Chapter 14 Team Anti-Myles
Three short chirps rang out as I opened the shop’s door and stepped in. “Cute,” I muttered, and then shook myself a little – like a freaking puppy on a wet day – to get rid of the excess snow on my clothes.
A short guy with glasses smiled at me in greeting, and so did the woman next to him – who was on the phone talking a bit too rapidly for it to be comprehensible to me.
Crash.
Everyone, myself included, turned towards the main counter, where Rina – shell-shocked and a little pale – was staring at me with wide, possibly wild eyes. She was wearing another one of her puff blouses, and this one was crimson, with two white buttons beneath a cute, lacy collar.
“What the hell just happened?” asked a guy who could give Taron a run for his money in terms of his physical appearance. He walked out of what looked like a kitchen, and frowned as he approached Rina.
I watched as she began signing something to him – so fast I had no idea what any of it meant – and after a while, the two of them chuckled.
“Daniel can clean it up for you,” the man said to Rina.
She pressed her lips together and shook her head at him.
She must’ve then realized that I was still standing at the store’s entrance, because she briefly glanced at me, grabbed a pencil from the holder on the counter, and started writing something.
She then snatched the paper and showed it to me, her expression unreadable.
What are you doing here?
I saw a flash of curiosity, and maybe even hope, in her eyes as she looked at me. I could tell that she was holding her breath, and somehow, that made mine come in faster.
I took a few steps in her direction. “I thought I’d check out the store, and buy a few things while I’m at it. I’m really curious to try some of the stuff I read on the menu outside.”
Rina visibly deflated at my answer, and her gaze hardened again, just like it had earlier today, right before she’d walked away from me after I’d refused to charge her for the birds’ food tray.
“Oh dear, you’re the asshole who hurt Rina, aren’t you?” said a voice from behind me.
I turned towards its owner, and saw a tall guy standing just outside the kitchen, his arms crossed in front of him, and his brows raised in surprise.
“He is?” asked the big dude, and then gave me a once over. “You are?”
I opened my mouth, but didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t sure what I could say in that moment, to be honest. Everyone was looking at me like I was a sacrificial lamb or something. I just wanted to put a paper-bag over my head and call it a day.
“Wait, you’re Myles?” asked the guy with glasses. “Dude, you’ve got some balls coming in here. In case you didn’t know, the four of us are Team Anti-Myles. We basically despise your ass.”
Jesus Christ.
“Yikes, man; thanks,” I mumbled.
Rina really did tell them all about my stupidity. Mr. Ribeiro wasn’t wrong when he’d told me that these people loved Rina something fierce.
The guy shrugged. “I’m Remi, by the way. I’ve known Rina since we were kids,” he then introduced himself, which was savage, because he’d literally just told me that he didn’t like me. At all.
“This,” Remi pointed at the big guy, “is Cruz. He’s probably thinking of squashing you to a pulp right now, but the verdict’s still out on that, so let’s not jump to conclusions.”
Cruz scowled at me, and I gave him a wobbly wave. I really didn’t wanna know what it’d feel like being sandwiched between that man’s hands.
Nope, not at all.
Rina kept glancing at us all like a deer caught in headlights. She looked like she wanted to blend into the wall with the way she was grimacing at everyone.
“I’m Daniel,” said the man who’d called me out on hurting Rina.
The woman on the small desk placed the phone down and rolled her eyes.
“I can’t believe you people are doing this…
” She half-heartedly wiggled her fingers at me.
“I guess I should introduce myself. Well, I’m Simran, and I’m pissed at you for hurting my friend, but I’m willing to let it go if you do end up redeeming yourself somehow.
Good luck.” She picked the phone back up and continued on with her task.
Wow.
“Okay, so now that the painful introductions are out of the way, let’s get to the serious question,” Daniel said to no one in particular. “Who mentioned my name a few minutes ago? I heard it, so you better not lie to me. Have you all started gossiping about me after all?”
“You wish, knucklehead,” Remi mused, and I pursed my lips to suppress a grin.
“Oh yeah, we were just talking about how fabulous you’d look mopping Rina’s broken mug off the floor,” Cruz said to Daniel.
