On The Way |M.L

chapter 17

(Something's Wrong)

'Hey there! We're taking a short break and closing the bakery for a little while for personal reasons. Don't worry, we'll be back soon with new yummy treats ! Thanks for your patience and see you real soon!'

The note displayed on the bakery's closed door read, Mark let out a soft sigh, looking around the empty street, normally it was closing time, he stood there wondering since when the bakery had been closed, then he noticed the small date written on the far right corner of the note, which dated to more that two weeks ago. He couldn't do anything more but go back to his apartment.

The next day, the assassin went to university, attended his classes, and classes he didn't even have, urning questioning looks from some of the students around, which he didn't mind at all.

He skipped to the library, the cafeteria, then ended up in the cafe where he got the frapps the last time.

"Sir! Hello sir! Thank you for coming back to our cafe! It's such a pleasure to see you again" a girl said, she hurried to him the second he entered the cafe, Mark's eyes darted over the small tag clasped on her shirt, she was the manager.

He didn't say anything, which kind of intimidated the girl a little bit, until he looked at her "Where's the cashier who usually works here?" he asked her.

The girl seemed to hesitate a little as she thought "We have two actually, so I don't know precisely which-"

"Average height, blonde hair that falls just above his eyebrows, blue eyes." said Mark with a bored voice, the manager immediately nodded her head as she recognized who he was asking for.

"Oh Dan? He's getting ready to leave, did he cause trouble in any way, sir?" she asked

"I just need to ask him about something, important" said Mark.

At this point, Mark was like a golden customer to the cafe, since his crazy frappuccinos' order, so the manager went out of her way to call the cashier who had actually left minutes ago, and dragged him back into the cafe for Mark to say whatever he wanted to him.

"Hello sir, you asked for me?" the guy looked young, probably around 19 or 20 years old at max.

"I want to ask you about a girl, the one with the white stark in her hair" started Mark, the cashier paused for a second before quickly replying.

"Aah, Kim Rain? She's one of our loyal customers, what about her, sir?" asked the young man.

"Did she come by today, or yesterday perhaps?" asked Mark.

"Oh... Actually she hadn't come here in a while now, I take almost all the shifts here, so I work mostly during busy hours, unless she came by only at night then... No she hasn't been around" he replied.

Mark nodded at him, he reached to his pocket and gave a small envelope to the cashier, who took it with a hint of confusion, before his eyes doubled in size as he saw the stacked money bills inside, Mark then turned to the manager, he slid a check to her reach on the table, the manager hesitantly took it, gasping at the generous amount of money written on it.

"Take this, it's to cover Kim Rain's visits here, so that whenever she comes in, her orders are on the house" said Mark, the manager nodded vigorously at him.