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1230 Words
Sapphire shielded her eyes as she walked into the blinding floor to ceiling glass Café where she works as a cleaner.
She wiped the windows, wooden tables and chairs, and mopped the tile floors of the café before customers arrived.
As the sun rose, other staff arrived, then customers quickly filled the café for the early morning rush but someone didn't come in.
‘I should just focus on my tasks…’
The cafe bustled, but Sapphire stayed in the kitchen, helping behind the scenes.
Sapphire's legs trembled ever so slightly as she rushed around where she was sent, her vision slowly becoming glassy.
“Hey, puppy! Come here!”
Sapphire's shoulders tensed, she recognized that voice. It was the cold, recurring voice of her boss, the manager of the café, Bob.
She turned to see him wave at her from the doorway. She rushed over to him.
‘What's the issue now?’
“Your colleague Sarah didn’t come today. You have to take her shift.” Bob said.
“What?” Sapphire stepped backward, “Again? I can’t do that. That’s not my job,” Sapphire murmured. She fidgeted with her fingers.
‘This isn't the first time Bob had dumped someone else’s shift on me but I was supposed to be the last.’
“What is this behavior?” Bob yelled, his frame blocking the doorway. “In this café, we are all family. We help each other!” slammed his fist on the wall.
Sapphire flinched.
Customers kept piling in the cafe, and the staff kept brushing past her to prepare customer's orders.
“How can you be so heartless? Your colleagues are suffering, battling with orders while you are here doing nothing!”
But she was doing something, she was assisting in the kitchen, which also wasn’t her job, but he ordered her to do it anyway.
The noise of customers' grunts and scoffs increased.
“Why are you being so ungrateful? Without me, you’d be begging on the street with your wretched mother!”
Sapphire bit her lips, Bob's words were like a bucket of water was poured on her.
The memory of her mother kneeling outside the pack house, crying, flashed in her mind.
Their things were discarded by the street, passerbys mocking her as she wept.
Bob folded his arms, “Would you take the job or not?” he hissed.
Her colleagues watched, no one coming to her defense.
“Yes. I’ll take it.” she mumbled. She needs to keep this job even if it kills her.
‘No one will give me work other than him.’
The Alpha banned everyone from discussing her first shift but…
Bob grinned, “That’s a good dog.”
Everyone just alludes to it without outright mentioning it.
Bob walked towards Sapphire and patted her head, “I’ll add the payment to the others, okay?”
‘Which means I'm not getting paid.’
“You’re going to be taking orders from tables eight and six. Now get moving,” he thrust a notepad at Sapphire.
Sapphire approached table eight and found two she wolves her age, sitting there.
Marble and Candice, her former classmates.
She took a deep breath, trying to calm the thumping of her heart as she approached them.
“May I take your orders, please?” Sapphire asked.
“Of course,” Marble said, her lips curled up in a smirk. “I’d like a cappuccino and blah blah blah, please. Oh, and you must add blah blah blah to it.”
Candice and others from surrounding tables laughed.
“Did our little puppy’s ears catch that? Or should I yell? After all, Pups can't be good at hearing like us!”
Sapphire’s hands trembled, the pen hovering above the paper.
“You can take your time and give me your order whenever you want,” she said softly.
Marble’s face contoured into a frown, “Of course, we’ll give you our order whenever we want! Is there anything you can do about it? Are you going to rush us?”
Candice scoffed, her eyes narrowed, “How is a little puppy like you going to make us order?”
“Of course not,” Sapphire waved her hands frantically, “I would never do anything to jeopardize or offend our customers. We cherish our customers very much, and we would never do anything to compromise that. I’m always at your service. Call me whenever you’d like to order.”
She turned to leave, but that only riled Marble up.
“Hey! Where do you think you’re going, puppy? We’re not done ordering! Aren’t you going to wait until we order?”
“I can't. There are other customers waiting for me?”
“Excuse me? Are you looking down on us?”
“No… I…”
“Amazing! It seems the pack's pet is barking at me.”
“No, that's not…”
“A little Mut!” Bob rushed over to the table. “I apologize on her behalf!” He bowed, “If she doesn't satisfy you, I'll have someone else take your table?”
“But I'm stressed because of her… shouldn't you take responsibility for your pet acting out?”
“Yes. I'll fire her immediately.”
“What?! You can't! You're the one who asked…”
“Quiet!” Bob hissed.
Marble chuckled. “Well let's give her one more chance after all it's good to show mercy when training your pets.”
The entire cafe was silent at this point, everyone watching the drama.
‘It's okay. I'll put up with this for just two more days…
Just two more days!’
Bob mind-linked with Sapphire, “I don't want any commotion from you! And hurry up over here, there's more customers!”
Bob marched off and Sapphire turned to marble.
“I’ll stay here and wait until you decide what you want to order.”
‘Just two more days!’
Marble smirked, sat down and got out her phone. “Good.”
After twenty minutes, Marble and Candice finally gave their orders correctly.
Sapphire scurried away, gave the orders, and returned to the other tables to take more.
After thirty minutes, table eight’s order was ready.
Beads of sweat formed on Sapphire's forehead and a lump appeared in her throat.
‘I should be numb to this by now but..
I don't want to feel pain…’
‘I don't want to face them again!’
She pushed back the tears prickling her eyes.
She needs to keep this job a little longer.
Just like the day of her first shift, she had to go through with it regardless of her cowardice.
It's the only way to legally leave this pack someday.
Sapphire stepped out again to table eight. She set their Americanos and tray of croissants before them.
“Um, excuse me,” Marble raised her hand, “I ordered a cappuccino, not an Americano.”
Sapphire heart raced, “No, I wrote down your order, and you
ordered an Americano. Here it is,” she showed her notepad.
Marble yelled, “Are you calling me a liar?”
She grabbed Americano and hurled it at Sapphire.
Sapphire shielded her face, bracing herself for the pain but it never came. She opened her eyes and they met with a pair of blue orbs staring down at her.
- Writer
