Was It Always Us? | COMPLETED ✔

𝙻𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙶𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙼𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝙲𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚜

Side Note: I tried writing this in Lily's POV but it just didn't work for me, so this will be continued in Atlas's perspective.

***

Time Skip: Around two weeks later...

"Hurry up, Josh, or else you're going to miss the bus."

I hurried to pack up his lunch, which was just a chicken burger and fries. I put in his favourite sauce, and sealed the lid. I heard Josh curse as he searched for his shoes amongst the mess that was his room.

"I can't find them, dammit!" he half shouted. I put hs lunch on the counter and quietly went to his room. It was really messy, with clothes strewn everywhere and wrappers thrown on the bed. His wardrobe was open and empty, since he'd dumped everything outside to search for something to wear at school. Josh turned around and looked at me desperately.

"Go take one of my pairs from the wardrobe, and hurry." I said.

He grinned mischievously and left and I could only hope he didn't mess up my stuff too. He could be clean when he wanted, but nowadays, a lot of his focus was on baseball and with his examinations coming up, he didn't bother with his room.

 Or anything, for that matter. 

Josh showed up fully dressed, wearing one of my white joggers. I told him to wait for a second and then went to pick up the brush I saw on his table and tossed it to him.

"Fix up your hair, take your lunch from the counter, and here's some money."

I knew Josh preferred that I cook him lunch, since he was used to it and liked my food, though he never admitted it. After handing him a twenty-dollar bill, I saw him as he opened the door, waved goodbye and left for school. Smiling to myself, I went to my room and saw Lily emerging from the bathroom, fixing her hair. I grinned as she saw me and her eyes lit up.

"I heard Josh shouting. Is he okay?" she asked.

"He's fine, he just couldn't find his shoes."

"Well, I have to head to work now, so--"

She didn't say anything else as I hugged her, basking in her intoxicating perfume. I heard her laugh as she wrapped her arms around my waist too.

"Hey, what happened?" she said still chuckling.

"Nothing. Can't a man hug his wife for no reason at all?"

"You and your words." she scoffed. "I've never met a sweet talker like you."

"Can't a man like when his wife blushes at his words?"

 I pulled back and saw her cheeks flushed.

"Told ya." And with that, I separated from her and took my clothes from the bed, heading to the bathroom.

"You're such a tease!" she shouted from behind me playfully.

"A tease you married!" I shouted back, closing the door to the bathroom and taking a shower. When I came out of the bathroom, I saw Lily picking up her bag, with Emmy in her arms, who had been sleeping tight despite the ruckus. I came up to her and kissed Emmy on the forehead. She immediately lunged for me and Lily had to hold her back.

"I think she likes you more than me now." she whispered.

"Ah, well. She must have impressed by my words."

She looked away, her cheeks slightly red again, and I bit back a smile. Taking my satchel and hanging it over my shoulder, I opened the door for her and Emmy and then came out myself, locking the door. We took the elevator and when we'd reached the car, I kissed her goodbye.

"Should I pick up lunch on the way?" she asked.

"With your husband being a chef? No way. I'll drop by for lunch at the flower shop. Consider it a treat." he winked, and she shoved him away.

"Now shoo away, Chef Corrigan."

"Why not?"

Giving her another lingering kiss and waving at Emmy, I finally settled in my car and began driving towards the restaurant, picking up a cup of coffee on the way.

***

It had been two days since we returned from our honeymoon. I had to say, it was a big success. Ryle appeared a little distraught when we landed and met everyone, but I tried not to notice. Alyssa, Marshall, Devin, Brad and even Josh and Theo had popped by. But now I was heading to the restaurant for my first day of work in a long time, and I was excited to be surrounded by my colleagues and the delectable aromas from the food.

I was on waiter duty, since one of the guys was too sick to come. As I carried dishes after dishes to each table, I saw an unfamiliar face in the kitchen. She was a woman, in a chef's coat and hat, talking with Devin while chopping some vegetables. Raising an eyebrow, I went to them, and Devin turned around.

"Hey, Atlas, this is Amy Fowler, our new chef, and Amy, this is Atlas Corrigan, our head chef and the owner of this restaurant."

I smiled, albeit confusedly. I didn't know we had a new chef on board. She smiled sweetly, and held out her hand. I shook it warmly. 

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Amy. I didn't know anything about a new chef, but I'm sure you're going to do great."

"Thanks. Devin really praises you, I'm quite happy having finally met you."

Talking a bit more, I excused myself and dragged off Devin to a secluded corner.

"Why didn't you talk to me before hiring her?" I said frustrated.

"Hey, I know it was a bit quick, but we were short of staff and one of the chefs had just resigned. With you gone, we had to hire someone."

"I get it, but next time, please let me know. Did you brief her about everything?"

"Yeah, don't worry, Mr. Grumpy Pants. Now, you have a lot of catching up to do after making us work so hard. Go be a good waiter."

I lightly hit him and went back to work. Some time later, I changed my post and went back to being the head chef. I was stationed next to Amy, and I couldn't help but notice her lingering glances at me. I felt slightly awkward, but I guess I was just not used to her. I'm not too social. 

Amy looked about my age, with hazel eyes and brown hair that she had into a braid. She had light freckles, which made her look a bit younger for some reason. We conversed randomly throughout the day, and before I realized, the afternoon had gone and evening was setting in. I didn't even notice, being busy with my work and observing how Amy handled hers. I figured she was quite skilful, and the dexterity with which she garnished the food and plated it surprised me. Overall, I thought she was a good addition to the team.

By the time I finally took a break and opened my phone, it was around seven and I had eight missed calls from Lily. I took a deep breath, and quietly scolded myself for leaving my phone on silent.

***

A/N: Alright, so before getting mad at me for posting so late, hear me out. To be honest, I really wanted you guys to tell me how you felt about my story after I asked for your opinion. And when I only got one comment (Thank you, @Jazard7 ), I was quite disheartened and I didn't want to write anymore. I came up with this chapter after a lot of difficulty, but I think you'll get better updates now. I also want cooperation from you guys, though. It's really hard for me to manage this along with my studies, and my finals are coming up along with my graduation, so I'm even more burdened. I'm really happy that we're almost at 1K and I hope we reach that soon (I'll give you guys a double update, but no promises), but you can also see that the comments and upvotes are little. Very little. Please try to upvote and comment on this story, because you have no idea how much I need encouragement to go on with this. I even contemplated putting this story on hold.

Thank you to everyone reading this. I love all of you so, so much. I hope you don't take offense to my words, because I didn't mean to be rude. All in all, thank you once again. For everything.

AND PLEASE GET THIS STORY TO A THOUSAND VIEWS SOON, 'CAUSE I'M SO EXCITED *hehe*

XOXO,

Ophelia <3