“So, I’ve been turnin’ down most of my regulars, and I still can’t keep up with all the work. I’ll start sending all my other customers your way.”
What’s more, he was even acting like he was doing Rock a favor when he was really just making her life more difficult.
“No good will come from dealing with your customers,” Rock snapped back.
Krister didn’t even seem to hear her.
“Don’t hold back on my account. Now ya know what’s up, so handle the rest on your own!” he announced and turned on his heel, hot-footing it away from them.
“Hey! Krister!”
Krister didn’t look back even when Rock shouted after him, disappearing into the black of night faster than a sewer rat fleeing a hungry cat.
Basically, he’d come to push all his problems onto his rival.
“There he goes, making my life difficult…!” Rock groaned, but there wasn’t much she could do after he’d left.
As it was, she wouldn’t be able to make a profit off of his customers, so she’d be turning them away at the door anyway. She wanted nothing to do with bad customers who’d complain about the price, comparing it to Krister’s, only to get the evil eye from Phoebe until they ran away with their tail between their legs, cursing her business.
“He isn’t trustworthy, is he?” Ebel asked, frowning.
“That he is not. Anyone coming by way of his introduction isn’t worth doing business with.”
Rock sighed, but Ebel meant his question another way.
“I’m more bothered by the man himself. Did you see his eyes? They were bloodshot and his face was withdrawn.”
Rock didn’t notice since she was trying not to look at Krister’s annoying face. He did say he was busy working on a huge order.
“I’m most concerned that he knows where you live.”
“Ah, now that you mention it…”
Rock had no personal relationship with Krister beyond knowing his face and name as a business rival. She doubted he felt as fondly of her as his attitude had implied, and Rock would turn right around and leave if she saw him eating at Justia’s bakery when she meant to go inside.
So it was more than a little strange for Krister to visit her house.
“…How did he know where I live?” Rock tilted her head, puzzled.
“Want me to tail him?” Ebel quietly offered.
“Tail Krister?”
“Yes, I’ll sniff out the details. He might bring trouble to your door after all.”
Krister had already dropped a bucket full of trouble on her, but Ebel’s concerns seemed to lie elsewhere.
“That’s dangerous! There’s no reason for you to go so far—”
Rock tried to stop him, but Ebel only smiled before leaping onto her rooftop from the road below. He turned around after he softly landed and nodded down at her.
“You needn’t worry. I’ll stay in the shadows.”
“B-But you don’t have to do that, Ebel!”
“I do for you, Rock Floria,” Ebel said, winking at her. “I’m off! I’ll let you know right away if anything comes up.”
Ebel took off at a run without waiting for her answer.
Rock’s eyes followed him as he nimbly leaped from rooftop to rooftop. She was swamped with loneliness the moment he was out of sight and sighed.
“Damn you, Krister…” she cursed.
Her first chance at a date with Ebel after everything they’d been through was ruined by her obnoxious rival.
I worked up so much courage to invite him in, too…
This was the moment Rock’s opinion of Krister dropped as low as it could go, and then some.
Rock’s restlessness continued for hours.
Ebel didn’t return that night. He said he’d let her know if anything happened. Maybe he’d just gone home without incident, but with how suspicious Krister was acting, she was worried. She wished she’d asked him to stop by no matter what after he finished.
She rolled over and over in bed, wasting the night away tormented by sadness and apprehension.
In the end, Ebel came knocking at her door just past dawn the next day. Rock flew to the door as soon as his knuckles hit the wood, already dressed after a restless night.
“My apologies for returning so late.”
Ebel looked awfully tired himself when Rock opened the door. Unable to bear seeing him that way, she invited him inside before questioning him.
“Don’t tell me you’ve been at Krister’s until now?”
“I was,” Ebel confirmed, tired and annoyed. “I followed him home. He’s a more industrious man than I gave him credit for. He was tailoring all night long.”
“Krister was? I don’t believe it!”
Rock couldn’t believe her ears.
If he was such a hard worker, he wouldn’t get into scuffles like the one from yesterday, she thought.
“It’s true. Though his work was far from thorough…” Ebel started, then continued in a more serious tone. “I spied on him through the window. He was cutting large quantities of blue fabric and sewing them one by one with needle and thread. His huge order seems to be real as he appeared to be making clothes of the same design. He was at his work table the whole time from when he came home until day broke.”
Apparently, Krister really was busy with work. Such a big order must have come from some factory asking for uniforms or some such.
Rock felt a tad jealous that he’d landed a profitable job she hadn’t.
“I planned to leave once he slept, but since that never happened, I ended up there longer than I wanted.”
Ebel shrugged. So that was why he hadn’t returned until after dawn.
Knowing why brought relief but also made her want to sulk.
“I was worried because I didn’t hear from you.”
Rock’s pursed lips caused Ebel’s sleepy eyes to widen.
“Really? I guess I should’ve said I would drop by even if nothing happened.”
“Yes, you should have! You went too far, even if it was for my sake! If you hadn’t come this morning, I would’ve spent the whole day worrying about you to the point I couldn’t get a lick of work done!”
Her voice grew angry out of real concern for him, but it only made a delighted smile blossom on his tired face.
“You were that worried about me, Roxy?”
As he spoke, his hand wrapped around Rock’s back, pulling her to his chest. Still pouting, she put up a measly struggle until his warmth instantly took the fight out of her.
“I was…worried… I always am.”
“I see. Thank you. I’m happy to know that.”
“What’s even worse is that you spent the whole night with him instead of me…”
Her bout of unreasonable jealousy finally got a laugh out of him.
“I also think I did something truly regrettable. I wasted a much-awaited invitation to tea from you.” Ebel brought his face close to hers and spoke with a serious gleam in his eyes, as if making a binding oath. “I swear I will make this up to you.”
“…It’s a promise.”
“It is.”
He sealed it with a kiss.
After sharing two, then three, brief kisses, he gave her a tight hug as if he were loath to leave.
“I only hope this doesn’t negatively affect your work.”
“Don’t worry. You helped reenergize me some,” Rock whispered into his broad chest.
Maybe she was too easy to please, but her sleepiness went right out the window the moment she knew he was safe.