Cold Soup

Chapter Three

Rody arrived home later than normal, that was evident since he decided to stay and help Vince close up.

He was exhausted, mentally, but of course mostly physically. He practically collapsed onto his couch, groaning quietly.
He glanced over at his coffee table, looking at the phone that sat on top of it. He sighed, and sat up slowly.

He grabbed the phone, and started punching a few numbers in. He didn't know why he was doing this, but here he was anyway, once again trying to call his ex girlfriend.
He knew she wouldn't answer, but for some reason, he just needed to check.

He waited, listening to the other side of the phone ring. He was expecting it to cut off, or cut to voice mail, or tell him that automated message whenever nobody answered or was at the phone.

But, that didn't happen this time.

Instead, somebody picked up. Rody felt his heart skip a beat, hope filling up inside him. Had Manon actually answered him? After a week of silence, was she finally back?
All hope was last however, when a voice that wasn't Manon's answered.

"Hello, who is this?" The voice asked, it was one of an older womans, one who sounded like she smoked a lot.
"Umm, hi? Is umm.. Manon there?" Rody asked nervously, his voice shaky as he spoke. He recognized this voice, but he wasn't sure from where.

"Rody? Is that you?" The voice asked, sounding surprised yet happy. That was odd, nobody ever sounded happy to see or hear Rody.

"Y-yeah it is- umm.. who is this?" Rody asked, sounding confused yet curious. "This is Manon's mother, Rosabelle." The voice said, causing Rody to realize who this woman was.

"Rosabelle, h-hey. Nice to hear your voice again." Rody muttered, rubbing the back of his neck as he held his phone shakily.
"It's been awhile Rody, how've ya been?" Rosabelle asked, causing Rody to sigh softly.

He hadn't been doing that well, both mentally and physically. He'd hardly eaten anything in the past few days, and would sometimes think horrible thoughts about jumping out his window.
But he couldn't just admit that to anyone, especially someone he only ever met once. So, he lied.

"I-im doing okay, I was just trying to call and talk to Manon. I haven't spoken to her in a while.." Rody said, sounding a bit hopeful that maybe he'd get to hear Manon's voice again.
He really did miss her, and he really wanted to see her again, or just hear her voice. All he needed really was to hear her voice.

"Manon?.. Oh Rody, has nobody told you?" Rosabelle asked, causing Rody to panic slightly. "T-told me what? What is it?" Rody asked, gripping onto his phone tightly.

He didn't know what was going on, but it had to do with Manon, and that made him panic.

"Manon went missing almost a week ago, police haven't found her, and there's no suspects." Rosabelle explained, causing Rody's heart to sink.

Manon was missing, for almost a week? That's around the time Rody found love letters from Manon to Vince. Did he have something to do with this?

"O-oh.. t-thank you for telling me Rosabelle." Rody muttered, his voice shaky as he held back tears. "You're welcome Rody. I can tell you're upset, so I'll let you go now. Take care, alright?" Rosabelle said, sounding genuinely concerned for Rody.

Rody sniffled, taking a deep breath to keep himself calm. "Yeah, you too Rosabelle.." He muttered, before hanging up the phone.
He felt his whole entire world come crashing down around him, and he couldn't do a single thing about it.

He just sat there, tears rolling down his cheeks. Manon was missing, and Rody had no clue what he was supposed to do without her.

-

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-

Rody showed up late to work the next day, having had a full on mental breakdown the night before. He did just learn his ex-girlfriend, who he still loved deeply, had gone missing.
He was so confused and heartbroken, that he was barely even able to make it to work that day.

He'd almost let himself get hit by cars. The only reason he didn't, was because of Vince. For some stupid reason, the thought of Vince was what was keeping him alive.

Even though Vince had been seeing his ex-girlfriend, and could possibly have something to do with her being missing- he was the reason Rody didn't let himself get killed.

It was weird, and just made Rody question things more.

He was exhausted and stressed, and walked into the bistro looking like an absolute mess. His uniform was messy, he had eye bags under his eyes, and looked as if he was about to fall over any second now.
Vince was standing in the lobby where he normally did in the mornings, when he noticed Rody.

His eyes scanned over him, before he signed and went up to him.

"Rody, why do you look like that?" He asked, his arms crossed as he walked up to the redhead. "Err- sorry boss.. I had a rough night." Rody muttered, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

He knew how much Vince hated whenever he came to work looking like a mess, so he was fully prepared to be scolded or fired.

"I can tell, it looks like you went to hell and back." Vince said, grabbing Rody by his tie.
Rody yelped slightly, his body trembling as Vince pulled him close.
Vince quickly fixed up Rody's uniform slightly, and even combined his fingers through his hair to make him look more presentable.

"Learn to use a brush for Christ's sake Rody." Vince muttered, feeling how tangled up and messy Rody's hair really was as he combined his fingers through it.
Rody just stood there, completely frozen in place. He felt his face heat up slightly, and he glanced down at the floor while Vince made him look more presentable.

This felt weird, extremely weird. Rody's boss was fixing his hair up, and all he could do was stand there blushing like an idiot. He felt so embarrassed.

Vince pulled away after a few moments, having fixed Rody up enough that he looked somewhat decent.
Rody looked up from the floor to Vince, his face a slight red. He felt like an idiot, an idiot who had to have his hair fixed by his boss just so he didn't look like a total mess.

"Try and come to work looking a little more presentable next time, okay Rody?" Vince said, quickly straightening Rody's tie.

Rody nodded weakly, glancing away from Vince. God he was close, a little too close maybe.

"I-i'll umm-.. try my best sir." He said, pulling away from Vince after a few seconds. "You better, I don't need any more reviews of how unprofessional my staff are." Vince said, crossing his arms.

"Now get to work Rody." He said, before walking away into the kitchen.

Rody sighed softly, and looked over towards the main door as he heard someone walk in. He didn't want to disappoint Vince, so he put on a welcoming smile, and walked over to them.