153 New Colleagues

"What the—?"

Misha choked on his words and bit his tongue; he instinctively took a step back as horror filled his face, his eyes widening in fright. He had just entered the café, and the door closed behind him with the ring of a bell. The usually soft sound resounded like thunder in his ears, so deafening it seemed to pierce his eardrums.

"What are you doing here?!" he heard himself ask.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Vanessa paused to show off the round tray of dirty dishes in her hands. She raised an eyebrow and continued with a playful smile, "I'm cleaning up the tables."

"I can see that, but why?!"

"Because I'm working here, of course!"

Misha blinked, taking a moment to process the words. So. Vanessa was now working at the café, meaning that she was a new employee and thus his colleague. Nothing to make a fuss over, right…?

Right his ass! There were so many things wrong with it that he didn't know where to start. But first off, he had someone to scold.

"STEPHAN!" Misha screamed as he dashed upstairs to the man's office, slamming the door open. "You—!"

"Good evening to you too," Stephan interrupted in an even voice. He lifted his eyes from the financial report spread on the desk and reminded him, "You have around five minutes left before your shift starts, so maybe you should go downstairs and get ready."

"Who cares about that! What is Vanessa doing here?"

"Well, isn't she working?"

"But why?!"

"Because I hired her."

Misha pursed his lips, giving Stephan the look of an abused puppy.

"Don't pull that face on me! A certain someone skipped work for an entire month, so I had to hire new people to substitute for them."

"You also skipped work."

"Wrong. I was on vacation; it's not the same. Anyway, Vanessa just so happened to give me her curriculum vitae, and I was quite satisfied with what I read. Even though she's young, she has a lot of experience, and all her previous employers had only praise for her work ethic. I'd have been a fool not to hire her."

A shadow darkened Misha's eyes at these words. Unknown thoughts swirled in his mind as he glared at Stephan, seemingly wanting to cut him to pieces.

"Stop it with the daggers," Stephan rolled his eyes, "We talked, and I offered a salary that should be enough to cover her daily expenses and help with the rent. Her working hours are mostly on the weekends, and I made sure her workload wouldn't interfere with her studies. So, don't worry. Her work conditions are more than satisfactory, and she quit her other jobs."

"What…?"

Stephan winked, a knowing smile stretching his lips. He propped his chin on his hands and patiently waited for Misha to process the underlying meaning.

A silence fell, and they stared at each other— it went on until Misha snapped out of his daze. A foolish smile bloomed on his face as he nimbly leaped over the desk to hug Stephan. He hugged him so tightly that the man could barely breathe.

"You're the best!" Misha laughed in relief. "Seriously, that's one of the best news I heard in a while!"

Now, his friend wouldn't have to pull all-nighters working left and right to scrap a bit of money however she could. He had been so worried lately, seeing how even the make-up couldn't hide the dark circles under her eyes. Vanessa was just about to collapse from exhaustion, and it was reassuring to know she wouldn't have to juggle with several part-time jobs anymore. And she could finally catch up on sleep!

"It's rare for you to compliment me. How about doing it more often?" Stephan chuckled, gently pushing on Misha's chest. "Go downstairs and change into your uniform. I made you a new one, and I can't wait to see you in it. Gotta snatch a picture for Gabriel too."

Misha's whole body stiffened at these words, just as if a lightning bolt had struck him. He slowly straightened his back with unnatural movement and looked down into Stephan's heterochromatic eyes. A moment passed before he asked darkly, "When on earth did you find the time to sew it?! You've been clinging to Jake all day lately!"

Stephan responded with an annoying grin and brushed the matter with a wave of his hand. He then tilted his head toward the door and told him, "Come on, your shift has already started. Do you want me to cut your salary?"

A snort was Misha's answer. Still, he jumped off the desk and jogged to the door without looking back, slamming it behind him. Though Stephan was lenient at times, he knew his threats weren't to be taken lightly. He really would cut his salary if he didn't start to work soon!

***

Misha glared at the uniform in his hands, then glanced askance at the trash bin on his right. For an instant, he thought of throwing the clothes in it and handing in his resignation letter. He'd have seriously considered doing just that if Stephan hadn't told him about the work arrangement he had made for Vanessa. With this in mind, Misha couldn't bring himself to trash the uniform.

