5 CHAPTER 5: The Fall

[Sasha Shadows]

It was easy to find Clerence a suitable T-shirt as we finished the first task in less than 5 minutes. Now, the second task – unboxing and arranging. I'd told Clerence about the new arrivals stacked in the staff room and I believed he'd noticed their presence ever since he stepped foot into that tiny realm.

There were about five boxes to be moved and unboxed. So I decided to carry all the light boxes and leave the rest to him. But he rejected, and evinced that he didn't mind carrying all boxes for me. "I've been through worse," he whispered to my ears before I blushed behind him. Luckily, his back was already facing me at that moment.

There were two boxes of books (exercise books with different levels and young adults' reads) and three cartons of stationery altogether. We settled the writing utensils in 1 hour and then, we arranged the books.

Since Clerence was still the new guy, he needed time to familiarize with all these different book areas. As this shop sold books in quite a variety of languages and genres, it took time even for me to remember their respective homes. Therefore, I'd be the one climbing up the ladder to arrange those books or keep the stocks at the highest shelf. For Clerence, he was assigned to record the quantity and quality of these objects in an attached list. The list was pasted on one of the boxes.

"Classics, huh?" The hot boy muttered to himself while picking up a stack of Oliver Twists' out of the box with his large hands.

"Does the quantity match with the stated?" I asked with my eyes focused on the bookshelf.

"Yes." And then he handed me the books.

"I'll bring the basket down. Just put the books inside once you'd checked and I'll pull it back up." That was the longest sentence I'd ever uttered to him on the day. And I was proud of myself for being able to step out of my comfort zone.

"Got it," answered Clerence while I drew my attention back to book arranging. Then, he continued to fill the dangling basket with books after checking everything as stated. As the bell rang, I gestured for him to stop putting in books into the basket. "Cool, it rings when the basket is full," Clerence exclaimed while I snickered with my hands adjusting the rope to pull the basket up.

If I had to worship him, he deserved the Cutest Male Colleague of the Month badge, since he's the only male staff working here. Wait no, he'll be the Hottest Male Colleague of the Month.

The reason why I insisted on a monthly award was because who knew he would or would not proceed until the end of this month, although it was only two weeks away until its last day. As I'd seen people leaving after working for only one day, I couldn't guarantee.

Not long after, I was already holding onto the last book. "Elevator down, please."

Clerence bellowed with his croaky voice as he tried to appear friendly, I guessed.

"Alright," I answered while unleashing the knots and let the basket down. As the ladder was built with rollers, I pushed myself past the shelves to reach for a different book genre. To be honest, I enjoy rolling about these shelves while arranging these books with my brain playing a very old song named Ridin' by Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bone. However, the day was different due to Clerence's complaint regarding how tired he was to catch up by foot.

"One day when I can visualize the whole bookstore in my head, you'll be the one chasing me on the ground," he grumbled while stomping to the new location with the carton hugged in his lap. His eyes barely saw the road until he dropped the box with a grunt.

"Not a chance, boy," I laughed when he shook his head, laughing as well. His shoulders went up and down.

Soon, we continued the rest of the work, chatting and laughing. I no longer felt uneasy while talking to Clerence, thanks to his appearance and friendliness. Everything went smoothly with us joking about the people in college, though he still didn't notice the familiarity of my topic between his.

I was aware that we were talking about topics other than this bookstore, so I sent Clerence a few eye gestures, indicating that we should watch out.

"Wait a minute," He braced his chin with his fingers. His head raised skywards to face me. "Are we in the same school?"

"Yeah?" My answer sounded uncertain.

"Then we should meet up and head to work together," Clerence suggested joyfully while deep in my head, I began to feel anxious about the consequences. Kayla would 100% chop my head off from my living body if she saw me hanging out with this hot boy.

"Uh, can I say no?" I asked with an 'I'm so sorry but nope, bro' smile.

"Why though?" he whined, stomping like a child. "We're hella' good partners-"

"In terms of my current job, yes." I finished his sentence matter-of-factly as he pouted. His arms were crossed in front of his chest when he pretended to be angry. Surrendering upon my status in college, I had to push him away or I would ruin his reputation. Who knows how he'd react when he truly knew I was a weakling, the one who was beaten up and would never dare fight back.

If nothing was getting on my way, I'd agree eventually.

But not now.

***

[Clerence Cartwright]

I continued to pout and whine when she kept rejecting me. This girl was different and I liked it. She knew how to reject people unlike the other girls, especially Kayla who always said yes to my requests or sometimes even threw herself at me willingly like a hoe.

"Stop pouting, you're a boy."

"Who said boys cannot pout?"

"I say," she answered boldly with her hands leaving the shelf that supported her. Judging by her actions, she must have forgotten that she was on a ladder.

Things happened as quick as lightning. The next moment after I blinked my eyes once was to see Sasha's terrified expression when she lost her balance. With a loud scream that seemed to become a slow motion, there she fell.

My muscles flexed and there I dashed forward to reach her. But a loud bang resonated through the store which thereby attracted more attention from the customers and lastly, the manager. "Sasha!" I could hear myself shouting her name while ignoring the busybody eyes who were not there to help but to spectate.

With her head bleeding, the girl lied motionlessly on the ground. Her lips went pale in a mere second and no matter how hard I tried to shake her back to consciousness, there's no use. At all.

"I'll call the ambulance!" The manager announced while I cuddled Sasha in my lap. My thumb reached for the pulse of her wrist.

"Her pulse is weakening, Madam Jesslyn," I shouted at the counter's direction in despair.

"Carry her to the staff room. I'll do an artificial respiration on her later." Nodding with my tears dropping, I carried the unconscious girl in bridal style while asking for the crowd to clear a path, rather impolitely.

Along my way to the said place, I could hear girls chanting about how lucky Sasha was with multiple aww's. Seriously, they had no idea what Sasha had been through a few seconds ago.

Once I entered the room, I shut the door which thereby muted the outside noises. Then, I switched on the fan to give her some air before checking her pulse again. "No…" I wish this wasn't real but I couldn't feel anything moving under her wrist. "NO NO NO NO!!" Just at the right time, the door jerked open with a loud thud and Madam Jesslyn was here.

"How is she?" Her voice firm with concern.

"Her pulse, we need to regain her heartbeat," I suggested panickedly, which indicated her to do the kiss of life.

"Go and manage the counter," she ordered with a sigh. "I'll handle this."

"Yes, Madam Jesslyn." I saluted rather willingly at her this time.

"You can call me Jesslyn. Now go!"

Wiping the tears with the back of my hand, I disappeared behind the closing door. "Yes, Jesslyn!" I'd never felt so worried in my entire life, let alone feeling it because of a girl.

Sasha, please be okay...!