Chapter 30

Arien placed a hand over her arm. "Give my number instead. It shouldn't be a problem."

"Are you sure?"

Arien nodded.

Halle recited his number to her.

"I will call in this number and then delete it immediately. I also won't be calling from my phone so please take the call."

"Okay."

The line went dead. Halle placed the receiver back in.

"She said she'll call back and she cut the call." said Halle. She turned to Arien. "She said she won't be calling from her phone. But how do I speak to her if she calls at night?"

"I don't think she'll call at night." said Arien.

Halle looked at him quizzically.

"With the way your conversation went, I assume she wouldn't be saying it to her husband which means she can't go out in the middle of the night to call you. So it'll mostly be in the evening." He explained.

"Even then," pressed Halle. "I close the café in the evening. If she calls after that . . ."

"I'll make a conference call back to you so that you both can talk or you should have the café open till 8 or 9 so that we can—"

Halle's eyes widened. "No, I forgot again."

"Forgot what?"

Pace interrupted. "Next time you want someone to talk to a complete stranger," She pointed to Arien. "use him. I can't do it."

Halle hadn't noticed Pace after the call. "I'm so sorry. She must've been awful to you."

"No," said Pace. "It was Elric. Talking like he's trying to make a mental calculation of who I am. I'm glad you didn't give my number."

"Thank you for talking, though." said Halle.

"Is she not happy with him?" asked Pace.

"That's not possible." said Halle. "She made too much drama just to marry to him. She was excited. And she never came back after getting married. I think they're pretty good."

"If I may," Arien held his hand up. "If they were any good with each other, I'm sure talking with Elric would've been less creepy. And what says Juniper wasn't home when you called that day? It was her phone after all. And asking for someone else's number to call you back instead of yours? That doesn't sound right."

Halle didn't realize until now that she'd let Arien in on her secret as well, before it was just Pace and Shizuka. Now another person got added into all this drama.

Hope he wouldn't run away after knowing all of this. Halle sighed. There is no turning back now.

"Anyway," said Halle. "She wouldn't say it to me. And I don't care."

"Fair enough." Arien checked his watch. "It's getting late. You should open the café."

"Pace, you go back." said Halle. "I'll buy the lock and—"

"I'll buy it and bring it before evening." said Arien. "You both go back to the café."

Halle nodded. "Thank you, Arien."

Arien flicked her forehead and made a weird face. "Don't."

Halle was surprised by the sudden flick. "Ow."

Pace regarded the both of them and sighed. "There is one problem."

Halle turned to her. "What is that?"

"Except for the cupcakes, everything else is wasted and we can't open our shop tomorrow without buying any ingredients."

Halle cussed. "And we need to calculate our losses and hope it wouldn't hit us hard."

Pace nodded grimly.

"Okay then," said Arien. "I'll be off."

Halle nodded.

Arien turned after a few steps. "You said you forgot something. What was that?"

"What?"

"You said that before Pace interrupted."

"Oh . . ." Halle smiled embarrassed. "Nothing, I said I'll take Yui out before they leave for the holidays. And because of what happened, I completely forgot about that."

"Oh. Then we can all go out." said Arien. "It's not like we have to stay in the café for it, right?"

"Yeah." Halle said halfheartedly.

"Cheer up." said Pace. "Taking her out is also part of the important stuff. If not, you can see her after 3 or 4 weeks. That'd be terrible."

"You're right." Halle went for a smile. "Hey, you take care of the customers today. If all the cupcakes and coffee are done with, close the café. I'll contact the fella and get all the ingredients and then calculate the losses we incurred."

Pace nodded.