The Despicable's Plead

CHAPTER XXVI: Obliterate for Colors of Red

"That's it?" I asked.

"Yep, that's it!" Gwenne enthusiastically replied.

"So, why am I dressed like this in the first place?" I squinted my eyes at her.

"Don't you like it? It's very pretty!" She even clapped her hands like some overjoyed kid.

"You're hiding something aren't you?" I squinted my eyes at her. Everything just seemed suspicious to me.

"What?! No way!" She denied excessively.

"Better be. Remember, we're not close enough for you to hide things from me and expect a clean save. If I were you, I'd prepare myself for the worse." I shrugged. 

She nodded awkwardly and cleared her throat.

"Anyway, let's go now!" 

I was about to follow her when she stopped me and pointed at something.

"Of course, without that." I looked down and became aware of the extra garment on my shoulders. 

I shrugged it off and folded it neatly before I placed it on top of my bag that was placed in one of the chairs in this room.

It made a good cover for it.

Good thing my valuables were also safely tucked away in a secret pocket inside my purse so I wouldn't need to worry about anything.

"Dia, let's go!"

I sighed.

"I told you to never call me that." I reprimanded her.

"Well, I'm known to be quite stubborn." She winked at me.

"I can definitely see that." I rolled my eyes in return.

With heavy feet, I forced myself to just start the assigned task given to me and just get it over with.

Being in the same room as that painting feels weird. 

Plus that weird staring still hasn't left me.

The stress level I have to endure for the day is certainly overwhelming.

For the first few parts of the duty, I was only tasked to guide the visitors and customers to their seats.

It was supposed to be an easy thing to accomplish, however, as time went by, the room was unexpectedly being filled by more and more people with each passing minute.

When I first saw this place, it was just a calm site of attraction, with few yet sufficient numbers of people.

So, witnessing this spectacle was something I did not prepare myself for.

It was very taxing to say the least, as I am not even a person who interacts with people.

Walking back and forth, including Gwenne's constant reminder to smile, irritated the hell out of me.

At some point, I didn't even bother to show any emotions on my face because my cheeks hurt from being required to stretch it for more than an hour.

I thought it would at least settle the mad rush but it didn't affect the flow of people in the slightest way. 

In fact, some people even came back even though they had already gone. Especially the male population who just kept on returning inside, making my job harder than it already was.

There was even one time that I unintentionally, or not, glared at a man who went inside again for the sixth time, but he only stared at me in awe and walked to another table in a trance.

The stress was seriously building up more rapidly than I had imagined.

"Dia! You can take a break now!" Gwenne called out behind me.

I turned to her, "After almost three hours?"

"Well, the people were coming in for you, so who am I to deprive them of that?" She happily explained.

"Do I look like a tourist attraction to you?" I squinted my eyes at her.

"Absolutely!" She exclaimed whilst clapping her hands like a child.

I decided to ignore her and head towards the back room.

Who would believe such nonsense? 

People hated me not long ago and now they're visiting this place because of me? How laughable is that?

I massaged my temples as I sat down beside the chair where my bag was.

I leaned my head back and closed my eyes to allow myself a few minutes of rest.

I was literally about to doze off when I felt that heated gaze from somewhere.

I calmly opened my eyes and discretely surveyed the room.

There were a few people in here with me but none of them were looking my way as they were all busy minding their own businesses.

I was about to stand up and look for that person when my phone chimed.

When I looked at it, I saw that it was Ross texting me.

'Are you still in your shift?' Was what the message showed.

'Unfortunately.'

'Want me to rescue you?'

That made me raise my eyebrow.

'Have you forgotten that I want to ignore your existence right now?'

A few seconds later, 

'…'

' :( '

' (｡ŏ﹏ŏ) '

' (╥﹏╥) '

Now that was freaking cute… 

When I didn't reply, he immediately sent the following message.

'Hey, I'm sorry…Please forgive this foolish fellow…'

'I thought you knew me? You should know that I don't forgive easily, even with cute emoticons.' 

' (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ '

Asdfghjk!!!!

Why am I so weak to cute things?!

Calm yourself, Dia!

I can't let him win me over with a set of keyboard characters.

Best thing to do at times like this is to…

'Bye.' 

…retreat!

I say that, yet I'm still holding onto my phone. 

'I'm not giving up, princess! Expect the best!'

I thought it was over but my phone chimed again, indicating that there was another message.

And I shouldn't have opened it.

' (◍•ᴗ•◍) ' 

Whoever invented those emoticons is a genius. 

I silently placed my phone back inside my bag and fixed the jacket over it.

