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The two had finally reached the entrance of the restaurant and Aleyah, who had turned to Jude to see him off for what she presumed wouldn't be the last time, was intriguingly surprised when the boy walked into the restaurant. However, before the girl could question him, he strutted off towards the seating area without so much as a word, leaving her staring at his retreating figure with a gobsmacked expression.
It took a few seconds for Aleyah to rid herself of the confusion swarming her brain, but she eventually managed to shake off the thoughts and turn her focus towards her job.
The girl then headed to the break room in the back to fix up her uniform, which she had partially dismantled before her break. Aleyah did try, despite her best efforts not to, to spot the tall Birmingham boy on her way towards the room. Strangely, she wasn't able to trace his figure, although that was the direction he headed earlier.
Aleyah then shook her head as she tied up her apron, reminding herself not to pay attention to the footballer's antics. And just as she tied the second knot behind her back, her manager walked into the room.
"Aleyah, my office, now." He spoke briefly before evacuating the room.
Aleyah stiffened as her heart lowered toward her stomach. She immediately began racking her brain for any incidents that may have caused the summoning from her superior. And when her memory landed on the incident with August, her heart plummeted even lower.
The murmurs from her coworkers in the room gave her a temporary grip on reality, bringing her back from the tunnel of worry she was heading into. However, once she met their eyes of pity and smiles of sympathy, she was immediately sent back to the feeling of distress.
Hesitantly, Aleyah began her tread towards the office that was no more than a few feet from the break room. She took those few seconds of walking to submerge herself in self-deprecation. She was foolish for assuming that such a high-end restaurant wouldn't notice an unexcused absence. She had seen people get fired for much lighter offenses, and yet she was dumb enough to presume she would be safe from the same fate.
Once she reached the door, Aleyah took a moment to stabilize her hands and blink back tears before knocking on the tinted glass.
"Come in!" Stef voiced out.
Aleyah walked in and sat down at the other end of his desk following his gesture to do so. She didn't know whether to apologize or wait for him to reprimand her first.
"Aleyah, you've been an employee here for a good couple of months," the man began, saving her from her internal dilemma. The girl nodded in acknowledgment at his opening sentence. "And I'm sure you've seen some morally questionable, as some would put it, events that have taken place here."
Aleyah slowly nodded again, not being able to predict where the older man was heading. She, however, was able to understand what he meant as 'morally questionable'.
