WAITING FOR LOVE// YUKI TSUNODA

TWO

TWO

Mira Hoffman woke up with the worst headache to ever exist.

Her head felt like she had been fighting with Muhammad Ali for hours, which would not be a good thing, especially considering that she did not know how to fight.

Her exhausted and aching body forced itself out of her bed, which was literally just a sofa because she could not afford to buy an actual bed, and dragged her towards her bathroom to have a quick shower before she had to leave to go to work.

As she was in the shower, her tired eyes fell upon the multitude of bruises that covered most areas of skin, due to constantly knocking in to surfaces whilst waiting tables at the restaurant, and forced her to release a groan of pain whenever her hand would press against them.

Her dark brown hair was washed with what was left in the bottle of her blueberry shampoo, an unwelcome feeling in her gut because she knew that by it becoming empty that she would have to buy another bottle, of which she wasn't sure if she could afford to.

Once she was out of the shower, of which was short because she didn't have the money to use a lot of water, she changed in to her usual work clothes, which was a black long sleeved shirt and black high waisted jeans and quickly dried her hair off with her hairdryer, though that was only to make sure that her hair wasn't completely wet.

She couldn't afford the electricity for that either, so she always just dried it enough so that water wasn't constantly running down her neck, before she tied it up in to a bun.

Her feet were forced to run out of the door to make sure that she got to work in time, since she couldn't afford a car or even public transport so she was resorting to have to walk or jog.

Her breathing was heavy as she finally arrived at the restaurant that she unfortunately worked at, walking in to the building just before opening time, though she halted in her footsteps as she noticed two men talking to her boss.

"Ah, Mira, there you are."

The boss of the restaurant gave the Hoffman girl a grimace like smile, clearly trying to make themselves appear as a really friendly boss.

"Uh, yes boss. I'm not late, am I?" Mira furrowed her eyebrows together at the way that her boss spoke to her, making even more suspicion fill her body because of the kind of smile.

"No, Mira. You are not late. For once." Her boss muttered the last bit underneath their breath before turning to the two men standing beside them.

"These men here, said that they know you."

The two men in question smiled at her, wondering if she recognised them at all. They noticed how the girl furrowed her eyebrows together in confusion, looking at them with a perplexed expression.

The two men were dressed in jeans and light shirts, with both of them wearing sunglasses and caps that were backwards.

One of them was much smaller than the other and appeared to be Japanese, whereas the other towered over him and spoke in a French accent.

"Have you forgotten?" The one with a French accent spoke, a smile on his face.

"Forgotten what?"

"We booked a holiday ages ago, we've got to catch a flight tonight. Are you still coming? Because you did pay for it." The man walked towards her to wrap his arm loosely around her shoulders.

"Uh, am I- am I allowed to go, boss? I completely forgot and I know that you've got more than enough staff to cover my shifts." Mira spoke up, making the two men grin, haply that she was playing along.