Rina snorted, and then placed a hand over her mouth before laughing fitfully.
Unable to hold it in, I chuckled.
She glanced at me, so I gave her a faint smile. She averted her gaze in return. I didn’t blame her for that.
The shop’s door opened, and a few people walked in, chatting animatedly. They all greeted Remi with excited hellos, and then proceeded to place their orders.
Daniel rolled his eyes. “You really know how to make me feel special, don’t you, Cruz?”
Cruz smirked. “You deserve nothing but the best, partner.”
“I’ll make a believer out of you one day, just you wait,” Daniel told him, and then looked at me.
“Your Instagram pictures don’t do you justice.
You’re fucking hot, and if I wasn’t married to my wife, I’d definitely bend you over the baking station and go to town on your pretty ass.
But that doesn’t mean I’m not angry over the fact that you upset Rina.
You should be ashamed of yourself for doing that.
She’s a treasure, and the four of us love her like family.
” And with that, he winked at me before disappearing into the kitchen.
Rina’s mouth formed an ‘O’ as she stared at him. Cruz coughed into a fist, just as Simran snickered, and Remi whistled.
And I? Well, I took it all in with a brave face; let every bit of what Daniel had said, seep into my pores. It wasn’t like I hadn’t earned any of that.
I’ve always believed that it takes courage to own up to one’s faults, and it’s true that I haven’t exactly treated Rina with the level of respect she deserves to be treated with. I accept that, and I’m ready to make amends for it, too.
Just not by letting Daniel go to town on my ass. That was so far out of the question that I couldn’t emphasize it enough.
Someone cleared their throat.
I glanced to the side, and found Cruz looking down at me.
“If you’re here for a second chance,” he said low enough so that Rina couldn’t hear, “then you’re in luck, because Rina is the kind of person who doesn’t hold grudges.
She may be upset or angry with you, but she’ll never resent you for what you did.
You’re also lucky that you didn’t do much of anything, otherwise you’d be rocking a nice shiner on that pretty little face of yours right about now.
” When I awkwardly cleared my throat, he continued by saying, “I’m not going to act like an overbearing asshole, but I care about that girl like I do my own daughter.
She’s already been through so much, and the last thing she needs is to get her hopes wounded by someone she genuinely wants to get to know.
I’m pretty sure you can do better than that, Myles, for her sake, if nothing else. ”
“You think I haven’t thought about any of that?
” I told him. “You don’t know me, sure, but Cruz, I’m not dense.
I’ve taken every consequence of my decision to heart and considered it seriously.
There’s a part of me that’s so disappointed in myself right now, especially after seeing all you guys’ support towards her, but if I keep dwelling on that, then I’ll never be able to rectify my mistake.
And I will rectify it, I promise. I wanna do this for myself just as much as I wanna do it for Rina. ”
Cruz scanned my face for a moment, and then slightly inclined his head at me. “That remains to be seen, doesn’t it? But I’m glad you’re at least willing to step up and do the right thing.” He slapped my back good-naturedly, and then walked away from me and towards the kitchen.
Alone, I shoved my hands into the pockets of my jeans and looked at Rina. She was standing behind the counter, looking back at me with curiosity on her face.
I rocked on my feet for a second, and then made my way over to her.
“Hey,” I said.
Someone please applaud me on my conversation-starter skills. Where was my medal? My trophy? A damn hole so that I could fall into it?
Rina showed me a piece of paper with two words written on it.
Fuck you.
I put my tongue to my cheek. I didn’t know when she’d written that, but she clearly wanted to say it to me for a while because she had that paper right on top of the stack – ready to shove it in my mouth if she could.
“I deserve that,” I told to her. “That, and so much more.”
You hurt me.
I flinched a little. “Believe me, I know, and I’m really, really, sorry for behaving that way, Rina. There is an explanation for it, but at this point, it’ll only be an excuse to mask my error.”
So now I’m Rina again.
“You’ve been Rina since the moment I asked to call you that,” I said honestly.
Her eyes flashed.
Am I?
“I wouldn’t lie about something like this.”
Why aren’t you at home working on the kitchen?
“Because I wanted to see you and talk to you, so I asked Taron to take over today,” I told her.
