NYTI Chapter 08: Start all over again
Lianne was busy working on the boutique shop as usual, and it was more packed than before.
"Thank you for choosing Syrelle's botique. Come again." She smiles at the customer who just paid.
Her gaze ended up on the clock by the wall.
"Oh gosh! I'm not late, am I?" Lucy, the other worker, arrived.
Lianne smiled at her and said, "No, you're just in time for your shift."
Lucy went to put away her bag, and she tied her hair up.
"I'm all done now. You can go ahead and leave," Lucy tells her as she goes in to where the cashier is.
"Okay, I'll get going now then."
"Oh, right! Good luck. There's a lot of customers today." Lianne left the boutique after saying farewell to her friend Tina.
She walks outside the boutique. She had to walk against the swarm of people looking at the flowers displayed in the shop.
Suddenly someone said, "Excuse me, Miss."
She froze for a bit and flinched, as if she were commanded by the voice to stop. The voice was so familiar to her. Still, she didn't dare look at whoever was talking. She continued, and she walked even faster than before to get out of there as soon as possible.
"Excuse me, Miss!" the voice kept speaking.
She ignored it even more. Lianne knows that she is the one that is being called out by the voice.
"Excuse me, Miss, with a black jacket, blue denim pants, and a black sling bag!" the voice yelled.
She can hear the mumbling of those who are around and feel their gaze on her. She got reddish from embarrassment.
She walked even faster than she could, and she heard that the voice seemed to be getting closer to her. But then she failed to get away, as she was stopped by a hand holding her wrist. She looked up and saw him—no one other than Cedric.
"Ugh!" She couldn't help but rumble out of disgust.
The people crowding around them, especially the girls, are audibly enjoying the "k-drama feels" in front of them.
Her eyes twitched in annoyance.
"What's your problem?"
"I knew it. It's you, Lianne," Cedric says as he smiles proudly, like he did something worth being proud of himself.
"What do you want from me?" she says as she tries to free her hand from his grip.
People around them start to have a mixed reaction. They started to whisper and talk about what might be going on.
"Such a shame it is a handsome young man. His face doesn't match his attitude. Is he harassing her here in public? Shameless," an old woman whispered.
"Oh~ they might be having a LQ (Lover's Quarrel)"
"Maybe the man is trying to woo the girl."
Cedrick looked around after noticing that they were nearly surrounded by many people who stopped by and watched the show.
"It looked like he was harassing her."
Cedric, who was just smiling, started to get a bit flustered by the attention. He took her hand and started to run away. She did not know why she did it, but she also started to run away. She is certain that she wants to get away from the attention of the people around them.
She stopped running when she noticed that they'd already been by a park a bit far from her workplace.
"Huff, why did we have to run away?" She shouted after she stopped running. She was panting so hard that it felt like she had just run a marathon.
"Right, why did we?" Cedric asked himself.
Lianne felt pissed because of his answer. For what did they run?
He looked down as he felt ashamed of his own actions. He turned red because of the humiliation he felt. He looked like a wet chick.
Looking at him like that, Lianne suddenly starts laughing. Seeing him like that, it feels like she is seeing a child being scolded by his parents.
He looked up when he heard her laugh. He was astonished by the way she looked. She looks even more beautiful than before, and he was bewitched by her image.
At the same time, he felt relieved. He totally thought she would beat him up, for sure.
"Hahahahaha, I thought you would beat me up before anything else." He laughs awkwardly, feeling confused about what to do.
"Are you done laughing? Why did you have to drag me here?" She asked when she regained her cool.
He stopped his awkward laugh and quickly thought of a reason to say, "Ahh, umm, it's because we were making a scene in front of your workplace," he said, scratching the back of his hair as a distraction.
"Oh, I see..." Lianne says, and then a long silence comes after.
Lianne looks at him. Why is he there? Was he planning on buying something at the store? She wanted to ask him, but the strange and awkward aura in the atmosphere is making it hard for her to open her mouth and ask.
Suddenly, Cedric cleared his throat.
"Umm, so..." he starts to speak.
Lianne looks at him and waits for whatever he is going to say, but he looks like he is struggling to speak up.
Lianne looked at him and noticed that, contrary to his usual self, he looks and acts so shy.
"Who are you?" She asked while looking at him suspiciously. "What did you do to Cedrick?"
She didn't hide the fact that she thinks the one talking to her right now is not Cedrick. The way he talks is definitely not Cedrick-style.
"What are you talking about?" he replied, confused, but instead of speaking and answering him, Lianne just gave him a suspecting look.
It took Cedric awhile to get what she's pointing at.
"Look here. I know it might sound unbelievable and might sound weird or strange, but it is really me," he said this time, looking at her straight.
"Oh well, you do sound a lot different than you used to. It feels like talking to a whole different person," Lianne confesses.
