Lethner's Service

Chapter 03 - Curious

The next morning..

Quinn's POV

"Thank God! Briella you're here." Enid nearly shouts my name the moment I approach the front desk.

Based on her facial reactions, I can say she's going to whisper something to me like some kind of newspaper headline.

"I have to tell you something."

See? I told you. This woman here is a plump gossiper.

I join her inside the front desk and put my bag on its place before sitting next to her, readying myself for her big revelation.

"Now what is it?" I nonchalantly said.

"Just promise me you won't tell anyone okay? This is highly confidential and no one's allowed to know this except the both of us. If this information leaks, I'll put the blame to no one else but you and I'll surely lacerate your throat Briella. Mark my words."

I don't know why but the way Enid says those words, it doesn't even scare a single cell of me. It sounds more of a gibberish threat.

"Are you pregnant?" I try my best not to laugh when I dart that question to her.

"How I wish Bree. But please stop that, I'm dead serious about this one!"

"If you're not pregnant, then what? You wanted to resign? Are you leaving for good? Did you invent a nuclear atomic bomb that'll destroy the whole universe and you have the secret code that'll diffuse it and save the whole being? Are you going to tell me things like last night you realized of eating two cups of rice instead of four and a half? Are you planning to be a nun? Do you have a dreadful disease? Did the doctor tell you that you only have a month to live? What? Tell me."

"You know you can't pin the tail of the donkey with those silly guesses. Listen to me, will you?" Enid's reaction really makes me laugh.

She looks like an annoyed kitten which just woke up from a peaceful nap because someone kicked her butt.

"Okay then tell me that highly confidential information. I have no time conversing with you right now. I still have a lot of work to do."

She abruptly grabs my arm and with eyes dilated, she moves closer to me.

"Are you ready?" she asks like we're about to jump off a cliff.

I tediously nod my head for a response.

Then with a single pull of my arm, she places her mouth near my ear and covers it with both of her palms. I can feel Enid's ragged breathing on my ear. I can even imagine the slow motioned and wide opening of her mouth.

I know that she'll just whisper a nonsense thing but I still try my very best to pretend like my anticipation to whatever she's about to reveal is emotionally and spiritually killing me...softly and slowly with love and passion.

"She stole cupid's arrow!"

An estimated ten seconds of silence occupied the space within me, Enid, and the front desk.

I can imagine the sound of crickets everywhere.

I flash a what-the-f**k-are-you-talking-about kind of look to her.

She forms her arms into akimbo and gives me an I-am-dead-serious-about-what-I-said kind of face.

"So the question is...are you going to file a case against that thief who stole cupid's arrow?"

"I wish!" she rolls her eyes and pouts her lips.

After an eight-hour shift with two-hour over time, Enid really looks like haggard right now. Her hair looks like she had just successfully escaped a war from an old era.

"Just bring me straight to your point Enid. You know I'm not up into riding with your nonsense ideas. Seriously, what is it?" I caress her hair.

She lets out a deep sigh like her whole being depends on it.

"This morning, I saw Mr. Lethner having his breakfast in the reception area. He had toasted bread with butter and a black coffee with cinnamon in it." she says, detail by detail.

"Don't ask me how I knew that he had cinnamon on his coffee, the aroma penetrated my nostrils and I can't avoid it." she adds.

Enid looks so sad while telling me the news. She looks like someone stole her ultimate crush from her.

"So let me guess. You got hungry when you saw the toasted bread with butter and black coffee? You felt your saliva escaping your taste buds upon seeing Mr. Lethner? Or both are correct?"

She ruffles my hair and lightly pinches my arm.

"You're not funny Bree. I swear!"

"Now tell me what's with cupid and Mr. Lethner's breakfast?"

"I think..." I know she hesitates in telling me everything about what happened this morning because she's lightly biting both of her index fingers.

"You think what?" I anticipate,

"I think...love at first sight really exists!"

I sigh and roll my eyes after hearing Enid's confession which according to her a while ago was a highly confidential matter. I just pretend like cat got my tongue. I honestly don't have something in my mind to say.

She grabs both of my shoulders and shakes it. She really is expecting me to believe her.

"Bree look! I don't really believe in love at first sight because it's just something written by hopeless romantic writers and played in movie theatres. But just yesterday by just a glance on Mr. Lethner, I guess he dispelled the myth."

Could someone out there hand me a bucket of ice so that I can pour it exactly on this lady's face? By that, I think there'll be a chance that she'll wake up from her afternoon fantasies.

