[Raelynn]
As she stood next to the traffic light pole at an intersection, Raelynn looked up towards the early morning sky. It was about seven in the morning, and the sun was hardly shining bright. She could vaguely make out the silhouette of the moon. There weren't many people or cars around despite the fact that they were in a city.
"Lily, stop looking up and pay attention when you're about to cross the road." The omega turned and looked at Derek, who towered over her by about half a foot. Although Raelynn was considered tall for a girl, she still had to look upwards whenever she faced Derek since he was about 6'3 tall.
"Lily, look at the road," the giant repeated in a rather grouchy tone. It was a clear sign that he had not had his cup of coffee. Raelynn giggled.
"Oh my. Someone hasn't gotten his daily caffeine fuel today," Jasper chuckled and pulled Nash close, nuzzling at his neck. "It's so cold though." At the touch of Jasper's cold nose against the nape of his neck, Nash flinched slightly but hugged his adorable lover closer.
"Well, it is early in the morning, and it rained heavily the whole of last night", Nash replied as he groaned slightly. "Your nose is also cold", but Nash did not release Jasper from his embrace.
"Uh huh... Let's just get the groceries and drive back to the café. We need to get the shop opened before the customers start coming in. Boss should have already left the place today and it won't be good to make Cassidy handle everything on her own," Derek said grumpily, though his words were more audible this time. The cold morning air was waking his senses up.
"Yeah, too bad Jeremy and Ellie won't be around to help open up the café today. Apparently even during breaks, there are assignments from their universities to worry about. Ah, such is the life of the youth," Jasper said as the four crossed the nearly empty street. There were only a couple of vehicles on the road.
Nash huffed in amusement. "You're not old, Jasper."
"Shush." Jasper looked around as they walked. "It really is so quiet here. I guess we're the only ones awake this early. Well, aside from those who've already rushed to their offices much earlier at six. Hah! The cold morning air is really refreshing!"
"Speak for yourself. I just want to get this over with," Derek muttered as they reached the entrance of the huge supermarket building.
"Actually, can't we just order the food online or by call?" Raelynn asked as she grabbed a trolley and Jasper, another.
"Lily, if we do that, the ingredients may not be as fresh or how we'd like it to be. Nothing is like shopping for your own groceries. Quality ingredients means quality food," Derek spoke like the food connoisseur he was and Raelynn could not help but smile. 'He is so cute and attractive when he speaks so passionately of food.'
"Also, this is the only real exercise we do. Otherwise, we'll be too lazy to even do a weekly walk or jog in a park," Nash added.
"True. Why do all four of us have to come out shopping for groceries?" Jasper asked.
"Boss has been buying all the groceries a couple of times during the week, and I think we should help him since he's been so occupied with meetings and calls. Having four of us do the shopping would mean that we can carry back more stuff to the café, rather than just having Boss make so many frequent trips," Derek answered as they walked past the cashiers located near the entrance of the building.
"Honey, you brought Raelynn- a girl- to do the heavy lifting?" Jasper teased mischievously. He had always enjoyed seeing the giant squirm in discomfort. Derek was always a bit sensitive when it came to Raelynn.
"No, I got Raelynn to come because I know she doesn't eat anything in the morning. There's this great donut shop next door that serves excellent coffee as well! We can pack some donuts and 'cups of joe' when we've finished shopping," the alpha said and quickened his pace.
"Ah, he's in for the coffee," Nash remarked, and they all laughed.
***
By lunchtime, there were many customers at the café --as expected since it was indeed the weekend. Raelynn was manning the cashier and taking orders. This was nothing unusual as it was what she usually did during her shifts at the café. However, for some reason, she felt quite tired when they had practically opened the café for the last two hours. Normally, she wouldn't feel strain even after eight hours of being on her feet. Something was really different today.
'Perhaps it was because I had to wake up early to go to the grocery store?' Raelynn thought as she tried to catch her breath.
A hand gently tapped on her back and she turned. It was Derek. "Hey, how about you rest for a bit? You look very pale. Here," he gave her a glass of what looked like a smoothie. His face showed a worried frown. "This is a mango and blueberry smoothie. It should help give you an energy boost. Now, go. Rest upstairs in the office. If you start feeling restless, you can just work on one of our comics or do something else that you like… Though I know you'd like to work on comics." He chuckled and ushered her to the stairs.
Raelynn knew that Derek was right and thanked him before slowly going up the stairs. 'It's probably because I'm so unfit and had to start the day so early today', Raelynn thought as she slurped the smoothie in her hand. It was cool and sweet. 'He's so kind for making this for me. He's always pampering me with treats and refreshing drinks like this', Raelynn continued up the stairs as she hummed to herself.
When Raelynn entered the office, Cassidy was the only one working in the room. Most of the other staff either work from home or would come later during the evening to work on their respective tasks. As for the main staff, they were currently all working in the café since they were short-handed. The boss has yet to return from his meeting with the new author and later, the collaborators for another comic.
Cassidy's desk was situated at the very corner of the room--which gave her the full view of the office. She was the only one of the main staff who didn't work in the café since she is busy working on not only their company's comics, but also on her own novel publications as well. As a translator, her novels required more time and effort compared to comics. It was decided by everyone that Cassidy should just work in the office. It wasn't like she was forbidden from helping out in the café if she wanted to, and Cassidy does actually work in the café from time-to-time whenever she feels like taking a breather away from the desk.
"Oh hey, Rae," Cassidy said as soon as she noticed Raelynn entering the office.
"Hey," Raelynn replied.
"You're here much earlier than expected. Is something the matter?"
"No, I'm just feeling a bit tired today. Derek told me to rest up here."
"Ah, I understand. You do look exhausted, which is odd since you're always the powerhouse around here."
"Yeah, it's strange. I think it's probably because I woke up early for grocery shopping. Then again, I have been feeling a bit off recently. But it could be the lack of sleep from just a couple of days ago when we had rushed to scanlate so many chapters for the Princess comic."
"I guess that may be the case…" Cassidy trailed off as she went over to Raelynn to touch her forehead. "Gosh, you have a fever. Let's go to the boss' office room and lay you down."
Without allowing Raelynn to protest, Cassidy started pulling the much taller girl into the boss' office room. Unlike the rest of the staff, the boss had his own room within the office itself whenever he needed to have an official yet 'public' meeting with clients and authors. The walls of the room were mainly made out of glass; which made it easy for all staff members to see who the boss was meeting with. Moreover, if there was a need to later have some privacy, there was a button that can be pressed to make the glass walls opaque.
The room was quite bare considering that there was only a long table, shelf and couch. Well, it is a sofa-bed to be precise, Cassidy thought to herself. Since most of the meetings with clients are done outside of the cafe, the office room was not really used. The boss tends to work on the comics after the cafe has closed. By that time, he would usually be alone. Thus, he tends to work on the comics in the comforts of his own bedroom. His bedroom was large enough to have a corner solely as his workspace.
That being said, the office room was only mainly used by staff who needed to rest. Cassidy readjusted the sofa-bed's mechanisms to have it shift from a sofa position to that of a bed. Then, she guided Raelynn to lay on the makeshift bed.
By this time, Raelynn's face was red and she was beginning to pant, as if it was getting hard for her to breathe. At this, Cassidy tilted her head slightly. "Rae, just a random question--how old are you?"
"Seventeen."
"Huh…" Cassidy squinted at Raelynn, "Have you ever gotten your heat before?"