Piece By Piece | ✓

1 | vanessa

     The soft tinkling of a bell echoed throughout the coffee shop as a huffing woman with dark hair bustled inside, a panicked look painted on her pale face.

     "Vanessa, hey," a red-haired man greeted her with a smile from the counter. She nodded her head in acknowledgment and started walking towards the direction of the locker room at the back, but paused for a moment when he said, "You should've gone through the back door."

     "I didn't want to be late, okay?" Vanessa growled, throwing deadly daggers in his direction. It was an unspoken rule that the employees should always enter the coffee shop through the back door, since the front was exclusive for customers only.

     Of course, that didn't stop her because she still had to find a decent parking spot amongst the throng of shiny cars with only a few minutes left before her shift. She just didn't have enough time to go and run through the back door from the parking lot.

     And she was sure as hell that she wasn't going to give up so easily on the incentive their boss had offered several months ago.

     Come to work without any absences and don't be late for three whole months, he had announced over at a staff meeting, and I'll give you a raise. Of course, it still depends on your performance and how the coffee shop is maintained.

     Vanessa could've sworn that she had felt hot, unwanted tears prick at her eyes when Jack, their optimistic gay manager, had said those words. She needed the extra money for car repairs, electricity and water bills, and most importantly, her school fees.

     She was proud of herself for being on time and never missing a day at work.

     Nic held up his hands in surrender and apologized immediately. "I was just kidding, Vanessa," he said sincerely.

     She narrowed her eyes at him. "Whatever, Nic."

     And with that, she hurried to the back and sighed in relief when she clocked in two minutes earlier. Once she was in the locker room, she immediately punched in her code, slid out off her jacket and stuffed it inside her locker, taking out her apron in the process and tying it in a tight knot behind her waist.

     The moment she stepped foot inside the counter with Nic, he apologized to her again. "I'm sorry. I was only fooling around, Vanessa. You know that, right?"

     Red-haired and gray-eyed Nicolai. He attended the same university and was a senior. At first, she was utterly annoyed with his warm smiles and greetings, but as time passed, she learned to tolerate it, finally coming to the conclusion that he just liked to smile a lot.

     In a way, Vanessa did kind of envy him because he only had this semester left to finish, and after that, he'd probably quit the job and start working somewhere in the city, no longer a college student who was flooded with different loans.

     She envied the fact that he was so close to getting out of this neighborhood, while she still had another year to go and a whole damn lot of bills to pay.

     Vanessa heaved a sigh and faced him. "Yeah, I know," she muttered under her breath as she combed her hair with her hands, then she threw her head backward, tying her hair into a ponytail. "It's fine, Nic."

     Sensing that she was serious about accepting his apology, he flashed her another smile. "Okay, great," he said. "So, how's school?"

     "It's fine," Vanessa repeated with a shrug. She never really liked talking about her life, so she asked him how he was doing instead.

     "It's stressful, you know? Being able to finally graduate is exciting and all, but shit, the requirements and paperwork are draining the life out of me, I swear."