I never made the best first impressions. But, this might’ve been the fastest someone scowled right after meeting me, and I hadn’t even said a word yet.

Despite that, I stood from my chair and gave her a polite bow. Francesca had been rather adamant earlier about giving me a lesson in etiquette and customer service. I preferred to not receive another.

“My name is Irene Davis. I work as a funeral assistant here.”

“Davis? As in Edwin Davis?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. It was peculiar just how intensely she was studying me, the suspicion ripe in her eyes.

"Yes, that’s correct.”

Was it something about how I looked? I didn’t believe there was anything abnormal about my appearance. I was wearing one of the coats I'd found in the package Davis bought me, and my hair was neatly tied back. If anything, I would've assumed my appearance to be professional, just like any other staff here.

“But you two don’t look like you’re related at all?”

“That’s because we aren't,” I said, my tone flat. She knitted her eyebrows as my response only seemed to confuse her more.

"And how does that make any sense?"

Judging from her demeanour, she didn’t seem to be another customer which raised more questions about her. “Miss, was there something you want me to assist you with—”

“Oh, Lena, you’re here,” Alfred said, walking back into the room with two mugs in hand, steam rising from them. “You can just put the flowers on the counter, I’ll deal with them later.”

He made his way towards the counter, placing one of the mugs in front of me before falling back down onto his seat. “The boss brewed us some tea,” he said before blowing on the drink.

“I see, thank you.”

I picked up the mug and brought it to my lips. The liquid rushed into my mouth and hit my tongue. There was an immediate burning sensation against my tastebuds. I was fairly sure this tea was still near boiling temperature, making any of the flavour untasteable.

“Hey, careful! It’s still hot!”

“It’s fine.”

Lena's eyes moved back and forth between us during our exchange, not seeming entirely sure how to react to the scene in front of her.

“Alfred, who’s this exactly?” she asked, eyeing me harder as she placed the flowers on the counter.

Just judging by the manner in which those two spoke with each other, I figured they were familiar. Perhaps that made her a frequent customer then? For most other businesses, that might’ve been a good thing.

“This is Irene, she works here now.”

His lack of elaboration only seemed to irk her, the scowl on her face remaining stiff.

“I didn’t know Davis was still hiring new staff,” she said, crossing her arms. “And she has his surname as well?”

“Yeah, we gave her that name a few days ago.”

Her face only scrunched up more, almost appearing like a piece of wrinkled paper as her eyebrows furrowed to form an almost straight line.

“Where did she even come from?”

“Wish I knew, but we’re not allowed to ask,” Alfred said, still casually blowing on his mug.

“You’re not allowed to ask?”

“It’s the boss's orders so there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m pretty sure he just picked her up from the streets or something.”

“Right...” she said with an uncertainty in her tone. She then turned to me

again, her gaze still holding a sense of apprehension before she cleared her throat. "Well, I’m Lena York. I run a florist here in the city and do most of the arrangements for the funeral home.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Miss York.”

She continued to stare at me for a moment, her eyes narrowing again. “Do you always do that?”

"Pardon?" I tilted my head, unsure what she was referring to.

“Do you always have that blank look on your face? Don’t you know how to smile, frown or do anything else?”

“Don’t be too mean to her, Lena,” Alfred interjected, still slouching back in his chair and mug in hand.

“Well aren’t you one to talk,” Davis said, his sudden voice making us all turn towards the entrance to the corridor as he walked in. When his eyes landed on Lena, a smile grew on his face. "I thought I heard someone familiar in here."

“Davis,” she said before straightening her back and greeting him with a polite smile. “I was just bringing over the flowers you ordered.”

He glanced down at the bouquet, flickering between all the various flowers. “They’re as beautiful as ever, and thank you again for doing this on such late notice.”

"It's my pleasure really, and you always do compensate me nicely for these," she said, earning a chuckle from Davis despite her almost sickly sweet voice. "But I think I should be heading back now. I have another appointment later today."

“Of course, you are a busy woman after all so I won’t keep you for too long. But, do tell your old man I'll stop by to visit him soon."

“I promise I won’t forget.”

Lena glanced back at me, the friendliness in her eyes faltering for a fraction of a second, but she quickly turned away, facing the door and opening it to leave.

