My Boss Is My Son's Dad

VI. Missing Piece

Sapphire

            My eyes had gone wide the moment I felt his very familiar lips on mine, but those eyes soon closed when I felt his lips moving. At that moment, I had an emotional battle. My mind went blank as the tears stopped falling. I was a very sensitive person. My emotions would get the best of me. Sometimes, I couldn’t think straight.

            All I knew was that he was suddenly kissing me. Should I respond? I felt so limp and numb.

            “Saph…”

            That was what it took me to kiss him back. The moment I did, he gripped my waist with one hand, the other went to my head, fingers tangling with my hair as he deepened the kiss. My hands were traitors. They crept up to wrap around his neck and pulled him closer as I tilted my head to the side and opened my mouth for him. I heard him made a sound and I was suddenly being lifted up and sat on the desk.

            He never stop. And so didn’t I. We just kept kissing like there was no tomorrow, like we were making up for the three years that we were not together. We only stopped when I pulled away to catch my breath. Loud panting breaths echoed around the room. When it was finally back to normal, an uncomfortable silent lingered around us. It was so uncomfortable that I had to take a deep breath and slowly unwrapped my arms that were clinging onto him.

            A sighed escaped from me when I had finally put my hands away from him. Touching him was like touching a live wire. Too electrifying.

            But he was still holding me.

            “Sky-” I silently cursed myself as I bit my lip. “I mean, Sir.”

            Like an i***t he was, he just hugged me even tighter and then he dropped his head on my shoulder. “I’ll like it better if you’ll call me Theo.”

            My breath got caught in my throat. Why did it squeeze my heart when he said that? I blinked and took a shaky breath. “Can you… can you please let go of me now?”

            “Why? So you can leave again? I don’t want to.”

            Why was his voice so painful to my ears? It was too much. He was breaking my heart.

            “Please?” My eyes pricked with tears.

            He didn’t say anything.

            I hated it. The silence. The atmosphere. Him.

            They were choking me and the situation made me angry.

            “I-I need to work now.”

            “The boss is here.” He confidently said.

            Of course, he is.

            I blinked, clearing my vision. Mustering all my strength and courage, I pulled his hands away from waist and got off from the desk.

            “Look. I’m sorry. I was too dumb to get it. Right. You’re the boss. You own this. You’re the owner. Elle is your grandma. Yeah, uh… Why are you here? Right, evaluation.” Why was I rambling while he was just standing there still?

            I cleared my throat. My eyes would spare him glance once in a while. It was odd. It wasn’t me. I suddenly felt intimidated and cornered. It was so not me. “And about what happened here… I’m sorry. It shouldn’t have happened. Do-”

            “What are you apologizing for?” He cut me off all of a sudden.

            Our eyes locked, but it was me who looked away first. He was too intimidating. “My behavior a while ago.”

            “When was that?”

            I frowned.

            What is he talking about? Why is he acting like that all of a sudden?

            “When I got here. When I kept you waiting.”

            I didn’t know what was in his mind. I couldn’t read it after all. I couldn’t read him. He was sometimes a puzzle that was so confusing to solve. No, I just didn’t want to be assuming. But, maybe he thought I was sorry about what happened in this room. No, I wasn’t.

            I missed it. I liked it.

            I heard him chuckle, forcing me to look at him. I couldn’t help it. “Right. Apology accepted.”

            “If so, can I start with work now?”

            He nodded. “You can go.”

            I sighed in relief and turned to the door. Just as I was about to open it, I took my handkerchief from my pocket and threw it at him. He caught it in his hands in time.

            “What-”

            I didn’t let him finish as I told him. “Wipe it off. I don’t want them to imagine what happened here.”

            With that, I opened the door and left the room. I went straight to the restroom to fix myself. I almost gasped when I saw my face. My lipstick was smudged all over my mouth. It looked as messy as his. Sighing, I walked out of the restroom and to my locker to get some wet wipes and lipstick. Just as I was about to close my locker door, I saw Allison walking towards me. Hurriedly, I wiped off the lipstick on my lips as I held the door open, blocking her sight to my face.

