I made a decision to add a little something extra to my university degree, so that means I'll stay in education for just a little longer! And hey, I got this chapter in three weeks. Not bad!

Last weekend I just went to an anime convention. Lots of fun, you know? I cosplayed too.

DaX0315, hounoured Guest, and darkwolf0909, please have a glass of sirop de grenadine! You deserve one. And yes, I'm glad to have conveyed Steven's emotions the best way I could in the previous chapter.

Chapter sixty-nine: Martine

Steven looked at his glass. "You know, I asked her to make this drink – That was the first time I ever tasted it, and it wasn't half-bad. I miss her style."

Martine felt like Steven was starting to go crazy. He was talking like he was grieving; all the more reason to worry for him. She guessed that Steven probably knew of no deaths as of late, but if he was affected this badly, there was a better explanation. She picked up her half-full glass and sipped her favourite drink.

"Did I ever tell you of a woman I met called Cindy?" he started.

Martine shook her head. Already, she was beginning to be confused as to where Steven was steering the conversation. Wasn't this supposed to be about Cynthia?

As for Steven, flashbacks were replaying in his mind. It was sort of things he had already seen in his dreams for the past few days, and it wasn't entirely pleasant.

"I met her at Lumiose's Stone Emporium in the week of the cook-off," Steven started. "She had an appearance that made her look like a movie star, you know? A cardigan, sunhat, and sunglasses. You'd think only Diantha would wear that sort of thing, but no. At least for Cindy, she tied her hair back."

"We talked for a while about rocks and stones (which if you me, Martine, I am passionate about). You know, I had never met a woman who could be as knowledgeable about rocks as me, but Cindy was more of a historian." Steven continued. "Funnily enough, we went to the museum after, but Cindy still insisted on keeping her sunglasses on because she is light-sensitive."

Martine nodded, although she had no idea what Steven was getting at.

"She revealed she knew how to do mining, like me, but she wasn't that passionate about it," Steven said. "Days later… I went on a date with her."

Now that got Martine's attention. So, Steven had an interest in another girl? First there was Cynthia, and now Cindy? Martine figured Astrid didn't count because that would be just weird. Martine remained silent and let Steven continue with his telling, but not before adding a short question.

"Were you attracted to her?" she said.

"From that first impression? Oui," Steven replied, surprising Martine. "In the midst of all that cooking against Cynthia, I asked Cindy out."

Martine would have guessed that Steven was depressed because Cindy broke up with him, but then again, Cynthia's absence from public couldn't have been a coincidence. She watched Steven sip his cocktail again, sigh, and continued speaking.

"Would you believe it? We went to Kiloude City on the TMV together." Steven would look at Martine sparingly. "We walked together, watched a session at the Battle Maison, and ate together. As we ate, she revealed she knew a lot about food too." Steven stared off into space but closed his eyes after, and then picked up his cocktail again. "I asked her out for dinner after the last round of the cook-off, and I thought things would be fine after."

Martine slowly nodded in understanding.

"You fell for her, didn't you?" she said rhetorically. "Come on, boss. I can tell by the way you speak about her that you did. You even smiled, for once." Martine played around with her glass as she spoke. "Am I right?"

Steven nodded.

"Okay, then go on." Martine could tell Steven was having love trouble.

Steven sipped the cocktail again. "But she never showed up for dinner, and that was my fault. After I won the cook-off, I thought we could celebrate afterward, but… but…"

Martine stayed silent. She could hear shuddering in her boss's voice.

"I couldn't believe it," Steven said. "Cindy revealed the truth to me. Have you ever had an instance when you feel your world practically burned around you in an instant?"

"Can't say I have," Martine replied. "And I'm guessing that your world became just that."

"Right you are." Steven nodded.

A moment of silence followed. Martine held her breath because she recognised that whatever her boss was saying to her now, he was being honest. Judging from his current state and his expressions over the past days, he was also vulnerable too. That vulnerability was what Martine did not expect of her boss, a former Champion, and a business professional. He was still single, though.

It was as though he were deeply emotional for the first time.

Steven stared at his empty glass again.

"I tried asking her out for dinner…" he started. "And the truth was that Cindy… Cindy was Cynthia. She told that to me straight." This revelation from Steven caused Martine to widen her eyes in surprise. "She told me… She told me she had feelings for me, but what did I do? I couldn't say anything, and she… she blames me."

Thinking back to Martine, he was reminded of something else.

"From the first day she set up shop across the street… I'll admit it, I believe that she was there to get me," Steven said. "She offered vouchers, I turned them down, and you, Martine, dug into my office trash bin to use one." He scoffed, as if the idea of it was ridiculous. "You know, her vouchers were all part of her grand scheme."