"I swear that guy is way too good at leading people by the nose." Misha let out a self-mocking laugh, his facial features twisted in reticence. He really, really didn't want to wear that thing; he'd rather walk around butt-naked than to put it on!

But….

"Ah, come on!" Misha grunted, violently ruffling his hair with one hand. "I won't die from wearing embarrassing clothes! It doesn't beat the reindeer outfit, anyway!"

.

.

"Oh my God! You look adorable!" Vanessa squealed, bouncing around Misha like a bunny. "You're honestly so cute that my heart is melting!"

Misha buried his face in his hands, wanting to crawl into a hole. Whether she was a teenager or an adult, Vanessa was still a pest that loved to gawk at him and watch a good show. Although the uniform was indeed "cute", it didn't mean he wanted to be called "cute"!

Who knows what went through Stephan's head when he worked on the design, but it resulted in something between a cat and a devil, and the guy even had the guts to use pastel-like colors. Thankfully, they weren't the flashy kinds and married well with each other. Regardless, Misha wasn't particularly happy to wear pink, nor was he happy with the bell hanging below his collar. The cat ears and horns atop his head were also cumbersome, same with the tiny wings on his back and the two intertwined tails falling behind his legs. And to top it all, Stephan prepared a pink ribbon to tie his hair at the crown of his neck! How much more conscientious could he get?!

Finally, maybe the reindeer outfit wasn't that bad. At least, the basic uniform hadn't been turned into a mosaic of colors, and his vest wasn't pink!

"And the tails!" Vanessa giggled, snapping Misha out of his thoughts. "They're so fluffy—"

"Don't pull on them!" Misha interrupted, grabbing the teenager's hand. "You're going to make my pants fall!"

"Don't be stingy!"

"Stingy? I'm stingy?! I just don't want people to see my underwear!"

"You probably wear classic boxers, no? So, who cares! Come on, let me play with the tails!"

"No! You do realize that what you're doing is sexual harassment?!"

"What? I'm not—"

"What's going on?" A familiar voice echoed, and Misha shifted his eyes toward the kitchen door, where Dereck's head peeked. "You're awfully loud."

"Don't tell me, you were hired too?" Misha let out a half-scoff, half-laugh. Judging by the white apron, his friend was hired as a cook. It wasn't surprising, considering his baking skills were out of this world in this timeline. Even Misha couldn't rival.

"Yeah, I need to save money for later. But that's not important right now. What's with the clothes…?"

"Ha, that, it's Stephan's hobby," Misha snorted. "Don't worry, you'll suffer with me in due time. He just didn't have the time to sew yours."

"No way! Does that mean I'll have my own uniform?! I thought it was only for holidays!" Vanessa squealed harder than before. "I'm so glad I started to work here!"

Misha felt his mouth twitch. He had forgotten Vanessa was fond of these uniforms. She'd always look forward to holidays in their past life, daydreaming about what kind of outfit the owner would bring them. Every time she opened the bag, it was like opening a Christmas present.

Luckily for her, Stephan seemed dead-set on dressing up his employees all year round in this life. Every staff member would have their own unique uniform that he'd tweak a little when there was a holiday in the month. But with the kidnapping incident, he didn't have much time to sew this past month. Well, clinging to Jake instead of working on the new employees' uniforms also didn't help to stay on schedule, and most still wore the bunny butler outfits from Easter Day.

"I think it's a good idea," Dereck nodded. Though he'd mostly be in the kitchen, he'd need to bring the pastries to the counter and say hi to the clients. And, of course, a plain uniform wouldn't do. "I can't wait to see what he'll sew me!"

"You sure?" Misha raised an eyebrow. "Stephan is the kind who will make you wear women's clothing on Women's Day."

"…."

Dereck choked on air and looked at Misha as if he had grown a second head. He opened his mouth but said nothing in the end. Finally, he turned on his heel, went back to the kitchen, and hid behind the stoves. He pretended not to hear his friend's hearty laugh as the door closed behind him, unable to tell whether Misha had been teasing him or not.

Stephan wouldn't go as far as to make them wear women's clothes, right…?

__________________________

Edited by Clozed!! ♥

R.S. Discord: https://discord.gg/QhWkRY28tF

Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/rs_vaesen

Support me on P a t r . e o n ! You can find me by entering my username, R.S. Vaesen !!! :)