บท 43: hearts
chapter 4 | Cas
This was probably not the smartest idea.
I realized that now as I was recovering from a terrible stomach ache. Hibi sat across me in a similar state as she was lying across the cafe couch, her eyes cloudy, head back and arms spread. "Fuck I feel like I'm dying" She groaned.
"How much for her to become a personal chef?"Hibi laughed in response but if only she knew I was not joking.
"Okay, kids, enough relaxing. The food isn't free y'know" Meilin came to our table after serving other people that had come in. Panic filled me as I realized I was broke now. I technically had no money to my name in this Kingdom...well I'm not exactly welcome in this kingdom.
"Actually I was thinking about helping out in the kitchen in return" Hibi beamed. Meilin's face lit up and broke into a smile.
"Oh, wonderful! It's always a pleasure with you, your hands are filled with magic!" She glanced at me "Will your blonde friend be joining us?" Hibi smirked at me and didn't wait for my response.
"Yes, he'd love too"
"Hibi I did not sign up for this"
I whispered into her ear as Meilin guided us into the large kitchen filled with a dozen workers, busting their asses off to work at alarming rates. My face started to eat up as the heat of cooking food and switched on ovens brought sweat down my neck.
"You can leave" She raised an eyebrow "Just hand over the money you owe Meilin for the wonderful treats she served you, that you devoured" I narrowed my eyes at her. She knew damn well I did not have the currency or the fund to pay for the food I ate.
Sneaky little shit.
Why did she let me eat it in the first place?
"Don't look at me like that, it'll be funnnnn" I doubted that. Why would anyone think of manual labour as fun?
"Okay, Hibi you take the pastries and...Ca..Ca-
"Caspian"
"Hibi's boyfriend you take the dishes"
Hibi immediately walked to a station, having seemed to have done this before. I stood blinking at the short woman. "That means you're doing wash up Cas" Hibi explained pointing at the washing station in front of her.
Disgust filled me. Is this what my life had come to? Washing dishes for the peasa-
"Who's the new fella Mei?" I felt a hand clasp around my shoulder and my blood cold.
"Friend of Hibi's, treat him nice okay? He a special one" Some of the staff around chuckled at that. "Don't be shy Hibi's husband, just do like half and you guys can leave" She gave me a warm smile and walked back out of the kitchen.
"You heard the boss, go start" I was shoved harshly to my station. Making the sink shake and some of the water splash onto my face. The entire kitchen erupted in laughs at my humiliation, my fists turning white as I gripped the edge of the sink in rage.
I looked up to glare at Hibi but surprisingly she looked as unamused as I was.
"Khine"
The kitchen's petty giggles of amusement died down at the sound of her cold voice. She looked up at him slowly, a dark unforgiving look on her face.
"Apologise"
He swallowed harshly and looked around for people to back them up, but the place was dead silent now.
"Why should I?"
She just tilted her head and raised both eyebrows. Khine looked away from her and his gaze turned to the floor. He walked past me to head to his station, bumping his shoulder with mine purposefully. But that didn't matter as I heard the little whisper of an apology he spat out under his breath.
After the Khine situation, everyone continued on working except for Hibiscus who stared at me, deep guilt in her eyes. "You okay?" She leaned over her work table to wipe off the soapy water from my face and remove my wet hair from my eyes. Her palm stayed there for a couple of minutes to cup my cheek that I gladly leaned into.
"Yeah I'm fine" She smiled regretfully.
"I'm sorry"
"Cas you're scrubbing dishes, not your face, put a little more elbow into it" I looked up to glare at her.
"I am!"
She laughed as she continued to kneed the pastries she was working on. "How come there's still some raspberry sauce on that plate then!" I looked at the plate she was referring too and huffed.
"It won't kill anyone, it's raspberry!"
"Yeah well, I'm sure the customer that orders a steak will be less than happy to see raspberry sauce on their meat".
I rolled my eyes "They'll live".
