The thick, humid, and rain threatening weather gave Kaede no choice but to wear a light Maybelline BB cream. The coverage of the cream only gave a slight glowing tint, which meant they would be visible. But there was nothing worse than a face baked for a wedding and having to work feeling sticky because of the dense atmosphere.

Another day another style, Kaede put on her a black MM6 knees length hoody dress, fishnet Junya Watanabe red tights, and her Dr.Martens Sinclair for her punk look. She wore her hair in a tower of Pisa sloppy bun that fell to the side in a careless gesture, which was not negligent at all.

If Kaede had an Instagram, she would have posted the hashtag outfit of the day, but she was no longer a slave to the monsters, which turned her into a clothes addict and an insecure boyfriend stalker.

Despite the apparent confidence, Kaede still was not a hundred percent comfortable in her shoes. Every other woman appeared prettier and more appealing. Like a teen, the woman wished to be light-boned with a petit stature and thin ballerina arms.

At twenty-eight, the dream was a mirage that could only be attained by either starving or seeing a doctor Frankenstein who would transform her into a Mattel prototype. In her mind, Kaede saw herself as a soar loser of the beauty game, with lips too full and a nose too fleshy. Makeup was a friend and a foe; at the end of the day, she was good old Kaede, the girl with nothing to make her stand out from the batch.

Joseph, who studied face reading and palmistry, reassured Kaede, saying that her lucky years were still to come. According to him, she would experience great happiness, and she would blow her thirty birthday candles feeling accomplished in every way.

When Kaede translated the man’s words, this meant she still had two years of shit to swim through, and what she had to do was keep her head afloat.

The woman did not want Joseph to see she wished for answers concerning her love life. To taunt her, the man would occasionally say: “Today might be the day,” as he did when she left his office to go down to take over Marco’s shift.

Not one but two men turned to welcome her. Kaede, who imagined things could not worsen at work, flared the potential danger as she approached.

“It’s about time; you are trampling on my lunch break.”

When it came to breaks, there was one rule: No hold up. The busy store could not afford time wasted by delay. The one held up came back when he was supposed to even if he lost minutes in the shift handover between managers.

“Sorry you can go.”

Marco sighed, “okay, we already have 12K in the tills.”

Kaede did not say anything, but the figure was quite an exploit considering the lax who drove the team in the morning.

Marco continued, “Chris called and said he’d be five minutes late.”

The sales assistant’s name reminded Kaede she still had to discuss the boxes switch.

“Okay,” Marco looked at his watch and turned to face Dominque. Just like the day before Marco’s friend fixed Kaede. What held his attention was the small blotches that dotted her face.

“Dom,” Marco said, snapping the man out of his daze, “we have fifty minutes. Where do you want to eat? There’s a eat Eat Thai down the street if you want.”

“Yeah, that’s good for me.”

Kaede seized the opportunity to eclipse to the till where she thought she could observe without being noticed.

The men made their way to the door, Dominque dressed in all black turtle neck, black Carhartt cargo pants, and black AirForce. For Kaede, the style expert, one could lift the man as he was and place him in a Swat team or Black Hawk Down movie. People develop a severe habit of detailing people from head to toe when working in retail, and Kaede was no exception to the rule.

Dominque caught Kaede smiling as he threw a last glance at her while he passed the sliding doors behind Marco. During a split, second two stares crossed, in one of those moments where the temptation to say it was love at first sight except the first encounter was the day before.

Kaede felt intimidation instead of the fluttering heart. If her heart did step up, a beat fright was the culprit. She had one problem called Marco Francis, but the subject remained in breach of her control.

Here the woman got the impression she faced a more sophisticated model of the male species. If Kaede took Marco’s words seriously, Dominque was the greatest player the world ever carried. Even the number of women in the playboy mansion did not mount up to his supposed longlist.

They simultaneously turned their eyes away.

“Man, are you listening to me?”

“Yeah, I heard you; the girl takes the piss. If it were her, she would attach you to the hood of a car and ride through the town with you on it in a Mad Max remake.”

Marco cocked an eyebrow, “stop taking a piss out of me, Dominque.”

Dominque squeezed Marco’s shoulders with both hands, “man, relax, we have plenty of time to eat. I thought she didn't matter.”

“She doesn’t, but it’s just like this every day since I started,” Marco said as they entered the restaurant, they ordered, and Marco pursued, “Joseph hired me while she was on a forced vacation.”

They sat at the eat-in counter while they waited for their meal.

Dominque adjusted his position, “why do you say forced?”

Marco took a pair of chopsticks and began to pretend to play drums with them, “she’s a workaholic, and such a control freak that Joseph, our boss, had to choose the dates for her vacation and confiscate the store’s keys to make sure she would not come back and haunt the place.”

