My head stayed down, and I shuffled my feet before taking a seat at the round table. The bottom of my lip was swollen as my teeth bit into them relentlessly. Richard and my mother loomed over Brandon. We were sitting inside the bakery, taking the small corner closest to the kitchen. The cafe was still closed, so we were the only ones inside. I sighed, conflicted over my decision. After Brandon's little stunt down the beach today, I had called Richard to pick us up. He had looked rather unable to walk...

"God, your foot is totally swollen, I can't bicycle you back!" I protested, brushing off the sand from my dress, and inspecting his foot.

Brandon followed my lead and brushed off the sand from his wet clothes."It's fine. It'll go down by tonight, really," he insisted, trying to get up into a standing position. He winced as he put a little pressure on his right foot, and I sighed. I tried to help him but he swatted my hand away.

"Are you really going to be this difficult?" I asked, giving up, "I'm going to call Richard."

Taking my phone out of my pocket, I began to dial, but Brandon's hand immediately caught mine. His eyes bored into mine."No need to call him, I'll be fine." There was an inexplicable intensity in his voice as he tried to reassure me. Still, I snuck a glance at his foot, noticing that it was redder than before.

"Sorry, he's the only one with a car." I pursed my lips, dialing the number, and turning away. I didn't miss that Brandon's eyes were shooting daggers at me.

Or the fact that he was still doing that.

Brandon sat in a corner, his arms crossed below his chest and a sour expression pasted on his face. He looked like a grumpy cat. Richard cleared his throat and leaned in closer to him. "Do you want to explain what happened?" he asked in a stern voice, reminding of the scary teachers I had to deal with in middle school.

"Nothing, it's just that I saved someone from dying, but Tyler thinks my injury worsened," Brandon spat the words, looking away from us and out of the window. He was heaving, his chest going up and down in a rhythmic fast cycle as if he was extremely upset or angry. Maybe he was.

Biting my lower lip, and not relenting, I said, "Take a look at his foot." Brandon's behavior confused me, but I wouldn't let it hinder his medical needs.

Richard bent down at my insistence and checked his foot in silence. Brandon kept a straight face throughout, though I don't know how he managed to do that. It had to be hurting for sure. "You swam again, huh?" he asked, and Brandon gave a curt nod.

"Does this hurt?" Richard pressed his foot, and I saw Brandon hide his wince before shaking his head. I wanted to raise my hands in disbelief but refrained from doing so. My mother nudged me with her elbow and motioned me to follow her back into the kitchen. I scowled but did as she asked, leaving Brandon and Richard alone in the cafe.

"What happened?" I asked her as soon as we were in the vicinity of the kitchen.

"I-I have something to tell you," she said. Her tone made me tense.

No jumping to conclusions, I reminded myself and calmed my beating heart. Then a thought struck me. "If it's about you and Richard having a brunch date today, I already know about it," I replied cooly. My mother opened her mouth but then closed it, staring at me in silent surprise. I hid my grin. This was it then. 

Her posture relaxed when she realised I wasn't glaring at her or anything. "You knew, huh?" My mother gave out a short laugh. "I'm sorry, Ty. I know you loved your father and I loved him too. Still love him. B-But he's not with us anymore."

"Mom..." I trailed off, but she continued.

"I know, no one can replace your father. But I hope you understand that me seeing Richard is not in any way disrespecting the memory of your father." Her eyes were filled with unshed tears. My heart ached for her. Without another thought, I walked forward and hugged her.

"Mom, I'm not going to judge you for anything." Her hands tightened around my torso at that. A sniff making me aware that she had started crying. I patted her back and squeezed it. Before she apologized, or tried to console me, I said the words I knew her ears were itching to listen. "You're the best mother I could ever have. I'll respect your decisions."

"Are you sure? I'll stop seeing him if you want."

I pulled away and mock glared at her. "Mom, stop it! I'm serious and I know that Richard is a good man."

She took in a shaky breath at my answer. Her tears broke my heart, especially after what we had to deal with not so long ago. I knew she needed comfort and a helping hand, and I wasn't around for most of the year. Taking a deep breath, I wiped her tears away and kissed her cheek. A smile lit up her face at that and she wiped her own tears. "Thank you so much, Ty." 

I returned her smile with a big one.

"Tyler! We need milk," Leo's loud voice snapped both of us out of our emotional mood. The door adjoining the kitchen and the house banged opened and Leo entered with the white cat in his hands.