"What, that she was going to outcompete you?" Martine asked. "I know, I know, you've said it countless times. Did she say anything about it in Lumiose?"

"She just wanted to prove herself to me… That she might get my attention." Steven sighed. "That grand scheme of hers was something else. In the end, she just wanted to know me. I can't… No, I can't believe that Cynthia was Cindy. Why…? It's not fair. I fell for Cindy… Not her."

He drank another mouthful of the cocktail until the Pinap berry peel was no longer floating.

"Cindy wasn't real." He sighed. "And if nothing else, that grand scheme of hers was that she wanted me to enjoy her cooking."

Martine joined Steven in that she drank her non-alcohol juice. "And I wonder why you kept that old copy of the magazine in your desk, you know?" she said, as if to shift the topic. "The way I see it, boss, it wasn't just Cindy that you fell for. Cindy helped you realise you were compatible with her. It was… Oh my gosh, everyone could tell… It was Cynthia, wasn't it?"

Steven nodded.

"You looked good in that photo too." Martine added, as if to cheer Steven up. But this only earned her a sigh from Steven again. "Okay, Steven, you have to face the fact – or the likelihood, anyway – that you fell for Cynthia all this time. Has it taken you that long to realise that? You probably liked looking at her picture in that magazine every time you went to your office."

She stared closely into Steven's eyes. "When we went into Vue sur la Lune for the first time, I could tell you had something for her. Despite all that competition from her, which is real, I admit, you must have enjoyed competing with her."

Steven blinked. "What? No…"

"How else would you have come up with tasty dishes if she hadn't come here?" Martine added. "Let's see… You tried making curries to rival hers, and then there were fondues… and then your bakery brought her coffee shop to you… Oh, and her brownie sundae! Did you know that that dessert became the de facto date treat for our receptionists? It's pretty cute. That wouldn't have happened if Cynthia started competing with you know."

To Martine's satisfaction, Steven became to chuckle.

"Now you're just being ridiculous, Martine," he muttered.

Despite how much Martine liked to tease her boss, she seemed to be one of a very few people who could cheer him up in times like these. Martine picked up her glass and finished off the rest of her favourite drink before handing it back to the barman. By then, Steven's smile left his face and he was back to his depressed state. Whether he was still saddened or depressed, Martine wouldn't know. On the other hand, she knew Steven could not continue like this. He wouldn't be able to keep running the kitchen either.

"But you should tell her what's on your mind, one day. I'm going to go get some sleep," she said finally.

"Good night, Martine," Steven replied.

And Martine left Steven to his still sorry state as she left À la Mer for home. Steven ordered a glass of water this time, as the barman refused to make him another cocktail.

The following morning over Cyllage City was overcast with some sunny breaks. Of course, it didn't help that there were cliffs to the east, which made the city naturally darker than it was supposed to be. However, that didn't stop the community from carrying on business as usual. This included the staff at the Stone Restaurant and Bistro, where the two attractive receptionists began opening the place.

"Bon matin, Laurent," Sophie greeted.

"And the same to you, my dear," Laurent replied.

Sophie blushed. "Whoa whoa whoa. Since when did you start talking like Wallace? Not that I listen to him, but…"

"You don't like it if I call you 'dear'?" Laurent said, pretending to be hurt by Sophie's words.

"No! I mean…" Sophie shook her head quickly. She curled some her long black locks with her fingers. "It's not like… I…" Pink was starting to flood her cheeks.

"I can start thinking of other ways to call you… Let's see… What to say, what to say…" Laurent said playfully. "Oh! How about ma chérie? That works a lot better, and you must love that."

In Sophie's opinion, this felt like, or most likely was, the first time Laurent had called her that. The surprise on her face was such that she was left stunned and couldn't move. At least until Martine tapped her shoulder just seconds later.

"Ooh! Il t'a traitée de chérie? Seriously?" Martine said as if super-excited.

Sophie stared at Martine. Whatever the conversation had steered into, she wanted Martine out of it. Certainly Martine was not the worst alternative (it could have been Wallace), but the last thing Sophie wanted was for anyone to listen in.

"No no, you must have misheard, Martine," she said weakly.

"Nah! I've heard it all!" Martine's smile was as infectious as ever. "Soon enough, we'll be hearing about romantic moments between you every day and every hour –"

"MARTINE! You are so annoying!" Sophie cried. Tears were falling down her cheeks, and she hadn't even opened the door yet!

