The next day, Violet showed up at her bakery again with a dark circle around her eyes.
Last night, Lily's questions preoccupied her mind, making it hard for Violet to fall asleep.
She wanted to take a day off and rest but then, Violet had an important matter to attend to at her bakery. Whether she liked it or not, she still had to show up at work.
As she walked into the bakery, Violet stopped to talk to a man in his early fifties.
Yesterday, she hired some people from the cleaning service to clean up her bakery. Today, she had scheduled for maintenance of her oven.
Violet was briefing the contractor about her oven when she suddenly paused and turned around to sneeze.
"Are you alright?" the man asked.
Violet nodded. She reached for a napkin in her pocket and blew her nose. "Yeah, I'm fine." Her voice sounded a bit numb.
"You don't look good," the man commented as he observed Violet.
"Really," Violet convinced him. "I'm fine. It's just that I didn't sleep well last night," Violet explained and smiled towards the man. "Don't worry about me."
"Alright, if you said so," the man said before he continued his conversation with Violet regarding the oven. Then, he turned to a few of his workers and instructed them on their duties.
Violet took her clipboard to her office and went to the kitchen storage to start her inventory. She turned to check the flour from the storage and felt slightly dizzy.
Last night she was unable to sleep. Well, since Sarah has been asking out what she felt for her pretend-boyfriend, she spent all night lying on her bed, trying to figure out what she really feels towards him.
She indeed likes his company. But, she wondered if she liked Ryan that way.
Violet blew a heavy sigh and walked into her office. She wasn't really in the mood for work anymore.
Lily's question and the accident with Ryan yesterday were giving her a headache.
She tossed her file on the table and sat on her chair. Then, she buried her face in her arms against the table.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Violet raised her head again and saw the contractor standing at her door.
"Miss," the man called. "I found this guy loitering outside. He introduced himself as Ryan Chen."
Violet lifted up her face at the mention of his name: Ryan Chen.
"Do I let him in?" the man asked.
In an instant, Violet could feel blood starting to rush to her head. Her instinct was telling her that Ryan was here to meet her and talk about what happened between them yesterday. The thought sent her a wave of panic. "Sure," Violet said and nodded. "You can let him in." Violet swallowed. She grabbed her file and stood up, pacing back and forth.
Her heart thumped loudly. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. But it seemed that nothing was working.
"Hi."
Hearing the voice, Violet twirled around and faced Ryan. The man stood at her door with his hands in his pockets.
"Hi." Subconsciously, Violet tightened her grip on the clipboard.
"I thought you'd be here," Ryan said as he took a few steps toward her. "I tried to call you, but your number was out of reach."
"Yeah." Violet nodded. "It probably ran out of battery," she lied.
Violet had purposely turned off her cell phone to avoid everyone else. She thought that she just needed a few moments alone to think. Who would have thought that Ryan would show up at her bakery?
"Have a seat," she said, pointing towards a chair.
Ryan sat down and watched Violet as she was sorting out some papers across him. He wanted to speak but realized that Violet was not looking at him. "Violet," Ryan called.
Her heart quivered. Violet glanced at him behind her shoulder and licked her dried lips. "Yeah... What is it? Do you need anything from me?"
"Why don't you sit down first?" he suggested.
Violet bit her lower lip. "Just a moment," she said. "I need to sort out all these papers first."
"We need to talk," Ryan said.
"Uh huh," Violet replied. "Go on, I'm listening."
"Violet..." he called her name softly.
Violet froze. The way Ryan softly pronounced her name sent shivers down her spine. Her breath was caught in her chest.
This man was always speaking harshly in the past. Why did he change now?
Slowly, Violet turned around to face Ryan. She could not help feeling surprised when she noticed the mix of gentleness and nervousness in his expression.
"We should talk about what happened," Ryan said.
Violet leaned her body on the counter and looked down at her sneakers. She didn't dare to lift up her face and look at him straight to his eyes.
"It's about the agreement." He scanned her face and took a deep breath. "Yesterday was an accident. It doesn't mean that our agreement is over, right? I mean." Ryan paused and ran his fingers through her hair anxiously. "We don't want to deal with our parents' questions on why we would suddenly decide to stop seeing each other."
Violet bit her lip. "You're right," she said after a while.
"It would probably be better for us to play along until the end of this agreement. It would save us from a lot of trouble from our family."
"Definitely," Violet said. Her gaze followed Ryan as he stood up and took a few steps towards her.
"But, I guess, I still owe you some money," Ryan said. "For violating the contract."
Violet chuckled. If he had violated the contract a few weeks earlier, she would have probably extorted that money from him. But now, she found herself not so interested in that money anymore. In fact, she didn't care if everyone found out about their agreement. "That's not necessary."
"Look," Ryan said after a while. "I'm sorry for yesterday." He paused and pursed his lips into a firm, thin line.
Her cheek flushed as the memories came to her mind.
"I was impulsive," he admitted, "It should have never happened. It was an accident. A stupid mistake."
A stupid mistake.
Her breathing was heavy as those words replayed in her mind. Violet looked away; her jaw clenched. At this time, she wished that Ryan would just shut up.
"I should give you that money," Ryan repeated.
"I said that's not necessary!" Violet raised her voice.
Then, there was a long silence.
Violet bit her lip and looked up to face Ryan. She was surprised by her sudden outburst. "I'm sorry," she said. She stood up abruptly and headed out, wanting to leave the office and most importantly, Ryan.
Suddenly, her head started to feel dizzy again. Everything around her was spinning.
The next thing Violet heard was Ryan's voice calling out her name before she passed out.