Repeat and Retribution

Chapter 45

Crystal played with her tall glass of ice tea, sitting in front of the shop quietly smiling to herself while patiently waiting for her company.

Hearing her best friends story, she could not help but feel more excited, being able to confirm several things that we're playing in her mind. Her brooding was only ended when someone had finally approached her table.

The woman now had long hair and her face seemed plumper than before, she no longer had that doll face look, but her hazel eyes already gave her away. Though she looked so different from before, she was sure this was the woman that she had contacted.

“Hi Mary,” Crystal greeted her as she seemed quite aloof.

Clutching to her bag like some elementary school girl, she shakily stood a few feet away from her making sure to keep her distance, the woman seemed very hesitant to even approach the table.

“Ho...how’d you know my name and who are you?” Mary was shaking though she tried to stay in place when Crystal stood up.

Sensing the woman’s fear and panic, she decides to just stand. “My name’s Crystal Aimely, we went to the same college,” placing both her hand to her chest, she wanted to calm her down at least.

Hearing about their old school, Mary somehow relaxed a bit. “Oh, I...I don’t really remember ever seeing you,” she states in a much calmer manner.

Crystal took that chance to offer the seat in front of her by gesturing her hand to Mary. The woman no longer being in distress quickly obliges and finally sits.

“Well, you may have forgotten, it’s been quite a long time, though I do remember you. And I’m a good friend of Brittany Star, I think you’re familiar with her since you went to the same class,” she quickly says as she sat in her chair.

She wanted to make sure that the woman would not feel threatened or scared so she tried to give her as many details about herself as possible.

“Oh yes, I do remember her. So, what’s this about?” Eyes finally a bit livelier, Mary had managed to show a smile.

She could not help but feel so bad right now as she knew she could have changed her past if only she didn’t make a blunder during that time.

Now, she had found out that the woman was almost basically like her, marrying Eric and ending up abused and overworked.

Already making friends with her on the other timeline, she knew she could trust and count on the woman, but she needed to make sure to gain her trust first.

“I heard you were looking for a job,” she finally says.

After a few digging she had actually come across her profile on an online platform, it seems luck was still on her side as she saw the woman’s post a few days ago. Seeing that, she quickly grabbed the opportunity to actually meet with her. Crystal knew how important the woman was in her plans.

“You...You know about that?” Mary blushed, quickly lowering her head in embarrassment.

“I just accidentally read one of your posts online, and It just so happen that my friends' company needs people like you. So, I thought that you'd be interested in applying for it, I do remember that you were one of the students on top of your class before.” Not wanting to intimidate her, she quickly informs her about one of the reasons why she called her.

Luckily that quickly got Mary perking up, as her color quickly returned at the mention of possible employment.

“Oh, I see, yes! I’m actually looking for a job right now,” she cheerfully states handheld together as if praying.

Though Crystal felt really bad for her, she tried to keep her poker face on, as she needed to make sure that she would not cause any doubts or concern.

“That’s great, here is an application form and here are the requirements you’ll need, but you can just provide it once you pass the job interview and here is a recommendation letter from me, you can give it to the H.R. and she’ll know what to do,” she spreads out the documents one by one in front of the woman.

Mary was wide-eyed, surprised but also very happy, especially when she saw the recommendation letter.

“Tha...Thank you, but why are you doing this?” the woman says as she looks at her bewildered.

Crystal gave out her warmest and sweetest smile to counter the woman’s suspicion, seeing as it was all too good to be true.

“Because base on your records I can say that you are an exceptional candidate and I know you will be perfect for this job,” she quickly answers.

Thankfully she had managed to find out about the woman’s previous job and was really amazed by it, with that in mind it would really make sense why she was there and trying to recruit her.

Thankfully Mary didn’t seem to be bothered by it. “Thank you, you don’t know how much this means to me,” she almost jumped out of her seat in joy upon hearing that.

“No need to thank me, just be sure to give it your all, okay,” she waves her off.

Even though she already knew that the woman was going to get the job, she still wanted to make sure to boost her confidence more, seeing as how far the woman has fallen after just a few years.

“Okay, I won’t let you down,” Mary clenched her fist in the air, smiling to show her determination.

“Be there at least thirty minutes early okay,” Crystal reminds her.

Wanting to make sure that the woman would be able to make a very good impression on her interview.

“Yes!” Mary nods.

“So, since that’s settled, we better order, cause I’m starving,” she giggles, signaling for the waiter.

“Uhm, I...I…” Mary was suddenly back to her aloof and startled self again.

But Crystal knew she was uncomfortable because of not having enough money for it. Knowing the reason for it Crystal quickly cuts her off before she could even finish her words.

“Don’t worry, it’s my treat. I know you’re in a hurry to get home, but I just want someone to talk to for a while since it’s quite lonely, my friends' work doesn’t finish until five, so I thought that we can catch up on old times while we're eating,” she quickly states.

She understood quite well where the woman was coming from so she decided to make waiting there as an excuse so that they can have a little chat.

“Oh no, no, not at all, I don’t actually have anything to do, it’s just that this place seems expensive,” Mary smiled, bowing her head.

“Don’t worry about it, just order anything you like,” Crystal says with a wide smile wanting to at least make the woman feel at ease with her.

“Okay,” Mary just nodded not wanting to disappoint Crystal.

Crystal could not hide her wide smile as they began talking with each other, she was really regretful that she wasn’t able to actually meet her in their original timeline, she was pretty sure that like in her other timeline, they would have gotten along together.

It didn’t take long for her to finally make the woman feel at ease as she remembered some stuff from her other timeline that she knew would allow her to get closer to the woman. The line on her face grew even wider the moment that the woman was able to converse with her in a more chatty manner.