“Felix, could you refill the shelves when you get a minute? Confirm the new delivery, as well, and sign it off when it arrives. I won’t be here until next week, so I’ll leave it to you.” 

“Ah, okay!” I nodded eagerly, and already reached for the next boxes to restock the shelves. Beside the bar, this is where I worked at on weekends and some other days, like Mondays and Wednesdays when I only had a morning lecture.

Some days, I went from my lecture straight to this job at the convenience store, and from it, I headed for the bar to finish off a long day with my last shift. Most Sundays, I slept all day to recover from all the hours I stood on my feet. To be honest, every week felt like a whole month with how busy and exhausted I was at the end of it, but for the independence it brought me, it was well worth the hard work. 

“Have a good weekend, boss,” I smiled as he left, and he waved me goodbye on his way out, door falling shut right behind him. With no guests anywhere inside, I used that opportunity to restock all the fridges, all the sodas and beers, waters and juices. 

Humming to the rather outdated radio music that played in the background of the store, I felt at ease when I could do my chores undisturbed, rushing out whenever a customer arrived to let them pay, and then returning back to my post behind the fridges, where I heaved bottles after bottles up into the shelves. 

Well, being alone also had its disadvantages. Thoughts running wild, guilt returning right into me when I’d tried to ignore it for the past days, but I couldn’t help but think of Amelia’s sweet smile when she’d helped my sobbing self, without even knowing that I cried … because of her boyfriend. 

“Such a mess, seriously,” I muttered to myself. “Dammit.” Being entangled in this situation, and these feelings, was sure to be a mess. But it all came crushing down on top of me a little faster than I liked, and when I still had this heartache, it was a little too much to handle for me. 

In a jingle, a customer’s arrival was announced, and I was quick to hop around to corner and await them at the cash register, but my heart thumped harder and harder, and I let out a terrified squeak when he immediately approached me, squeezed me back into the office behind the cash register, and confronted me hidden away from cameras and windows.

“H-Hey—!” 

Vincent’s furious glare terrified me. His fingers slithered across my throat and neck, holding me hostage that way, not allowing me any escape, and just a single squeeze, and I’d scream out of fear, but he just held me, pushed me back onto the desk, and yelled at me. “What the hell did you tell her, huh?” 

“W-What?” Vince continued on pushing me, and a coughing croak crept out of my throat. My fingers wrapped around his wrist, wanting to push him away. 

“Amelia! You were spying on us back at the library, weren’t you?!” 

“N-No! I was preparing for a—“

“Shut up! You totally told her, huh? That we were a thing? Are you delusional?” 

“I didn’t say anything!” 

“Aha. Crying like that, getting her attention, do you think I’m stupid? You’re such a whore for attention, aren’t you? Always crying about it, always begging for it—“

“S-Stop!” Finally, I yanked him off of me, and his furious glare hissed right through me, cold shivers hissing down my spine. My fingers stuttered up to my aching throat as I coughed, tears filling my eyes. “I cried, because I was hurt! And I said nothing, because Amelia is a nice girl, and I hoped you’d treat her right!” 

I hated my emotional self for even crying in this situation, tears slithering down my face. Vincent simply glared, in absolute disbelief and annoyance, and shook his angered head. “And I’m supposed to believe that? We were solid, and suddenly, she leaves me? As if you had nothing to do with that!” 

“Well, I didn’t! Maybe she realized what an asshole you were—!” I flinched, thinking he’d hit me when he approached, but instead, he grabbed for my face rather roughly, fingers digging into my cheeks, and he continued pushing me against the desk behind me, forcing me to arch my back in a painful manner. 

“You didn’t say anything?”

I shook my head, but his grip only intensified. 

“I thought you did, because you want me back. Why else would she suddenly break up? Huh?” 

“I don’t know,” I cried through mumbling lips, “Vince, I swear—!” 

“Because you still like me, right? You wouldn’t want to see me hurt, right? You wouldn’t sabotage my relationship, because you’re obsessed with me.” 

There was no time to respond, because right after, he pushed himself onto me, his lips finding mine, his teeth greedily digging into my lower lip as he kissed me, pushing his tongue into mine to ravage me whole. 

At his shoulders, I pressed him away from me, but his lips fell lower, stuck to my neck, and caressed me in a way he usually never did. “I’m at work—! Vince!”

“We can lock up, and it’ll be quick. Come on—Didn’t you miss me?”

“Vince! Your girlfriend, you should talk to her—!” 

“Shut up! Don’t you want this? Always crying about me, you like me that much? We could have just kept going, but you—” And just as he wished to kiss my lips again, I bit him, and in return … I squeaked when he struck me across the face without any restraint.

My hand rushed up to my cheek, and my lower lip had burst, and tears ran down my stinging face, a sob quick to follow. 

Vince stood frozen in front of me, eyes widened, as if he himself was shocked about what just happened. He wiped his own blood off his own lip, surprised about the bite I had pushed into his lower lip “H-Hey, sorry … I didn’t mean to, but you—“

“You’re pushing yourself on me!” Blood slithered into my mouth from my lip, and it only intensified my tears. 

This guy … seriously … why did I ever, ever, ever like him? A sob stuttered out of my throat, and my face tensed up. “If-If this is how you treat your girlfriend, m-m-maybe it’s good she broke up with you!”

“Hey, I never—it was an accident. Come on, let me see—“ Vince stomped forward, his hand wrapping around my wrist to push it out of my face, but I practically screamed, so loud, he finally started realizing he was in the wrong. 

“Don’t touch me!” I yanked him away immediately, and Vince had already grown pale in the face, terrified of the repercussions of his own actions. Cheating on his girlfriend, and now, becoming abusive?

I wanted these tears I cried to be the very last ones I ever shed for this guy. Honestly, I was so, so, so done! 

“I didn’t tell Amelia a thing, but maybe she figured it out herself,” I mumbled. “Honestly, good for her.” 

“Figured it out herself? She must have started snooping around after you cried at the library.”

“Or because you were giving me that killer stare, threatening me the whole time! You made it more obvious than I did! Now, get out! I never want to see you again!” 

“Hey, come on, now …”

“Fix it with your girlfriend, or stay alone forever! Go to hell, for all I care!” With my face bruised, and him being the aggressor, there wasn’t anything more he could say for himself. 

“Dude, I’m sorry,” he whispered, but staring at my bleeding lip terrified him, and in the end, he did run off and out of the store, leaving me to my own demise, where I fell to my knees just to cry. 

But that wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg. Vince continued ruining my life, even when he wasn’t around, and when my boss returned sooner than he’d mentioned, and learned of the uproar that had occurred, as he saw Vince pushing me into the back office, and could hear us yelling each other through the security footage, I was immediately fired for it. 

In the end, I cried even more because of him, and found myself sitting just outside the bar after a late-night shift of my last remaining job, sobbing and sobbing over the realization that I was soon going to be dead broke, and I had to figure out some new gig to pay my bills. 

And as I completely embarrassed myself on the street, sitting there on the pedestrian walk, a pair of fine oxford shoes came into vision. Head hiding in my arms, I turned away, sniffles all that I let out. 

“That’s three for three now, isn’t it?”

My sob mixed with a self-pitying laugh, and I didn’t even dare to look up.