I don't know what to say anymore. The fact is someone has just been swooned by an Adonis yesterday and she's obviously in front of me right now, and her name's Enid Tonely, and she's residing by just few blocks away from my flat.

I'm really done listening to Enid's love-at-first-sight-story and I'm about to push her away from the front desk when she starts saying something that got me really curious.

"And this morning, I saw him with someone."

I raise my brow.

"While looking at them, I really felt something's stabbing my heart. That's why I told you she stole cupid's arrow. That's supposed to be bull's eye to Mr. Lethner's left chest to atleast notice me."

"What do you mean?"

"I think my heart's broken right now. My heart's been wounded by seeing Mr. Lethner having a toasted bread and a cup of coffee with our hotel manager."

"Emery?!" Enid quickly covers my mouth with her palm when I nearly shouted our hotel manager's name.

"Sssssshhh!"

I don't know how long did Enid hiss in front of me but I really felt her saliva showering exactly on my face and I have to blink to avoid it entering my eyeballs. I quickly wipe my face to her right sleeve. Her mouth's literally and unbelievably filthy.

"Lower your voice, will you?" she pinches me on my arm. "I said this is highly confidential! Someone might notice us whispering gossips about Mr. Lethner and Emery. I don't want to be a subject for termination. So please, lower your voice. This is just between the two of us."

"What did you see?" I grab both her of her shoulders and shake it, demanding for an answer.

"Are they sweet as sugar earlier? My gut feel is always right. I know they're lovers. Emery reserved a room for Jabes and her. I really smell something fishy here like the both of them had s*x last night. What do you think?"

Did I just say s*x?

My mouth is getting bolder because of Enid and now I'm on my way to be taking her place as the professional and multi-awarded tattletale of the year.

"Stop saying those stuffs Bree. You're giving me heart aches. You're such an unsupportive kind of friend. Are you really my best friend?"

"Answer me Enid. What did you see this morning? Are they holding each other's hands or you saw him giving her a peck on her cheek? How about on the forehead? How about on the lips?"

I think I am slowly becoming a babble mouth when my friend here started blabbering gossips about that hot guy who bumped me at the park.

"You know what?" with eyes nearing to shed tears, Enid stands up and darts me a very annoyed look, "This one's for you!" she then salutes me with her middle finger, places both of her hands on both sides of the table, and glares at me like I said something below the belt.

Did I?

"You're rude! I hate you Briella! I hate you! Carve that inside your cerebellum!"

I want to burst out in laughter right now but for the sake of being a supportive best friend just for this moment, I gently rub her arm to comfort her.

"Stop daydreaming Enid. Mr. Lethner is not the type of a one-woman guy. Can't you see it just by the way he smiles and winks?" she rolls her eyes, obviously not believing in me.

"Someone out there is meant for you. Not now, not tomorrow, but maybe someday when the crow turns pink, indigo or maybe with a little shade of beige, your paths will cross. It's just a matter of time and fortune and luck and of course some rituals and prayers." I added which annoyed her more.

Sorry, I'm such a bully type of friend and I will make you my laughing stock. She's actually the same. She bullies me too. But don't ever think that I don't love Enid. I really love her to bits and pieces.

"You think Mr. Lethner won't notice me? What if I go to a gym? What if I'll be very strict with my diet this time? You think there's a chance?"

In the name of love, please I'm begging. Kindly make this friend of mine wake up from her impossible dreams!

"There's a chance Enid. Not minimal but it's a big, big, big, big, chance. A chance that is bigger than you. And you know what that big chance is?"

"What?"

"It's the chance of me s******g your fluffy a*s if you don't stop your fantasies with Mr. Lethner. Now shut up and leave. You just need some rest. You're having dark circles and wrinkles honey. Go away!"

With all my mighty force, I push her away from the front desk and she just rolls her eyes before leaving.

Mr. Lethner really had a huge effect on my best friend. She's really drooling over Mr. Lethner, who happens to be our hotel manager's boyfriend. Well, that's according to Enid, a lady born with eyes like CCTVs.

Honestly, what Enid told about Ms. Emery and Mr. Lethner is driving my curiosity damn crazy right now.

My lungs give out a deep sigh before focusing my attention to the paper works in front of my desk. I better get going. I still have a lot of things to do.

"You're welcome!"

I had just finished my shift and I'm heading home right now. I decided to have a stroll and enjoy the views of the busy city at night while seeking for a taxi to drive me home.

The streets of the city rest in silence as the starry black sky weeps over it. I love how the moon's faint glow passes through them, coloring them black from white. The small green trees in the roadside sway as the strong breeze hits them.

