That Stupid Little Waiter

Chapter 6 - Rain in Your Eyes

Except, it was tomorrow morning, and Rody had yet to be seen.

"He's just late again", Vincent told himself, so he waited, and waited. One minute went by, no problem at all, it was only one minute. Three minutes, he must be on his way here. Five minutes, he should be arriving any minute now... right?

Before Vincent knew it, it had been fifteen minutes, and still no sight of Rody. Vincent kept pacing back and forth with his arms crossed, constantly mumbling to himself as though to distract himself from all the intrusive thoughts telling him every possibility of why this could be horribly, horribly wrong. To his employees right now, he must look like a crazy person, which was absolutely not an image he ever wanted to present, but he couldn't care less when all he could wonder about was Rody's whereabouts. Was Rody just running very late like last time? Was he sick? At home? On the street? Got into an accident? Should Vincent call him to make sure? Or should he not, in case Rody was afraid of him now? Or even hated his guts-

His train of thoughts was interrupted by the opening sound of the door. Whipping his head around towards the backdoor of the building, he saw Rody at last, standing at the doorway with the same stupid messy hair and that stupid little face.

"Morning, sorry I-"

Before Rody could finish his sentence, he was cut off by two hands slamming on his shoulders so forcefully that he almost stumbled from it. As he tried to balance on his two feet again, he caught a glimpse of Vincent's face and he nearly let out a gasp of surprise. Vincent's widened eyes were locked with his, his hands squeezing his shoulders like he was afraid Rody was going to run away, and he was letting out quiet yet heavy breathing as he struggled to speak.

"M-Morning Vince?" Rody chuckled as an attempt to lighten up the atmosphere, especially when he could feel the entire staff room's attention on them. Whether that worked or not, Vincent did let out a gasp as though he just snapped out of a trance before swiftly letting go of Rody and adjusting his posture.

"Ah, erm, good morning, Rody." Vincent maintained his gaze on Rody, his face emotionless as ever, but Rody could somehow tell there was something else going in those deep dark eyes of his. "Mind explaining why you were fifteen minutes late?"

"I uh-" Rody looked away, scratching his head and smiling sheepishly. "I overslept haha-"

Normally, if someone ever told Vincent that with a straight face, every staff would fear for that person's employment and their very life. But since it was Rody, they were just shaking their head and chuckling to themselves because they knew Rody would be fine, and they would be correct.

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood today." Vincent groaned into his palm as he lied through his teeth, pretending to be disappointed when he actually felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "You'd better get ready for work now, you're already so late-"

"Well, actually-" This time it was Rody who interrupted Vincent. "I came here to say I quit."

Vincent wasn't sure what happened to him, but he felt like his entire existence just froze right there. His body. His mind. His heart.

His soul.

"Pardon-?" His mind went from silent to running on multiple train of thoughts at once in a matter of seconds. Out of all the things he thought might happen today, this was definitely not on the list. Although, should he have expected it, considering what just happened last night? Struggling to maintain his upright posture with a quivering body, he stared at Rody in disbelief. That stupid face of his, he looked so unbothered. Those stupid eyes of his, they were still as glaring bright as ever. Those moles, they were still sitting cutely there on his cheeks. And those stupid lips of his, on it was a smile. Stupid Rody, how could he be smiling while Vincent's heart was crumbling inside? Why? Why so sudden? Vincent desperately wanted to beg and ask what was wrong, but on the other hand, he felt like he should've seen this coming.