Uh-oh.

I rushed as she stared at the cat in disbelief. "Mom, I can totally explain it."

"Hey, Rose!" He grinned at her, even doing a stupid wave like this was the best morning in the world. Personally, I wanted to kick him for his stupidity. My mother raised her eyebrows, her eyes fixated on the cat and I motioned wildly for Leo to get out of here. He didn't understand my signal.

"Run," I hissed at him, and realising the situation a little late, he quickly backed out from the kitchen. (Thankfully taking the meowing creature with him.)

"Tyler?" My mother turned to me, her expression stern and demanding an explanation. I bit my lip, trying to think up of a good excuse. She could be very strict when she wanted to be or when I did something wrong. And believe it or not, I was actually scared of her when her serious mode was switched on.

"It was just for one night, seriously! Leo blackmailed me so much saying that the cat would die. So, I allowed them for a night, just a night. I promise," I blurted out like a bullet train at full speed.

She stared for a moment, and then to my shock, started laughing.

Like the full belly laugh type of laughing.

Seth peeked in on us, and his eyes immediately fixed on her. He stared at her as if he had seen a ghost. Liam and Leo followed in, and their expressions turned similar to Seth's drooling ones. I frowned. What was up with them? She made no note of this and shaking her head, went out to the cafe.

"Wow, I thought I was struck with lightning or something," Seth mumbled, clutching his chest dramatically.

"I know, I never knew that she was this beautiful." Liam practically drooled at my mother, and I stared at them like they were some alien species. Hello? That's my mother you're talking about.

"I mean she looked totally f--" Liam immediately clamped his hand on Leo's mouth and effectively shut him up.

"Haha." Liam looked over at me, giving an awkward laugh and shooting an apologetic smile. The other two were still staring at the place my mother had been standing before. I scoffed and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Back to Earth?" I waved my hands in front of them, attracting their attention, "Breakfast is ready."

I wiped down the table as everyone finished their breakfast, which considering the time, was more of brunch. Liam, Seth, and Leo were all oblivious to Brandon's mood, chatting merrily, and enjoying the last crumbs of the waffles. Brandon sat in the corner, his expression grim and an aura of 'I hate this world' emitting off of him. Richard was back in his home, and my mother was busy in the kitchen preparing for the evening sales. 

Taking this as the perfect opportunity to do something, I slightly nudged Liam to get his attention and motioned towards Brandon. He followed my gaze, and Brandon purposely looked away. Talk about childish. Liam turned back to me. "What's up with him?" he whispered, and trying to be discrete, I pointed towards my foot and then back to Brandon. He quickly got my hint and nodded at me.

"Brandon dude, we had to throw Mister. out," Liam said in a serious tone.

And just why did he had to mention that?

"Fucking great," Brandon muttered, looking more pissed off than ever, his face an angry inflated bubble.

I glared at Liam and mouthed, 'You're not helping one bit.'

'What?' He mouthed back, shrugging.

I slapped my hand on my forehead and sighed. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Brandon sit up shakily. "You guys are getting late for practice," Brandon said in a disinterested tone and walked away. No one missed the limp in his walk as he went out of the cafe and back to his house through the kitchen.

"You people are so dense!" I shouted, shaking my head at them and running away.

***

A huge yawn escaped me as I saw the clock struck five. I was sitting behind the counter, reading 'The Hunger Games'  for the second time. It was quite agreeably the most quiet moment I had in a while. I had tried my luck doing my homework, but as always, had got distracted thinking with something or the other. At least, this book had kept me on my toes all the time.

I flipped another page, engrossed in the country of Panem, when the door chimed again, signalling another customer entering the store. The book fluttered close as I put it down, and looked up to see a very delicate looking girl walk in. For the record, by delicate I meant that she was paper thin. Though her breasts looked outrageously large on her thin frame. I shook my head to stop myself from ogling her. That already happened pretty much all the time upstairs.

"Can I help you?" I asked her with a sweet voice, giving her a polite smile. Instead of replying, she gave me a once over, assessing, and bisecting my fashion, look, standard, and attitude in one glance. Her face settled into a smirk as she completed her scan.

"Is Brandon here?" she asked, speaking in perfect English, and resting her elbow on the counter. The pose gave me a spectacular view down her shirt, and I averted my eyes away. Her features hinted towards French or Italian, but I couldn't know for sure.

