"What? You also got a phone call from somebody weird asking about me?" A man with messy black hair stepped out onto his apartment's veranda while drinking a can of his favorite beer, his hair still wet from his shower earlier. It was the man Ran always referred to as 'Owner.'
"Yeah somebody by that exact name had a spare key to my store. Creepy right? She kept demanding that she was my worker and for three years to boot!" His free hand formed the number three as he complained, "I just kicked her out. I'll probably call the police if she tries to do anything else to me or my store."
As he spoke the last sentence, his expression scrunched up with frustration as he left out a little growl. A loud, soft laughter came from the other side of his phone and this angry expression immediately loosened up. He also felt his heart become lighter with her adorable giggles.
"Hilarious right? I would never trust another person to manage my store... unless it was you," His gentler voice became filled with expectation.
He clutched tighter on his beer as he anxiously waited for the other's reply. The situation was somewhat strange? After all, she didn't immediately refute his flirting, so does this mean he has a chance?
"Elysia—" He started off, the anticipation in his excited tone was way too obvious.
"Oh, you silly flirt. Don't you dare try to change the topic like this," Elysia's firm voice cut off his hopes once again.
His grip on his beer can became lighter as he showed a miserable smile. It's always been like this for him, so he's gotten used to her saying "no," but his heart still feels pained every time she rejects him. It hurts even more whenever he always covers up this pain and disappointment with a small smile, just like now.
"I'm being seri—" He felt like he needed to clarify the situation again, let her know that he's actively and seriously persuing her. But he was once again cut off by her.
"Anyway, I'm heading to bed. Hopefully everything turns out alright! Also, I think getting a worker is a good idea, since you spend far too long on cleaning up the store. Try to find someone you can trust, yeah? Goodnight!" She hung up the phone before he could reply.
Owner stared at the disconnected call screen and whispered "Goodnight," in frustration. He lifted his phone up until it touched his forehead as his thoughts began to consume him.
'It absolutely sucks liking somebody one sidedly and knowing the other person doesn't even take your attempts seriously... How much harder do I need to try in order to get her to know? How much more do I need to tell her again and again?' He downed the rest of his beer all in one go and he took one last look at the murky, dark sky before stepping back inside his brightly lit warm apartment.
...
Ran woke up the next day feeling extremely refreshed. After all, 300 got her three nights in a rather decent motel. Although the duration isn't as long as she wanted it to be, the nice condition of her room lightened her mood immediately. She took a much needed cold shower before jumping onto her soft bed wearing clean clothes she bought the night before.
"7:00 am ugh," Ran checked the time on her fully charged phone before slamming it back down onto the bed, "I'm way too used to Owner's strict working times. What do I do now?"
Ran thought about her current situation before deciding to eat something then call the number that was written on the sign that replaced her house. After all, this was the most demanding problem... excluding everyone's sudden amnesia problem, which she found extremely suspicious.
"Everyone is surely playing with me," Ran tried reasoning with herself as she got ready to head out for the rough day ahead of her, "There is NO way that they would suddenly pretend to not know me, and it's highly unlikely that they all suffered from amnesia at the same time."
She rolled her eyes as she left her room, heading out into the busy, energetic city.
...
She walked around the main street a bit before deciding to eat at a fast food restaurant. The food there, though maybe not the best quality, was cheap. Right now, she needed to save up as much as she could, since she had no job and in other words, no incoming money.
She ordered her food and sat down on the table nearest to the window. She was going to stay here until it was a reasonable time for a retail company to open, about 9 or 10 am. She sipped on her soda and looked around, though what she saw almost made her cough it back up. She fought against her urge to cough and quickly set her soda back down.
"O-Owner?" She practically whispered his name, her lips slightly trembling, "What's he doing here?"
She froze for a moment before reading the name of the fast food restaurant. She cursed when she realized that this restaurant was Owner's favorite place to eat in the mornings (which in her opinion, is a horrible way to start off the day, though she's being hypocritical at the moment). She grumbled in dissatisfaction before hiding her face with her burger.
'Owner and I are now strangers... we are now strangers... strangers...' She hypnotized herself as she saw Owner sitting in the table right in front of her, and to make it worse, he was facing her directly. She cursed when she took a peek and saw that Owner took a seat on the side of the table that faced her instead of away from her.