And above a faded black and white striped crossing, a traffic light frantically changes its colors. Giant buildings stood beside the streets. Some windows give out white and yellow lights while the others were pitch black.

These are the things that usually greet me whenever I choose to have a late night stroll after a long tiring day of work. It's been years since I decided to work far away from my parents. I miss mom and dad so much. And of course Quinland, my one and only sibling, my dearest brother who's in Senior High right now.

I miss how we eat oats and pancakes made by mom. He would always clamor about the unequal partition of the pancakes and as a loving sister, I'd just stick out my tongue in front of him. I miss how Mom cautiously enters my room just to not make a noise, would check if I'm already asleep and I would just cover myself inside my thick and silk blanket with a heavy print of Hello Kitty.

And dad, I miss how Frank Sinatra's songs play on his old Corolla car every time he drives Quinland and me to school before he goes to work. Thinking about my memories with them makes my eyes glisten.

It was never my choice to leave. It's just that there are things that I should avoid and I don't want to be haunted by my past. I chose to live my life independently away from my family because I need to get away from that place —from that city which made my life so miserable.

I've been through a lot and it's traumatic to remember. Even Enid doesn't know a single thing about that experience. I'm not ready to spill everything. I'd just keep it to myself for now. Not just a year without my family but it's also years since no one fetches me after my end shifts. It's always Frazer who's driving me home.

I release a deep sigh when I stop in front of Bruce's Brews. My favorite coffee shop turned out most traumatic and hated place. There's an old man behind the glass wall sniffing his hot mug of drink while comfortably sitting on his brown high boy chair.

Beside him is that table for two —the exact table where I had my first heart break. The table which Frazer, my ex-boyfriend, ordered vanilla cake and cold espresso for me. The freaking and cursed table which he broke up with me. He said he'll surprise me. Yes! I was really surprised for he told me something that made me hate him for the rest of my life.

Frazer and I met when we're in college. It was just a typical girl-meets-boy story with a cliché plot. There were no problems at first. Well, that's given for the first few months of a starting relationship. I actually believed that he is the one. Well, yeah? He is the one that I've been murdering a million times inside my mind.

I had no issues with him. He's a sweet boyfriend actually. He would always hand me my favorite flower arrangement from a local flower shop which is Rose Rapture with a large box of gourmet chocolates, three balloons, and a cuddly plush animal.

But just in a snap, he changed. He would always forget special days like our anniversary. He would text me just whenever he wants, calls me every time he's not busy because whenever I try to call him he would excuse himself, hang up from the call, and say he has an emergency.

Is he a doctor or some kind of first aid rescuers to attend such mere-called emergencies? He started treating me so cold and I don't feel the love anymore.

Then one day, still fresh in my retentive mind. Tuesday night, October 15, 2019, 9:46 PM, inside Bruce's Brews, he said he had fallen out of love for me and he found someone else.

Someone who provides everything I can't give like his s****l needs. He said he found someone way better than me and that our relationship lost its spark. I totally remember myself at that moment. I grabbed the fork from the table, pointed it to his face, and shouted.

"f**k spark! What spark? Why don't you try plugging this fork inside a socket? Go ahead and feel that f*****g spark!"

Then I left him with my tears running down my cheeks and felt my whole world crashed. He's a liar, a cheater, and a jerk! I curse and despise him for the rest of my beautiful existence.

I bitterly smirk upon seeing that table again. A couple in side view is obviously enjoying each other's company there as if they're close to planning their wedding. I roll my eyes in disgust. I better leave this place now before I murder Frazer in my mind again.

Just when I'm about to avert my gaze away from that sweet couple, someone caught my attention.

Sweet sugar of Cappuccino!

I've been staring at the couple for about a minute but I never noticed that the guy was actually him.

Mr. Bumper!

My eyes become chinky to double check my vision. My vision's not 20/20 but I know it's really him. And the woman in front of him, I'm a hundred percent sure she isn't Emery. Just this morning, Enid told me that Jabes was with our hotel manager right? They're having breakfast with some sweet talk. And now he's with another woman chit chatting inside a coffee shop like a real sweet couple.

Oh c'mon! You got to be kidding me!

He looks at me with an evident surprise on his face. Behind that glass wall, he smiles at me like he's really happy and surprised at the same time. He even gestures his hand for me to join him in.

And he's planning to make me a third wheel?

My curiosity with this James Jacob Lethner is mentally killing me right now and I think I'm slowly turning into an FBI agent.