“Oh, shit,” Penelope mumbled by the kitchen door, realizing that Verdell was both dejected and angry with a single glance. Her color was more defined, but this was something that he should not be happy about, especially when her boss was shivering behind her.

Their eyes locked for a second until Aaron sighed and crossed his arms with a stern but shivering gaze. “I’m fucken’ scared.”

Penelope’s face crumpled in disgust, which twisted even more as she watched him cover his crotch. She cleared her throat and pointed Aaron at Verdell.

They gave each other some room to think in total silence. Their eyes wandered around the room, leering at each other before disengaging until they saw the people that surrounded Verdell. Aaron chuckled and smiled to himself. No one would really touch her after everyone saw her kick his balls even if they had the biggest heart and the fattest concern in the world. In the end, when they met each other’s face again, Aaron slowly gave a thumbs up to Penelope with a pure smile.

“You know,” Aaron let out a determined sigh. “I might be pussying out and still looking for a valid reason to protect my balls, but she’s part of the Tea Shop now. I can’t let her feel slumped on her first day, right?”

Penelope’s glare softened. “Boss—”

“So let’s play rock-paper-scissors!”

Penelope’s eyes froze, taking a sharp breath through her nose as she bit her lower lip to hide her frustration. Her left eyebrow twitched.

“Come on,” Aaron laughed and raised his hand. “Maybe I’m just deluding myself… Maybe I tired with all that diarrhea, but let me fool myself that I have a chance to dodge this bullet, okay? Come on, I’ll throw rock.”

Penelope followed suit and started their game. They followed the beat of their song. In the end, Penelope opened her palm to beat the rock that her boss had promised to throw, but Aaron gave her a scissor, which was followed by a scummy chuckle.

“YOU FOOL!” Aaron stretched his words with pride, almost singing it. “I guess nothing beats destiny.”

Aaron was about to let out another proud laugh, but Penelope punched his shoulder. He moaned as a response, pushing Penelope off with utter disgust, and he used it to dash at the back of the kitchen to get to his room.

Penelope held onto her words as Aaron escaped, scratching the back of her head and sighing, imagining that she’s choking Aaron right now and making him scream. She sighed once more and turned to the empty kitchen. No one still seemed to approach Verdell despite the number of people around her. Her lips twitched; she had to do something.

A few minutes came by, and Penelope puffed her chest and approached Verdell with a tall glass of cold milk tea in hand.

“Hey, b-best friend…” Penelope sat on a chair behind the counter and placed the cup on the table. She pushed it towards Verdell and smiled. “You doing great?”

Verdell looked at her and tilted her head. Penelope responded with a nod, widening her eyes as she screamed internally. She gulped, and with this newfound courage, she fanned herself slowly, looked Verdell in the eye, and asked, “D-did… I call you b-best friend t-too q-quick?”

“N-no…” Verdell forced a smile and wiped the sweat off her forehead. “I’m just having a bad day. I’m sorry… I haven't ordered anything yet too. Wow,” she smiled at the most cup that was served to her. “why is it so white, though?”

Penelope leaned and rested her chin upon her palm. “You don’t strike me as a person with a sweet tooth. You look like someone who would rather have just a subtle tang in your mouth, so I took a risk. Also, you look so angry that you made me want to puke.” Penelope flashed her an awkward smile. “Also, I tossed so much boba in there that Mr. Aaron would bawl at me if he found out, so you better chew them hard and wipe that frown away from that cute face of yours.”

Verdell’s color didn’t change. Taking that as a loss and not wanting to overstay her welcome, Penelope gave her a nod and stood to leave, but Verdell grabbed her wrist to stop her.

“T-thank you,” Verdell voiced out after a deep breath.

Penelope didn’t utter a single word, but she let herself be dragged back to her seat with an uninterested gaze. Her gaze was deep and passionate; it even made Verdell feel that her clothes were being shredded by her eyes alone. Penelope gave her a nod once more, and after an odd second, she smiled and declared, “We’re best friends now, it’s official.”

Both waited, but they ended up laughing at each other. Aaron joined them, too, but he shrieked and hid back in his room as soon as Verdell saw him. Penelope breathed out a sigh of relief and watched as Verdell sipped the drink she prepared for her. Verdell’s faltering smirk widened; her heart warmed up with glee, and as though like magic, the acute sweetness of her milk tea tickled her cheeks until she finally smiled.

“If this has,” she cleared her throat. “magic in it, I’m going to cry.”

“You’ll be fine.” Penelope pointed Verdell to her eyes. “It’s gonna suck if I forced you to smile in the first place.”

There was a hint of fear and sadness in Penelope’s voice, that left an imprint in Verdell’s brain.

“Anway,” Penelope grinned. “I don’t know what happened to you, but your color is darker than what you think it to be. Even so, it’s a little bit better compared to earlier. You’re really terrible at this; even Boss could know what’s up and he’s a scum that’s as dense as a rock.”

“You—”

“Yep.” Penelope gave Verdell a kind smile, reminding her of what Lt. Higgins said to her. “I’m the Kabbalist. You can be honest with me. I’m literally the best at keeping secrets out there, you know?”

Verdell tried to look away with a grin.

“Well?” Penelope opened her hands at Verdell. “So, mind telling me why you look like you’re about to go on a killing spree?”

“Well,” Verdell clucked her chest. “I really don’t know what to feel about it, but I’m sure that I could never be happy about it either. I’ve heard about Kabbalists, so could you,” her eyes wavered as though begging. “could you make this feeling go away?”

“You know what...” Penelope pulled her head back. The others seemed to have calmed down and were talking amongst themselves, and there he found Aaron again, sitting at the corner of the room, blocking his face while he watched them. She clicked her tongue and returned her attention to Verdell. “Let me just call the pizza place and have them haul their fat ass to work and get my orders here pronto. Do you like Hawaiian?”

“I… I don’t mind…” Verdell flashed a crooked smile at Penelope and looked away. “But the pineapple is a bit—”

“Good to know that you’re a woman of culture. We’ll ditch the Hawaiian, double the cheese, and make it stretchy coz, Hunny,” Penelope widened her sweet smile and rested her hands on her hips. “we need our mouths full while you spill the tea.”