"I want to back out.."Indiana hesitantly said but the determination in her voice is evident.

"I don't think I need your job and your help anymore.."She continued, The shakiness of her voice is starting to show. She's nervous.

The guy in front of her is just staring at her intently. With a scary smirk on his face. Not saying anything. Not even moving. Just staring.

Now her palms are shaking. She slowly lifts it out of the table and hides it in between her knees. Like what she always does when she's nervous.

She knows that he sees what she did but he still did not move nor said anything.

Now she's bothered.

"C-can you please say something?"She asked almost stuttering.

"Are you sure you're not gonna regret your decision?" He stated after a whole minute of silence.

"Y-yes. I applied for a job Downtown and I just got the acceptance email this morning. It's just a simple job, it does not pay gold but it pays enough for an alone person to live." She continuously said while trying to mask the obvious worried on her face.

But the guy just sat there unmoving while having his scary smirked the whole time which made her worried even more.

He then took the cup of black coffee off of the table and took a sip. He put it back down and started to neat the suit his wearing.

"Good luck with your new job."He cheerfully expressed with a genuine smile on his face.

This guy is bothering her. There's something about him that lowkey scares her.

He stood up while trying to put his polka dots tie in line.

"See you soonest my love."Oh, I hope not. He then took her right hand and kiss the back of it, and winked at her one last time before he made his way out of the restaurant.

Creep. The whole "conversation" her heart is beating so fast like she just rode a race car with a suicidal driver. And it almost killed her.

She waited for another 5 minutes before she collected her stuff and decided to leave.

Damn, that shit's scary as hell. Glad it's over. She silently thought and then walked her path home.

-

"Thank you, Come back again!"She happily greeted every customer that's going in and out of the small restaurant that she's working.

"Hi, Madam! Looking beautiful today as always!"She complimented their very loyal customer, Jenna.

A 50-year-old widow who lives down the block has no kids but a purrmom to a bunch of cats. She always comes in here to eat every breakfast and always enters the vicinity with a smile.

"What's our order for today?"She cheerfully asks.

She wrote down everything on her pad then gave the list to their assistant cook.

"Processing!"He shouted then went back inside the kitchen to work on their loyal customer's order.

She has been working here for a week now and the routines and the daily sounds of everything still make her happy.

She's enjoying it so much. It's been a week since the conversation she had with the creepy guy and she's thankful that it worked out.

She's working as an all-around helper in a Royal restaurant. She takes the customer's order. Helps to clean the table and aids to whatever the customers want.

Royal Restaurant. She thought while looking around.

It is indeed royal.

The designs look like it was touched by the God himself. The details are fine and meticulously made. The materials and the fabrics are expensive.

It's like you're dining inside the Royal Castle. The designs are a mix of royal red and blue. The table setups are similar to the table that is usually prepared for the king.

The staff is required to wear royalty server's clothing.

Which she enjoys so much because it doesn't look like a server's dress at all.

She looks like a princess.

And they were also taught to treat every customer like royalty.

And the good thing is you don't have to pay gold to experience a royalty like dine.

The owner is kind. And treats his employees equally. And it pays well.

Not bad for an undergraduate like her, who also lives on her own.

To be true, she's not asking for much. She just wants to be able to pay for her shelter and necessities on her own. To be able to eat three times or more in a day.

To live comfortably, and not asking for help from the people whom she thought would love and accept her but all they did is betrayed her.

Time passed by so fast, It's time for the restaurant to rest the same as the royal employees. They did a good job today as always.

They managed to attend to every customer's bidding without any problems or interruption.

Kudos to all her workmates and her boss.

"Iana? Are you sure you'll be safe on your own?" Tina, one of her workmates asks her worried.

She insisted to close the whole place on her own.

The two of them are supposed to be together to close the restaurant but unfortunately, tina has some errands to attend to that involves her kids.

She met the kids already. And they are the sweetest of all. She would feel very bad if she will hold their mother up for a bit longer.

"I got it." She fearlessly declared.

Tina stares at her with worry. She was about to say something but her phone rang again. Probably the third time for this hour.

"The kids?" She whispered that she answered with a nod confirming that is indeed her kids.

