#much crying

Chloe viewed it as a blessing and went to the staff room and put down her bag and cleaned her tear-stained face in the bathroom. She picked up the disinfectant and a mop and began to clean the floors.

As much as Chloe hated her job, she found cleaning the floors therapeutic to a degree and since she was by herself, it was quiet and calm. She finished mopping and moved onto cleaning the tables and then switching on the fryers. An hour later, Chloe started to get a little worried. She had done every possible chore and it was early opening time and there was no sight of her boss or co-worker. She began pacing around the tables trying to come up with reasons as to why they weren’t there. She looked up when she heard the door open and the sound of Gabrielle’s nasally voice stung her ears.

“Oh, Chloe! How wonderful to see you!” she sneered as Mr. Shelley trailed in behind her.

Even though Chloe hated the couple she was relieved that they had arrived. But what had they been doing? They couldn’t just leave the restaurant unattended and wide open for people to come in!

“Where were you two? The restaurant opens soon and I got worried,” Chloe said trying to not sound angry.

Gabrielle giggled and Chloe clenched her jaw to stop herself from slapping her.

“Oh, Davy and I had some breakfast. We knew you would come and clean so we left everything unlocked. Looks like you did a decent job...for someone like you.”

Chloe glared at Gabrielle who just smiled and Mr. Shelley rolled his eyes.

“Don’t be so difficult Chloe. You know that you have to come in early to do the floors because of the incident.”

“Well, today was my last day doing the floors anyway. It’s been a month and I’ve completed my punishment,” Chloe said with a small smile. Mr. Shelley looked at her with a frown.

“Oh is that so?” Chloe nodded and threw her rag at Gabrielle, who let out a scream as it hit her in the face.

She turned around and began walking to the staff room to get her notebook and pen to jot down orders.

“C’mon, doors open to the public in fifteen minutes and the glasses still need to be polished. If I’m not mistaken, that’s your job Gabrielle?” Chloe asked sweetly, venom dripping from her words.

Gabrielle huffed and walked to the kitchen and the door closed with a bang. Mr. Shelley looked at Chloe with a furrowed brow and walked to his office. Chloe smiled and saw the first customer of the day enter the restaurant.

Maybe...today won’t be too bad.

She took out her pen and notebook and got a menu and proceeded to work.

******************************

It was four in the afternoon and Chloe was getting ready to hand over the shift to Camila who had already arrived and was taking orders. Camila had greeted Chloe with a nod and a smile before attending to tables and Chloe had just wrapped up her last bill.

She was tired but thankfully that day had gone smoothly. There had been no huge hiccups and she managed to shut down Gabrielle with one glare when she asked about Nathanaël. She walked into the break room and collected her bag when Gabrielle grinned at her from the break room table.

“Chloe, before you go, Davy said he needed to see you,” she said with a mischievous smile.

Chloe sighed and walked to his office and knocked on his door before walking in. Chloe hated the look of his office. It screamed ‘I must always be in charge!’ and the decor was just...distasteful. Mr. Shelley was sitting at his desk reading through accounts and various papers and looked up when she entered the room.

“Chloe. I gather Gabrielle told you that you needed to see me?”

“Yes. What is it?” Chloe asked, the feeling of boredom already settling in. She really hoped that he wasn’t going to ask her to cover more shifts.

“Chloe listen...you’re fired.” 

Did I hear that correctly? 

Chloe didn’t realise what he had said before she asked him to repeat it.

“I said you’re fired.”

“Wait what? Y...You’re firing me? What...what for?” she stuttered her stomach curling up in knots.

This can’t be happening. No. This can’t be happening.

“Okay, I phrased that incorrectly. You’re being retrenched. We’re overstaffed and between you, Camila and Gabrielle....I had to release you.”

Chloe gripped onto the chair that was in front of her and saw her knuckles go white. He was talking absolute bullshit and she knew it.

“Mr. Shelley. I am going to ask you once. Why are you firing me,” she demanded, trying to keep the rage inside her.

He sighed heavily and looked at her like she was a child and he had to explain everything slowly.

“Chloe, I’m not firing you-”

She snapped and the rage demon came out. Chloe slammed her hands on the desk and Mr. Shelley backed away, surprise and fear in his eyes.

“That’s fucking bullshit! You’re firing me! I know for a damn fact that we are not ‘overstaffed’! There’s only three waitresses that work here so how the hell does that make any sense! Now, I’m going to ask you one more time-” Chloe looked at him with anger in her eyes and she saw how scared he looked.

“-Why are you firing me?”

