chapter one: contract
Before anything starts, I, one of the black-hearted narrators, will warn you. This story isn't a good one. This isn't the typical love story, because love isn't as good as you'd believe it'd be. Let's tell a story like this; you find your "perfect love" and never want to let them go. You follow them with those heart-shaped eyes of yours, never looking away from them. Your desire blinds you from finding that they are... A trap. You fall into a complicated hole of problems when falling in love. Staring above you is your perfect love. They guffaw, pointing at you. What'll you do when that happens? That's right, nothing. Questions will fill the back of your head, but you won't notice. Of course, it's because of how blind you are due to love. "When will we break up?" is the most common question. A very, very common question. It's why I myself don't fall in love.
Still interested? If so, I admire your will. Be proud of yourself. Enjoy this story, if you can. Oh yeah, and remember. Don't fall in love.
Emilia Kent sat in her "cozy" apartment, also known as the "small but the only place that she could afford" apartment. Long name, but it's the only thing she could think of at the moment. The noirette was held up on her brown leather couch with an unsettling amount of paperwork and electronics in her arms. Her MacBook sat on her lap, covered in random stickers that she had collected from her high school days. Emilia drew online and loved art with all her so-called nonexistent soul. It was any kind of art, really, ranging from drawing to dancing, playing instruments, and singing. Moving on from that note, she continued typing up a 5-page essay about the importance of electronics. The project was due in a few hours, and she was at around 4.5 pages.
A mug of hot chocolate was held by the round handle, and the hot and creamy liquid was almost overflowing. It was a dangerous gamble, with her hot chocolate helplessly dangling from her fingers that felt like they would be ripped off. She cringed at the thought of the webbed part that connected her fingers to her palm ripping. Seeing her phone and a pile of paperwork tipping over the couch, her reflexes reacted before her brain could start running. Emilia's hands jerked up in a hurried and panicked manner, with the intent of saving her precious phone and time. The time wasted trying to pick up a scattered 500 pages of whatever her parents wanted to show her. A very, very exaggerated scream escaped her lips when she realized that she spilled her hot chocolate all over her laptop. Emilia rushed out of her couch, zooming towards the small kitchen to snatch some paper towels. Bumping into a chair or two, the panicked young woman began vigorously rubbing her paper towel all over the keyboard. She flipped her laptop upside down to see small streams of hot chocolate roll down the screen. Along with the hot chocolate, the girl's tears rolled down her cheeks. She was so close to finishing an essay project!
"Why is life out to get me?! What did I do!?" Emilia demanded answers from... The roof? She hurriedly replaced the paper towels until the keyboard was dried. Shortly after confirming that the keyboard was dry, Emilia tapped on the "v" key. Nothing happened. She pressed the power button that sat at the top right corner of the keyboard. The girl threw her hands up in the air, and let out a loud exasperated groan.
"God flap it, my keyboard is busted!" Emilia vigorously tapped on the space bar of her MacBook's keyboard, checking for any signs of life. Crying and such was in the past, a.k.a. 2 minutes ago. The brunette dragged her wrist across her eyes, erasing the salty tears in seconds. She did not want to go out and get her laptop fixed, not today, or any other day.
"Today was my relax-after-piles-of-homework day!" The girl exclaimed, standing up from her leather couch in distress. Shutting and picking up her laptop from the side, Emilia shoved it into its case. The mess was going to be cleaned, but just not now. Wanting the problem to be solved quickly, she picked out her phone from the scattered pile of papers and went to her best friend, Google. She typed "computer repairs" and scrolled for the results. She found a nearby electronic repair shop, something called "Richie's Elect-Tech" with a rating of 5 stars. With a sigh, Emilia tapped on the phone number that was colored and underlined in a light blue.
"Hello! You've called Richie's Elect-Tech, and I'm Christian. How may I help you today?" Loud clicking sounds and keyboard buttons being pushed were heard, as well as talking in the background was evident.
Emilia quickly responded with, "I was wondering if you guys repaired keyboards?"
Seconds passed, which turned into an awkward minute, until the man responded again. "Yes, we do repair keyboards. Though, my boss is the only one who can do it right now. You must hurry though, she is leaving for the day in an hour or so."
That was all Emilia needed to snatch her wallet and keys, running out her front door as quickly as she could. Her laptop bag swung with each speedy step. She sprinted down the hallway, repeatedly pressing the elevator calling button as if it'd give her a dollar per press. Once the elevator door opened, she rushed inside and pressed another button, the lobby button. The sense of rush was met with upbeat elevator music and an automated voice that announced the floor it was on. Level by level, Emilia made her way over to "Richie's' Elect-Tech," the store that she had called just a few minutes ago. The girl panted and groaned, finally having time to fix herself and shove her wallet and keys into her pocket.
After some minutes, Emilia sped down the lobby, ignoring the waves of familiar faces until she met the door. Swinging it open, the girl pushed out of her little apartment room and into the outside world. San Francisco was a very busy city, especially in Downtown; where her temporary home laid. Traffic was irritating, so walking was the best option. Emilia turned the corner from her apartment building, already seeing a flickering sign with broken lights that said "Rihes" awkwardly. Quickly running inside of the store, she looked around in wonder.