Dominque grinned, “she seems to be quite a number.”

“She’s no number, don’t be fooled by the dimples and freckles she has today.”

It was not a mirage that Dominque saw on Kaede’s face were natural freckles.

“She’s worse than before,” Marco quickly faced Dominque to rectify, ” I mean, worse than when I began to work there.”

Marco somehow was unable to speak about his relationship with his best friend. Dominque always dated women fawned upon by others. Dominque’s ex-girlfriend Hye Ju Hu was still in the French YouTube top ten most beautiful YouTubers to follow. Though Marco recognized Kaede’s beauty, he did not rank her along with the others, and he assumed his friend would be shocked by the revelation.

The waitress placed Dominque’s Guay Teow [noodle soup] and Juan’s Tom Kha Gai [ chicken in coconut soup]

Silence reigned; the food sacred deserved all their attention.

While they slurped, Dominque thought tactics to say he fell for the assistant manager was probably too much for an encounter, which was twenty-four-hours old. What Dominque acknowledged was that the woman enthralled him from the first instance.

The atmosphere changed in Kaede’s presence. When he caught her stare, all Dominque saw was flames and fire, a corner smile sketched on his face as he fantasied about sexual positions. It always began like this, Dominque envisioned until it was time to pass the practical test. The thought confirmed his attraction was at the primal infatuation stage.

“Why are you smiling?” Marco asked.

“I’m not smiling.”

“Yes, you are you, have that I’m going to fuck her sideways stare. Who is it?”

Marco observed him well; he knew all of Dominque’s facial expressions. The man could tell his friend had someone in mind, and he was glad to note Dominque still possessed his player touch.

“Marco, I just thought that you only have five minutes left before what her name blows upon you.”

“Shit, let’s get going.”

Dominque gave himself a virtual pat on the back. The diversion was perfect. He knew whatever he decided to do to Kaede for his friend’s mental health; it would be better to keep Marco out of the ploy. Marco would not understand why his friend sought to copulate with the enemy, even if Dominque explained sex was the goal.

Dominque dated playmate babes because they came to him; with time and experience, the man knew beauty did not guarantee soulmate compatibility. Not that he imagined Kaede as a soulmate, whereas Marco was still in the visual over everything else compatibility.

Marco went to deposit his coat back in the store while Dominque’s advanced to stand in front of the table where Kaede folded t-shirts. Dominque touched the collar to feel the fabric of every t-shirt Kaede folded. The woman tried to resist, but she could not hold it in; she faced him, “excuse me, ehㅡ.”

“Dom.”

“Yeah, Dominque, if you are not going to try any, can you please stop touching them?”

Dominque wondered if Kaede was a Virgo, the sign with the perfectionist tendency. Up close, the freckles were more impressive. He opened his mouth, exposing the tip of his tongue before moistening his lips and saying, “cute.”

Kaede blinked twice, unable to shy away, “pardon,” she uttered.

The blow was unexpected; Kaede’s backlashing sentence remained in production as Dominque added, “those freckles, they’re cute. I like them.”

Kaede’s eyes darted, searching an escape route. For the first time since he arrived, Kaede was happy to see Marco come back.

“Did something happen? “Marco asked as he followed Dominque’s gaze, which watched Kaede flee.

Dominque turned to face Marco, “Nah, don’t sweat it, I’m the one who bothered her. She minded her business, and I kept touching the tees.”

“Pff, she makes a big deal for nothㅡ,” Marco stopped. A weird idea crept into his mind; he examined Dominque’s face. His neutral expression reassured Marco, he pursued, “you know Kaede is not a girl to mess with, whether it’s work or love. She just isn’t one for play.”

Dominque’s brows curved in a perfect V in the middle, his jaw became angular and square, “I know, she’s a scarred one. Some asshole must have fucked up her mind, just like that bitch fucked up mine.”

Marco opened his mouth, closed it, and repeated the gesture. His attempt to lighten the dark moment failed as he recalled he was the asshole. Since Dominque’s return, Marco wondered whether his friend still held a grudge against his Ex Hye Ju; the answer was clear.

Dominque lifted his arm to the side, giving a pat on Marco’s chest, “okay, man, I’m out of here,” he said in a lighter tone, accompanied by a smile.

“I’m off tomorrow; if you want to hang out, call me,” Marco stretched out his hand for their coded handshake and one arm hug.”

Dominque passed the door with two regrets, one not saying goodbye to Kaede, and two fantasizing about her as if she were meat. The flames he saw were those of a woman who suffered. Kaede caught his eye because he recognized the hurt hashtag. Their encounter was only a day old, but the man’s feelings already shifted.

“Dude, you’re no hero; deal with your shit first,” Dominque muttered as he felt the prick in his heart while he recalled the pain Hye Ju inflicted him.