Her Hope

Chapter 12

Feeling Mr Smith's along with Lana's gaze, who must  have gotten to know what happened from either Mr Smith or the chef, on me for the rest of my shift didn't help me in continuing it as if nothing like I planned to do. Lana was clearly extremely curious, but I couldn't figure out what Mr Smith was thinking at all, for he is literally a blank canvas.

The hours seemed to pass by in years, and by the time it was six in the afternoon, I was ready to run out of the restaurant, but I still had to get my tips from Mr Smith before finally leaving the restaurant. I made my way towards Mr Smith, who was standing behind the counter next to Lana and informed him that my shift was over, so he walked towards the back room to get me my money while I followed him in order to speed up the process and leave. After he gave me the money, I thanked him then I turned around hastily; however, I was unfortunately stopped by my name being called reluctantly in a whisper that I wouldn't have heard if the restaurant was just a bit more busy.

"Yes, Mr Smith?" I answered back though I wanted to act as if I didn't hear him calling me.

"What were you doing that night at the beach?" He asked quietly.

I thought about lying and saying any nonsense to get him off my back, but that would get me no where so Instead, I decided to tell him a small part of my story.

"I had no where to go that night, so I went to the beach, and I felt as if the water was calling me towards it which made me decide to take a midnight swim. I was just holding my breath under water with my hands held up when I felt Emily pulling me out of the water, and she assumed that I was drowning when in fact, I was just enjoying myself. Then, she kept insisting to drive me home, but I wanted to walk. That's all what happened."

I guess I still wasn't done lying, but I couldn't just tell him that I was deliberately experimenting with drowning myself after knowing what happened to his wife because I don't think he would take the situation as lightly as it is in my point of view.

"That's not what Emily told me. She said that when she pulled you out of the water, you were on the verge of passing out from the lack of oxygen. I don't really think that's what a midnight swim entitles." Mr Smith argued back while looking furious.

"I wasn't about to black out or I wouldn't have been able to walk home, and anyways, I am here now, so there's no reason to discuss what happened almost two weeks ago."

"Fine, you can leave if you want. Tomorrow marks the end of your first week here, so I'll give you your first paycheck then." And, in the blink of the eye he switched off all his emotions and was back to the cold Mr Smith that I knew.

"Okay, I'll leave now." With that sentence, I turned around and left the back room while trying to avoid Lana. After successfully doing that, I remembered that this was the first time I've been in the back room which made to think back to its decor.

It was really warm and welcoming, with its light grey walls and the dark turquoise coach that complemented the colors of the walls, completely contrasting with Mr Smith's personality. But, according to Emily he wasn't always that cold, so I'll give him the benefit of doubt. However, next time I go to the back room, I'll make sure to sit on that coach, for it looked very comfortable.

The moment I exited the restaurant, I heard the pitter-patter of the rain droplets against the concrete before these droplets started splattering on me completely soaking my sweater. But, unlike the last time it rained, I didn't mind standing under it for an hour since I'll go dry at the apartment when I feel like I've finally gotten enough of the rain. The rain was falling tremendously heavily blurring my vision, yet I happily walked towards the apartment while stopping every now and then to look up at the dark sky in order to relish the pelting of the rain against my skin.

Although I was soaking wet by the time I arrived at the apartment, I still wore a bright smile on my face that even made Iris question me when I entered the apartment. Then, when she noticed that I was shivering, she immediately scolded me as if she was my mother which made me smile even more because she wouldn't have scolded me if she didn't care about me, right?

So, under her instructions, I quickly took a hot shower before changing into the colorful unicorn pajama that Iris gave me without any questions when she noticed that I didn't have any. I guess I should add buying a pajama on my 'to buy list'. I wasn't exactly happy with the fact that the list was growing, but everything on it was an essentiality except maybe the pajamas, but I couldn't just keep on borrowing Iris's.

After brushing my hair with the brush that I also borrowed from Iris, I went into the kitchen where I found her hustling around and getting out ingredients from the shelf.

"What are you in the mood to eat tonight?" She asked.

"I still have half of my meal from the restaurant, so I'll just eat it."

"No, don't you get bored from the restaurant's food. I'm assuming that eating that food after spending the whole day seeing and smelling it while it's being made must be monotonous, right? Why don't we make a pizza instead? We have all the ingredients."

"Well, pizza definitely sounds amazing, but I have no idea how to make one."

So, we spent the rest of the night adding lots of ingredients together while only facing a few accidents when Iris accidentally blew up the flour bag. However, an hour later, we were eating a delicious slightly burned pizza.

"Where's the other girl who lives here?" I suddenly asked while we were eating after remembering that there should be one more roommate.

"She's on a vacation with her family, but she should be back by next week. I told her all about you, and she says she can't wait to meet you in person. I think you'll both get on well."

"I truly hope so." I said quietly before going back to the pizza I was eating.

"You do know that you'll have to buy the groceries once every three weeks if you plan on eating with us regularly, right?"

"Oh, I'll make sure to buy them every once in a while since I usually have lunch and dinner at the restaurant, so I'll rarely eat with you guys. Oh, I'll also pay you the rent tomorrow after I return from work"

"Okay, and we'll talk about the groceries topic later. But now, I'm really longing to go to bed." She yawned before standing up to wash her dish and bidding me goodnight.

So, I washed my dish as well and turned into my room where I sat on the bed to count the money I now have from the tips along with what I had saved before. Then, I switched off the lights and closed my eyes in order to catch up on all the sleep that I missed while living on the streets.