LOVE AND LIES || Kth

Part Five

- aria

The bell chimes delicately as I open the door. The sky is full of oranges and pinks as I'm here early. It's 6:50, I start work at eight. I was early for multiple reasons.

"Rise and shine," I say, opening the back door to see the lights brightly shining, and Taehyung asleep on the sofa.

He didn't wake up at my call, but I didn't say it again. He looked so peaceful, despite everything.

I left him to sleep, feeling even worse as I attempted to make as little noise as possible whilst grabbing my things.

At the counter, I start preparing everything needed for the day of work. Baking fresh bread, pastries and other things for display on the counter. I yawned tiredly as I looked at the slow ticking clock. 7:26.

With about half an hour to kill, I stared blankly at the wall with racing thoughts. Difficult to gather, yet I still stared silently. Each minute felt like a year, as I thought desperately about well, everything.

That's when the clock finally struck eight, a sense of relief and dread washed over me as I flipped the sign to say open. A whole day of work, and this guy couldn't even help me.

I wondered if he was awake, and what he would do if and when he was. The boredom and emptiness of both me and the shop engulfed me as I felt my eyes becoming heavier. I had to keep this up for the next 6 hours. With this in mind I steadily made my way towards the coffee machine.

"Good morning, Aria,"

A quiet, shy voice emerges from the shadows that cloak the door to the back room.

"Taehyung," I turn myself around and wipe the tears streaming from my face, "Morning,"

-

- taehyung.

Her eyes were red, glassy.

She'd been crying, but clearly didn't want me to know that. I walked in just as she slammed her phone against the counter. My heart ached a little more.

"Are you okay?" I asked, walking closer to her. Her hand was firm, holding down her phone as if it was going to escape her grip.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Thanks," She finally looked up at me. Her eyes were blue, a dark, greyish blue. A pretty blue.

"How was your sleep?" She asked. The air around us was awkward, tense.

"Better. I'm sorry, I left the light on, I didn't have the courage to turn it off," I said, rubbing my neck in embarrassment. She smiled.

"Don't worry, I get money off the bills because they think I'm a student," She laughed, me following.

It's one of the first times I've seen her properly smile.

"Thank goodness for that then," I replied, smiling once again- softly, then remembering what I needed to ask her.

"I know this is a bit soon, but how much do you know about the, um, accident? Like is there anything I need to know?"

She takes a deep breath.

"Well, I don't know much but I can tell you what the media speculates. You might wanna duck down though, people will be coming in here soon," She says, smiling whilst pushing my head down below the counter.

I laugh quietly, disappearing underneath the displays falling into my knees.

"Well everyone's pretty much on the hunt for you but I get you've gathered that," She smiles, sadly.

"The papers say that you murdered him straight on, with a knife found at the scene. Rumours say that you wanted revenge of some sort- or something had overwhelmed you with anger," She continued, whispering yet no one had entered the bakery.

"Right," I say. Picturing him there. Alone, confused. His life snatched away.

"I know how hard it must be," she mentions, tying an apron around her waist.

I nod, knowing that she probably can't even see my face but either way I don't know how to fill the silence.

"It is. It was worse though, you've turned my life around," I said, looking up at her gratefully. She smiled, flustered, a loud clang quickly following as she dropped one of the kitchen knifes.

"Oops,"

I laughed, her following as I handed it back to her.

"Well I guess I could just tell. You just don't seem like the guy to murder anyone, Tae, I feel so bad for you" She sighs.

She looks down at me, smiling, yet I can still see a shimmer in her eyes.