Never Been Ready

Prologue

A/N: The cover was inspired by Yukiie (I can't remember her username but yeah!). The majority of this story will be told in Sang's POV. I'll indicate whether or not we'll have a change of POV but most likely everyone besides Sang's POV will be in third person. If you don't like that, I apologize. I hope you read it regardless. Enjoy!

Somewhere outside Chicago, IL – Two years prior

I sighed as I finished wiping down the last of the tables in my section, getting myself ready for the early morning rush before my shift ended for the day. When I glanced up to look at the time, I realized it was about a quarter past three, which meant I had an hour more to spare.

Outside, the sky was still dark but I could see the splotches of soft blue and purple as the day grew older. The diner was usually empty around this time, besides the odd customer here and there. They were mostly elderly, though.

Breakfast and lunch time, we had the locals who lived in the area and the next town over along with random truckers who came through for a pit stop. Across the street was a gas station and next to it was a general goods store. Besides that, though, there wasn't much out in these neck of the woods. I lived twenty minutes away by car in an old, run-down building that I think used to operate as a pizzeria but I heard it shut down in the late eighties due to bankruptcy. In any case, it was the only place in the area with the cheapest rent possible. So it wasn't hard to guess the type of customers we had come through here. Seen and dealt with them all myself.

After restocking each table, I grabbed the coffee pot from the burner and did my rounds to the few people still here at this time of day. I hadn't run into any shady characters during my shift, thankfully, so I felt relaxed as I worked.

Honestly, even if I did, I could take care of myself. I wasn't my father's daughter for nothing. My mother tried shielding that aspect of my life from me but unlike Marie, I wanted to know more about my father's secret life. He never told me but I always knew there was something more to his late night escapades and disappearances. As a child, I often wondered but thought nothing of it because he always had something new to show or teach me whenever he got back. Until I got older, that is. Now I knew better.

Out of habit, I always kept a knife in my pocket and also in the band of my socks for easy access. While I primarily avoided the night shift at work, I was forced to take Tony's shift, the late-night worker. Nobody else wanted it. And for good reason too; the less than ideal customers who decided to come in from the cold were shady and Sally Mae's Diner didn't have an around the clock security guard. It's partly why Sally, the owner, only allowed men on the nightshift. From time to time, her husband, Steve, would stick around in case me or one of the other female workers had to take on night shifts.

But unfortunately for me, Steve was out sick with the flu and Sally spent more time tending to him than managing her diner. It was a tough time of year, what with it being almost fall. I wasn't looking forward to winter season and the thought of freezing my butt off had me sighing again for the umpteenth time.

"What has you sighing like that, Little Bird? Tough night?" a regular, Old Joe, asked me as I filled up his half-empty mug. I smiled at his seemingly innocent question as my eyes met his briefly, knowing there was a double meaning to everything he said. There always is.

"Something like that," I replied, busying my hands with wiping off a wet spot I missed earlier. "Just can't wait till this shift is over."

"I'll bet. Anyone give you any trouble?" he asked me, sipping quietly at his coffee. If there was one thing you never did with Old Joe, it was lie and avoid his questions. He was more than just a regular at the diner and though he never told me, I knew there was a story behind those tired, old eyes of his.