Suddenly her phone rang and she fished it out of her bag and for a moment felt her blood go cold.

Her screen was lit up and it read: Nathanaël calling

She accepted the call and quickly murmured, “Not now, Nathanaël. Kinda busy!”

“Chloe, please we need to talk!” he pleaded on the end of the other line and Chloe felt her heart strings pull.

“Nathanaël, please can we talk later...I need to deal with this…”

“Chloe, I just need to understand what is going on with us-”

“Nathanaël please….I...I need to go…”

Mr. Shelley, at this point, had gone bright red and he smiled. “Trouble in paradise?” he asked with a smirk and Chloe glared at him as she put her phone away, swiping the end call button.

Her phone rang again and saw that it was Lila phoning her. Not now Lila! And she swiped and put her phone away.

“No, tell me why you’re firing me. The real reason you pig,” Chloe growled and she saw Mr. Shelley slam his hands on his desk, making her jump.

“Fine, you want the real reason? You are a thorn in my side. You have caused me nothing but trouble since day one! You lead me on and then you reject me-”

“I rejected you because you couldn’t keep your dirty hands to yourself and you don’t seem to understand the words ‘Stop touching me!’ You sexually harassed me you asshole and you still expected me to be okay with it?”

“You seemed okay with it the first few times!”

Chloe faltered for a second because he was right, she hadn’t stopped him at first. The lingering touches of his hand squeezing her shoulder or his hand gently touching her knee were fine to her. But they began to get more and more daring and when he crossed the line that one evening, she let him know it was not okay. And even though she had been fine with it the first few times, didn’t automatically make it right all the time.

She collected her thoughts and fired back immediately.

“Because they were okay to me! They didn’t cross any boundaries and I was fine with it! You had ulterior motives! You wanted me to date you and when I said no, you lost it! You forced yourself on me and I don’t regret a thing I did that night!” Chloe was shaking again.

She had tried to block out that evening’s events for so long in her mind but now that she was talking about it, it felt like she was reliving it all over. Mr. Shelley rolled his eyes.

“Well, I’ve made my decision. You’re fired. Your last paycheck is already in your bag.”

Chloe felt her eyes getting watery.

“You can’t do this. This is a violation of worker rights!”

He chuckled darkly. “Oh Chloe, what are you going to do exactly hmmm? Take me to court? It’s obvious the ex-mayor’s daughter doesn’t have any money for basically anything, so how are you going to afford a lawyer? And judging from your brief phone call with Nathanaël, it looks like your relationship is pretty rocky at this point so good luck mooching off of him.”

Chloe was shaking badly and he laughed.

“You have no friends and no one cares about you. Bye Chloe. Take your leave and please tell Gabrielle to see me. She’s getting a promotion,” he grinned wickedly.

Chloe willed herself not to cry.

She was not going to cry in front of him.

She walked out of his office, past Camila who gave her a confused look and past Gabrielle who gave her a wink.

“Bye Chloe! See you never!”

Chloe walked out the front door and as soon as she was a safe distance away from the restaurant she ran home, tears streaming down her face. Her vision was blurry and the wind did not make it any better. She turned a corner and collided with someone and she fell on the ground. She whimpered in pain and saw that her work uniform was now covered in purple smoothie.

“Aw, I was looking forward to that!” a voice said sadly and Chloe looked up in worry. Her jaw dropped when she saw the trio.

“It’s okay, Rose, I’ll buy you another one,” the raven haired tattoo artist said softly as she put an arm around her girlfriend.

Alix slurped her mango smoothie and Rose smiled and turned to look at Chloe.

“Thanks Juleka! Oh where are my manners? Let me help you- Chloe? Oh my gosh! Are you okay? Have you been...crying?” Rose’s voice dropped to a whisper and Chloe scrambled back to her feet.

Alix’s eyes widened in shock as she registered the red eyes.. “Chloe...are you-” she began but Chloe cut her off.

“I...I’m fine. I’m sorry...I...I need to go,” Chloe’s voice cracked and ran off, leaving the trio to stare after her.

She finally got back to her apartment and slammed the door. She ripped off her uniform and shoes and threw it into a corner of her room. She sat in the middle of her apartment, wearing only her underwear, and sobbed. Her head hurt and she pulled off her hair out of its ponytail, the gold mass falling around her limpy.

“What am I going to do now?” Chloe hiccuped as she tightened her hands around her body as if they were the only two things keeping her together.

She tried to take in deep breaths to calm herself but her emotions were too strong and more tears leaked from her eyes. There was a knock on her door and for a second she thought it was Nathanaël but instead she saw a letter slide under her door.