"That's not the point!"
She dusted off her hands on her apron and rounded the table to come to my station. "Look!" I felt like a child as I washed her scrub a random cup. "Start from the bottom up then rinse" She handed the spotless cup to me afterwards.
"I can see a fingerprint right there" She whacked me with the drying cloth.
"No, you can't!"
The kitchen door peeped open and Meilin peeked her head in. "pwaltaw aahkyane!"
All the staff began to drop what they were doing and remove their aprons. I watched in confusion as they all starting leaving one by one. It didn't take long for Hibi and I to be the remaining ones in the room.
"Your confusion is adorable" Hibi commented "It means festival time" This only deepened my confusion. "Diamonds has many festivals and celebrations to honour many things and just have fun" She shrugs as if it were a normal occurrence
"When someone says pwaltaw aahkyane! everyone usually drops whatever they're doing and head to the streets where the parties happen".
I nodded. "So shouldn't we be following them...?" She shook her head.
"Heavens no, this is an afternoon one meaning it'll probably last for hours, I'd rather take you to a smaller one which is just as fun but way fewer crowds" She dried her hands off and walked to the other side of the kitchen to open a window.
Immediately sounds of glee and loud music rang through the kitchen. She turned back at me and smiled cheekily. "C'mon Cas dance with me" She walked towards me with a bound in her step, shimming playfully.
I chuckled at her antics. "I'm not that much of a dancer sweetheart" She pouted.
"C'monnnnnnn it's just us" She twirled around in her sandals before eventually kicking them off so that she wouldn't slip. She took hold of both my hands and started to dance awkwardly with me. It was pretty one-sided considering I wasn't entertaining her antics.
"Don't be so stifffff move to the beat" I refrained from telling her that there were multiple beats coming from outside. Reluctantly I began to move with her, swaying around with her and twirling her randomly.
A smile came onto my face at the carefree and happy look on her face as she let out some giggles here and there. She seemed to ignore how I missed a step here and there as she swished around with me. I unconsciously pulled her closer as we began to sway slower to our own beat.
Hearts this woman is beautiful.
Her hair had begun to tumble out of the headwrap making her look messy and adorable. Her eyes squinted with happiness, her face smiling so hard I thought it'd crack. She ended up breaking away from my hold and spinning somewhere else.
I laughed but my eyes widened as I saw where she was heading. "Hibi!" but it was too late. She collided with the sink and a bunch of water splashed out, drenching her to the bone. I snickered as she cursed.
Her eyes caught mine and she glared playfully. "Care to share what's so funny" I merely snickered at her causing her to splash some water at me mischievously.
I narrowed my eyes "Oh you little" I pounced on her but saw my life flash before my eyes as I lost my footing and began to slide, Hibi's eyes widened as she dived for me but she also lost her footing. I quickly reached out to grab her as we both tumbled to the floor.
"Fuck"
"Fuck indeed" I winced in pain.
Hibi was sprawled out, half of her across my chest and the rest on the floor. I felt myself shiver as water gradually began to drench my clothes as well. Most of Hibi's impact went onto me as I caught her last second, which also meant she landed with her elbow in my ribs.
She began to sit up and stretched out before looking at me. We stared at each other for a few minutes before bursting out in laughter. I felt her body vibrate as she slightly leaned back onto me. I propped myself up with my elbows as I laughed with her.
Our laughter died down and we sat in comfortable silence. Hibi looked at me from the corner of her eye and my face heated up. I also began to sit up but I was stopped when to put her hand gingerly on my chest. I didn't have time to process what was going on as Hibi's lips were suddenly on mine.
The sensation went as quickly as it came as she merely pecked my lips and broke away, looking away embarrassed. I in turn grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her back to me in a much longer kiss.
"I KNEW IT!"
We immediately broke away from each other to see Meilin standing at the doorway, an accusatory look on her face. "H-how long were you standing there?"
"Long enough to know Caspian's a shitty dancer".
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