Saving the Don

☆ 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑 ☆

Daliah's POV

About three hours later I finally got a break for fifteen minutes. Short, I know, but that's what happens when you work three fucking shifts a day. I just sat down outside on the bench with the cold coffee I made myself in my hand and looked at the sky. It was 1pm and damn was it hot.

The sun was practically burning up the ice in my coffee. But did I care? No. Because I had learnt how to deal with the heat. How, you ask? Well, OF COURSE Dimitri was always out from morning to night, gambling, smoking, drinking, and banging any slut who was within g̶r̶a̶b̶b̶i̶n̶g̶ groping distance. And who did you think paid the electricity bills when I wasn't old enough to work? Nobody. Definitely not sweet ol' daddy, thats for sure. So while Dimitri was relishing the super strong ACs in the club and doing you-are-gonna-get-arrested-if-you-do-this activities, I was left at home in the suffocating heat, sweating enough to turn the Sahara Desert into a fucking rainforest!

While I was absentmindedly drinking my coffee while thinking about my oh so amazing life, I felt someone sit on my bench. That drew me a little out of my trance. Enough so that I could recognise the person beside me.

"Good Afternoon Mr. Gray."
"Good Afternoon Daliah. Please, call me Aiden. What are you doing out here? It's very hot, you should come inside." he said.
'Leave me alone.'
"Thanks for the offer but, I'd much rather be here than in there. Its more...peaceful." I said politely.

"Why don't you find it peaceful in there?" Aiden asked while scooting a bit closer to me.

'Because of Caleb and Lisa noisily making out in the washroom, Dylan moping about how single he is and you disturbing me!'
"Er- I just like being alone..." I mumbled.

Don't get me wrong. Dylan was great, but sometimes I got tired of listening to his desires of getting a guy.

Aiden just hummed. I checked the time on my phone and said a bit too cheerily, "Oh look! Break time's over, too bad right? Anyways, I'll head inside, gotta go, bye!!!" I said quickly and rushed away from him for the second time today.

I opened the door and walked into the cafe. We waited for a customer while I took over as cashier. A man soon entered, his arrival announced by the bell. He was attractive, but I had lost interest in men long ago. He approached the counter with a flirtatious smile. My hand twitched with the itch to punch him. I gave him the tiniest smile I could muster.
"Good Afternoon sir, what can I get you today?" I asked in a polite voice.

"One chocolate croissant and one cappuccino.." he said then added, "with extra cream." and winked.
I internally threw up.
Clearing my throat I said, "Sure, anything else?"

He smirked and said, "Your number?" My smile became even more strained.
"Thats not on the menu." I deadpanned and moved towards the kitchen. Dylan noticed my mood and inquired, "Hey you good?"

I just grunted, "Can you stand in for the cashier? Just until some guy with a grey hoodie is gone. Please?" He nodded hesitantly and I smiled at him then started on the 'extra cream' cappuccino. A few minutes later Dylan came back in and told me the annoying man was gone.

Customers went in and out for the next three hours and I was exhausted. There was the occasional flirty guy but I just brushed them off, too tired to deal with them. It was 4pm and the shop closed at 7:30. But today I had to stay till 10 to make fresh stuff for tomorrow and whip up about 30 ORDERS, pack them up and deliver it to their homes.

The break came and I was having mixed thoughts. I was relieved to be able to relax for a bit, but on the other hand I usually had thoughts of Dimitri whenever I wasn't occupied, which usually led to a panic attack that was hard to hide.
I sighed wearily and it seemed that the break was over three seconds later. I hid my emotions once again and walked inside. It was scary how good I had gotten at faking everything. Oh well...

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Its 7:30.

FINALLYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

One more second and I would faint no cap. My head was throbbing, my ears were ringing and my muscles were screaming for rest. I was no superhuman and my back was still healing from the belting I had gone through yesterday night.

I set down the last order, an Americano with a hazelnut brownie on the table, turned and practically ran to the kitchen.
I downed two glasses of water before sinking down on a stool, burnt out.

This time I had a break for 30 minutes which I was grateful for. I set an alarm and dozed off resting my head on the counter after everyone left.

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My eyes snapped open when the sound of my alarm reached my ears. I quickly shut off the phone. Usually, when Dimitri was around I had this severe reaction whenever my alarm rang. Every morning I hoped the sound hadn't woken him up. The days when I left to work unbruised were rare. Even without him my reaction to alarms was the same, unfortunately.

I groaned and yawned, checking the time.
8:01pm. Welp, rest over, time to work my butt off.

I rose from my stool and stretched, then instantly winced and doubled over in pain. The distant rumble of thunder reached my ears. After splashing my face with cold water and drinking a glass of water, I started baking croissants, brownies, muffins, etc etc while listening to my favourite music, rap.

After listening to these songs for ten years, I can confidently say that I'm a good rapper. While I sang along to the songs I started working faster, my speed somewhat reaching that of the beats if that makes any sense.

1 hour later I dusted off my hands and read the list of orders that I needed to deliver today. I know it's late but some motherfuckers ordered late night snacks.

I stopped listening to music as my head was starting to hurt. I felt dizzy and would have fainted right then if I hadn't slapped myself.
My vision cleared and I started making the orders, sucking up the pain like I had done countless times before when Dimitri ordered me to cook food after beating me. I don't get fucking paid enough for this.

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It felt like my body was about to shut off completely. But I knew how to get myself back to reality - by pressing on the bruises adorning my body sending a jolt of pain through me. I bit back a groan but on the bright side, I was awake now (well, kinda)!

HA.

I checked the time and it was 10:00 pm.
And fuck. It was pouring outside. I didn't have an umbrella but oh well.

I jumped onto my baby after locking the shop and began the tiring task of delivering each and every order.
'Oh dios mio...' (Oh dear god.)
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A.N:-
HIII!!!
I'll just try to update as much as I can before my exams bcs after that I won't be able to 🥲

A harmless spoiler: Daliah and Dan will meet in the next chapter :))))))

I've got nothing else to say soo...
Hope you liked this chapter. Add this to your library, smash the star, comment your thoughts and lemme know of any grammatical/spelling mistakes!
I'll see you in Chapter 4!

Annyeong!!
Akuto <3
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