Crystal

chapter 02

Crystal was sitting on the edge of the bed, she just woke up and wanted to go to the kitchen to get breakfast. She felt hungry but her feet were still feeling weak. She grabbed the hair tie on the table and tied up her hair to make a bun on her head. She walked lazily to the kitchen. She looked around the house, it was so quiet. She was always the first who woke up on the Sunday morning. Some red curtains were closing the windows, they were hindering the sunlight from reaching into the house. She hated the gloomy situation on Sunday morning.

She walked to the window to shift the curtain, letting the sunlight get into the house. She wanted to cast away the gloomy vibe, but she felt it didn't get better. She felt the sunlight on Sunday was hotter than the other day. It was like the sun on Sunday was yelling so hard to call the others with its brighter light. It gave a lonely vibe to her, brighter but gloomy at the same time. She also felt the air on Sunday was lonely, low from noisy, no one in a hurry like on the weekdays. She described the Sunday vibe as depression, it more horrible with the shadow of Monday that would come tomorrow.

Crystal was standing in front of the dining room door, which was open. She looked at the kitchen and she felt the kitchen on Sunday morning also gloomy. Her mother wasn't there like the other days. Her father's workshop was closed on Sunday.

Crystal hates Sunday, when the others hate Monday. Even though she was lonely on the other days, she felt more lonely on Sunday. She felt that everyone was gone from the earth on the Sunday, so quiet. She thought maybe the wind also rested on Sunday.

She opened the refrigerator, she saw it almost empty, not many ingredients left there. It made the Sunday feel worse for her. She closed the refrigerator and walked to the kitchen counter. There were some slices of bread. She looked at the bread package and only four slices left. She was sure it was not enough for all the family members. She washed her hands before opening the bread package.

She wanted to take two slices of bread, but suddenly, the connecting door to the workshop office was opened and someone came out of it.

"Woo..." That word came out of her mouth spontaneously. She was shocked! She had not expected that someone would come from that door because it was Sunday, the quietest day of the week, and she just thought that a UFO or an alien vehicle had just sucked away all of the people on the earth.

"Cryst..." The man who opened the door called her. She felt familiar with that voice, she knew the voice's owner. It made her get calm when she knew that who opened the door wasn't an alien.

"Oh.. Mars! You shocked me!" Crystal was getting calm when she knew that man was Mars, one of her father's workers.

"Are you working?" She wanted to know why he was there.

"No, I hung out with my friend last night and it was too far to go back to my home, so I stayed at the workshop." He explained to her the reason why he was there at that moment. There was a room in the workshop office next to the restroom with a mattress. He used that room when he started working for Crystal's father and went home on Sunday and all the family members knew about it. So, it was wear saw him at sunday.

"Oh. Do you want this? I'll toast it." She raised the bread package to let him see it.

"Yes please. I'll make coffee, I want it. Do you want it?" He talked while walking toward her in the kitchen.

"No, thanks. I want some juice." She said without seeing him, still focusing on the bread.

She walked to the dining table while bringing a plate of toast in her right hand and a jar of jam in her left hand. She wanted to go back to the kitchen to get some juice, but she saw a glass of juice on the table. She glanced at the kitchen and saw Mars was walking to the dining table while bringing a cup of coffee.

"Is this for me?" Crystal pointed at the glass filled with the orange juice on the dining table while looking at him.

"Yes, it's yours." He said while nodding his head and walking to the dining table.

"Thanks." She said while taking a seat around the dining table and he took a seat in front of her.

Mars was sipping the coffee from the cup while glancing at Crystal. He had been working for Crystal's father since five years ago, when he had just graduated from high school and Crystal was in her transition to her first year in high school. He saw her grow up from a girl to a young woman. Day by day she looked more beautiful in his eyes. He fell in love with her. He didn't know when it

started, maybe from the first time he saw her. But he couldn't do anything. She was a forbidden flower. She was his boss's daughter. He thought it too difficult to make her be his. But sometimes he couldn't hold his feelings.

Like that day, he stayed in the workshop on Sunday because he wanted to see her. Since she worked at the factory, he saw her rarely. Only seeing her sitting in front of him was enough to cure his feelings. He had never been bored seeing her bright and pretty dark brown eyes, her dimples when she smiled, her flawless face and her lovely lips. Maybe she would always be his lovely girl. He wanted to protect her. He would be the first man who would stand for her if someone hurt her. But he was afraid of wanting more. He knew his position.

"Hmm..." He exhaled after she sipped the coffee, he wanted to let his worries go. He put the cup on the table in front of him after he took two sips. The muscle on his arm looked so clear when he did it. The grey t-shirt that he was wearing couldn't hide its charm.

Did Crystal realize it? Of course, she knew he was an attracting man with a good shape and appearance, but that's it, no more. The fact he was one of her father's workers was stronger in her mind and she didn't want to have a relationship with anybody at that time, so a romance was so far away from her mind. She didn't know if the man in front of her was falling in love with her. She had been used to interacting with her father's workers since she was a kid and all of them were male. So she never supposed that one of them had any feelings for her or she had special feelings for them.

She didn't realize that she had already been a beautiful young woman. She also thought maybe he was in a relationship with someone because he was an attracting man. They had breakfast in silence. Crystal didn't like small talk, because from small talk it could be big and deep talk. Mars also didn't want to ask anything of her. Having breakfast with her that morning was more than his expectations. He was smiling happily while chewing the toast. Crystal didn't notice that the man in front of her was feeling so happy having breakfast with her. Even though she didn't feel a big difference that Sunday morning to the other morning, without her realizing her brain had captured that moment. Maybe the frequency of his feelings touched her brain. She was chewing the toast bite by bite to fill her hungry stomach before meeting the laundry. One more thing that she hated about Sunday was because it was laundry day.

She just ate one of the toast. Actually, it wasn't enough for her, but her father was coming from the main house when she wanted another toast. She didn't want to interact with her father, so she drank all the rest of the juice in the glass and walked to the kitchen sink to wash it. Crystal's father also broke Mars's daydream and pulled him back to the reality that the young woman who he wanted was his boss's daughter. Crystal left the dining room, let her father and Mars chat.