Cedric smiled awkwardly and said, "Yes, you are right. It might sound unbelievable to be. But it is really me. I decided to turn over a new leaf."
"Really?" she asked, teasing him a bit.
"Yes, really," Cedric said with a firm demeanor.
Lianne smiled at him and said, "That's great, then."
"So... what are you doing in front of my workplace?" Lianne remembered how they met earlier.
"Ooh, that! "Cedric exclaims while his eyes wander around mindlessly.
"Don't tell me you were doing your usual thing, such as following me around," she hinted.
Cedric's eyes widen in shock at her unexpected comment.
"What? No! Of course not. I just told you that I turned over a new leaf, didn't I?"
"You have been following me for who knows how long. You can't really blame me for thinking like that."
Cedric shakes his head as he chuckles, feeling helpless at the words that are thrown at him.
"Right." He speaks shyly, as her comment does have a point and is not baseless.
"But seeing you right now, I have no choice but to think that it might not be the case after all." She gave him a look, waiting patiently for him to start speaking for himself.
"But first, let's take a seat. My feet feel like they will give up anytime now," she said, heading to the nearest bench. His feet were still firmly planted when she looked up, and she felt offended.
"Why are you still standing still?" She looked up to her and waited for him to do something. "You can take a seat here. It's not like I'll eat you."
"Then, if you don't mind, I'll take a seat." He sat down beside him.
She brought back her question. "So back to my question. Why were you there?"
Cedric clears his throat and starts to speak. "Right! About that, I wanted to talk to you, but I was caught up in the swamp of people there. I was just going to go and come another time when I noticed that your shift had already ended, so I waited outside."
Serena nodded her head as she looked around.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" She was curious about what he wanted to say. Up until now, she was still feeling guilty about the last time they met. She just ran away and left him.
She could not tolerate him, so she said some words that did hurt him, but she did not regret saying them. Though she couldn't help but feel that she should not have told it to him that way,
"I wanted some closure. I want to apologize for my attitude toward you for these nearly two years. Can you forgive me?" he said, looking away, feeling a bit bashful. He couldn't look straight at her.
Her eyes widen for a second in disbelief.
"What?" Did she hear it right? He is actually apologizing.
Cedric gathered his courage and spoke up again. This time he faced him to show that he was being sincere. "I said I wanted to apologize for my behavior in the previous years."
"Oh, I forgive you; I am not that bad. I'm glad you turn out to be like this. To be honest, I thought you were a total jerk before seeing you right now. I feel like I have judged a book by its cover. I also apologize for it." She can't explain, but she became comfortable talking with him all of a sudden.
"Thank you, Lianne. Now that we have cleared our past argument, can we start all over?" he said, looking so adorable as he was blushing a bit.
Lianne smiles as she looks at him, then proceeds to laugh, causing him to look at her.
Without any hesitation, she says, "Of course."
He stood and extended his arms for a handshake. "I'm Cedric Tiu. Can we be friends?"
She gave him a quick glance, said her name, and grasped his hand. "Yes, I am Lianne Lopez."
They looked at each other, then laughed. The people passing by look at them with confusion; who wouldn't?
After making up, they continued to talk to each other for some time.
She saw the time when her phone suddenly lit up. "Shoot! Look at the time. It's already this late. I need to go now."
She fixes her bag. "I'm sorry, Cedrick. Let's talk again another time."
Justin will return home following their field trip, so she needs to get home soon. Picking up her bag, she starts to walk away. Before Cedric could even react, she was out of his sight.
Cedric decided to stay there for a while. He looks around and enjoys the scenery in the park.
"Come to think of it, back then I had never imagined that we could talk like this. I wouldn't have even thought of it if it were not for Marick, who talked about it to me. I guess I need to go now too. It is really late."
But as he was about to get up from the bench, he received a call. He took his phone and saw the caller ID. It's Marick.
"Hey!"
"Hey, what's with your tone? You sound disturbingly happy," Marick said in a rather flat and nonchalant tone.
"Hey! What does that mean?" Cedric felt floored by Marick's greetings.
"It means what I meant."
"Wah~ this---" He becomes spechless.
"Well, based on your attitude, it seems you have made it up, huh? Now I think you can finally be focused on doing work now." Marick intentionally emphasized the focused part.
"Now, speaking of work, there's something that is related to that."
"Hmm?"
"Your father asked you to attend a party on his behalf," Marick said before he got in his car.
"Again?" Cedric sounds a bit irritated.
"Ugh, yeah. So give me your current location so that I'll come and pick you up," Marick says.
"Okay, okay. I'll send you my location," he says, ending the call. He sends Marick his location. He takes a deep breath and enjoys the beauty of the park at night while he waits. He was lost in thought as he stared at the streetlamp just on the opposite side of the bench he was seated on.