ANMELDEN[Soleil]April arrived at Soleil at 7:58am, two minutes before her shift was supposed to start, which was how she always arrived. Early enough to settle in an carry out her activities for the day calmly. She pushed through the side door and went to hang up her bag, while she was tying her apron, Kyle appeared beside her with an expression she found to be strange, she looked at him confused. "Don't panic," he said, but April still didn't understand."The new guy," Kyle whispered."What new guy?"she asked and he gestured toward the main floor.April turned around to see Lucas, standing at the counter on the staff side, in a Soleil apron, listening to the manager explain something about the ordering system with the attentive expression of wanting to create a very good impression to his boss. April stood very still.He hadn't seen her yet. But he was nodding at something the manager was saying, his back half-turned, completely absorbed in the information being passed out to him like hi
Amelex was forty minutes by normal driving but Damien made it twenty-six.The waiting area outside the ICU wing was filled with people who had their own problems and were waiting for the news that would decide their fate…it had a gloomy vibe, sickening and depressing. Mrs. Sterling was in the chair nearest to the corridor, her handbag on her lap and her hands folded over it like she was trying to control her nerves. April was beside her with her mother's hand in both of hers, and the look on April's face showed how frightened she was although she's trying not to show it. Lauren was there and Victor beside her, so close as he tried to calm her nerves too. She happened to have gone with Victor to go see Ava's parents when the health issue came up which is why they were able to get to the hospital on time. Ava rushed into the building not noticing Damien was still behind, her mother immediately stood up and rushed to hug her as she cried. Ava patted her, trying to calm herself, her mo
The Cole's were in a grocery store. Damien had suggested it earlier, surprising Ava because the house staff was in charge of that. "Come with me to the store," he had said, when Ava was mid-way through a sketch at the dining table, she's on a break but it didn't stop her from getting inspiration."The store," she repeated like it was a foreign language. "Yeah, for groceries." He added and she looked up wondering why someone that has a full household staff and had likely not purchased his own groceries in years, wanted to go grocery shopping.She placed her pencil down, “why?”"You said last week that the kitchen was out of the particular type of olive oil you use." He had explained "But…I said that to the housekeeper.""Well, I was in the room. Come let's go get it" he stood up while she had looked at him for a moment before she stood up and went with him. —The store was large, well-lit and filled with lots of eye-catching things. Ava pushed the trolley while Damien walked beside
Damien took Lucas from her, steadying him by the arm. Lucas went with him without much protest since he was dozing off, though he turned back once to look at April with that same softened expression.She looked away, while Damien's personal driver appeared beside her and held out his hand. She blinked in confusion."Lucas's keys," Damien said over his shoulder. "Check his jacket, they should be in his pocket."April reached into the jacket Lucas had left hanging over the wall and found the keys. She handed them to the driver, who nodded and walked toward the car park.She watched Damien fold Lucas into the passenger seat and watched the door close. She stood on the pavement with her bag still on her shoulders as she watched Damien's car pull out and disappear down the road.The car park was quiet as she stood there for a moment. But then she noticed Damien’s driver beside her, she almost screamed in fear.“I'm sorry, Mr Cole asked me to take you home”he explained and she calmed down
The week ran down till it was Thursday. Maya, one of April's colleague who did the evening shift Tuesday to Friday, sent a message to the staff group at half past two saying she had food poisoning and needed someone to cover for her. The group chat was quiet but there were several read receipts and then one by one, the people who were on shift stated they couldn't extend since they had other things to do. April read the message too, she looked at the time and at the message again. Maya was supposed to continue from where she stopped as the evening shift ran from five until close and she had already done her full day but no one was stepping up to replace Maya and even though she's tired and had plans of going home to help her mom with dinner, hang out with her dad and also sleep at a reasonable hour, she had to help Maya out. She looked at the message a third time.She typed: [Don't worry, I'll cover for you]Maya typed, “Thank you so much, April. I owe you one”The manager also sen
More days passed and April was getting used to the way things went. The lunch crowd at Soleil arrives all at once, with no warning and zero patience.By half past twelve, every table in April's section was full and the counter had a line that curved towards the door. She moved through it, her notepad in hand and a smile planted on her face. Her body felt like it was on autopilot while her mind ran the checklist, “Table four needed a refill…table seven had been waiting eleven minutes for their order”she noted“Ooh, the gentleman at the counter wanted to know if the kitchen could do something without pepper” she knew the answer was no but she needed to still go and ask. She liked this and that was still the surprising part. She found that the movement of it suited her…the way there was always something to do and it left no space for her thinking of unnecessary things.Her phone buzzed in her apron pocket but she couldn't check it, not during the rush. It took a week before she learnt
The days that followed were quite eventful. April went to war with everyone who loved her and it was really surprising.She refused Ava's calls first…after contemplating if she should block the contact, she just decided not to answer her calls. The phone would ring and April would stare at the scre
Ava's phone buzzed on the nightstand.She almost didn't pick it up. The afternoon light was slanting warm and golden through the curtains of the mansion and she was comfortable with her feet tucked beneath her on the bed, her hair loose while she went through her sketches.Then she saw the name on
The next week was harder than April had imagined. She tried to speak to Lucas on Monday, after making preparations of going to him immediately after class so that Gavin won't be suspicious, she promised to be calm and direct to tell him that he needed to stop making advances towards her, that Laure
[Silver Crest Academy]Friday afternoons were always the best time of the week at Silver Crest Academy, it was an entry into weekend of rest so corridors that had been purposeful all week became loose and loud. Bags were slung over shoulders at different angles and loud laughter came from everywhe







