1 month later
Dawn had renovated the inside and outside of the cafe nicely. They renamed it as "The Piplup" since it is both a cafe and a bar. The inside of the cafe is changed into a more modernized feeling. There's more gray, black, chrome, and dark hardwood. Dawn hangs up some vines on the ceiling with string lights. There are low hanging dim yellow lights for cafe hours that can be easily raised by a chain during the bar hours. Tonight, they open The Piplup for its first day. Fortunately, Cyrus hasn't messed with them yet, but Paul is on edge as it is the grand opening.
It is 7PM and everyone is at the cafe to help put up the finishing touches. Barry suggested more neon signs and they really pop during the bar hours. Zoey and Kenny will be leaving after the congratulatory toast Dawn wanted them to do. Even Paul is there wearing an all black outfit, as he is the bouncer tonight.
"Let's take a picture!" the bluenette exclaims while setting up her phone on a table facing a nice background. Dawn had designated an empty wall as a nice place for pictures. There are vines and string lights over the dark grey wood wall, and Barry put up a light blue neon sign saying "The Piplup" with a little blue penguin on it. The group is currently standing in front of it as Dawn runs to her place by Paul and her phone flashes many times. She runs back and checks the pictures as Paul walks away from the wall. "Nooo! Paul! They're not good." She whines.
"I don't care."
"Your eyes are closed in all of them." She teases. Scowling, he walks over to her and tries to look at the photos, but she won't show him. She smirks up at him. "I thought you don't care?"
He furrows his brows at her and walks away. "Yeah, I don't." The other 3 staff sheepishly watch on as Dawn tries to convince Paul to go back to the wall and Paul telling her she'll need to pay him for that.
6 months later
The nearby college students love the combination because they can party at night and then study during the morning. Paul makes a very good bouncer, so they haven't had any problems.
Also, during the whole casino thing, Galactic Co.'s stock dropped a bit, so Paul invested more money into it. The stock has since increased because people's attention spans are short. Dawn was hit with a large angry sum to buy out the building, but she quickly declined it. Fortunately, Cyrus's PR team told him to leave her alone, else it'll make them look bad. Paul is still on edge since Cyrus has illegal connections too.
Paul had repaired the two holes in the wall that he made a couple of months ago. He and Dawn have been too busy to interact. Sometimes, they'll have a short conversation here or there, but Dawn is focused on her place coming together. Paul is fine with this since he has been communicating with Saturn. Saturn says he will look into Cyrus's foreign investments but for Paul to be prepared to go back to Veilstone City in the fall.
Also, Paul was able to start working construction again once the snow melted. Since he is Dawn's bouncer by night, she lowered his rent by $200. The cafe/bar is doing nicely and gaining lots of followers on social media. People from nearby cities and towns have started coming to check them out. Dawn really knows how to design spaces since the inside looks very nice and modern.
One afternoon, Paul wakes up to a loud crash. He checks his phone and sees it is 3PM. No one should be downstairs for another 4 hours. Since he works as a bouncer by night and then does construction in the morning, Paul sleeps during the afternoons. Another crash interrupts his tired thoughts. Groaning to himself, he decides to go check it out and tell whoever it is to keep it down.
Once Paul opens the backdoor door to the cafe, he instantly falls to the ground as his face stings and blood runs down his nose. Fortunately, he is able to dodge the tin pan flying back at him. He reaches his hand up and grabs the perpetrator's arm. Seeing as how this person is in all black and a masked man, Paul punches him in the face. Unfortunately, he isn't alone since 4 other men run around and jump Paul.
Paul gets dragged out to the dining area and notices that the place looks like a stampede ran through it. The tables are overturned, there's broken glass from the alcohol all over the ground. Some chairs are even broken. No one messes with Dawn's dreams, Paul angrily thinks as he manages to free an arm and throw another punch.
Fortunately, police sirens are heard and the 5 thieves flee out the large broken window. Paul is laying on the ground battered and bruised but overall feeling fine. He has his hands up in defense as the police walk in with their guns exposed. "Don't move!" They shout.
A couple of minutes later, Dawn arrives in a panic. Paul is currently sitting in handcuffs outside on the curb. Dawn sees his bloody face and the cuts on his face and arms. "Paul…" She softly says with apologetic eyes. He avoids her gaze. He hates those eyes.
"Do you know this man?" Asks one of the officers.
Dawn looks over at the officer. "Yes! He lives upstairs!"
"He was found in the cafe. He won't say anything, so we don't know what's going on."
Dawn glances back at the quiet man sitting on the ground. "I have security footage linked to my phone. I can show you he wasn't with the thieves." She pulls out her phone and touches a few things before showing the officer the video. After 5 minutes, the officer releases Paul, and Dawn tackles him into a hug. "Don't ever do that again, Paul!"
He wraps his arms around her as she sobs into his chest. "I couldn't let them destroy your dream." he mumbles while resting his chin on her head.
This apparently makes her cry harder. "Things can be replaced, Paul," she sniffles. "but you can't!" she manages to sob out and he just holds her tighter. He's always felt disposable. Saturn lets him know it all the time. It's also why he's going into his revenge without fear: he isn't scared of death. But he's been more cautious after realizing Dawn may be put in trouble too. And now, he hears she doesn't want anything bad to happen to him. Damn. She really is troublesome.