When I heard Gwenne calling me back, I immediately fixed my outfit and prepared myself for another gruesome couple of hours.

Now, that I think about it. I haven't seen the sexist jerk the entire day.

Not that it concerns me. It's actually better that our paths never cross again.

I was standing near the entrance, welcoming the people who kept on coming.

What made it more tiring was that certain individuals persistently talked to me.

"You're Miradia, right?" A man named Jeremy asked.

No misjudgements. He shared his name with me on his own.

Not that I even asked for it.

"Yes." I replied curtly.

"You look different." I wanted to roll my eyes. 

"Thanks." I guided him towards his designated seat and left.

Another guy named Anthon smiled at me as I welcomed him inside.

I thought he was normal but as soon as he was next to me, I was shoved with this…

"You look really hot. Can I get your number, my Roman goddess?"

Cringe. Ew.

Never be fooled by a polite smile.

Never!

"Greek." 

"Huh? What do you mean geek?"

For f***s sake. 

"It's actually Greek." I seethed.

"What about it?" He asked idiotically.

"Nevermind, sir. Please, have a seat." I replied. Deeply emphasizing the words 'sir' and 'please.'

Looks like it worked because he instantly shut up when he saw my face.

Which only lasted for half a second.

"I still like you, my cold and icy princess!" He shouted.

Everyone looked at him in shock.

While I looked at him in disgust.

When will this ever end? Thinking that, I searched for the nearest clock and saw that it was almost time to close up.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

When I reached the entrance to let the last batch of customers in, I almost stumbled when I saw Haru, Ross, and Solar lined up.

"Hello, cold and icy princess." Solar greeted me.

"It's a goddess." 

"That's not what I heard." She sang teasingly.

I gave her a blank stare and responded, "Well, you heard wrong or you heard nothing."

"Aren't you going to let us in, cold and icy princess?" 

"Them?" I pointed towards Ross and Haru. "Sure. You?" I pointed at her. "Not welcome." 

This made her scowl and begged me.

"Whatever. Welcome, dear guests." I tried to smile at them.

They all noticed my struggle which made them laugh out loud.

"Are you coming in or not?" I crossed my arms and tapped my foot.

"My, my, this goddess is surely impatient." Solar grinned.

"I'll take that as a compliment. Please, follow me."

After I led them to their seats, they all began to happily eat away and stayed until closing time.

When I was deemed free from my strenuous job, I sat together with the group.

They stopped what they were talking about and focused their attention on me.

"Congrats on accomplishing your first social task." Solar clapped her hands and pretended to wipe a stray tear on her face.

I just tossed a balled up cloth napkin in her direction.

Amazingly, it landed in her opened mouth.

This made me burst into fits of unstoppable laughter.

Haru and Ross, who were surprised at first, laughed along with me.

I even heard some of the people left inside with us chuckle quietly.

"Three points for this goddess." I smirked at her.

"You always make fun of me." She pouted and tossed the napkin back at me.

I avoided it and smiled smugly.

"Although that was purely unintentional, it was still my pleasure to do so." 

"Anyhow, how about we take some pictures? Alright? Okie!" She didn't even bother to wait for our reply and just took out her phone.

"Now, move closer together." She instructed.

Although reluctant, I still followed along.

Since I was in the middle of Ross and Solar, I moved a little bit to the left where Ross was because Solar's head was insanely blocking everything on her side.

"Smile!" Then we heard the camera shutter.

"Dia! I told you to smile! You look good here, but still!" Solar complained.

I gave her a look that made her pout again and looked back to the front.

"Again! One, two, three, Dia f*****g smile!"

I almost choked on saliva, good thing I managed to keep my composure and smile in the picture. 

This Solar is honestly unpredictable.

While Haru and Solar went over the photos, I heard a soft click to my left.

I glanced at that direction and saw Ross holding his phone up.

"Did you just take a picture of me?"

"I guess." He answered without looking at me.

"I'm still mad at you and you just took a picture of me?" 

"Yeah. Now, look."

Confused, I actually looked at his phone.

But he had it on selfie mode and hurriedly took our picture together.

"Delete that!" I tried to steal his phone but he moved it away.

"Didn't expect you to be the type to say 'delete that, I look ugly in that.'" 

I gave him a deathly glare as a response.

"Well, I needed this much to calm myself."

This made me confused.

"Calm what?" I asked.

"Calm my jealousy, princess."

"Huh?!"

"Because this goddess is my lady and princess and everything in between."

And this was the time wherein everything completely obliterated into nothing but pounding red.