Don't Get Away From Me

70|Scar

[Edgar's pov]

14 of August. 2 days since we got back.

"Hey Ed, g' morning!" Colette smiled sweetly as she walked into the door.

"Morning." I mumbled with a small smile. I watched as she quietly put down her bag near the counter and started stocking things. She played the music from her phone with small volume and hummed along with it.

Well, it's undeniable that something changed her forever after our fight. Not exactly the one that happened recently. More like, every small and big fights we had, and with the stress of the reality, as well as different problem that she faced every single day...it kinda pulled her down. Even after we were good again, she stopped bubbling about everything. Her grinned wasn't so wide anymore. She didn't even have the yearn to take care of her hair well. The worst thing was that...she smiled less. So much less than the day I met her.

"Colette?"

"Yeah?" She turned to look at me and put down the plushie in her hand.

"Do you wanna talk?" I asked carefully, see if she's in a certain condition or something. I didn't notice for the past week, but these couple days, I paid a light more attention and it's very easy to tell that she's stressed.

She froze for a moment before her lips curled up into another smile. What an amazing façade... "Nah, I'm good. It's just been...a bit tiring. It's okay! Just a few more days until a day for rest." She chuckled. "Seriously, I'm doing great! No worries!"

"You sure?" I raised an eyebrow. I guess in some kind of ways, I learned to notice small details of people, just like her.

"Yeeeessssss. It's almost 8. See ya Ed!" She looked at the clock and jumped out of the shop again.

I sighed, feeling something's off. "Eh. Let's ask again after work?" I looked at my scarf, which was constantly clinging on my leg. "Dude. I know. I don't wanna force her, k?" The scarf reluctantly loosened its grip on me.

The funny thing was, it was only 7:50. Colette normally wouldn't go out until it's 7:58 or 59. It's scarily weird of her. Puzzled, I chose to walked out of the shop, searching for Colette.

I took a few more steps, looking from the very left of me, to the right. There were people walking around and kids yelling, but no.

Colette wasn't anywhere.

"Geez...she's being extra strange, agree?" My scarf floated from up to down, agreeing.

Walking into the shop again, a few customers were already inside. "Duh...we're getting our work started early." Mentally groaning, the work started.

Just as usual, I leaned against the wall with the phone in my hand, waiting for people to buy products. Surprisingly, there were more people than I expected today. It's been crazily busy and most of them bought a ton of things. Did they all get some kind of free money from the government or something? Anyways, it wasn't that bad. At least it's not boring.

[Lunchtime.]

Ah, I made it to lunchtime.

Like every single time, I took the backpack with me and closed the door of the gift shop. On that familiar bench, I started eating the bread in my hand. It's hotter than I thought and I had to take it slow.

Ding.

Alright, either a message from the Brawlers group chat, Emz or Colette.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

Emz.

I clicked into the contact app and looked at her message. Well, totally unexpected and totally expected.