I’d come straight to Vila do Acaí after my client meeting. I’d hardly paid any attention to it, because for more than half of it, I’d been busy thinking of the things I’d tell Rina, all of which I ended up forgetting the moment I saw her, of course.
I know why you did what you did, but it still doesn’t make it right. You shouldn’t have kept it from me. As much as I love my av?, he isn’t the one who dictates my life, Myles. He shouldn’t dictate yours, either, directly or otherwise.
“Wait, how did you know?” Her and I hadn’t exactly spoken much since my fuckup, so how would she know?
She rolled her eyes and began writing something.
You aren’t as smooth as you might think yourself to be. You’ve been acting like a scared hyena in front of my av? for the last two weeks. It’d be clear to anyone with eyes that you were trying not to get on his bad side, or piss him off by even breathing the wrong way.
“Hey, now.” I arched a brow. “A hyena, seriously?”
She scowled at me.
I’m being serious, Myles.
I sighed. “Right, sorry.” I scratched my jaw.
“Look, you’re right about everything; I did push you away because of your grandfather.
But I also did it because I thought I owed it to him, especially since he’d trusted me enough to tell me about your parents and grandma, and I just…
disregarded that and gave into my impulse.
I thought that maybe I was disrespecting him somehow, and I was right.
” I placed both my hands on the counter and leaned in a bit.
“That first night, after you went up to your room, your av? told me that I’d disappointed him. He knew, Rina, and he was hurt.”
I noticed that some of the color had drained from Rina’s face.
He told you about the fire? And my vovó?
I nodded. “I asked him about your mom, actually, and he told me everything.” I put a subtle emphasis on the word ‘everything’ so that she’d know that I was also aware of the reason behind her loss of speech.
She swallowed.
When did he tell you?
“The first day,” I answered.
Her shoulders slumped, and she looked so small and broken that I reached out and cupped her face between my hands. “Rina, hey.”
She gazed up at me, and then wrapped her fingers around my wrists.
“I’m so sorry for your loss,” I told her. “And I’m so fucking sorry for hurting you like this. I am ashamed, just like Daniel said I should be, and I’m willing to do anything to fix what I’ve fractured.”
She sniffed before nodding at me. I gave her a gentle smile, and then let go of her face.
You’re still an asshole, even though you’ve apologized.
“Of course,” I said.
She bit the inside of her cheek as she studied me for a moment.
And I still think that you made the wrong decision by letting my grandfather affect your choices.
“I agree.”
She took a fresh page and continued writing.
You pronounced Av? incorrectly, by the way.
I cleared my throat. “Okay, I’m sorry.”
Rina pressed her lips together to hide a grin, but I could still see it pushing through. Well, at least she was having fun at my expense.
Her expression, though, soon turned solemn as she wrote something new before showing it to me.
So, what changed, then? What made you defy Av??
“What, you don’t think your friends insulting the hell outta me just now was reason enough for me to change my mind?”
She gave me a ‘Really?’ look, so I just…told her the truth.
“I was miserable, Rina,” I began, and then swallowed.
“Not being able to look at you without feeling guilty, not being able to touch you, talk to you, or even think of you – it was all starting to get too much for me. I kept telling myself that I’d be okay; that I’d get over it.
But the truth is: I wanna learn everything there is to learn about you, and I wanna do it without feeling like a damn criminal.
I’ve decided to live for me, and live life the way that fits my comfort more than anything else. ”
Her eyes darkened; my pulse quickened. She slowly pulled a new paper out of the stack and scribbled something on it.
I want hot chocolate.
I did a double-take just to make sure I’d read that right.
“You want hot chocolate?”
She shrugged.
I snorted. “I just poured my heart out to you, Rina, and you want hot chocolate?”
She smirked as she nodded. An expensive one, she then wrote with a flourish.
“Expensive, right…” I muttered to myself. “Well, there’s a really great chocolate shop on Armitage Ave that has both yummy and pricey hot chocolate options. We could go there right now. I mean, only if you want to.”
Her smirk turned kinda sinister, which scared me a little, but also enticed me at the same time.
Remi can look after the shop in my absence.
I chuckled as I shook my head at her. “Come on, then. Let’s go.”