Chapter 7

After his History class, Jace went directly to his part-time job. His first shift was at a Korean barbeque place and the next one was at a convenience store near his studio. Jace was already used to this routine. Well, at least he forced himself to get used to this because he needs money to feed a family of five cats.

Jace was from a normal middle-class family. Although his parents send him enough money for his tuition and living expenses, he refused to let them provide for his cats. He sees them as his own children, therefore, they are his responsibility and not his parents'.

Handling multiple part-time jobs was difficult at first, that's why he reduced it into two. He makes enough money anyway to buy his cats' needs. Plus he has some savings if they happen to have some emergency.

His shift at the Korean barbeque place was only two hours and it felt like it ended in a flash. He went directly to the convenience store to start his shift there. Same as the Korean barbeque place, he only works there for two hours as well so that he can still have time to do his school works. However that day, his co-part timer, Liv, had something urgent to attend to so she asked him to cover her shift which was until 11 p.m.

Liv: [Jaceee I'm really sorry for messaging you last minute but can you cover for me today? I have an emergency at home. Don't worry I'll send you my pay for today :D ]

Jace: [Okay. No worries.]

Jace had no choice but to agree anyway. He doesn't want his fellow part-time worker to get into trouble with the store's manager so he decided to cover for her.

***

"Lei, should we order some chicken?" asked Amari. She was browsing through the delivery app for their food.

Amari was sleeping over at Lorelei's place. It was nothing unusual for both of them to sleep at each other's place, well, except Sam of course because he was pretty conservative.

"Yup, yup! Order two boxes okay?! A box wouldn't be enough for you alone!" replied Lorelei as she was looking for some drink inside her fridge.

'Shoot. I've run out of beer. Gotta buy some for later.' thought Lorelei.

"Amy, I'm stepping out for a bit! I'm gonna buy some beer for us!" she said while wearing her flip-flops at the entryway of her front door.

"Okie dokie! Buy some ice cream too!" shouted Amari back.

The night was chilly. Lorelei was only wearing some sweat shorts and an oversized shirt. The cold was seeping into her skin as she was walking. The convenience store was only two blocks away from her apartment so it didn't take much time to get there.

She opened the store's glass door and went directly to the drinks section. She grabbed a few cans of beer and put them in her basket. She then went to the freezer to pick some vanilla ice cream for Amari. After getting the things she needed to buy, she strode towards to cashier to pay for them but no one was there.

"Oh, sorry to keep you waiting ma'am," a familiar voice said behind her.

It was Jace coming out from the store's storage room. Their eyes widened as they saw each other again.

"What the heck are you doing here?" shot Lorelei.

Jace sighed. "God. You again?" He surveyed her and noticed she wasn't dressed like the usual clothes she wears at school. He pursed his lips to keep himself from cracking a smile.

Lorelei crossed her arms and replied, "I'm not God, but yes it's me again. But what the heck are you doing here?"

"I'm obviously working, can't you see?" Jace pointed at his vest with the store's logo in it. This time he raised an eyebrow at her.

"Whatever," Lorelei retorted and rolled her eyes. She put her basket on the counter. "Here ring it up."

Jace said nothing and just went behind the counter to ring her purchases.

"How long have you been working here? Have you always worked here during this time? When does your shift end?" Lorelei asked, trying to start a conversation. She decided earlier that she should try to befriend or at least be on good terms with him. She felt guilty for yelling at him so she should at least try to be civil.

"I am not obliged to answer your questions, ma'am," said Jace in a formal tone.

'My god. I can't do this. This man is impossible!' she thought. Lorelei frowned at his reply.

"Look, I'm trying to be on good terms with you, okay?! It's not like I'm befriending you or something! The least you could do was to do the same and answer me," Lorelei whined.

"Why should I? It's not part of my job anyway," shot Jace back. Jace wanted to laugh so bad at her expression. She reminded him of a cat with its fur puffing because of anger. "It's $11 in total. Do you want these to be put in a plastic bag, ma'am?" Jace said, now finished scanning the items.

"Here," Lorelei handed her card, "and yes please put them inside a bag," she said, still annoyed at Jace.

"Thank you. Please come again," Jace said, trying to keep his voice as plain as possible, as he handed her the plastic bag with beer cans and ice cream inside.

"You know what," Lorelei said and took the plastic bag from Jace, " you're impossible!"

She left the store while stomping her feet. Jace couldn't help but enjoy the sight of her annoyed expression.

He chuckled. "Pfft. I thought she would be persistent in asking me those." He shook his head and just went on arranging the products on the shelves. His shift was almost over so he needed to hurry up in doing it.

On the other hand, Lorelei was still enraged by Jace's rudeness. She kept on cursing while walking back to her apartment.

"Fuck him! He could have at least replied politely! Curse you, you prick!" she kept on mumbling to herself.

"Hey what took you so long? And why the long face, girl?" asked Amari as soon as Lorelei arrived.

"Oh, I just met some cheeky asshole on my way," she said with sarcasm evident in her tone and smiled.