The music pulsed low and steady beneath the dimmed lightsss.
Sasha wiped down the counter for the third time in a row, not because it needed cleaning, but because her thoughts wouldn't stop spinning. Her black blouse clung to her skin from the summer heat, and the soft glow of neon lights behind the bar made her eyes look too tired, too hollow.
It had been three weeks since the company let her go.
Three weeks since she last saw Xavier Blackwood.
Three weeks of SILENCE.
She was still breathing, somehow.
The uniform at Basil & Oak was simple: black shirt, fitted slacks, hair tied back. The owner didn't care what her past was, only that she showed up on time and didn't spill drinks. The money was enoughbarelyto cover her mother's hospital treatments. Rent came second...Food came third.
