Chapter 4.

“Kendra we need to get up else we'll get fired” I say when I realize that it was already morning and Kendra and I had overslept

“Alright, I'll be up in a jiffy, give me a little time to reboot my system” she yawns

“Okay” I say as I stand up to brush my teeth and decide on making breakfast

Kendra finally gets up when I'm done brushing, and I decide to head to the kitchen to make breakfast.

I decide on making waffles with hot chocolate for breakfast, and I get it done.

“Well I'm exhausted, I wish I could just get some fucking ass money to employ cooks and get a bigger apartment” Kendra says as she walks into the kitchen

“Well wishes aren't horses baby girl, they just don't come through, we've got this” I reply while I give her a plate of food.

“We've got this” she smiles as she takes her plate of food from me and digs into it.

“I just love waffles” Kendra says satisfyingly.

“I better get dressed for work” I say, heading to my room and getting dressed

I look at myself in the mirror and I feel impressed by my choice of clothing.

“Bye sis, be good” I yell to Kendra

“Have a nice day” she yells back

I get to the Jundas Coffeehouse only to realize that it has not opened for the day, so I decide to call Mr. Hemsworth

I dial his number, and it connects on the third ring

“Good morning sir” I greet

“Morning Anastasia, what's going on?” He asks.

“Sir I came to work today only to realize that the Coffeehouse hasn't been opened yet” I say

“Oh sorry about that, I thought I informed you that I was going to expand the business, so I'm using this week to renovate the building and get things done” he blurts out

“Oh I wasn't informed thank you” I say, trying to figure out what to do next with my free week.

A part of me is happy, at least I get to rest, but then again, I would have no source of income for a week.

I head home and I see an unfamiliar car parked in the driveway but I make nothing of it when I realized it belongs to the neighbors. My phone begins to ring. It rings “Stewart” and I pick it up.

“Hey Stasia, how was your night?”

“It was great, thanks for asking" I reply

“I went to the Coffeehouse but realized it was closed, so I figured you would be home. Are you free? Want to hang?” He asks.

“Maybe later in the day, I want to take a good long nap” I tell him

“That's fine, I'll get back to you later in the day” he says

“That would be great” I say before ending the call.

I head to my room and decide to not binge-watch a movie, but just lay in silence. It doesn't take long before I finally drift into the beautiful world of sleep.

My sleep is disrupted by a phone call, and it takes every ounce of self-control in me to not toss my phone across my room, so I could continue my sleep, but my thoughts come to a halt when I realize it's already a half past five, and I wonder how I slept for that long.

“Hello” I say after picking up the call without bothering to check the name of the contact on my phone

“Anastasia Michael!” I hear a stern voice say over the phone “Don't act like you don't know who it is” the person says sternly, and I immediately toss the phone away. Suddenly, my lungs are denied airflow and I run outside trying to grasp fresh air as a pool of water stays in my head and I try to hide the tears that were about to drop off my eyes.

I didn't even realize when a car pulls into my parking lot and the person there holds me while I let myself lean into the touch and I cry my eyes out

“He found me” I mutter repeatedly in a ragged voice

“Just breathe okay” the familiar voice says, “just breathe with me, one, breathe in, two breathe out” and I follow the voice as my heart finally goes back to its normal pace and everything around me seems to be going back to normal.

“Are you okay” the voice asks, drawing me back to reality and I look up to see a worried Stewart and me immediately clean my tears and smile

“I'm sorry you had to see that, I'm fine” I grin

“Want to talk about what just happened?” He asks, hope evident in his eyes.

“There's nothing to talk about, really” I try to assure him, so he'll drop the topic, but he doesn't get the hint.

“If it makes you feel any better, I have episodes like that too, so I know just how you feel”

“Thank you, but I'm good” I say, trying to ignore the conversation

“Ok, would you at least invite me into your house” he asks, hope evident on his face

“Oh excuse my bad manners. Please come in” I say, ushering him into my home.

“So how has your day been going?” He asks, attempting to lighten the mood in the air.

“So far so good, I just binged watched some movies, nothing more interesting happened” I add.

“That sucks, I have been to a couple of business meetings and I decided to come by”

“Well thank you I appreciate”

“I got some chocolate for you, it's in my car, let me go get it” he stands and goes outside to get the chocolate

“Must be a sweet person” I mutter

Stewart walks back into my apartment with a box of chocolate, and I've never been more excited

“Here you go” he hands the chocolate over to me, and I'm grinning ear to ear.

“Thank you” I blush

“If you don't mind, we could go to the park, but solely your choice”

“That would be great” I reply immediately, I need the distraction

“Alright let's go” he says cheerfully as though he didn't expect that I'll agree with him

I stand up and put the chocolate in the fridge and decided to place a sticky note on it saying “don't touch” just to get Kendra intrigued.

Speaking of Kendra, I pick up my phone and decide to call her, she picks on the second ring

“It better be important, or you're just trying to get me fired” she whispers

“Oh sorry, I'll be home late, I'll give you the deets later” I whisper back for no good reason

“Okay” she says and ends the call.

Stewart and I are in the car vibing to one of Alexander's Stewart song “blame's on me” as I yell the part that says

“Oh God I'm sorry, I put you through hell, you tried to love me when I hated myself, I know it's too late for apologies, for all of the mistakes that I couldn't see, the blames on me”

And Stewart just stares at me in shock

“Are you okay?” He asks, looking so concerned, and I couldn't help but burst into laughter.

“It's just a song, come on I'm good” I giggle.

We finally reach the park and Stewart goes to get us some ice cream.

“Thank you, if I continue like this then in no time I'll get so fat” I say, collecting the ice cream from his hands

Stewart smiles at me.

“Ummm..... my dad called, that's why I had one of those” I state

“Oh is everything okay back home?” He asks.

“Not really, I left that place years back and hearing his voice through the phone just gave me some sort of PTSD that led to my panic attack” I say smiling

“I'm sorry about that” he says, feeling sorry

“That's fine, I think I'm good now, thank you. I would have been in the hospital if you didn't come to save me” I smile, not wanting him to feel sorry for me.

“Anything for you dear friend” he says

I smile, hearing the word friend.

We talk about random things like our favorite TV shows, movies, music genre and even hobbies.

“I'm an avid lover of books” he chips in while we head to the car, realizing it was already past nine, and I was exhausted from all the walking and running around

“Well then you would really love Kendra, she's so in love with books. I can never be that in love with books” I say.

“I would love to meet her” he says, getting into the car.

“Is she the girl I saw standing on the porch the other day?”

“Yes that one”

“She seems interesting”

Stewart drops me off at the driveway and insists on seeing Kendra another day since it's already late, and he has to be up very early tomorrow for his business trip, and I was totally okay with that since I needed to get some rest too.