take his mind off the topic and go ahead with Sophia's request in the meantime.

"Really? Then I'll tag along is that alright?" Beatrice didn't want to make the distance, and for Andrew this was suspicious. A girl like her shouldn't be so pushy. If he was being cold and openly avoiding her, the natural response should have been to leave the matter, or at the very least give him some space, but that wasn't her method.

Instead, Beatrice continued to push forward relentlessly!

"Sure, it is just a request from a friend" Andrew turned around and shrugged his shoulder, he thought he'd give her a chance but that's when he saw Sophia sitting on Beatrice's shoulders, swinging back and forth as if she was enjoying herself.

!!!

'What the hell are you doing?!'

'She's lying... if I do this she's going to grow more anxious and might end up making a mistake in her story, I'll convince you, Andrew... I will definitely save you from this vixen! something is not right with her'

The woman didn't say anything, but she was moving uncomfortably as she followed Andrew across the street.

'My shoulders feel a little heavy, ugh... first the chill and now this, did l catch a cold? I need to know what's happening to Andrew'.