pure imagination || jing yuan, blade, & dan heng

eighteen

warnings | slight trauma dumping on y/n's part , self-deprecating thoughts

"I just don't know what to do.."

"Well, for starters, do you want to be his assistant?"

She thought back to yesterday.

"Be my assistant."

"I-"

She pressed her lips into a tight line and shook her head after a moment of thought, "I'm sorry, but no. The offer is generous, but I didn't come here looking to be someone's assistant. I came here for a waitress job."

She stood up and gave him another small bow, "sorry."

Jing Yuan hummed in response, "even if the pay is better than any other job out there."

She gave him a small smile in return, "yes.. I'm truly am sorry, but I'm not looking to be someone's assistant."

"...no..."

"Then you have your answer."

"But I really need the money-"

"Trust me, being that man's assistant will cause you more trouble then you need."

She sighed as she rested her head on the table. It was Tuesday. And aeons, she was starting to hate Tuesdays.

Now, she was supposed to be at work at Stellaron Tailor, however, getting lunch and talking to Dan Heng seemed way more enticing at the moment. Which was where she was now. Eating in a rather small diner while sitting across from Dan Heng.

Originally, she was going to eat alone, but low-n-behold, she ran into the Vidyadhara himself. Quite literally in fact. She wasn't looking where she was going and ran right into his back. Luckily, he wasn't angry about her obliviousness.

And, as of now, as they talked to one another in the small diner, she was thankful that they were seated in the far back away from prying eyes. Cause it feels like they were the only ones in the small fast food joint.

"You know, you don't seem to like Jing Yuan very much, are you guys like .. business rivals or something?"

Dan Heng glanced away for a moment as he tried to think of a good answer, "yeah, it's..something like that. We aren't really on good terms right now due to .. business disputes. But we do talk to one another sometimes to sort things out."

She laughed lightly, "well, at least you two are working things out - I couldn't imagine just how hard it is to own a business."

Dan Heng smiled at her, his eyes scanning over her and quickly, his smile faded. Looking at her, he noticed that something seemed .. off about her.

"Y/n, besides declining the offer to becoming his assistant.. did anything else happen?"

He watched her closely and took note how she slightly froze in place. Her eyes immediately flickering off to the side, refusing to look at him.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"N- nothing else happened, promise."

"You're a terrible liar."

She flinched from the harsh tone to which he immediately softened up his tone.

"Y/n, please tell me what else is bothering you. I just wish to help you as you've already done so much for me."

"All I did was fix your coat, not to mention you solved the whole laundered money business too. If anything .. I should be the one repaying you for that."