Chapter 2: Work

It was very early in the morning. More so night than morning; it was three in the morning. Inigo slowly and carefully opened the door, taking a look around before he entered the apartment.

"Good, I'm in clear." He whispered to himself. He closed the door and began creeping towards his room. As he made his way a lamp turned on, and he stopped in his tracks.

He nervously looked over to see Severa sitting in the recliner. She was wearing a pink nightgown, and looked at him disapprovingly. "Hello, Inigo."

"Hey, Severa…" He waved at her.

"You do know that it's three in the morning, right Inigo?"

He looked at his watch. "Oh, wow!" He rubbed the back of his neck. "It is three, huh?" He feigned ignorance, but Severa could easily tell that he was lying.

She scoffed. "You have issues. There's more to life than going on dates with complete strangers!"

"It's not like you own me, Severa." He replied. "I can do what I want, when I want."

"I paid a visit to your workplace." She got up and strolled over to him. "They told me that you were only in once this week! We need money to pay rent, buy food, and get everything else we need to live! And with the way you're acting, we're getting closer and closer to losing it."

He turned away from her. "I fail to see how."

She clenched her fists. "If I lived on my own, I'd be perfectly fine. But my pay alone can't support both of us, you hear me?! You have to pitch in!"

He began walking to his room again. "You have work in the morning, right? It'd be best to get some sleep."

She grabbed his arm. "I'm not done with you!"

"Get off of me!" He tried to tear his arm from her grip.

"You can go out and screw some complete stranger at three in the morning, but you can't talk to your own roommate about our financial situation?!"

He pushed her back forcefully. "That's enough! Go get some sleep! If you don't you'll be late for work and get in trouble yourself!" He stomped to his room and slammed the door.

Severa slumped into the recliner and clutched her head. "You're one to talk… you bastard…"

The next day, Severa opened the door to her workplace, a preschool in Ylisstol. Her partner hadn't noticed her enter, and continued to play with the children. "Sorry I'm late, Emily."

She looked over at her and smiled. "It's fine, really." She walked over to her, and one of the boys followed behind her. "What happened?"

"I stayed up until three," She yawned. "waiting for my stupid roommate. He's really ticking me off."

"I see. He goes out a lot, right?"

"Too often. I'm sure most people would despise him by now." She knelt down to the boy. "Hey there, Tyler."

"Hi, Severa!" His cheery expression quickly turned concerned. "Um… Are you okay at home?"

"Yeah." She patted his head. "But if it wasn't for my best friend and her brother, I'm not sure if I'd be able to handle it. He's even incapable of staying home to help me when I'm sick."

Emily returned to the group of children who were calling her. "Why not just leave? Your parents won't mind, right?"

More children grouped around Severa, but she continued speaking with Emily. "I don't want to burden my parents."

"But are you sure that it's better to room with a guy who doesn't do anything to help?"

About two hours later, Emily clapped her hands. "Alright everybody, nap time!"

The children all rushed to a neat pile of blankets and a basket of pillows, taking one of each and placing them on the soft, colorfully matted floor of the preschool. Tyler rushed over to Severa while the others flocked to the blankets and pillows.

"Is there something wrong?" She asked the boy.

He thrust a fist into the air and put on a confident smile. "If this guy keeps on being mean to you, I'll teach him a lesson! You can count on me, Severa!"

She giggled and patted his head again. "Thanks, Tyler. I'll keep that in mind."

As the children all began taking their naps, the two young women went to a room in the back. Inside of the room was a small fridge. Emily opened it and took out two lunch boxes, handing one of them to Severa before sitting on the ground at a table.

"What's this?" Asked Severa as she looked at the lunchbox. "Why'd you bring it?"

"Some rice and pickled vegetables. I made too much last night so I wanted to send you home with some. Since you walked in empty handed, I assume you didn't bring your own lunch, right?"

"You're right." She said with a laugh as she joined her friend. "Thanks."

"If you need help with the rent, I'm sure I can get the higher ups to give you a raise."

Severa shook her head. "There's no need. You pay me enough as is."

Emily frowned. "But you look like you could use some help."

"If it comes to it, I'll just have to kick him out or something."

"That's a little harsh, don't you think?" She said, giggling.

"He's never done anything for me other than piss me off. Shy should I care?"

"He must have some redeeming qualities!"

"I wouldn't know. You'd have to ask some chick in town." She opened one of the bottles of water that was in the fridge and began drinking. "Probably doesn't matter who. I think he's fucked all of them at this point."

She sweat dropped. "Being shackled by a guy who doesn't do anything for you, huh?"

"Can't buy anything I want because of him. Only the essentials." Severa huffed.

Emily tilted her head. "Who's his boss?"

"One of his fangirls. I bet she loves him so much that she'd fine with losing all of the work."

"Interesting." The two ate in silence, with the only sound in the room being the ticking of the clock. Their peaceful silence was broken by a round of cheers from outside.

"What's going on out there?" Asked Emily.

She and Severa stood up and went outside to see Tyler on the ground, and another boy standing above triumphantly him with a pillow.

"I told you to leave her alone, Tyler! You didn't listen, so I had to do something about it!"

The boy sat up and swung his own pillow at his adversary. "I was just helping Justine!" He stood and rubbed his forehead. "Why do you have to be so clingy?"

"I'm not being clingy!" He stepped closer to Tyler, glaring at him. "You should know that it's wrong to try and steal someone's girlfriend!"

"I was helping her put her stuff away; I wasn't trying to steal her. Besides, she came to me!"

The other boy swung his pillow again, but Tyler ducked. "You're overreacting." He looked over at a girl behind the crowd. "And you're making her look bad."

Emily put her hands on the girl's shoulders while Severa broke through the crowd and glared at the two boys. "Naptime is over. The pillows should be back in the basket."

They returned them, and were brought aside by Severa for a scolding. Emily stayed with the girl. "Are you alright, Justine?" She nodded shyly. "I'm sorry about them. Boys can be stupid sometimes."

It was later in the afternoon, and all of the children had been picked up. Severa and Emily sat in the center of the room, talking.

"So… back to your place. With that roommate of yours." Emily looked at Severa. "Want to come over for a bit? Or I could go to your place. Y'know, to keep you company."

"It's okay, really. I'll make due on my own for the day, trust me."

The two continued to talk for sometime as the day went on, ignoring everything outside of the preschool building.