Breathe Me Out Of The Darkness // n.h

Chapter 16

Four months later, 29th April 2017, 1:30 PM

"Is that all, sir?" The words coming out of my mouth cheerfully as I grinned at the old man sitting in the booth in front of me.

He chuckled as he nodded. "Yes, darling".

I smiled as I retreated to the counter that belonged to the coffee shop that I was working at. I ripped the paper that had the old man's order on and slid it to Martha, my co-worker.

She smiled as she read over the order and started readying it. I sat on the stool that was facing the entrance and started gazing at the people that were walking by, something that became a habit since I came here.

My smile faded as I recalled the reason of why I was here in the first place. I left everyone behind when they were ready to fight with me, for me. I also came to realization that they'd be better off without me. Nonetheless, I did not regret what I did, not even a bit, because I was protecting them as much as I was protecting myself. The sudden affection and care I directed towards them was literally coming out of the blue, I had no slight idea to what was happening to me.

"Ara" Martha called, her high pitched, oddly comforting, voice gently cut my depressing track of thoughts.

I turned around, my fake smile slipping back on my face as I took the tray that had the old man's order on and walked towards his table. I put down his Latte and slice of raspberry cheescake, and went back to Martha, noticing that she was getting ready to leave.

"James is on his way" she said as she put her things in her bag and pulled her hair up in a ponytail. "Please, try not to kill him".

I rolled my eyes as I huffed. I took her place behind the counter, as my shift as taking orders was done and my shift as making coffee began. Silently, I gazed into her brown eyes, hers warning me not to 'kill him', if only she knew that my hands were already dirty.

"Liara! Promise me" she whined.

"For the hundredth time, call me Ara, not Liara! It's not like I can actually kill him!" I groaned.

The story that I went by was that I could not stand rich's world, so I escaped from my parents' hold, as for my name, I simply claimed that it only suited snoppy rich people. They believed that, much to my relief.

Five minutes later, James strolled in, making my chest tighten with an unspoken pain. Neither him, Martha or anyone else knew the real reason why I hated him so much. He was a walking version of the Niall that I knew before getting kidnapped, ignoring the fact that he had Niall's middle name. His blue eyes, brown hair and slightly rosy cheeks only reminded me of Niall. That was why I hated him so much.

"Good afternoon" he softly spoke, as if he was fearing I'd lash out on him if he spoke louder.

I completely ignored his existence as he went and grabbed his apron, and tied it around his waist. Silently, he went to a new customer who just got in, leaving me in peace.

For a Saturday, it was really a quiet day, not a lot of people came in, but it was enough to keep the day going. I sighed out as another round of depressing thoughts tried to reign my mind. James gave me a piece of paper. I didn't need to look at him to know that he was starring at me. I could feel the intensity of his gaze. The door binged as another customer walked in, drawing my gaze up to him. Then, I returned to making black coffee, not giving notice to anything around me.

Just as I had finished the order, put it on a tray alongside with a few cookies and gave the tray to James, did I notice the hoodied customer that was sitting on a stool, his gaze, although covered by sunglasses, was pointed towards me. Thinking that he needed to order, I stepped to the side exactly three steps.