After a few stuttered apologies from both awkward teens, Weiss and Jaune find themselves sitting face to face at the table the Schnee heiress had occupied all morning, both silent, looking everywhere but at the person sitting in front of them, their blushes prominent for all to see.

Surprisingly, it is Weiss who is the first to regain control of herself and to take her nerves into her own hands.

"'My name is Weiss Schnee." She introduced herself, trying her best to apply the Atlas etiquette that had been beaten into her from childhood.

"Hello, I am Jaune Arc." the blond introduced himself, barely holding himself back from trying his go-to pick up line, thinking it inappropriate to try on someone like Weiss, whom probably had legions of admirers throwing themselves at her feet everyday, if not for her beauty, for her name.

Unfortunately for the teen, he felt too awkward to advance the conversation forward beyond sharing his name, while the white haired girl was too lost weighting the pros and cons of W.A. or J.S. as possible initials, in her mind to actively participate.

That was until a waitress approached the duo to take their order, extirping Weiss from her musings.

Too relieved to have a distraction from the oppressive silence, Jaune had smiled happily towards the woman, not noticing the glare she sent the girl sitting in front of him, the way she played with her hair when approaching him or how she gave him her undivided attention.

Unluckily for the woman, Weiss was not as unobservant, and she jumped on the opportunity to order her regular fare, just as Klein used to do her coffee at home.

"I will have a quad long shot grande in a venti cup half calf double cupped no sleeve salted caramel mocha latte with two pumps of vanilla substitute, two pumps of white chocolate mocha for regular mocha and substitute two pumps of hazelnut for toffee nut half whole milk and half breve with no whipped cream extra hot extra foam extra caramel drizzle extra salt add a scoop of vanilla bean powder with light ice well stirred."

Jaune couldn't help but stare in shock at the innocently smiling Weiss, more certain than ever that he definitely stood no chance at all with someone of her sophistication.

"I'll just have one regular black coffee with two sugars." He said at Weiss' expectant stare, having simply copied his father's usual order whilst wishing he had more extravagant tastes, or experience drinking coffee at all.

"One black coffee with two sugars coming right up for the sweetie!" the waitress winked, completely ignoring Weiss' icy glare, or her muttering about good for nothing hussies.

Not wishing to fall back into the uncomfortable silence, and remembering his father's lessons about the importance of confidence, Jaune decided to move the conversation forward.

"I am sorry to have bothered you yesterday." He started, scratching his hair in embarrassment, missing how Weiss' eyes widened as she almost blurted that nothing he did would ever bother her. "I just heard you might have been related to the Schnee Dust Company."

Everything froze for Weiss as she felt her poor heart drop and break into tiny little shards, as she was once again reminded that all she would ever amount to in life would be to wield her accursed family name, and no matter where she went or how far she ran from it, it would always remain as the first and only thing people saw when they looked at her.

She blinked repeatedly, fighting desperately against the tears she could feel started bubbling up in her eyes, while Jaune continued blissfully unaware of the heartache and despair he had just heaved onto her shoulders.

"I was hoping you might be able to help me, you see…" the boy said, rummaging with the pocket of his jacket and pulling out a letter from it, which he passed to her.

Weiss was silent as she accepted the envelope resigned to give the boy whatever sum of money his supposed sob story required, even sneering bitterly at how foolish she had been to drop her guard for a pair of pretty eyes, a perfect smile, some chiseled jaw, hard muscles, charming…

No, Bad Weiss!

No more falling for the conman, she admonished herself, No matter how attractive he is.

Turning her attention back to the letter, she unfurled it, mildly curious to know what cause would require the Schnee funding this time around, whether the boy would bring a supposedly sick family member requiring a surgery to live, or if he would go for a more communal, charity cause.

To her surprise, it was neither, and the letter was a printed message, from a man to his wife, declaring his undying love and promising a return home as soon as possible.

She looked back at her interlocutor confused, wondering if perhaps he had given her the wrong letter and she had instead been given the correspondence destined to the woman of his life?

Weiss felt her lungs tear at the thought, having trouble breathing for a moment, but thankfully remained silent while waiting for the boy to explain himself.

"You know about the train attacked by the White Fang, right?" Jaune asked instead, throwing her for a loop, her hatred for those criminals flaring violently, only to die as she nodded, waiting for the boy to continue.

"Well… I was on it." Jaune said and her hatred grew by magnitudes, the thought of him being hurt or something even worse happening to him at the hands of those animals arose in her. Her fists clenched, palms white as she wished she had brought her trusty Myrtenaster with her.

"I met an illiterate man who asked me to write this letter for his wife as a gift." Jaune said, pointing at the sheet in her hands and hope blossomed for a second in her, before she ruthlessly repressed it, paying all her attention to her interlocutor, analyzing all of his words for any potential sub-context, or double meaning she might have missed at first glance.

"Unfortunately, he did not make it out of the attack." Jaune continued sadly, and she had to physically hold herself back from reaching out to comfort him, his puppy eyes making her wish nothing more than to glomp him back into cheeriness, but knowing now wasn't the time to indulge in her inappropriate desires.

"I was hoping you could help me find his possible residence, as all I know about him is his name and that he worked for your family's company." Jaune asked, and she found herself dizzy at his pleading look, ready to offer the world to him if only he directed another of his smiles to her.

"Yes!" Weiss yelled loudly, feeling the eyes of everyone in the room turn at her outburst, her cheeks reddening, forcing her back into her etiquette lessons. "I would not be opposed to offering my assistance, I suppose." She amended, doing her best impression of Father, and hoping it would save her from the shame of her childish actions.

It had apparently worked much better than she had expected, as that was the moment Jaune dived towards her, jumping over the table and into her body, forcing all the breath out of her, as her brain and heart had opposing reactions, one of them stopping entirely, while the other started beating a thousand times a second.

Part of her knew such behavior was completely unacceptable in public, and that no matter what happened, she would never live down getting ravished in the lobby of a hotel with hundreds of witnesses all around her, but that did not prevent her body from reacting, melting and falling limp into the arms of the delicious brute whom was claiming her in front of all to see…

Surprisingly, Jaune had shifted his body mid-fall as to be the one to absorb the shock of the fall onto his back while she fell into him, subconsciously straddling as she inhaled his intoxicating perfume, and shivering at the feel of his breath on her face, as the air was pushed out of him by her fall onto his chest.

Weiss was ready to lean forward and give her first kiss to this impertinent, uninhabited, hedonistic, spontaneous, passionate, tantalizing man only for her eyes to land on a knife stuck into the ground, exactly where here head had been.

Jaune hadn't lost himself to a sudden bout of passion and desire for her body, the boy had just saved her life.