Promise and Purpose

The sun was setting as Hollis sipped from her cup, the tea causing a hot flush over her face. Still sitting at the counter but now only her skirt was dripping. The eating, the talking, and the drinking must have lasted about two hours, having her almost dried up by now. For how much longer could she sit here? When would this generous chef who showed her nothing but kindness politely ask her to leave? Uneasy and anxious about the night she sat there thinking about what to do next and where to go. At least she should do him the favor and go before having him ask for it. Save him the embarrassment of it. Though she had to say he didn't seem to be bothered by her presence at all, filling up her cup before the bottom of the mug could ever be revealed. Guests would still come and go, ordering food and drinks, laughing and showering the petite restaurant and its proud owner with compliments. It seemed that everyone was in an effort to be favored by Afaqs the infamous chef held in high regard, was surely used to this attention. By all the fuss around him, he probably would never stop existing, she thought while watching the people interact with him. Being interrupted in her observation when someone brushed her shoulder and sat next to her.

"Ridiculous isn't it? How they crawl up his ass. These bootlickers."

What a filthy mouth she thought before turning fully to its owner. Now directly facing him she took in his features, his narrow nose, high cheekbones, and prominent chin were in harmony with his sharp eyes. His messy hair was reaching past his earlobes, hugging his face, by this length you would expect it to hide his features but it was all the more complimenting them. His suntanned skin was eyecatching in its contrast to his white hair and extremely light blue eyes. He was the complete opposite of her and almost too good looking.

"What? Your function is to stare?" he said mischievously not trying to hide his amusement.

"No, I'm just in awe that you really said such a stupid thing. Nothing more." she said hastily looking away from him.

"Can't believe someone this good-looking can say something this bad?" he grinned while he waited for her answer.

"You're not that good-looking." she said with raised eyebrows. Two minutes in his company and she was already lying as if she had never done something else.

"I'm Harlan by the way." To her surprise his smile didn't fade at her remark but grew wider as he held out his hand to her, trying to properly greet her now. Skeptically she looked down at his hand before locking eyes with him again.

"Oh okay, I see you're rather...careful?", he wasn't offended by her reaction but more so unbothered. "Do you have a name then?" he went on slowly dropping his hand again, pausing after each word to hint at her odd behavior.

"Hollis Lowell." she answered monotonously. She was intrigued to talk to him, even if she didn't want to admit it. She rarely had the opportunity to speak to people her age. It felt like a crime to ignore him and miss this chance.

"You're new, aren't you? What did you wake up to?" he began questioning her again as if he knew she would love him to continue talking. His eyes were cold in color but had a warmth to them, he seemed to be really interested in her, or was she just a new face tugging on his curiosity? She was confused, how could she almost immediately be recognized as someone new again? It would be understandable if they were only a small group of people then it would be easy to detect an outsider but they weren't, the market was full when she first arrived. She just couldn't wrap her head around it.

"You don't get to meet a lot of new people around here, don't you?" She finally chose to ask, she didn't like asking questions only if it was inevitable, only if she couldn't get to a logical conclusion herself. Still too prideful to admit that she had no clue about anything, she wrapped up her question in a statement.

"No, not like that. Not people like you, not people like us. We are always here, the others come and go."

"How do we differ? We can´t go but they can? Where to?" For the first time in her life, her confusion grew the more information she got. An answer to one question throws up ten others. So what's the use? she thought to herself. The sky grew darker and with it her frustration. She could feel her eyes fill with tears, quickly looking up to the ceiling, concentrating on not letting them fall. Her emotional reaction caused Harlan to shift uncomfortably in his seat.

"You don't have to be afraid-" he paused searching for the right words "You are safe." He didn't just say it to reassure her. It wasn't just for comfort. He was serious. As soon as he spoke the words, it was sealed. He would protect her.

"Safe? I am alone, I have nowhere to go, I can- I will stop existing but I'm safe-.." her tears were streaming down her face. Attempting to quickly wipe them away but being greeted by a new flood as soon as she did so. She could feel Harlan's eyes rest on her, he must feel overwhelmed by her sudden outburst. He wasn't responsible for anything and still, here she was demanding answers, taking it out on him and crying like a madwoman. She wanted to stop crying but it was harder than usual, she never felt this alone.

