His Little Angel Nora

Chapter 3

I missed 2 days of work.

Today when I woke up I knew that I had to go back. Father would be angry if i didn't bring home a paycheck big enough and besides that, I felt bad leaving others to do my work.

I limped my way to work, still a little sore from the other night. I was pretty sure one of my ribs was broken and still had some bruising on my face I attempted to cover.

Once I got to the cafe, I went right into my work. I tied my apron loosely, not wanting to upset my already tender stomach, and made a new batch of muffins for display.

"Finally, thanks for showing up." Jessica bit out as she exited the break room.

"I-i'm sorry, I w-wasn't feeling too g-good."

"Yeah whatever. Get on the register."

I mumbled an 'okay' and got my self situated behind the counter.

A few hours passed by with average customer interactions. I actually did enjoy working at the cafe. As much as the male customer scared me sometimes, I was used to the fear and grateful for the distraction of being anywhere but home. Most of the time people were kind to me and keeping busy helped me escape the constant torment of my mind.

We were in a slow period of customers, not having anyone come in for the last hour.

When the bell over the door rung signaling a customer I looked up to find a familiar looking man.

The man had plagued my thoughts the last few sorrowful days stuck at home. I had replayed our conversation about a hundred times, oddly finding comfort in his voice. Still despite that, I was extremely scared of him, of any man.

His hard eyes swept the cafe until they landed on me and softened slightly.

He made his way towards me, or the register I guess. As he strode across the cafe with his long legs, I took in his dark suit. He must have just gotten off of work, or was taking a break. The top few buttons of his white button down were undone, no tie in sight.

His shoes clicked the floor, the only signal that he was closer since I had averted my eyes after lingering too long. He stopped right in front of me and I fought the urge to cower away at the power that radiated off of him.

"Hello, Nora." He spoke. His voice was just as I remembered it, dark and intimidating.

I looked up to his face, so lost in shock that he had even recognized who i was, let alone remembered my name. His lips were slightly pulled up, so slight that if you didn't look hard enough, you might miss it.

"H-hi there sir," I eased on a polite smile. I tried to ignore the warmth that was spreading. It didn't diminish the fear that was coursing through my body, but it was there, enough to notice. I knew it was silly, he could just be a polite man, remembering any store workers names out of manners. He was my customer and I had to treat him as such, I couldn't let my odd fascination get in the way. "W-what can I g-get for you today."

He clicked his tongue. "Sir?" he repeated, almost mockingly. "None of that. I thought I told you last time to call me Lorenzo."

I did remember his insistence on me calling him by his first name, but I didn't understand it. No man had ever wanted me to call him as such. But if he was so sure of it, I had to oblige.

"R-right, Lorenzo s-sorry." I shifted my eyes back down, twisting my fingers together nervously.

When nothing further came I gathered the courage to speak up. "S-same as last t-time?"

I was almost taken aback by my nerve to speak without being spoken to. It was one of father's biggest rules, one that I usually had no trouble following. The silence lasted a few more seconds before I slowly lifted my eyes up to gauge his mood based on what I'd done. He must be mad.