For some reason, she reminded me a bit of Hendrik. That is if he also had a habit of asking me useless questions.

“So how’s the tea, Irene?” Davis asked as he walked over to us and leaned his arms on the countertop.

My hands were still around the mug, the heat burning through the ceramic. “It’s hot.”

“Well, yeah, you drank from it while it was still practically boiling,” Alfred pointed out. He hadn’t even taken a single sip out of his yet.

"Didn't you warn her that it was hot like I asked you to?"

"Hey, I tried but she didn't listen. And why did you only start brewing tea for us after Irene started working here anyway?”

Davis raised an eyebrow, shooting him an unamused look. "Well, if you didn't want any, I'll make a note to prepare only one cup next time."

“Hey! I didn’t say that—”

The front door opened again, cutting their bickering short. I immediately assumed it must’ve been Miss York until I heard a familiar voice speak.

“Well, this is a surprise. I didn’t expect to see you here, Miss Davis.”

I turned to the entrance and saw a certain pair of blue eyes there. They were ones I was, unfortunately, becoming a little too familiar with.

“Mister Callisto,” I said, making an effort to keep my tone neutral so as to not let my disappointment seep in. He was the last person I expected and frankly wanted to have entered through that door.

He was as put together as usual, his hair neatly slicked back while adorning another suit of a dull colour. Just how many of those did he own? I'd yet to see him wearing the same suit twice. But more notably, there was a thin brown file in his hand.

Davis looked back and forth between us, his eyebrows furrowed with confusion. “Have you two already met?”

“Just once or twice,” Jesse responded with a calm look in his eyes. “Don’t look so shocked, Eddie.”

Eddie? That was an awfully casual address.

“How can I not be? You’re hardly one to make friends with just anyone,” Davis said, eyeing him with a weary suspicion.

“He’s not a friend, Mister Davis,” I interjected, causing them both to turn towards me. “We’ve only met briefly.”

“I wouldn’t consider two hours to be that brief,” Jesse said rather teasingly, completely unfazed by the cold stare I gave him.

On the other hand, Davis’ eyes almost popped out of his head. “Two hours?! Just what were you doing with her?”

“Why do you assume I was the one who did something?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. He almost seemed offended by the accusation. “We hardly did anything at all actually. Miss Davis here can vouch for that.”

I stared at him, wondering why he was dragging me back into this conversation. I didn't know what compelled him to think I'd do that for him, but I did figure it was at least best for my own sake to do so.

“He’s correct, we did nothing.”

"You did nothing at all for two hours straight?"

"That's right."

Davis continued to stare, his eyes still flickering rapidly between the both of us before loudly sighing.

“You know what, I’m not going to ask,” he said, pinching the bridge of his nose before turning back to Jesse “But why are you here? Did you need something?”

“What? I need a reason to come visit a friend now?”

"You haven't visited since I reopened the place," Davis flatly pointed out, to which Jesse gave him an awkward smile before clearing his throat.

“I do apologise for that. Business has increased since the war ended which keeps me rather occupied these days. But, I’ll make an effort to come by more often. But you’re right, I did have a reason for coming.” He grabbed the file from underneath his arm before holding it out to Davis. “You'll find that these were the documents you asked for.”

Davis’ eyes widened with recognition as he took them from him. “Oh right... those ones. It took you long enough, but thank you again for doing all this.”

“Don’t blame me for how long it took. What you asked for wasn’t exactly easy to get.”

“Well, I thanked you for it, didn't I?"

Jesse scoffed, shaking his head with a faint smile. “Alright, you win. But, I won’t keep interrupting you three for much longer,” he said, his eyes shifting back to me. “It was a delight to see you again, Miss Davis.”

“If you insist, Mister Callisto.”

Despite my flat response, he just gave another courteous smile in return.

We all watched him leave back out the front door as silence filled the room. Davis' eyes lingered on the file for a moment before placing it on the counter next to the bouquet.

Meanwhile, Alfred's face was contorted into a confused look. He’d been silently watching the entire exchange, eyes flickering back and forth between the three of us.

“Sorry, am I the only one who didn’t know who that man was just now?”