I pulled out my phone to keep myself occupied and I saw a missed call from Ginia. I raised an eyebrow, staring at the time. Just 5 minutes ago. She called again? Just as I moved my finger to call her back, Alice went out from the back-of-house door with a different, more casual, attire. She was wearing a loose pastel blue shirt with a thin grey cardigan and dark blue jeans, her brown curly long hair tied up in a pony tail gave a much more laid back vibe than her stiff bun when she was working.

“So.” She noted. “How you doing, Ramil?”

“I’m fine.” I replied, but hesitated to continue after I noticed how she referred to me. I brushed it off. An awkward silence swept over the both of us for a moment before I spoke, for the sake of getting rid of the quietness. “Umm.” I mumbled.

“So your shift is from morning ‘til late at night? Must be hard.” I said as I hold up any kind of small talk I could have, beating around the bush to not seem too excited about seeing a woman I hardly know. I turn my gaze to Alice and she had her eye brows raised up and a mischievous smile that reminded me of my Cheeky prankster of a younger sister. For some reason, it irritated me, but it changed with a sincere look on her face.

“Yeah but it’s only for today. Plus, it’s fun getting to talk to people.” She replied as she moved her gaze to look at the empty seats all over the place Alice’s stare was unfazed as if she remembered something from before, something she was very fond of remembering. “So, found any notes about her?”

My eyes widened, somewhat surprised that the speculations that I had, and called stupid earlier today, appears to be correct.

“Excuse me?” I retorted. And to my absolute surprise, she let out a loud groan and rolled her eyes. The audacity of this girl, I’m astounded. She mumbled something to herself quickly, I couldn’t hear clearly but I could make out the words I’ve done…many times…

“You’re--” she paused, taking a deep breath, squinting her eyes to check the window that felt like she was making sure nobody was there.

“You’re researching about the…the thousand year woman, aren’t you?” She said as she slouched her shoulders and leaned her elbow on the table with her eyebrow raised, her expression mimicking that of some pompous detective but disguised as a cheerful cafe waitress.

I had a small gasp in reply. “Actually, yeah! How did you know?”

Did she know I was researching about that? Maybe that’s what she meant by notes. Notes on the thousand year woman, was that what she told me to look for? How was I suppose to connect two and two together?

She looked to her right for a quick second before showing off a smile.

“Lucky guess.” She said.

I turned to peak at the table for a brief moment, did an unintentional double take before going back to Alice with a very confused expression. “Okay well, I’m not really here for content. You told me you could help me see her?”

“Oh!” She slightly covered her mouth with her hand as she, obviously, pretend to be surprised. “Well, if you’re not interested in knowing about a woman who lives that long, I guess I can’t help you after all.” She raised her hands, shoulder level, as if to say ‘it’s can’t be helped then’.

I’m lost for words with Alice right now, I feel like being with an old friend who knows exactly how to push people’s buttons but instead, I’m faced with a person who introduced herself as a fan and just loves to push people’s buttons. She wants me to cover the thousand year woman for a video, in exchange she’ll tell me about her boss. I stopped to think about her actions. Yeah, that seems like a fair deal. I was planning to cover that highly recommended story anyway.

“No, wait.” I chuckled, laughing at my strangely comical situation. “Fine, I’ll cover the thousand year woman for my next video. Sound good?” I smiled, finally in a conversation that’s getting me somewhere.

“The opposite, actually. I’ll help you see her again if you don’t cover it.” Throw my last thought out the window, I’m going nowhere with this lady.

I raised both eyebrows, staring directly at her, waiting for something to completely make me burst a vein. She stayed silent, waiting for my response.

“So you’ll help me if I’m interested in the thousand year woman, but won’t help me if I cover it?”

“Yup.” She replied sweetly.

I let out a deep, exhausted, sigh. “Alright, whatever it takes.” She laughed and I couldn’t help but laugh as well. “You’re the weirdest person I’ve met.” I continued.

As the chuckles fade out, I turn to the table I first saw the woman, right beside the window, but something outside my window caught my attention.

A familiar figure with straight black hair, a cape jacket, and high heeled sneakers frantically looked around. I quickly stood from my seat, causing a loud screeching sounds from the chair scratching through the tile floor of Arcanus and ran to the door.