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More and more time passes, and it feels like forever. Has it been fifteen minutes or fifteen hours? Who knows, anymore.

My head aches, my body hurts, and my throat is scratchy. I want everyone outside to leave and this nightmare to be over. I wish someone would pinch me and say it was all a bad dream.

All the employees are watching and waiting for the reporters to leave. They pretend they don’t see me crying, probably too embarrassed for me to mention it. Finally, Shane tells me they’re walking away.

“I think you’re finally safe to stand up,” he says. Pins and needles hit my legs as soon as I stand, the muscles sleeping thanks to how long I’ve been sitting.

“It’s only a matter of time before someone comes back. They won’t stop without a story. They’ll keep coming back until they get whatever they can from you, like vultures,” says an employee looking out the window.

Shane nods. “Yeah, you should probably go home while you have a window to do it. We’ll ensure it’s safe to go and help you to your car.”

I shake my head. “I appreciate you guys thinking of me. I really do. But home is the last place I want to be right now. I need to be working, do something to get my mind off this awful mess. If I go home, I won’t be busy, and I’ll sit around thinking about it. It’s going to drive me crazy… And I’ll have access to the TV and the news, and I just can’t go home. So, please, let’s just open the doors and continue with our day,” I say, nearly begging.

Shane stares at me for a few moments, looking like he’s about to argue with me, but then he takes a deep breath and sighs,

“Are you sure? Because no one will judge you for going home and hiding under a rock for a few days….” he laughs.

I laugh with him. “I think I’ll stick to hiding behind the counter when necessary for now…”

Shane walks over and unlocks the door. I feel a weight lifting off of me when I hear the click, and he switches the sign to ‘open.’ I’m still a bit uneasy as he’s walking back to the counter, but my nerves settle once a few customers come in, and things start returning to normal.

But, they settle almost too much. I’m in the groove of making coffee and setting out new snacks when I hear the bell ring on the door, letting us know someone’s inside. I don’t notice who our customer is for a moment because I’m too busy aligning pastries to look up until I hear her voice.

“Hi, Josephine, the fake wife of Aiden Hayes. How are you doing today?” she shouts in a sarcastic tone. My face gets hot, and my palms sweat instantly at the sound of her voice.

Ada. What the fuck is she doing here? Of course, she’d come to make a scene.

There are no other employees behind the counter, forcing me to help her.

“Can you stop? I know you’re here to humiliate me, but I’m already humiliated enough. Can you just leave it alone? What can I get for you?” I ask as nicely as possible while nearly bursting into tears.

She ignores me entirely. “Oh, come on. What’s with you, huh? I’m the one that should be angry after all.”

I look at her, confused, wondering how in the hell she could possibly feel the need to be angry about any of this.

I mean, isn’t she getting exactly what she wants? She wants him off the market, and now he is. She wins. Why can’t she just leave me the hell alone?

“You know, the reason he doesn’t love me back. Is it because of you and your arrangement? Now he’s fallen out of love with me because he’s been trying to cook up this ridiculous plan with you. Once again, using his money to get what he wants. How much did he spend for you to agree to be his fake wife, huh?” she asks.

She’s looking at me like she’s waiting for a response, and I have no response to give her. Anything that’s going on between us is none of her business, and she’s only fishing for the information she can sell.

“Oh, it doesn’t even matter now. It’s already all over the city, spreading like wildfire,” she laughs. Her laughter fills the coffee shop, and I don’t know what to say. I feel sick and need her to leave, but the words won’t come out of my mouth.

Suddenly, Shane appears behind me,

“Excuse me, ma’am? Are you actually going to order something? If not, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. This is her place of business, and she’s already spent all day hiding from the vultures outside, making her feel unwelcome. We don’t need the riff-raff coming inside and doing it to her here,” he says, defending me. I watch in awe at his quick protection over me.

She scoffs at him, “That’s not a way to treat your customers!”

“Well, if there’s something I can get for you please let me know. If there isn’t, you’re not a customer, and I can ask you to leave.”

“Fine. I don’t want to be here anyways. I’ll see you around, Josephine. You better believe it,” she says to me. She turns and walks toward the door.

I feel Shane’s hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me silently until she’s out of earshot, but I’m not taking my eyes off her. It hurts so bad that she’s sitting around thinking I’m just some used object to him, and if she feels it, I’m sure everyone else does too.

Tears start to fall down my cheeks as I realize where my actual place is and has always been with him. She’s going to swoop in like the vulture she is and rescue him. Then they can be the power couple she wants them to be, and he’ll finally make his dad happy.

“Are you going to judge me for hiding behind that rock now?” I ask Shane jokingly once Ada is out of the shop.

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