            “Saph.”

            “Yeah?”

            Bang!

            The locker door closed with that sound, making Allison jumped. She frowned and I just smiled at her sheepishly. “What’s wrong with your face?”

            I almost panicked. Haven’t I taken it off already?

            “Huh? Why?” I tried to sound calm, but I was actually nervous. I knew Allison and I knew what was in her head right now.

            “Your lips.” She just kept staring at me, making me even more anxious.

            “My lips?” Damnit. I silently cursed.

            “Yeah. It’s so bare.”

            I laughed but it sounded so forced and just awkward. “Uhh… Yeah. I took it off.”

            The crease on her forehead became more visible as she frowned deeper. “Why? It looked fine.” Her eyes. They were squinting and I knew she was thinking about it. She just had it in her mind. And her lips, they were forming a smirk.

            “It looked so dark. I was about to just put on a lighter shade.”

            “Your hair.” She pointed out.

            My hands consciously went to comb it. She was making me feel so uncomfortable. “Yeah. Let me just fix it too. I accidentally messed up the bun.”

            She nodded slowly like she was forcing herself to believe all my lies. “Okay. If you say so. I’ll go now.” She said as she turned on her heels, but not before sending me a knowing wink.

            I shook my head.

            Just as Allison was about to get out of the alley, the door to the Elle’s office shot open and walked out Butler. That made Allison stop and I almost cursed when I saw Sky holding my white handkerchief with red lipstick stains on it. Allison’s eyes dropped from his face to his hand holding the handkerchief and back to his face.

            Just great.

            “Good morning again, Sir.” There was a hint of teasing in her voice when she said that.

            With that, Allison continued walking, but not before sending me her pouty face look and a wink. She just caught us.

            Sky and I locked eyes. He looked fine compared to my stunned self. Sighing and shaking my head, I broke our eyes contact and I went back to the restroom. I put on my lipstick and fixed my hair, tying it in a bun. When I was sure I looked fine, I exited the room and went to the diner.

            There were already customers when I got there. My eyes scanned the room, absentmindedly looking for a certain person.

            “He left.”

            I jumped at the sudden voice behind me.

            “Allison.”

            She just chuckled. “Come on. There are customers waiting for their orders to be taken.”

            “Yeah.” I was just about to go when she suddenly said, “It’s the same shade, Saph.”

            I closed my eyes and groaned, making her laugh so loud.

***

The day went on. The restaurant got busier and busier as hours passed by. I couldn’t help, but wonder why he left just like that.

Like I care?

It was already seven forty-five in the evening. We were about to close in fifteen minutes. I didn’t know why this restaurant close at eight. Wasn’t it a little early?

When the customers had finally piled out, we did some cleaning and organized the tables and chair. The kitchen was closed as well.

Allison and I went to our lockers, took off our aprons and got our bags. As we walked out of the restaurant to the parking lot through the back door, Allison suddenly asked. “Do you know him?”

I didn’t want to lie to Allison so I honestly told her. “Yes.”

“How?”

“We went to the same college.”

“Oh.”

            “Why do you hate him so much?”

            “I don’t. I just can’t stand his presence.”

            “It sounds the same, Saph.” She laughed.

            I lightly punched her shoulder. Allison loved teasing me. She liked it when she saw me so flustered.

            “Alright, alright. I’ll go now.”

            I didn’t even realize that we had reached our car already until she opened hers. She gave me a hug before she got into her car and waved at me. “See you tomorrow!”

            I smiled and waved back at her. “See ya!”

            Fishing my car keys out of my old, leather, brown shoulder bag, I walked to my car and was just about to get into the driver’s seat when a hand was suddenly clamped over my mouth and everything went black.