"Excuse me ma'am but what did you just say?," I asked, completely dumbfounded.
Upon constantly being informed that they're going to call you back when they're actually not, throughout the day, left my hope of finding a job in pieces. So finally hearing the words that I actually anticipated to hear today really made me question the whole situation.
I looked at Rosalie who still had her friendly smile on her face. "You're hired dear." When I didn't respond she continued, "I would like you to work here." Just before I could open my mouth to give her a reply, I was interrupted by the non-other rude boy.
"Absolutely not. I know why you're doing this Rosalie but it's not a good idea." Mr rude boy spoke as if he was restraining his anger towards who I don't know but I was sure he only controlled himself from raising his voice because he was talking to Rosalie. But there was no denying that he was fuming in the inside and was concerned that fumes who come out of his ears and nose.
To end the tension, I cleared my throat slightly which made the boy to whip his head towards me. Again, I was concerned, that he would have gotten a whiplash. Turning towards Rosalie, I gave her my most appreciative smile and said, "I will take the offer ma'am. Thank you so much. You have no idea how long it took me to finally hear those words."
Blatantly ignoring the displeased human being beside me, Rosalie clapped her hands while uttering a loud "Great!" The extremely annoyed human being beside me sighed in frustration and muttered "This is a bad idea" under his breathe.
Once again Rosalie didn't even bother the rude boy and proceeded to give me a reply "So since you're going to be working for me from now own, I suggest you to drop with the ma'am talk and just call me Rosalie. Oh and where are my manners. I forgot to ask you your name darling."
"It's Ailee. Ailee Waters."
"What a great introduction. Now please allow me to have a small chat with Rosalie, privately." Those words came out of you-know-who and they weren't very politely said. I also noticed how he stressed on the word 'privately'. He was looking at me intensely and his head went to look behind me, as if saying ' you can go now.'
"Hayes! You don't have to be so rude! Let the girl breathe for god's sake. I'm sorry darling to have such a dark aura around you. Why don't you have a seat there and I will get you a cup of coffee as a welcome gift." Rosalie's expression kept going from stern to friendly whenever she turned to look at the boy, Hayes and me. You can already guess to whom she used the stern expression to.
With a small nod and smile, I turned around to take a seat at one of the empty tables behind me. But I didn't forget to throw a glare towards Hayes who in return arched one of his eyebrow as if challenging me to throw a fit. 'Not me sir.' I thought. I'm not going to encourage his hissy fit. Whoever that boy was, he clearly got under my skin. Who is he to interfere between the conversation of an employer and her employee.
"- we don't know who she is…."
"-she clearly doesn't know anything about…"
I could only hear bits of their conversation even though they were talking under their breaths considering the shop was really quiet, with only a few individual customers. I had no doubt in mind that they were talking about me. From their conversation, I could guess that Hayes boy over there is suspecting me of being a bad guy or a clueless person.
As if hearing my thoughts, the Hayes boy turned around to look at me with a scowled which made me return it with a glare. He proceeded to just roll his eyes at my expression and turned back to Rosalie. After he muttered a few words, Rosalie peeked at me from in front on Hayes and gave me a soft smile that I returned. Hayes however, stormed inside the back kitchen all the while holding on to the weak middle aged man. Rosalie went into the back kitchen seconds later. I guess Hayes told Rosalie that I could potentially eavesdrop on their conversation so they took it to the back kitchen.
It wasn't until ten minutes later when Rosalie came out of the back kitchen holding a coffee cup and a pink t-shirt in her other hand. She walked towards the table I was at and placed the coffee cup right in front of me. "Go ahead dear. Have a drink." I replied with a small thank you and started to blow off the steam coming off from the coffee before taking a sip.
"So here's your uniform. Be sure to wear them every time you come here to work. You would have to work from 11 to 5 except for the weekends. Hayes usually helps me out during the weekends so you can have you day off then."
I have no problem working from 11 to 5 considering I don't really have much to do at home. My dad would be working from morning to night so I'm always alone at home. So having to work her for 6 hours is better than lazing at home.
Rosalie extended her hand holding the work t-shirt to give it to me. I took it from her and inspected that pink t-shirt that had the words "Rosalie's Café "written on the back of the t-shirt. The rest of the parts of the t-shirt were all empty. 'I like it,' I thought to myself. Plain and simple.
"So, when would you like to start working?"
There was a slight pause before I answered, "Tomorrow." When there was another pause I added, "If that's okay with you."
"I have no problem with that dear! So I will see you tomorrow then. Why don't you come an hour or two earlier so I can teach what to do."
"Sounds great." I gave her a smile and took the last sip of my coffee before standing up. It was getting really late and I was worried that my dad would be worried of me. I have to get going now. I will see you tomorrow. Thank you again, for the job."
"You're welcome dear. Be careful heading home."
"I will thank you." I turned around and started walking towards the main entrance door. Before I could even reach it, a tall figure stood in my way. I mentally huffed in frustration because all I Wanted to do was go back home.
I looked up and it was none other than Hayes. He was taller than me so I had to tilt my head to look him in the eye. He was already staring at me. His stare was as if he was trying to find something in my eyes. Too bad for him because I don't have anything extraordinary to hide. After a few seconds of just intense starring, it started to get awkward for me.
I cleared my throat and broke the eye contact. " Umm… So I will just head back now. Have a good night." I side-stepped him and hurriedly rushed to grab the door handle.
Right before I could pull the door open, Hayes asked me a very random question. "Who do you live with?"
I couldn't comprehend on why a stranger would ask me that question so I turned around and said "Excuse me?"
"Who do you live with?" he asked again, this time sterner.
"I don't what that has to do with you but I live with my dad."
His gaze became more intense. "Only your dad and yourself?" he continued to interrogate me.
"Yes. But I just have to add that my dad has guns and a katana at home. I am also very skilled in martial arts and my dad is really good at using those weapons." I said. I was just giving him a warning if he so happens to be a burglar.
After saying that, his hard stare dropped and he gave a really small chuckle that I barely missed. "Don't worry. I'm no threat." 'Says you,' I thought. "I was just curious that's all," Hayes continued.
"Alright well I really have to get going. See you around." Without even waiting for a reply, I literally sprinted out of the café and ran home.
Not paying any mind on my aching foot, I continued running home until I was standing in front of my house, breathless and sweaty. I quickly ran to the door and opened shouting, "Dad! I'm home!" I waited for a response or nagging for coming home so late but there was none.
I walked into the living room only to find my dad deep in sleep on the couch. I let out a soft chuckle seeing his mouth open wide and snoring so loud. I quickly grabbed a blanket and put it over him. I could see the wrinkles and creases on his forehead. He has been working hard to maintain the roof on our heads and food on our plates. His once black hair was mostly covered with silver hair. I was worried that he was overworking himself. Even though it was just the two of us, his pay mostly covered the essential bills and left us with almost nothing every month. I was hoping that I could treat us with the pay I could get from working at the café.
I started heading to my room upstairs to get ready for bed. I was too tired from walking around town today that all I wanted was rest. So after cleaning up, I got cozy in my bed. My mind couldn't help but wonder weird my encounter with Rosalie and Hayes was. Brushing off the thought, I reminded myself to be thankful of the job that I got and fell into deep slumber not awaiting for the sun tomorrow.