"Um, yeah. Who are you?" I assessed her olive skin and the dark mane of her hair and tried to ignore the fact that she was now openly acting repulsed by me.

"The girl he saved this morning." She flipped her hair away as she said that, and I had a hard time imagining her as the mess I had seen earlier.

"Oh. Are you alright?" I asked her, though she looked perfectly fine.

"I'll be waiting here." She ignored me and took a seat at the nearest table. I huffed at her attitude inside, and stared at her in disbelief.

Looks like she had a little too much water gone inside her head.

Suppressing my anger, I tried not to make a scene. There were already two couples enjoying their date in the cafe, and it would be rude of me to disturb them by creating a ruckus. I went into the kitchen, shouted an explanation to my mother, and made a dash to Brandon's room.

I banged open his door and found him halfway between a pull-up. He immediately sat up at my entrance, wiping a few drops of sweat from his face. "What are you doing? You should be resting!" The words shot out from my mouth, fuelled by the girl's annoyance. I heaved, my hands on my hips, and a glare fixed on him, but Brandon only rolled his eyes in return.

"Why are you here?" he asked, ignoring my question just like she had.

I was that insignificant, wasn't I? Yet, I was concerned for him and his health. "Brandon, are you out of your mind? You are only hurting yourself if you keep this up."

"I don't need advice from you. If you don't have any work with me, close the door when you go out."

"There is someone waiting for you in the cafe. The girl you saved in the morning." I slammed the door shut behind me and ran back to the counter.

Stupid moron.

A few minutes later, the kitchen door reopened and Brandon walked out, his hands in his pockets, and his eyes strained forward. Completely ignoring mine. He ruffled his hair as he looked for the girl, and I had a sudden twisted feeling in my stomach.

"Brandon?" she excitedly called out to him, waving him over with her manicured fingernails. Her red painted lips were stretched into a wide smile, and she crushed him with a hug as soon as he came closer. I stared in disbelief when Brandon responded, and lifted up his arms to hug her back, more offended by his response than her initiation. The fact that these arms had been around me in a similar way this morning was hard to ignore.

She let him go and her face looked even more ecstatic. But hadn't she been giving me the disapproving looks a minute ago?

"I can't thank you enough for what you did to me today!" Her accent was heavy with the French undertone, and I frowned. She had just spoken to me in perfect English.

"No, it's all right, I did what a human should do." Brandon sat a little awkwardly across from her.

"Oh, no! You are so sweet!" she bent down as she said so, her cleavage full on display. She grabbed Brandon's hand and I rolled my eyes.

Just perfect.

"No... What's your name?" He pulled his hand away, and for a second her smile faltered before she resumed her love struck grinning.

"Isabela, but you can call me Bella." She literally flashed him again, and I seriously wanted to donate her some piece of clothing.

"Bella." Brandon smiled at her and glanced back at me. Our eyes met but I quickly busied myself by grabbing my book.

"Waiter," she called out, her honey voice fading as she looked at me.

"Yes?" I walked over to them and tried to smile politely at her but failed miserably. It was not that I thought waiter was a derogatory term or job but the way she said it made me feel like I should have been living under a rock.

"Do you have green tea? Make it without sugar." She turned to Brandon, and her expression changed instantly. It turned comical the more she did it. She batted her eyelashes at him, and Brandon stared at her. How could he fall for these petty tricks? "What would you like?" 

"Make me that honey lemon thing you made yesterday?" Brandon looked over at me, but I didn't let him see my face, and immediately went into the kitchen.

"Such a rude servant," I heard her say, and almost ran back to bite her face off. What hurt me more was that Brandon did nothing to defend me.

"So, tell me more about you." Her words drawled out, and I could just imagine her expression.

Like she could break the world record for making the people around her hate her in a matter of seconds.

"Tyler there is a phone call for you." My mother handed me the receiver, and pushed me away, starting to prepare the tea herself.

"Hello?" I spoke through the speaker.

"Tyler, love. You didn't pick up my calls."

"Francis?" I pulled out my mobile to see that they were three missed calls from him.

"I'm going to serve them," my mother whispered, and motioned outside, reminding me of Brandon and the girl outside.

"Tyler look--" he spoke again, but I cut him off.

"Francis? Can we meet tonight?"

*****

A/N

Is this the beginning of a sweet revenge? How are you first impressions of Bella?

Comment me if you know someone like her in real life! Would love to hear the story ;) Don't forget to VOTE and SHARE.