Redemption (Link x Reader)

Chapter 20: Betrayal Once Again

When you heard a knock on the door the next day, a day when the shop was closed, your heart leapt. Was it Link again? Ray had told you that he was most likely going to be gone for a fortnight at the earliest, so you knew it wasn't him.

You intentionally ignored the butterflies in your stomach as you jumped out of bed and rushed down to answer the door. Before opening it, you paused and took a second to fix your hair and straighten out your rumpled clothes.

What am I doing? Stop being ridiculous.

Taking a deep breath, you opened the door and prepared to say hello to your friend.

"Hello, beautiful."

Your face faltered, the smile on your lips dropping as you looked up at Jay. He was holding a beautiful bouquet of flowers, but for some reason it didn't excite you as much as it might have had previously. Instead, the feelings of anger and sadness began to build up once more.

He didn't even wait for you to invite him in before he stepped inside, slightly pushing you out of the way as he did so. "I wanted to come see you and apologize for missing last night."

You turned back to him after closing the door, an unamused look on your face. "You could have at least given me a heads up before I sat at the bar for two hours looking like an absolute idiot. Again."

He gave you a guilty smile. "I'm sorry, honey pie. Something came up with my father's job and he needed my help to get it all sorted out. I couldn't get away to come find you."

You raised your eyebrow, secretly questioning the validity of his story. That isn't the first time he's come up with almost that exact excuse.

"Your father has been having quite a lot of problems lately, it seems. Hopefully everything is okay with his business." You sounded a bit more snarky than you intended, but you couldn't help it.

"Well anyways!" He waved his hand in the air, clearly trying to move on from the topic, "I wanted to take you out. I thought maybe we could have lunch by the river today." He wiggled his eyebrows, clearly trying to entice you with his offer.

You chewed on your bottom lip, considering his offer. He had apologized, brought flowers, and was trying to make it up to you. Being angry was exhausting. So even though you weren't feeling completely won over, you decided that it was easier to just move on.

Giving him a half-hearted smile, you nodded. "Yeah, okay. That sounds nice."

"Great! It's a beautiful day out, perfect for a picnic." He did seem genuinely excited, which made the dark cloud surrounding your heart lift ever-so-slightly.

You eyed his empty hands. "Did you already set it up? Is the food there waiting for us?"

He laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, about that.. I don't have any money at the moment, so I wasn't able to get any food on my way here. Got anything good?"

Before you could even answer, he headed up the stairs, the floorboards creaking as he made his way into the kitchen. You sighed and followed him.

When you walked in, he was already raiding the cupboards. You walked him next to him, and looked up suspiciously.

"Your dad didn't pay you for your help yesterday?"

"Hm? What help?" He said absentmindedly, not even pausing his rummaging to look at you.

You crossed your arms. "The work. Yesterday. Why did you stood me up."

That seemed to set off a bell in his head, and he immediately froze for a moment before turning to you. "No, he didn't pay me. Downside of being his son, I guess. Free labor is cheap labor!"