10 Chapter 10

Edmund's heart jumped in place when the familiar figure of his memories merged with the figure that exited from the employee's break-room. Behind the counter, the store manager looked just as he remembered. She donned the same denim, barista apron uniform with her name inscribed on it—manager Ava, as he'd addressed then—and still wore her trademark, small eyed but sharp glasses.

A feeling of nostalgia couldn't help but wash over Edmund as he watched her interact with a customer and their order. The four month absence felt like four seconds all of the sudden, watching her blunt and unfeeling taps against the computer screen. Edmund couldn't help but snicker inwardly, remembering himself behind the counter. He'd always laugh at her for running a managerial position when she demanded for mannerly customer service and quality small-talk that would leave the customers loyal when she herself couldn't even hand over the coffee mugs gently or smile while saying a word of thanks.

While Ava was socially and emotionally inept, Edmund knew she had a great, big heart. When he first arrived in the city as a bumbling 16-year-old country boy, it was she who showed him around and only she hired him. Edmund knew that the extra bonuses she gave out per month was nothing more than pure kindness out of heart. It was just tough for her to express emotions; and he could relate. He too, was bashful and introverted to a certain extent. Acting and playing a character was one thing, but words of gratitude and heart-to-heart in-person talks? They were another far, far away on the other end of the spectrum. Edmund couldn't do it before, and he felt even more incapable doing it now.

Shame burned in his cheeks as Ava turned his way. Edmund saw the small smirk on his face falter into a frightened frenzy as she clearly walked towards him. Propping the menu in front of himself, Edmund focused his attention all to Abriel, whom responded with some giggles and coos. Maybe that would help him stay calm and put.

It didn't.

"I didn't think this through, I didn't think this through, how do I explain Abriel to her? How do I get hired again? This stupid mission..." Edmund muttered to himself. His breath was shaky.

Edmund snuck a peek over the menu and found Ava adjusting the pillows at a nearby pillow. The extra seconds it granted didn't help. All it did was add even more precarious levels of stress in the time it took for Ava to reach here. He glanced down, hooked his fingers around Abriel's for some reassurance, and drew a deep breath.

When Edmund looked up from the menu again, he found himself staring into the wide-eyed Ava. They said that only babies pooped their poops, but Edmund at the spur of the moment really wanted to challenge that statement.

Just from the way that Ava's eyes popped after they made eye contact, Edmund was sure she'd recognized him, even in his miserable condition. From the very moment the system issued the mission to secure a returning part-time job here, the entire sequence of events had been even more nerve-wracking than the first time he stepped onto the real-live blockbuster film set. He'd downplayed the difficulty of the mission. Hard.

"H-hey, manager Ava. Long time no see. Can I take my afternoon shifts starting tomorrow?" Edmund stuttered out. "And—er, this is Abriel. My, my daughter—no, orphan. Uhh, adopted from her mother. Yeah. Um, I'll need to bring her around during my shifts... she's very quiet and sensible."

As if to agree, Abriel waved her arms. "Goo!"

Edmund's heart sank when Ava only took one glance at Abriel. Her gaze bore onto him, and under it, he shrank. Edmund tried to read her expressions, but to no avail. The furrow on the brows grew more pronounced and the bite on her lips seemed to be tighter. Edmund couldn't discern any emotions from that.

The pitfall building under his feet grew a hundred metres deeper as Ava's watchful eyes now seemed to scour him up and down. Edmund really wanted to kick himself for not cleaning himself better before heading out. He did take a shower, but as his rent was some weeks overdue. Thus, the water ran cold—he didn't stay for long. That was probably why he still smelled like mildew. As per his acne, he needed a few wake-up pinches and popped all the pimples at it. Oh, and make a detour to buy some new clothes and get a new haircut at it, to make himself at least somewhat presentable. How could he have gone out and even thought that he could get hired, looking like this?

It was a woeful, atrocious interview. Edmund made a mental note to take completing the missions issued by the system more seriously next time, and actually take the time to consider all the factors involved. Otherwise, all the attention on him while he looked like this was tantalizingly embarrassing. The faster he could complete the missions, the faster he could take care of himself, and the faster people would take him more seriously.

"Are you being serious right now, Edmund Garamond?" Ava finally replied. Her voice was a scary low.

Edmund could only tighten his grip with Abriel's hand. His eyes darted left and right around the cafe, before he gave two slight, trembling nods. Again, Abriel waved her arms in the air happily.

Ava gritted her teeth. Edmund watched, jumping with every movement, as she snapped the menu shut and sat down in front of him. "I'll be damned if you're serious. Nine months. Nine months you've been gone, and without a word or a even a goddamn notice. Do you know how many times people asked for you? One month that turned into two. Then three. I had to pull excuses after excuses out of my a** for the customers NOT to call in for missing persons as even I didn't even know where you've gone! Sales dropped by 38%! How am I supposed to run this business?!"

Ava slammed her fist against the table, snickering evilly. "And so, the movie star had to return after putting on what, half a hundred pounds? A full hundred? And also looking like he crawled right out of the morgue half-dead, that just cleaned himself up at the public restroom at a park to try and pose as a living human being."

"I-I can explain—"

"Explain her." Ava pointed towards Abriel.

Her ruthless words shut Edmund straight up.

"You're 18 now," she paused. "I don't know what the hell happened in those nine months for you to look like you don't know the existence of homeless shelters but somehow still manage to have a baby daughter is, is just... I don't, I don't even know what to say."

"Me neither."

The two fell into a deep silence.

"You're here today. For what? The job, again?"

Edmund didn't answer. His expression was unreadable under his hoodie and hair. Following his gaze, his eyes stared into Abriel's. His fingers moved with quite the dexterity finding cheek pokes and other movements that made her giggle. "Would you believe me if I said that I only knew of Abriel's existence today?"

Ava crossed her legs. With a tight bite of her lips, she couldn't purse out any immediate response. Around the cafe, silence befell again in miraculous coincidence. The gentle soprano had gradually tuned out and the cars out on the streets stopped red.

Edmund's eyes darted down from Abriel and up to hslowly. His fingers wouldn't stay still—constantly prying into Abriel's and squeezing her tight.

"I would like to say so, but..." Ava finally spoke up. She heaved a long sigh, took a swift glance around the cafe, before she cleared her throat.

Ava's gaze felt stone-cold to Edmund. Even the sight of Abriel goof-balling drool down herself didn't stop the frozen fear that spread all throughout his body when their eyes met. Although her stare was blank, Edmund found thousands of judgmental eyes piercing out from behind as Ava asked, "The rape rumours. Are they true?"

"Y-you." Edmund's heart skipped a beat.

A raspy, nauseous feeling built up in his throat, as if rubbed with sandpaper. The piercing eyes seemed to have converged with the one thing lingering in the back of his mind; piles and piles of guilt and shame that from a few words plopped in the centre of his body. The butterflies that sprang and crash into his stomach lining with each of the derogatory words hurled and flashed in his mind had its wings submerged with ounces and ounces of black, bitter coffee.

The aftertaste was only the warning symptom of what to come, as a loud, screeching honk sent the unsettled Edmund snapping out of his daze. Quivering, it was tough for him to even exhale properly. Then, he came face to face with Abriel and her camellia flowers and the thousands of eyes turned to daggers and thorns that slew towards her. With a rumble in his throat, screams and shouts immediately wanted out along with the exhales. Edmund suppressed everything with a swallow. "T-there's no way, there's now way... no, stop. W-where did you hear from?"