“What?” she asked, her confusion temporarily masking her sadness. She crawled over to the letter and opened it before staring at it in disbelief.

Miss Bourgeois

It has come to my attention that you are a month overdue in rent. This has only been brought up now because I reread my accounts and remembered that you asked for an extension when you first started living here because you needed to settle in. Please see to it that you pay it by the end of this month otherwise you will be evicted.

Sincerely,

Mrs Harno

Chloe felt her heart sink deeper and deeper as she reread the letter over and over again.

How was this possible? Why is this all happening now? I don’t have money. I can’t afford to pay this now!

She felt her mouth go dry when she read the letter again, her brain processing what was on the page. “No no no no no no,” she panicked, opening her phone and rapidly swiping through it until she found what she was looking for. Chloe sat on the ground in defeat, still clutching her phone in her hand.

The end of the month...is tomorrow.

“The world...really...really is against me, huh?” she stuttered and buried her head into her knees.

She cried long and hard, waiting for the sadness to leave but it was useless. It was festering inside her and the anxiety made her want to throw up. Her mind was plagued with the thoughts of eviction, Nathanaël, Marinette, Adrien, Nino, Alya and having no money.

There was a knock on her door and she curled up even tighter.

“Please just leave me alone. I don’t want anyone to see me like this,” she whispered to herself shivering.

“Chloe! I know you’re home! Can we please talk?” Nathanaël yelled and she let out another sob.

Oh Nathanaël, you do not want to see me.

“I...I’m not angry at you if that’s what you’re thinking...okay that’s a lie, I was furious at you for leaving but....I remember everything that happened this morning.”

The blonde closed her eyes tightly. “I know I said some really shitty and um...inappropriate things to you.”

Chloe could hear the awkwardness in his voice and she let out a croaky laugh.

“They were awful things to say and I know I can’t take them back but I do hope you can forgive me...and I can’t believe that I’m having this conversation with you right now in the corridor- François mind your own business!” Nathanaël’s voice went up an octave and she could hear how flustered he was.

Chloe snorted and smiled through her tears. Nathanaël you big dork.

“Chloe, please let me in…” she heard him through her door and she sniffed.

“I don’t know what’s going on but Alix sounded really worried about you on the phone…”

Chloe groaned in frustration.

“I know you probably groaned in frustration because I know you hate people seeing how vulnerable you can be,” he chuckled and she closed her eyes, listening to his voice.

“Chloe...I don’t know what happened at work today but please open the door so that we can work through the problem.”

Chloe stayed still for a while before standing up and getting changed into her pajamas. She walked to the door and put her ear on it. She could almost hear his breathing. She knew he had better things to do with his time. He had a gallery viewing in four days and he knew he should be preparing for that.

But he was outside her apartment instead.

And she knew he wouldn’t leave because he was damn stubborn.

“Chloe, please let me in.” Chloe heard his voice crack and she felt more tears drip down her cheeks.

She unlocked her door. She lifted her head up to meet the sea of blue she could get lost in. She knew that she must’ve looked terrible but it wasn’t the first time she had cried in front of him. She stood there awkwardly in front of him, not really knowing what to do.

“I never wanted to hurt you, Nathanaël,” she whispered, her voice thick with tears.

He hesitantly tucked some of her limp hair behind her ear, the action making Chloe’s heart beat ten times faster. He kept eye contact with her and she felt so exposed under his gaze.

“I know...but this can all be sorted out with a good long conversation. People need people and I don’t know half of what happened with you today but...” He opened his arms and gave her a small smile.

She stared.

Is he really offering me a hug? After everything that happened?

“You do have a heart Chloe Bourgeois and you deserve to have happiness too.”

Chloe closed her eyes as her sobs shuddered through her body. Without a second thought she leaned into Nathanaël’s hug, his arms wrapping around her tightly. He had the smell of turpentine and his familiar cologne on his skin.

“Let’s go to my apartment. I’ll make some tea and we can talk okay?” he murmured into her hair.

She nodded and after she closed her door, they walked over. He opened his door and she swallowed uncertainty, not really knowing what to do. After the disaster last night she felt alien in his apartment all over again.

“Take a seat on the couch,” he said softly and she walked over and sank into the pillows.

He began making the tea, his mind whirling out of control. He had never seen Chloe so distraught, even the first time that he had saved her and she had cried, that was more...angry and frustrated. This was….this was a deep rooted sadness and his only fear was that he couldn’t help her. Once the tea was done he turned around with the two mugs in his hands. He walked over to her and handed her a mug and she sipped it slowly, her eyes never leaving the floor. He settled down beside her and waited patiently as he drank his tea. She set her mug down and turned to face him.