"Of all the possible odds, I just HAD to see Owner the day after we fought," She continued to hide behind her burger as she kept sneaking peeks at Owner who was silently eating his daily morning meal of hash browns + chicken sandwhich + coffee. His expression remained unsullied as he read the news on his cellphone, oblivious to the panicking Ran.
'Wait...' Ran thought for a moment before taking her face out of her burger, 'How come I'm so concerned over Owner when he obviously didn't care about me yesterday? Get a grip Ran!'
She calmed herself down and then snorted at her dumb self for panicking a moment earlier. It wasn't like her to quickly lose her composure like that, especially since this behavior just makes her seem clingy, too dependent on another.
'I'll just enjoy my meal, my morning before finding a better Boss,' Ran felt much more comfortable with a positive mindset. She sat and continued to fiddle around with her phone, and 20 minutes passed before she knew it.
'Bathroom,' Ran thought to herself as she set down her phone and ate another fry.
At the same time, Owner finished his meal and put down his phone to clean up. Both Ran and Owner simulataneously held eye contact when they both put down their phones. Owner's peaceful expression became distorted as his squinted to get a better look at Ran's face, finding her wine colored curly hair to be quite familiar. When he realized that it was the weirdo from yesterday, he immediately stood up and approached Ran angrily.
"Are you still following me?" Owner slammed his hand down on her table, causing her upright fries to fall down. Ran saw her fries fall down and messily land all over the ketchup, which made her feel rather upset. Owner continued to threaten her, but all his words passed through one of her ears and out the other.
"Follow you?" Ran interrupted his rambling and stood up with her arms crossed, clearly unhappy. Owner immediately stopped talking when he saw her move, his hazel eyes carefully observed her every movement in case she ended up lashing out.
"Why would I follow somebody I don't know?" Ran started to act shameless as she threw back the 'I don't know you' card. Owner's expression became even darker when he heard her shameless talk.
"Stop acting dumb. You clearly know what I'm talking about," Owner was the one who crossed his arms this time as he attempted to stare Ran down. Ran's patience for him crumbled. This was seriously just a coincidence, yet he's acting like she's threatening to ruin his life!
"Well then some advice for you Mr. Stranger," Ran scornfully wiped the area Owner touched with a tissue, "I ask that you don't act so conceited because not everyone has enough time in their lives to waste following somebody like you. Now scram! You're bothering my peaceful breakfast session."
Ran sat back down, clearly uninterested in continuing their argument. Since he's insisted that they're no longer friends, she won't treat him kindly anymore.
Owner's mood became more foul when he saw her sit down. He glared angrily at her, opening his mouth and closing it again over and over, clearly restraining himself in public. He ruffled his messy black hair before taking a seat in Ran's table, frightening her. She stared at him in dismay as he looked extremely embarassed at his own actions.
"Look, stop being so surprised. I sooo don't want to interact with you either, but I have to please ask you to stop bothering me and the people around me. If my words are not enough, I may have to resort to consulting the police," Even though she insisted that she wasn't following him, he still felt that he needed to ask her to stop. After all, how did she get a key to his place and Elysia's number?
He stared at her unchanging expression and got up. He honestly didn't want to spend another second interacting with this stalker? Weirdo? A stranger who constantly insisted to be his worker and friend?
"Wait," Her cold growl stopped him in his tracks, "then let me ask you this. Are you pulling a prank on me? Or did you and everyone else somehow suffer from amnesia? Please, why do you guys keep insisting that you don't remember who I am?"
Her seemingly stupid question almost made him laugh is disdain until he looked her at expression. Contrasting her cold growl, her baby blue eyes were glistening perhaps due to her tears or due to the bright lights of the restuarant, but whatever the cause, the shine in her eyes made him swallow back his laughter.
"You... might be mistaking something here... Are you sure you're not the one who is delusional? I mean no offense but I never had a worker and Elysia had never met you. So, I don't know how you got the key or her number, but it's creepy for the both of us," Owner answered her seriously while shaking his head. The girl in front of him looked so young, yet she was already suffering from some issues.
"Sorry and please leave us alone," He felt overwhelming pity mixed with slight frustration as he left her dumbfounded self alone.