He then adopted a look as though he was in deep thought, he looked as though he was figuring something out, and then suddenly Mr Thomas smiled once again and apologised to Emma.
"I'm sorry, I have something planned right now, that said, I have to go before I'm late." He said whilst checking his watch momentarily once more, his smile was still plastered on his face but his eyes looked more calculative, as though he was trying to figure out the fastest way to get to his destination.
Emma stood stunned for a brief moment as that wasn't what she'd expected him to say, she then snapped herself out of her fleeting moment of stupor and answered him still somewhat confused.
"Ah, yes. Bye Mr Th-" he cut her off just before she'd finished talking, adding to her confusion.
"I'll see you later, Emma!" He said whilst waving and turning around at the same time, he then started half running, half-speed walking in the opposite direction of Emma.
Putting Emma's detailed thinking and plans to waste, she felt both relieved and disappointed that he didn't press the matter of why she was here. On one hand, she had taken the time to think of excuses, but on the other hand, they weren't polished enough and they could easily be seen through, at worst she may have to stay late learning about something she had already learnt from one of the teachers. After all, she'd rather that than be caught in a lie and to have Mr Thomas know her cooking was that awful. She didn't even want to admit to herself that she was that bad of a chef, it was downright embarrassing that he hated it so much that after one bite he had tossed it away.
She stood there staring at his back for a moment, she'd lifted her arm and had wanted to grab his jacket's sleeve for a moment to get him to stop. She'd wanted to ask where he was going in such a hurry, but he'd already long gone. A smile broke out on her face, unlike her usual warm smiles this one was full of pain, she laughed bitterly and brought the outstretched hand up to her head. She placed her hand gently on the back of her head and sighed.
Emma couldn't decide what to do, she'd finished lunch so early just to see Mr Thomas, but then he ran away in a hurry. She wasn't feeling all that great, she also didn't have anything to do, she'd finished her lunch so she couldn't just go to the cafeteria to be with Ren. Even if she did, Ren was one of the slowest eaters Emma had ever met, she was also at times awful at multitasking, she was never able to talk and listen whilst eating.
Emma had come to the conclusion that Ren was a foodie, or just on the verge of almost being a foodie, when eating she focused the entirety of her attention on it, even if she didn't like what she was being served. She also ate everything she was given even if she didn't like it, she also had a wide variety of knowledge on everything and at times would recommend to Emma what to order at new restaurants she'd never been to before. The dishes she'd recommend suited Emma's tastes perfectly, she didn't know how Ren knew her so well.
Ren had been the one who had invited her to most of the restaurants, cafes and so on, she'd been to, recalling the memories of places they'd been together, the only place she'd been the first person to invite Ren to was her favourite cafe. She furrowed her bored in confusion at this thought, it took her a few seconds but then she realised that actually, Ren had invited her there first too. Come to think of it, Emma had never invited Ren anywhere new before, she'd have to find somewhere Ren would like sometimes.
When she'd thought of the cafe she finally realised what she should do with the rest of her free time until the end of lunch, she checked her laptop was in her bag and when she noticed it was she rushed to the cafe, a new smile had forced on her face and she was no longer dwelling on the thought of Mr Thomas.
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As soon as she'd made it into the restaurant, she walked up to the counter and looked at the employee who was bent over behind the counter. She leaned onto the counter and smiled at the person, Emma then tapped the person on the back lightly.
"Hey, Chris, how have you been doing lately?" She paused for a moment and one of her hands reached up to start fiddling with her hair, no longer smiling yet still staring at the figure behind the counter. "Actually, I've had… a weird day. Well, not so much weird such as sad? I guess."
"Would you like to talk about it?" Asked the deep and husky voice which came from behind the counter.
Emma closed her eyes and sighed before she opened them again and continued speaking, she didn't even question the fact that the voice didn't match up with how Chris usually sounded, she wasn't paying enough attention to realise that Chris wasn't who she was talking to.
"Actually it's kind of funny," she smiled and lifted the hair she was fiddling with to her mouth, "I made lunch for… this guy, and I saw him throw it away after one bite."
The figure finally got up from behind the counter, and they emerged with some equipment and utensils for using the machines. It seemed like the person had been sorting through the equipment in the cabinet to replace the current ones in the machines so that they could be cleaned.
Emma, who had moved her gaze from the figure to where her hands were fiddling with her hair, didn't notice that the person behind the counter was looking at her and also hadn't realised that it wasn't Chris.
The person placed their hand on Emma's hand that had remained on the counter, Emma finally realised that this was indeed not Chris due to the deep voice and the larger hand, this caused Emma to look up at the face of the man in front of her.
"Maybe you should practice your cooking more before offering it to others?" The man asked her, a smile on his handsome face. He lifted Emma's hand up to his face and kissed the back of it.
Emma's face flushed, the man in front of her was extremely handsome, he had light brown hair, it was cut short and he had a fringe reaching his eyebrows. His hair was a bit wavy and framed his face, his eyes were a light brown, they reminded her of the colour of lattes, they looked warm and gentle. He was over six feet tall and had a kind smile, his shoulders were broad and he had a slim waist, Emma couldn't help but feel captivated by him.
She then heard chattering coming from around her, she glanced around quickly and realised all the women in the cafe were looking at her with jealousy clear on their faces. She wondered why before realising he was still holding her hand and had even kissed it. Her face became even redder before her eyebrows furrowed slightly and she tore away her hand.