“I was fired today,” she murmured and her hands clenched into fists.

Nathanaël allowed the words to sink in and he looked at her again.

“You were fired?” he repeated, anger slowly pumping through his bloodstream.

It made sense why Chloe was completely broken. That was her only source of income and she even said it herself, she didn’t have the skills for other jobs. He knew how that felt when he was still struggling and couldn’t get decent commissions because he didn’t have the ‘art degree’ to prove it.

“Yeah, Mr. Shelley the douchebag fired me. I am unemployed and-”

Her voice cracked and her eyes got watery again.

“-And I found out that I’m-”

She put her head in her hands and shook from her cries. He shifted closer to her and gently rubbed her back.

“I’m...I’m a...m...month behind on rent, Nath. I found out today and if I don’t...pay...pay by tomorrow, I’ll be...ev..evicted,” she stuttered and he breathed in sharply.

“Tomorrow? Are you sure you read the date correctly?” he asked soothingly and she nodded.

“I...I reread that letter over and over again...Nath what am I going to do?” Nathanaël continued to rub her back, as he assessed how bad the situation was.

“Why did he fire you?”

******************************

It was two hours later after Chloe had explained everything that had happened in the past 12 hours. He was shocked and a little worried that she had slapped Alya but he couldn’t help but understand. Alya had always been the type to confront people and he admired her for that but she decided to rip into Chloe at the worst possible time. His friends had visited him after Chloe had left and they had stayed while he threw up and helped out with his hangover.

He had noticed how uncharacteristically quiet Alya had been and saw how often Marinette, Adrien and Nino kept looking at her worriedly. He had asked if there was anything wrong in between drinking water but they had lied to him and said that she was just nervous for an interview she had to do.

They probably did that so that I wouldn’t be angry with Chloe.

Chloe had fallen asleep on the couch, her blonde hair fanning out on one side. Her face was still red from all the crying but she seemed to finally be at peace for a little. He took the mugs, how empty and walked to the sink and rinsed them before putting them into the dishwasher. Their conversation replayed in his head and he gripped the sink, the anger growing inside of him.

“I can’t take him to court Nathanaël...I have no proof of what he did to me, and Gabrielle is on his side. Lawyers are expensive and God knows I can’t afford it,” she whispered.

“What if I got you a lawyer?”

She smiled sadly, “Even if you got the best lawyer, Mr. Shelley would simply say that I didn’t stop it at first. That I’m the ex-mayor’s daughter and that I was spoilt and found an easy way to make money when he started hitting on me. And he’s not wrong. It was an easy way for me to make money. I don’t need more bad publicity, Nath. I can’t ruin the last shred of dignity my dad and I have. I can’t do that to him when he’s working so hard.”

Nathanaël looked over at the blonde, snoring softly on the couch. He didn’t blame her for falling asleep. She looked mentally and emotionally exhausted. He put the mugs of tea down before walking over to her and picking up her sleeping form and walking to his bedroom. He laid her under the covers and he saw her snuggle into the duvet. He sighed and gently touched her cheek, still wet with tears.

You deserve happiness.

Nathanaël got up and walked out of the bedroom to let her rest and walked into his secret studio. He sighed heavily as he sat down and looked up at the large canvas looming over him. He had to get the painting done. He had never been so far behind in a painting before and he had to finish it before the gallery. 

He began mixing paints and scrutinizing his work before his phone buzzed , snapping him out of his ‘zone’. He groaned as he picked up his phone but his eyes narrowed when he saw the unfamiliar number.

“I swear to God if this is a deranged lunatic I will-” he hissed as he pressed the green icon to accept the call.

“Hello?” he asked gruffly.

“Nathanaël! It’s Lila!”

Lila? Lila Rossi?

“Lila? How did you get my number?” he asked confusion setting in.

“Adrien gave it to me. Listen, I have some very important news and I know that this information will be incredibly valuable!”

“Listen Lila, I know you’re busy with your movie but I’m really busy-”

“It’s about Chloe you idiot!” she shrieked and he jerked back in surprise.

“Listen I would’ve phoned earlier but I had to go to an interview and a radio show and I was just busy but that doesn’t matter right now! Is Chloe with you?” she asked.

“She’s asleep in the bedroom...why?”

He heard Lila giggle over the phone.

“Damn Nathanaël you are smooth!” the artist blushed and groaned in irritation.

“Lila! What about Chloe?”