CYPHER ~ Naruhina

Chapter- 24

To his disappointment, his cerulean eyes just failed to find her. Where is she?
 He walked over to an empty table and took a seat. He wasn't late. In fact, he had arrived a minute before the time she said her shift would end. I'll wait for a bit. Sakura had been telling him that lately— that he was too impatient and should learn to wait, to which Sasuke had nodded. 

"Welcome to Mayflour! What would you like to order?" A familiar, cheery voice greeted him, and as he turned to look, he found his brown-haired junior standing by his table with a notepad and a pencil in her hand. 

"Eri!"

"Haha, you were too busy to notice me, huh senpai?"

He ignored her jibe. "Where's she?" He asked right away.

"She? Who?" She wanted to try and pull his leg like she did often with Hinata but was met with an irritated gaze. "Okay, geez! No need to be so salty. She's in the kitchen."

"I came to pick her up. Isn't the time for her shift already up?"

"Yeah, but sometimes she stays back for around twenty minutes to help the next worker get settled in."

Naruto blinked. Oh my God. That's so sweet of her. Imagining her scurrying around making sure that everyone was alright, while she herself was frail and delicate, made a fuzzy warmth puff up in his heart. That's so adorable, goshdarnit. Erika couldn't believe that the man who had stared so sourly a minute ago was smiling like a child now.

"Yeah, yeah, we get it. Your girlfriend sure is cute-" She stopped midway when she saw how large his eyes had become in unexpected surprise. I give up. She giggled, looking at how ridiculous the large man in his professional attire covered his mouth, not even noticing his ears going red. 

"She isn't my girlfriend... yet..." He muttered the last part, but Erika was still able to hear it. 

"Loosen up, Naru-senpai! It's not that big of a deal."

He shook his head subtly, still covering his mouth with his large palm. "You don't understand."

"Fine, I don't have time for dilly-dallying. Order something." She cut him off.

"I dunno. I just came here to get Hinata."

"Unfortunately, you can't place an order for one of our employees." She tried to get under his skin with a pun once more, still sceptical of whether it would work. To her joy, it did. More than she had expected.

He clenched his fist as his ears grew redder. "You pest. You know I didn't mean that."

"Who knows? Maybe deep down you did?" She grinned as she saw his watery smile being accompanied by an annoyed frown. This is prime entertainment. "Maybe we'll accommodate your demands for today. The customers are always right, after all. Noted. One Hinata. To have now or for takeout?"

He almost slammed the table but stopped since it was a pretty public place. "What's with you today?!" He whisper-yelled, hoping he would get across the anger, but it only made her feel more jubilant. "Why are you being such a pesky brat?"

She ignored him and continued to laugh lightly. "Alright, alright. Don't get too worked up. You have appearances to keep, you know?"

"What a nice payback for a free date," he mumbled, turning away, looking peeved.

"Fine. I'll get you something nice. My recommendation would be a Mille-Feiulle. Our bakery has the best recipe for it."

"No thanks. Not a big fan of sweets."

"...Hinata freshly made a batch of them twenty minutes ago." She slowly dropped the statement, looking eagerly at him to catch his reaction.

There it was again. The mixed expression of hesitation and excitement. It made her break out into laughter, gaining a few onlookers here and there. She knew he was surely going to ask for it now, but that would entirely discredit his dislike for sweets. It was just fun for her to watch him sinking into the emotional dilemma of admitting to her (Erika), of all the people, that his prideful first idea was wrong, and that he was now going to change his mind drastically because of, you-know-who.