He still had his eyes on her looking bewildered, slightly opening his mouth about to speak,

"You with me now, therefore you are safe." Although his voice was firm and certain, he himself was confused by his unshakeable devotion to her. They were staring into each other eyes now. He had her captivated by his bold words. She didn't leave his eyes for a second, looking for some indication of insincerity in them. He was sure if he had any doubt she would have seen it. He hasn't felt this alive for a long time, if not ever. It felt as if everything made sense now as if he found his purpose in life, although he never even asked himself this kind of question before. He never really cared about this aspect of life. He liked the fast life and enjoying himself, there wasn't a lot of time left for someone else but him. But here he was unable to look away, much less leave her to herself. Her eyes were telling him a story about sorrow and betrayal and he felt the urge to be there for her. She let her eyes drop to the ground. He couldn't understand if it was because she was convinced of his sincerity and no longer saw the need to assess him or she simply was devastated and had no faith in him.

"I promise. You are safe." he declared, only saying it out loud for her. He already knew. His heart made a vow without his permission after witnessing her first tears fall. He saw plenty of girls cry mostly because of him, so he couldn't exactly understand why he was so bothered by her crying. He didn't even feel this summoned when he first found out about his own function in this world. But one thing he was sure about, he would do anything to keep her safe, to keep his promise.

He wasn't the most approachable or helpful individual in this society but for her, he seemed to shed his usual worn skin.

Her eyes find his once again before she nods and gives him a small smile in return. "Nice to meet you I'm Hollis." she adds with her voice still weak and breathy from the crying. Now she was the one holding her hand out and waiting for him to shake it. Having him taken aback with her smile. He would do that a lot, he thought, making her smile. As their skin touched for the first time they seemed to forget how a handshake worked. They were more so holding hands rather than shaking them before she finally let go first, leaving them in a sort of awkward atmosphere due to their sudden closeness.

As they both looked around to escape the awkwardness they noticed they were left with only Afaqs behind the counter, washing furiously the dishes. "Did you hear this City-Idiot? The Seaweed soup was too salty for him. Never in my life did someone complain about Seaweed soup being too salty, what an airhead huh?" he said while almost rubbing a hole into a plate.

"Any critic is an airhead in your understanding, right?" Harlan provoked with a cocky smile, while Hollis's eyes nervously shifted between them.

"I just don't like liar Harlan, you wouldn't understand." Afaqs answered calmly. This seemed to be a typical interaction between them, Hollis thought relieved. Her eyes wandered back to Harlan who looked like he was holding himself back from responding with something even more offending. He was biting his bottom lip and his eyes were fixed on the ground. She mentally praised him for remaining silent. She didn't want to witness a full-blown fight between the only two people she knew and who both showed kindness to her. Most of all she didn't want to have to be mad at Harlan, even though he was undeniably and utterly disrespectful towards Afaqs.

Her shoulders were tense until the infamous chef placed two mugs of tea in front of them, "I guess you pay for her too, as she is safe with you and all that, right?" he said with an almost mischievous grin. Did he hear their conversation? She was surprised by this side of Afaqs and chose not to side with anyone should they actually have a real fight. At first, she was sure she had to be a bit more supportive of Afaqs as he was older and also the one who was disrespected by Harlan, but now she came to the understanding that they must have a history. She neither would involve herself nor take sides, she promptly decided.

She could see Harlan blushing to Afaqs remark before he spoke again with his usual tone of arrogance, "You damn right I will! As you know I am definitely not short on money."

"Right, you are not." Afaqs surprisingly agrees, but his raised eyebrows and the undeniable doubt in his voice revealed his actual feelings about Harlan's so-called wealth. Now Afaqs was addressing Hollis, "If you want I can show you a bit around so you get a better understanding of this place?"

"We don't need your-" Harlan didn't have a chance to finish his sentence as Hollis was interrupting him, "I would love that! We can go all together!" she smiled at both of them, having Harlan conflicted as he didn't want her smile to fade. He quickly nodes to that, deciding against another discussion with the chef. So her smile is not only enjoyable but also pressuring, he thought amused to himself.

"Great that's a deal then. After you empty your cups I will close up and we will get going." Afaqs announces before turning around to get back to the dishes.