She smiled. Then she went to pick up tina's bag on the table hooked it on her shoulder and slowly pushed her out of the restaurant. While she's still answering her kids in the other line.

"Indiana." She called her with a smile when they made it out.

"You take care okay?" She said then hugged her tight.

"You too.Goodnight." She retorted back. And went back inside.

10 minutes after Tina left. She poured her remaining time into cleaning. Polishing everything that needs to be polished so the customer would not give a bad review about their cleaning and hygiene.

She looked at her phone. It's 10:55.

She brought all of the cleaning materials back to the janitor's room.

When she comes back the bell on their entrance door rang, indicating that someone came in.

Must be a customer mistaken that they are still open because the lights are still on.

"I'm sorry but we're— Boss?!"She yelled shocked.

She felt like her soul left her body.

The restaurant's owner. Her boss is clinging to the table paled and bleeding. And a huge type of knife is buried deep in his chest.

The trace of blood from his left chest is seen on his white shirt, down to his blue denim pants.

His face is beaten. Almost unrecognizable.

Who in the world would do this to their ice boss?

"Boss?!" She shouted. And took a step forward to rescue him.

She tremblingly reaches for her phone.

"Hold on boss! I'm calling 911."She informed him while trying to reach the ambulance on her phone.

She checked his wound. The knife is deep down his chest. Looks like the suspect tried to make sure he's not gonna make it out alive.

She's shocked when her boss made a loud sound of pain and holds her shirt trying to ask for help.

"Hello 911 what's your emergency?" She flinched. She was too focused on his boss that's she forgot about the call.

"Hello? I need help!—"

"Put your hands up!"Indiana was interrupted with her call when a group of policemen entered the restaurant.

They're looking at her sharply while pointing their guns at her.

"Wait for—Sir!"She tried to talk but she was petrified when one of the policemen advanced on her place.

Her reflexes told her to stand and run.

And that's what she did.

She couldn't help but scream when she heard a series of gunshots behind her.

They are firing in her direction.

What the hell is happening?! She couldn't help the group of hot tears that streamed down her face while she's running as fast as she could.

It's a good thing she hadn't locked the backdoor of the restaurant it served as her escape door.

She ran until she found the low fence daycare center at the end of the block.

She didn't think twice and decided to climb her way down to the other side.

She walked and run to the back of the school.

She wiped her tears and calmed her breathing. She assesses her surroundings.

She's trying to hear every movement possible.

She stayed like that for good 10 minutes. When she's sure that they didn't be able to find her.

She sobbingly slumped onto the grass.

She hugged her knees and silently sob her feelings out.

What is happening? They didn't think it's her right? But why did they followed her?

A metal-like smell of blood rise in the air when a strong wind fanned her direction.

She then looked at her shirt. A huge mess of blood is seen. She got it when she tried to catch her boss from falling to the ground when he passes out due to so much pain.

Is this why?

What bad luck. She teased herself.

Why is it always like this?

She was so tired that she didn't notice herself falling into a deep slumber.

Indiana was woken up by a loud sound of ringing.

She looked around her. Trying to find where the sound is coming from.

"My phone!"She shockingly exclaimed. She was so scared the last night that she didn't realize that she has her phone with her the whole time.

"Indiana where are you?"The first thing she heard when she answered the call.

"Tina.." All she managed to say before she broke down and sobbed again.

"What happened? Are you okay? Where are you?"Tina continuously asks. But she still can't push her tongue and mouth to talk.

"Girl, is it true? Your face is all over the news. Our boss's family already put a reward over your head. Did you do it?"Tina worriedly asks while sniffing. She couldn't help but cry with pity for the girl.

"I-i d-didn't..T-tina I'm —" She couldn't establish what her heart wants to say.

"I know honey, I just want to tell you that the police are on their way here for investigation for me and my family. It has come to the authorities that I was also with last night. I'll try to save the both of us if I can." She stated.

"This is not the best advice that I could give but, hide Indiana. We can't compete for now." She last said before she hanged up.

Tina's words made her cry even more. What has she done? Now Tina and her family are also at the edge.

What should she do? Should she surrender herself to the authorities so she could save them?

She looked at her phone.

She inhaled and exhaled deeply before she wiped her tears and dialed on her phone...