A man stood behind the counter, calmly talking to the angry woman in front of her. The man wore a white polo shirt with "Richies' Elect-Tech stitched on to it in black, along with a pair of slim blue jeans. He had jet black hair that made him look like he just woke up from taking a 5-year nap. His messy hair covered the top part of his forehead with a curl, as it was fairly long. Black rimmed Ray-ban eyeglasses were over his eyes. The woman in front of the man threw her hands up in anger, disbelief, and annoyance.
"What do you mean 'did you try turning it off and on?' My laptop is literally cut in half!" The woman yelled, her arms expressing her anger.
"Calm down, all you said was 'my laptop is broken,' and you're like.. 50. I just thought about saving time that you have a small amount of and suggesting you restart your laptop before hearing the whole story." The worker then mumbled after, "Who thought a 50-year-old could own a chainsaw."
With a slap and an "ouch," the angry lady turned and left the shop. People looking around the shop turned to the scene briefly, before returning to whatever they were doing.
"People these days.." The man behind the desk commented, rubbing his cheek in pain. He quickly fixed his glasses and turned towards Emilia with a small smile. How could he smile after getting slapped? The world may never know.
"Are you doing okay? Blood is starting to drip from your nose.." Emilia pointed out the slow trail of blood from his nose down to his top lip. With a quick wipe of his wrist, which was completely disgusting in Emilia's book, the blood was almost completely wiped off. The man ran to grab a tissue and stuck it up his bleeding nostril.
"My name is Christian, how may I help you today?" Christian introduced himself. Emilia immediately remembered him from the phone call, and nodded.
"Hey, I was the one who called about the keyboard repairs.." Emilia trailed off, looking around the shop to avoid eye contact. The four walls were painted a light, closer-to-white gray, and the floor was a darker, closer-to-black gray. Too much gray. White tables ran along the walls, the two walls that laid to the left and the right from the entrance. Each table held extra desktop parts, and monitors that were completely busted. Cords ran along the ground, covered in black tape. Behind Christian were shelves that had color coded wires and buttons. In front of the man was a glass display table filled with cleaning products. The store was spacious. Very spacious. Everything was clean and organized, and there were no fingerprints on any electronic.
Shaking herself back into focus, she started listening to what Christian was saying.
"-she's in the back, come in, she refuses to leave the storage sometimes.." Christian explained, and Emilia was confused. Who was "she" and what are they doing? She slowly stepped forward and past the desk in confusion, into the storage room. When Emilia was through the door, she looked down at a young woman; she looked like she was around her age. The unknown woman was in the same uniform as Christian, but wore black skinny jeans and a blue hoodie that literally says "I don't care, I'm rich." Her hair was in light and dark shades of brown depending on where you looked, and her skin was a small bit tanned. Emilia could not see the worker's face because of how she was faced down on a table and unconscious. Small snores filled the room, and an awkward chuckle escaped Christian's lips.
"I got this," Christian whispered, tip-toeing towards the young lady. He then screamed, "FREEZE! THIS IS THE POLICE!"
"5 minutes.." The brunette mumbled, turning her head away from Christian and Emilia's direction. He stepped up to where she sat, and pulled the black office chair from under her. She shrieked in shock, quickly plummeting to the ground thanks to gravity.
"CHRISTIAN!!" She stayed on the ground, rubbing the tiredness from her eyes. Christian just shrugged and walked back to the front desk, leaving her with Emilia. The worker turned her head to Emilia and pointed. "Who're you?"
"Customer. Anyways, I need my keyboard repaired." Emilia said, plopping her laptop case onto the wooden desk in front of her. The still unknown girl sighed and got up, dusting herself off. She extended her hand towards Emilia with a small smile grazing her face.
"Alison, Alison Cooper. Stupid last name, but I can't change that... Nice to meet 'cha!" Alison introduced herself in an excited tone, waiting for Emilia to shake her hand. Emilia quickly grabbed her hand and shook it, commenting on how soft Alison's hands were in her mind. After letting go of the grip, Alison continued with what she was saying, "So, what's the situation? Threw your laptop into the shower?"
"Hot chocolate." Emilia gave a concise reply, unzipping and freeing her MacBook. The brunette nodded in understanding and turned the laptop towards her. A cringe reached her face as soon as her eyes laid onto the poor keyboard. With a sigh, the worker quickly walked over to her black printer in the corner of the room and turned it on. She soon rushed back over to grab her own laptop and flipped it open. Speedy typing and a few minutes passed, leaving the room in an awkward silence. Buzzes and beeps came from the printer, and then a small packet of papers plopped in front of Emilia.
"What's this?" Emilia questioned, flipping through the pages without really reading anything. Alison gave a big smile and answered.
"A contract!"
"What for.." Emilia received a pen from the other girl and immediately started clicking it.
"What are you, five? Quit clicking the pen." She scolded, but then added with a bit of sarcasm, "It's for my mission, of course, y'know. Incase I break something. Where do I work again?"
"Oh right, right.." Emilia sighed, and began signing the papers. She was in too much of a rush to read over anything, so Emilia just filled in the blank lines. Alison watched in amusement, her fingers tapping against her temple and forehead.
After many minutes of signing, her arm was dead. She finished signing every page, so she shook the sleeping Alison. Alison put her hands over her head and yawned. She then rubbed at her eyes and squinted at Emilia. After a few minutes, the girl spoke
"So, you really signed it?"
"Uh... Yep."
"Yes! Yes!" Alison jumped in joy, wrapping her arms around Emilia. Has she not gotten work in a while? That wasn't possible, this place fills up daily. If that wasn't it, then what was the case?
"You're my new girlfriend!"
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