C3 He Is Back In Town.

It was Monday when Iris found out that David was back in town. She found out in the middle of her lecture and she would have squealed from excitement if not from the solemn atmosphere surrounding. When she walked out of class, Lana fell in step next to her.

“What has you in such a great mood?” Lana asked her as she had noticed the dark circles under her eyes when she came to class, which was a significant contrast to the cheerful expression on her face.

“He is back in town,” Iris answered and even shook Lana’s arm a few times.

“Mr. Lyons?” Lana asked her, and Iris nodded.

“Wasn’t he being criticised for prioritizing business when his wife passed away? Lana asked Iris, and Iris frowned. She was feeling very vexed. Suzanne didn’t leave him any face when she died, and since no one can address the subject, the speculations were getting even more ridiculous.

“You don’t know anything,” Iris said, her mood turning serious once more.

“David Lyons is an angel to you, I bet he can do no wrong in your eyes,” Lana commented after she heard what Iris said. Iris just looked at her and scoffed but did not say anything further. The more she defended him, the more likely she was to expose Suzanne’s dirty secret, which would cause more rumours to affect David.

“Are you working today as well?” Lana asked when she noticed that Iris did not want to pursue the topic.

“I am, in the dead of the night. For the next two weeks, your friend will look like an illustration of a zombie,” Iris said with a sigh. On Friday, she was hit on by a familiar patron whose name she forgot. Then on Saturday, five new guys came and all of them thought she was that kind of girl. On Sunday she was hit on by two people.

“If it’s so tiring then just move back home,” Lana said as she felt sorry for her friend.

“I won’t. They tried to force me to study something I had no interest for. I left home to be able to study in peace. They refused to pay my fees to prove that I can’t live without them. I am very determined to show them that I can make do with or without their help,” Iris said, her voice tinged with anger.

She hated being forced into doing things, and the more you force her, the more she resists. It was in her nature.

“You can find a day job,” Lana suggested again.

“The pay I get per shift from Mist would be the same as four part-time day jobs. The tips I get are normally in the thousands. The late hours suck, but they are worth it. I can finish collecting money for my rent tomorrow and what I need for the school fees by the start of the week after next,” Iris contemplated loudly, boring Lana.

“Whatever, you go and handle your business,” Lana said and almost ran away from her.

Iris sighed as she watched her friend run away from her before she turned around and went to the bus stop to take a bus to Mist.

She had arrived thirty minutes before her shift, so she placed her bag on one of the barstools at the bar and casually chatted with the bartender in charge. Her legs that were partially covered by the distressed jeans she was wearing, were swinging leisurely as she was sitting on a tall stool. Since it was hot, the tank top she was wearing was cropped too, so she was the most leisurely dressed person in there, even though there were barely ten guests.

“It’s going to be very slow today,” Iris commented as she looked around and saw a few familiar faces.

“Mmmh, David is back, they can finally bury his wife, so more people are going to attend the funeral,” the bartender said as he gave Iris a glass of ice-cold water.

“It’s on the house,” he said with a mischievous smile, and Iris scoffed at him as she drank the water.

“Give me the strongest drink you have… on the rocks,” a deep voice suddenly sounded next to her. Iris looked at the guest curiously and noticed that it was the man that they had been talking about. She became dazed for a few seconds before opening and closing her mouth several times.

Mr. Lyons did not wait for his drink standing, but sat down at the bar, with only one barstool separating them. He took out a cigarette and put it on his lips but did not light it as he ‘patiently’ waited for his drink.

“Is there something on my face?” he asked without looking at Iris, and she looked away from him. He had stealthily entered the venue, and no one had noticed him yet. If she kept staring at him like that, then it wouldn’t take long for people to realise who was sitting there.

She had been waiting for him for the past three days, now that he was sitting right next to her she couldn’t even look at him properly. He looked like his normal aloof and alienated self.

His expression gave nothing away, and his eyes looked empty. But not the emptiness from despair, but the emptiness that seemed to express his indifferent state of mind.

When the bartender finished pouring the strongest vodka they had into a glass filled with ice cubes, David picked it up and almost downed the whole thing. Looking at the way he drank the vodka, it was like the water she was currently holding in her hand. Even his expression did not change.

“I’m sure that burned,” she muttered under her breath, as surprise was written all over her face. She looked at him worriedly before her thought process was interrupted by her coworker.

“It’s almost time for your shift, you should go get ready,” he said to her after tapping twice at the countertop. She didn’t know whether David would still be in the bar by the time she came back, so she hesitated for a bit before she got off the stool.

“It was nice seeing you,” she said to him and walked around the bar while occasionally looking in his direction. Even when her blue eyes met his grey ones, she did not avoid his gaze, and instead, she smiled at him, the dimples on her cheeks making her look even more beautiful. David narrowed his eyes before looking away. She wished she knew what he was thinking.

Iris rushed to the changing room and quickly changed into her uniform before appearing behind the bar. When she turned around after carefully closing the door behind her, she noticed that David was still there, and the neutral expression on her face transformed into a cheerful one. If her manager was around to see this, then she may have received a bonus for good customer service. David, on the other hand, was flustered.

“Just give me the bottle,” David said to no one in particular, and in just seconds, he received the bottle he asked for. He looked at Iris for a few moments before ignoring her and getting lost in his own thoughts. He wished he could avoid the funeral, but as the husband of the deceased, he was obligated to put up with that farce.