Dawn's friends
"Hey, Dawn!" Leigh came back, this time with Zera. "What do you have in your hand?"
"Hmm? Nothing," Dawn remarked as she stuffed it into her backpack. She also accepted the hand Zera was offering her, and asked, "Where have you been?"
"Today's recording took longer than usual," she apologized meekly before taking a seat next to Dawn. "Where is my coffee?" she asked.
"What are you talking about?" Dawn said, laughing, "Buy your own!"
"Can't you be a little softer every now and then?" Zera snarled, making Leigh and Dawn chuckle. "Mind getting me a free coffee, Leigh?" she asked the other woman instead.
"Wow, I've never seen such a rich person pleading for a free coffee," Leigh said as she stood up to get one for Zera.
"You know I love you, too, Leigh!" she exclaimed, her expression beaming.
"What's so important this time?" Sabrina inquired as Margaret walked behind her. Mr. Robert Sarratt urgently invited them to a meeting to discuss matters.
"No idea, I was taken aback as well," Margaret said, speeding up to match Sabrina's pace. "Where were you, anyway?" she asked.
"I spend the entire day following my lady," Sabrina grinned.
"That lady you were talking about before?" Margaret furrowed her eyebrows.
"Yeah, I found her," Sabrina said, chuckling, "I think I know where she is most of the time."
They arrived at the meeting shortly. They noticed Mr. Robert, his assistant, and another man pleasantly conversing at the table. And right away Sabrina and Margaret approached them.
"Oh, my dear daughter!" Mr. Robert stood up, a fake smile on his face, which Sabrina knew was for the sake of the meeting only.
"Good morning, dad," Sabrina murmured emotionlessly before sitting down quickly, despite the fact that she was not asked to.
Margaret was taken aback by what Sabrina did, but she remained silent, standing beside her cousin. "Margaret, sit down," the woman urged.
"Sabrina—" Margaret's statement was cut off.
"Yes, Margaret, please sit," Mr. Robert requested this time, so Margaret quickly followed. She gulped and cast glances towards Sabrina and her father.
"What is the point of this meeting? I have things to do that are far more important than any of these," Sabrina rudely said as she looked at her father. Margaret bumped her arm into Sabrina's, as if asking her to quit being disrespectful.
"I'll get right to the point," Mr. Robert smiled, clearing his throat. "I want you to meet James Hutchinson, the heir of the Hutchinson Group."
The man smiled charmingly before offering a hand to Sabrina, which the latter didn't accept, so he gave it to Margaret instead. "Nice to meet the two of you," he said.
"It's the same for me," said Margaret, timidly.
"What now? Why did we need to meet him?"
"Sab," Margaret said quietly, but she was ignored.
Mr. Robert started to say, "I heard you broke up with Jong In-Su, I was worried that you'd be so lonely, so I—" but was cut short when Sabrina stood up.
"No, I'm not going to date him."
"Why not, Sabrina? He is—"
"No, dad," Sabrina responded as she drew Margaret up, "I'm already dating someone else."
Margaret's eyes widened with everyone else's. "Hey, Sab, what are you saying?" she asked quietly.
"Are you back with Darrell?" Mr. Robert inquired.
"No, I'm dating someone you don't know," Sabrina replied flatly, adding, "and she's a she."
Mr. Robert couldn't help but exclaim, "What?!"
"Yes, so I'm done here. I was on a date with her, and you interrupted it," Sabrina said, turning away and tugging Margaret together with her.
"What the fuck are you crazy, Sabrina?"
"It's not like there's anything he can do about it," Sabrina laughed.
Margaret could only say, "You are unbelievable."
Zera continued to swirl the pen around her fingers as she observed Dawn, who was completely immersed in writing her story as if she were a character in it. "Hey, is my life story too serious for you?" she asked, laughing.
"No, not at all. It's boring," Dawn jokingly responded after a brief glance at Zera, who grimaced.
"All right, Dawn Windrow, you're fired."
Dawn smirked and squinted her eyes, "Are you sure? Then you wouldn't be able to confess to—"
"Give way to the prettiest flower... Me!" exclaimed a girl who had just entered the coffee shop.
"Who told you to yell in here? You're scaring my customers!" exclaimed Leigh. But after a while, she uttered, "I missed you, Belle Fitzgerald!" grinning as she ran towards the woman.
"Yeah, yeah, I missed you too, Leigh," Belle said simply.
She dashed towards Dawn and Zera after the hug. "Zera-boo! Dawn-boo!" she said.
"What brought you here, Belle?" Dawn inquired as soon as she laid her hand on Belle's. "You missed us?" she asked, wriggling her brows.
"Well, yeah, but not Zera," Belle said, sticking her tongue out to tease Zera, who rolled her eyes. "Are you still working on the book?" she asked.
Zera shut Dawn's laptop before Belle could even look at it. "What are you doing?" she muttered. "This book is our secret."
"I'm just going to take a look! It's not like I'll know the whole story with one look," Belle replied, hitting Zera's head with her hand and leading Dawn to laugh.
"You still can't! I haven't even finished it yet, and why do you act like you own the book?" Zera asked and counterattacked by hitting Belle's arm.
"How can you hit me like that? Do you want to die?" Belle asked before wrapping her hands around Zera's neck and strangling her in a playful manner.
"Hey, hey! Can't you two act a little ordinary? My customers are looking at you." Leigh separated the two. "Why am I even friends with you?"
"I'm wondering the same thing, Leigh," Dawn murmured, scratching the back of her head.
Belle sat properly between Dawn and Zera, glancing alternately between the two women.
"What are you looking at?" Zera asked.
"Can't you even tell me what the book is about, like, what is the plot?" Belle pleaded, hoping Zera would soften for her.
"No," she said firmly, making Belle grimace, so she tried it on Dawn instead.
"It's a confession book."
"Hey! How could you, Dawn Windrow?" Zera cried, banging her hands on the table, only to make Dawn laugh more.
"For whom? Do I know who it is?"