Father (Rewritten)

| Part 5 | We meet again

                                                    ( Merry Christmas! 2018 ) a day late xD 

Have a listen at this amazing song and read or idk :P have funnnnnn 

| Part 5 | A favor 

Claudia checked out the shelves, her grey eyes scanned around browsing for junk food and most importantly, to check the price tag of the bag of chips she took.

"3 dollars and 50 cents?...god, things really have gotten more expensive" she mumbled to herself, shaking her head a little. She then sighed, she doubts that she could afford more food, she tried to make her way towards the cashier but kept getting cut in line by people.

The queue seemed to have gotten longer in front of her as she stood at the end, it was as if she was completely invisible. Claudia cradled the bag of snacks to her chest tightly as she was shoved forcefully behind a tall woman.

"Uhm...excuse me but I was here first-" Claudia's words were cut off by that woman walking back into her. The woman turned around with mocking surprise "What? oh sorry, dear, I didn't see you there." she had a smile plastered on her face and turned back as if Claudia had wasted her attention.

Claudia took in a deep breath and tapped the woman's shoulder, "Urm-excuse me? I meant to say...that I was here first in the line." she put down her foot, obviously attempting at being assertive.

The woman gave her a subtle side-glare before she pursed her red lips, "I've already said I didn't see you there, aren't you overreacting a little? making a big deal out of nothing is a waste of my time dear and everyone else's," she raised her voice a tad which brought all eyes on the two, especially on Claudia's red face.

"Hey hey! next please, move up the line, come on people!" the cashier hollered aggravatingly, making people resume their little-hushed chatters and returning their gazes to their object of focus.

The sound of beeping got louder as Claudia got closer to the front of the line, her face felt hot as heat still lingered in her cheeks, this was why she didn't want to interact with people, she was never one to be good at talking.

"Next, Miss could ya please step up?" The tired-looking cashier exasperated, gesturing to the empty space in between him and the black-haired girl. "Oh-uh yeah" Claudia quietly nodded her head, placing the 3 bags of chips on the counter for the cashier to scan without looking at her.

After the man quickly typed in the machine a certain number, the total popped up on the bright screen, he then looked at her vacantly and like a robot said with an outstretched hand "Miss that'll be 10 dollars and 64 cents please." Claudia's grey eyes widened to the size of saucers at hearing the price but then nodded, frantically patting her side pockets for money but only ended up fishing out a couple of crumpled bills.

The cashier already turned his attention to the next customer in line and was in the process of scanning things, all the while Claudia was panicking and searching any one of the pockets in her jeans but it wasn't enough. "Excuse me, Miss, you're holding up a line, do you want to return any one of the items?" the cashier words brought her back from breaking down in public, he had collected her crinkled dollars and shook his head at her.

"You're a few dollar short...tsk... Miss, you need to-" the cashier was shortly interrupted by a long-fingered hand handing him a 10. "I got this" a low husky voice says from behind her, the sound made her ribs shudder in her chest and as she turned to face the person who saved her from embarrassing herself, the cashier stopped her.

"Are you sure Sir? I-"

"Yes I am, you said this young lady here was holding up a line so I'm offering to solve that issue." the low voiced man said matter-of-factly, and the cashier seemed to just zip up his mouth as he handed Claudia her snacks without any comment. She then felt a hand rest on her lower back gently pushing her forwards, "Let's go" the man directed her body to the exit and away from prying eyes.

Claudia didn't protest to the stranger's touch and went along with him onto the pavement, her hands were silently shaking and her legs felt light but unstable, the man's hand then curled around her waist securely, helping her walk straight as if he knew she was feeling weak.

It was after a few minutes of walking that she lifted her head up to the man, and as she suspected, she came face to face with a familiar pair of almonds that already were watching her. "Charles?" she breathed, trying out his name on her tongue, his face looked even more handsome as the sunlight shone highlighting his sharp features clearly.

"Hmm...?" he cocked an eyebrow at her as she continued to stare, before blinking out of it and sheepishly looking away. "I just wanted to say-thank you...for back there. I promise I'll pay you back" she swore, looking at him in the eye for a moment before returning her gaze down to the pavement.

A smile tugged at the corner of Charles' lips but he resisted it and gave an 'hmm' as if he was thinking. "Actually, you can do that by starting your first shift tomorrow, first thing in the morning," he said while watching every wobbly step Claudia took, tightening his grip around her waist, not wanting to take any chances.

She nodded while trying to focus on not tripping over any rocks and not at the unfamiliar touch of a stranger. Claudia unconsciously fiddled with the handle of the plastic bag carrying her bags of chips and asked hesitantly "...Charles, could I-uh-get your number?"

He didn't seem that taken back by her request and just took out his phone from his pocket and turned it on, "6353 1433, and you?" he glanced at her. Claudia reached behind her to the back pockets of her jeans and took out her phone, quickly putting in her password.

And just for a split second, her grey orbs wandered off to Charle's, his phone wallpaper had a smiling picture of him with his arms around a dollish-looking woman with brown hair, but then his thumb pressed onto the phone icon and his screen showed a long list of numbers.

Claudia took that as her cue and called out her phone number after finding it at the top of her contacts "my number is 8-2-8-2 1-8-6-3-." After Charles had finished typing in her number, she could see that he had set her name as 'C'.

"I think-" he pointed at the house in front of her as the two got closer to it, "we're already here..." Claudia let out a small groan as she dreaded going back home. Charles didn't say anything and escorted her to the front door of her house, that was when he let go of her waist and stuffed his handed into the side pockets of his pants. "I'll tell you when and where your first shift starts, so no need to worry about it alright?" he said with a light tone, she raised her head and unexpectedly gave him a smile.

"Okay" she murmured, not making eye-contact though she knew those cat-like almonds were on her "and....thank you very much for your help." she bowed her head and turned to the door, twisting the door-knob and hurrying inside with the bag of chips.

She looked out the door's peephole and waited until Charles left, which he did after a few seconds of looking at the house, she let out a long breath that she had been holding in. She could still feel the lingering warmth of his arm around her waist, it surprised her since she was always used to Maddy helping her but...his touch was different.

"Uh-hem" a voice cleared their throat loudly from behind Claudia, she didn't need to turn around to see who it was, "You got a lot of nerve walking in this household...now, answer my question truthfully... Did you take my money?" 

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