My Boss Is My Son's Dad

V. Familiar Lips

Sapphire

One week later…                        

     “Dad. Thank you so much. I owe you a lot.”

I just dropped Storm off at my Dad’s place. Since I started working at Elle’s Diner, I asked him if I he could look after Storm during daytime. And I was more delighted when he told me that he would want to babysit Storm anytime.

     “No problem, Saph. April is here to help. Right, honey?!”

     “Of course!” We heard April shouted from the kitchen, making us chuckle.

I smiled at my father. He was the most amazing Dad in the world. Despite all the mistakes I had made and all the failures, he still accepted me. He helped me rise again. He told me to never give up and lose hope. He was my superhero.

And I was happy that he was happy now. He remarried and now he had April. April was so kind and sweet. The boys liked her too. It was so hard at first to accept that Dad would get married again, but we thought more of his happiness. Thankfully, we made the right decision and he had our blessings.

“Come on. You’ll be late now. You can go. We’ll take care of Storm.”

“Thank you Dad, really.” I hugged him.

“You’re welcome. Take care, sweetheart.”

“I will.”

With that, I walked out of the house and to the driveway where my beat up Corolla was waiting for me.

“Hope there’s no more bumping today.” I muttered to myself as I started the car and drove off.

I reached the diner ten minutes before time in. Allison was already there too. Well, she was always early. The diner was getting well-known and as it got popular, it got busier each day. Time was going against us sometimes, but we always managed. Our team was competent. Not to brag, but we were pretty fast too.

“By the way, Mrs. Elle is not here.” Maria, one of the waitresses told me as we got ready in the locker room.

“Oh. Do you know why?”

“Yeah. She’s unluckily ill. Hopefully she’ll get better soon.”

“Is it serious?”

Her face suddenly became saddened and that was when I knew it was something serious. “She has breast cancer. Stage 3.”

A hand flew over my mouth as I gasped. “No.”

I felt pair of arms as Maria hugged me. “I know. But, let’s hope and pray she’ll beat it. We know her. She’s strong.” She was already crying, making me cry too.

“Yes. She can do it.”

Maria pulled away and clutched my hands tightly as she forced a smile on her face. “Everything will be fine.”

I nodded, still shocked and saddened by the abrupt news.

“By the way, since she’s not here. Her grandson will come to visit today. He actually owns this diner. He’ll check up on everything.”

“Oh. What time?”

“I don’t know, but Allison said he’d be here in the morning. Maybe, he’s already here now. We should go now.”

“Yeah.”

When we walked out of the locker room and into the main room, it was so silent. And we saw our co-workers lined up horizontally, facing a man before them.

Allison noticed me and gestured me with her eyes to move faster, so I did. Just when I was about to stand beside Allison at the end of the line, the man spoke at my side. “It’s rude to keep people waiting.” Without looking at me.

Maria ran to stand along with the others, but I stayed put. “I’m so sorry if I had kept you waiting.”

“For three years?”

     That got me to turn my head to look at him. Too bad, he was already looking me. And then he smiled, making me ball my hands into fists. I was so ready to punch him. “Excuse me?” I didn’t expect that response at all.

     My response earned gasps from the people around us. I didn’t care. What was he doing here, by the way?

     “Saph!” It was Allison, hissing at me.

     Smirking, Butler just shook his head and clapped his hands to get everybody’s attention. There were no customers yet. I guessed it was still so early. “Alright, I wouldn’t mind that she would stand beside me here.”

     “Well, I do.” I said casually.

     That earned another silent gasps from my co-workers. I frowned at their reactions. “What are you doing, here? Didn’t get to cook yourself breakfast?”

     What was annoying me was that he just chuckled, shaking his head. Amused, perhaps. You bet? “My, my, my.”

     “Saph!” Allison hissed at me again.

     What the heck was wrong with her? “What?”

     I turned to face Sk- I meant Butler. “What’s your order? I can give it to you. Cappuccino? Cheesecake? Latte?”

     “You.”

