Physical Changes (2)

Despite how strange it was that his body suddenly changed overnight, Aurik focused on getting to work and left the rest for later. He arrived outside the restaurant a few minutes after the sun started to peer over the taller buildings and illuminate the city streets completely.

He had started to feel a little tired in the past few minutes and assumed that the strange amount of energy he had this morning was just a random boost that was starting to wear off now that he had been awake for a while, but he started to feel normal again once he was inside the restaurant.

Standing behind the bar that was slightly to the back and on the left side of the restaurant, Thea looked up from whatever she was doing behind the counter and saw Aurik enter with the sun glowing through the glass windows and door behind him.

"Aurik? What happened to you yesterday? Did your friends take you to the hospital? Seeing that you're here I'm assuming you're okay... Am I right?" Thea's concerned voice sent out a flurry of questions before Aurik even had a chance to answer the first one.

Aurik looked at the blonde beauty and let out a small sigh. 'I was hoping someone else would be the one to open, it's too risky for her to be walking alone so early in the morning.'

Aurik had been working at this restaurant for almost a year now and knew how different the city could be with just a 40 minute difference in the morning. At first the city seemed safe when he would walk to work and there were never any issues but as soon as he began leaving earlier to open the restaurant he started to see all sorts of scummy people and strange occurrences that the light of day had yet to drive away.

He had seen Thea attempt to do physically strenuous tasks before at work and could confirm that she was not what some would call 'Athletic' in the slightest. If she was attacked or chased by some creep then the odds of her fighting them off or escaping weren't great.

Aurik was more than aware of Thea's looks and had seen how some people behaved around her, even he had had some strange thoughts from time to time, so he knew that a lowlife on the street wouldn't hesitate to go after her if the opportunity presented itself.

"Hey, Thea. Don't worry too much, I'm alright now." Aurik said nonchalantly as he tried to answer all her questions with one answer, intentionally avoiding talking about what happened with Tristan.

"Oh, that's good then... You don't know how worried I was. It's a good thing your friends were there to give you a ride." Thea sighed in relief and a bright smile appeared on her face.

'Friends? Is she talking about Tristan? They must have acted friendly while I was out of it, I've seen them do it before so I'm not surprised she fell for it.' Aurik thought before answering half-heartedly. "Yeah."

The smile on Thea's face dimmed a bit and she squinted her eyes to get a better look at Aurik, who was still standing by the door.

"Could you please stand somewhere else, I can barely see you with all that light coming in behind you. You look like some kind of shadow." She giggled and blinked several times to make her eyes adjust to the dark interior again as she continued to set up behind the bar.

Aurik didn't say anything but he complied and walked towards the employee rest area, which was also where they kept their aprons and things like that. After her eyes had finished adjusting, Thea was disappointed to see that Aurik had vanished from the room but she smiled when he suddenly came back with his apron on.

She was about to ask about his strange behaviour yesterday when her eyes widened with shock. "You got taller!" She blurted out while raising her hand and pointing at him with an incredulous expression on her face.

Aurik had an awkward look on his face as he turned to the side almost to avoid looking at her and was about to make up some kind of excuse when Thea suddenly shouted again. 

"And why are your eyes a different colour!?"

This time he was just as shocked as Thea. "My eyes? What do you mean they're a different colour...?" He was willing to accept all this weird stuff only because the human body could actually do these things, no matter how strange the timing of it all was and the accelerated speed at which it happened.

But when it came to his eyes changing colour? Well, that was the straw that broke the camels back. Aurik didn't say anything and bolted into the men's bathrooms to find the nearest mirror and froze at his own reflection.

It was the first time he had seen his face since yesterday and he had to admit that his appearance had improved a decent amount. He was by no means the most handsome man on the planet but it's not like he was ugly either. If he had to rate himself on a scale of 1-10 he would have previously given himself a solid 6, whereas now he would easily rate himself as a 7.5 or maybe even an 8 if he got a good haircut.

Although he noticed all of this his attention was mostly directed at his eyes. Before, his eyes were a dark brown colour that matched nicely with his black hair and gave him a darker overall look but when he looked at his eyes now all he saw were two light grey orbs that resembled a stormy sky.

The colour drained from his face and he started to feel light headed as he stared at his reflection intensely like he expected it to change, but no matter how much he looked there was no denying that his eyes had changed colour. The only question now was why?