Chapter 49

Hikaru yawned, long and hard, shaking her head as she tried to wake up. She’d already sat up, having slapped her phone off the bedside table by accident while turning off her alarm.

Her barista job at the coffee shop was great for a lot of reasons, but not the early morning shifts.

She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, rubbing her face. She’d worked the afternoon shift and learned how to do Closing yesterday, and she probably should have just spent the night in but she’d already had plans to meet up with Margot. Ever since they’d admitted their ... thing ... to each other they’d been spending a lot of time together. It wasn’t always about trying to figure out what their plan was going to be, a lot of it was just them feeling so much closer now that they shared the secret. Last night they’d started watching Heartland, which Margot swore was great and that Hikaru got big K-drama vibes from even if it was based on an American farm.

Standing with a groan, she found her housecoat and slipped it on, wrapping herself up in it before heading out of her room and towards the washroom. She wasn’t going to be the first person in at the shop - that would be the two bakers and whoever the manager was that morning - but she didn’t have any time to waste.

Hikaru didn’t notice that light on in the bathroom, gleaming from under the door, until she was a few paces from it. What the heck was Oliver doing up this early?