     And he voiced it out like a whisper- a loud whisper. Yes, it was loud, making everyone, excluding me, gasped.

     Typical Sky.

     I rolled my eyes. At him. “We have work to do sooner so just tell us what you want.”

     “Why so grumpy? It’s so early.” He retorted.

Sighing, I looked at him in the eyes. “Come on, Butler. What’s your business here?”

     On the corner of my eyes, I could sense that my co-employees are fidgeting. They seemed so… uncomfortable. On the other hand, Butler was just smirking. “What’s so amusing?” I was getting so annoyed.

     Butler, the jerk, he was, just smirked even more and clapped his hands for the second time to get everyone’s attention, though everyone’s attention was already on him. Or on me?

     “Alright. I guess everyone is already here.” His voice was oddly bossy. It had authority in it, making me wonder why he was like that.

     Who is he?  

     “As you have already known, my grandma is confined at the hospital right now.”

     What did he just say?

     Now, it was my time to feel uncomfortable. Something was going on, but I couldn’t figure it out yet.

     “G-grandma?” My voice sounded weird. I cleared my throat. “Elle is your grandma?” I silently thanked the heavens that I finally sounded normal. I suddenly laughed and I didn’t know why. And it was like a sarcastic laugh. Everyone was staring at me like I had grown three heads, but I didn’t mind it. I shook my head at him. “Nah. You’re kidding me. You’re kidding us.” I turned to face my colleagues. “Right?”

     They bowed their heads down in disapproval. Some sighed and some even glared. Their eyes were telling me, “You’re completely doomed.”

     “You really like standing close to me, don’t you?”

     My eyes widened as he f*cking wiggled his brows at me. I didn’t know why, but it annoyed me so bad whenever he did that. He was still so full of himself.

     “Cut it short, Butler. Why are you here?” He was getting under my skin.

     “Starting now, I’ll be your boss.” His voice was loud, but he was just looking at me.

     What he just said made me frozen in my spot, still beside him. “In fact, I owned this restaurant.” He added, still looking at me.

     Boss. Boss. Boss. Boss.

     The word was ringing in my ears– so loud that I couldn’t hear what he was talking in front of everyone. I staring at him. His mouth was moving, but I just couldn’t stop staring at him.

     No, it can’t be.

     Then I laughed… so hard. Yes, I did.

     “Jesus Christ.”

     I heard him mutter as he rubbed his temples with his sexy fingers. Damn, he was sexy… and those fingers. I just kept laughing.

     When I saw my co-employees shook their head at me as they walked away, I finally stopped laughing. “Wait! Where are you going? Allisson!” I was catching up with them when a hand shot up and caught my wrist. And then he pulled me to him.

     Not so close. I almost collided with his hard chest.

     How would you know it’s hard?

     I know everything.  

     “What are you doing?" I hissed, trying to pull my hand from his tight grip on my wrist. The others were secretly watching us. So nosy. “Come on. Let go of me.”

     His grip only tightened as he stared down at me with his clenched jaw. “Let’s. Talk.”

     I swallowed. Scary.

     “N-“

     He didn’t even let me finish the two-letter word of disapproval because he was already pulling me with him towards the manager’s office, Elle’s office. The eyes of the nosy people followed us until he finally shoved us inside and closed the door.

     “What was that all about?!” I boomed, breathing heavily. “What do you think you are doing, huh?” I scoffed. “Gosh, Sky Theo Butler, what are you doing here?”

     When he didn’t say anything, it got me more annoyed. Instead of shouting at him again, I just sighed and turned my back to him.

     What was wrong with me? Why was I so angry? Why was I acting like this? What was I so scared about?

     Those questions were bothering me. I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself down. I gripped the edges of the desk in the desk to steady myself. Emotions were starting to pour in me. Tears started gliding my cheeks. I angrily wiped them away.

     He was still standing there, not moving an inch and so silent. Calm down. I stand up straight and wiped my face with the back of my hand. When I felt like I was finally calmed down, I took another deep breath and turned around to face only to feel a pair of very familiar lips on mine.