KARMA COLADA

Chapter Thirty-Four

NAOMI walked through the door of The Second Chance shop, greeted by the nostalgic perfume of vintage clothes, along with an ominous voice that stirred a rush of fond memories.

"Thank you and ple—ee—ee..."

Her spine straightened in alert.

The sensor was still broken, even though Xavier explicitly said he would fix it. Anxiety bubbled up to the surface of Naomi's skin, causing her to shiver involuntarily. She shrugged the dreadful feeling off, chalking it up to jet lag.

"Boss?" came Mila's strangled voice.

Her employee stood behind the cash register, staring at Naomi in shock, her bottom lip trembling slightly.

Worry consumed her as she rushed towards Mila with clumsy steps. After the back-to-back travel, Naomi's legs had the stability of boiled spaghetti, her emotions the fragility of squashed meatballs.

"What happened, Mila? I wanted to call you when I got to Tokyo, but my phone died and I lost my charger. I'm so sorry for missing all your calls and messages."

Mila's eyes grew wide when she took note of Naomi's disheveled hair, sweaty denim romper and worn-out sandals. "What happened to you? I was close to calling Interpol and reporting you missing."

Naomi sifted through the fog in her brain for a proper response, but when she couldn't think of one, she shrugged her shoulders dramatically.

"And where's your luggage?" Mila interrogated again.

"Long story," Naomi grumbled. Thankfully Mila let it slide, probably because she's never seen Naomi in such a bad mood before.

"Why did you ask me to come back ASAP?"

"Uh..." Mila hesitated.

While waiting for her answer, Naomi darted her gaze about the empty shop. Nothing seemed out of place. In fact, it all looked just as she left it days ago. Save for one significant detail.

"Where's Xavier?"

Mila averted her gaze at the question. At that moment, Naomi noticed how weary she looked. Mila wasn't wearing makeup today; in all the years she's known her, she's never seen Mila bare faced at all. Something was definitely amiss.

The bags under Mila's eyes stood out on her swarthy skin, and her eyes looked really red around the corners, as if she'd been crying all day.

"Mila. Where's Xavier?" Naomi asked a little more seriously.

"I haven't seen him in two days," she finally explained in a small voice.

If it wasn't for a nearby bookcase, Naomi would have crashed to the floor. She put her whole weight against it for support, still trying to wrap her head around the information. "He got up and disappeared just like that?" Naomi whispered, feeling her soul leaving her just as swiftly.

An audible gulp came from Mila. "There's something else you need to know."

Naomi's stare turned stony. "What is it, Mila?"

Mila's eyes welled up with tears, and Naomi steeled herself for whatever horrible revelation she was about to hear.

"I slept with him."

All the air whooshed out her lungs.

"You..." Naomi whispered.

Mila inhaled shakily before reiterating, "Slept with..."

"—Xavier," Naomi cut in.

Silence.

Naomi broke the awkward tension in the air by speaking in a monotonous voice, "You slept with my ex-boyfriend, Xavier?"