Laurent looked unfazed. On the contrary, he looked as if he was enjoying himself as he walked into the foyer. Sophie, still in tears, had to helped by Martine to walk inside, and she didn't stop crying for the better of five minutes. By then, Sophie was in sniffles and was seated at her usual spot behind the desk.

Martine made her way to the kitchen and returned with steaming cups of Pecha berry tea for the receptionists (Martine herself had another sirop de grenadine). They gratefully accepted the cups and chatted with Martine for a short while. First, they talked about their mornings, then talked about Steven (and his troubled romantic life), and of course talked about Cynthia.

For the sake of her suffering boss, Martine kept quiet about her conversation with him last night. Even so, the topic of Cynthia became the topic of Cynthia's restaurant. From what Laurent could hear in the local rumours around his neighbourhood, Vue sur la Lune was very likely heading for a change in ownership. Did that mean Cynthia would no longer be there?

"It seems likely," Martine said.

"But that would hurt Steven so badly, wouldn't it?" Laurent said. "He has been looking like he's been sinking into depression. You would think he would happy now that she's gone and the restaurant is on the verge of a Richissime star, but clearly not."

"And we probably know why…" Sophie twirled some of her hair with her fingers, and then looked at Martine directly. "He had feelings for her."

Martine was extremely tempted to talk about last night, but she didn't want to make things worse for Steven. She promised him she wouldn't tell anyone what she talked about.

It seemed that Sophie caught onto Martine's unease.

"Martine!" she said accusingly. "Is there something you're not telling me? You know, you normally reply immediately to things like these. I'm totally serious! See my eyes? These are the eyes of a serious receptionist."

Martine blinked.

"These are the eyes of a girl who wants to help out her boss!" Sophie stared into Martine's eyes like they were piercing a shroud.

"These are… SERIOUS EYES!"

Laurent chuckled as he saw that Martine was getting smaller by the second. Not that Martine was scared, but she was intimidated by Sophie's serious eyes. They looked unescapable (and he needn't be reminded that they worked on Steven too, once in a while).

"Um… Let's see…" Martine chose her words carefully for a moment. She knew that Steven was feeling guilty over what had happened, but that was something Martine wasn't about to tell Sophie. Not yet. "If anything, maybe Steven discovered something during the cook-off that caused him to be this way. The point is that Steven is depressed, because it seems like after that cook-off, he's been seeing Cynthia less and less. That seems worrying."

"If the rumours are true, that Vue sur la Lune will get a new owner… Then wouldn't that mean Cynthia would leave this city?" Laurent suggested.

Sophie hung her head. "If only we could help him, you know? In short, he hurt her feelings and she hurt his back. This is worse than competition, you know?"

The atmosphere felt very uneasy, and business was slow.

Laurent lifted Sophie's head by her chin. "Sophie, let's have a battle."

"Wait, wha…?" Sophie's eyes went wide. "You want to battle now?"

They went out to Plaza Median to conduct the battle in the still-morning hours of the day. Sophie's Clauncher was on one end, and Laurent's Hawlucha was on the other. Martine had also brought their drinks outside just so they wouldn't go to waste.

She watched the battle unfold with Clauncher shooting non-lethal bursts of water at Hawlucha, while Hawlucha tried to get up close to strike back. For half the time, the Pokémon were doing a great job at evading each other's attacks, and the only advantage Laurent had was that Hawlucha was faster.

"No wonder you two seem fit for each other…" Martine giggled to herself. "You two enjoy battling."

"I heard that, Martine! And that's not true!" Sophie shouted. "That could be anyone!"

The battle was a good one and evenly matched. Only with Martine's occasional distractions did the tide usually shift to Laruent's favour, but otherwise, it was a fair game. As it happened, the battle caught the attention of anyone passing by, but only for a minute or two before they went about their business. There were exceptions, of course.

Such an exception was Wallace.

"Bon MATIN, vous trois!" he greeted so loudly, that everyone stopped short of doing anything.

"Wallace, you idiot! You've disturbed the battle!" Winona complained, and she brought a fist to Wallace's face.

But Wallace had somehow been expecting it and leaned backward to avoid the blow, and instead he caught Winona's wrist, and then brought Winona close to his chest. "There there, you need not worry, Winona. I'm sure they don't mind."

Winona looked like she wanted to explode, but all that was held in by Wallace, so it was impossible. He merely let Winona implode before letting her go, and Winona then told herself not to even bother. Lisia, of course, was only a few steps behind Wallace.

"Good morning, Martine," she greeted.

Martine waved back, smiling, but Lisia wasn't the only one who could tell Martine wasn't looking her best.

"You're looking off-colour," Wallace said. "Did something happen?"

Martine didn't know how to reply to that. It was enough that she had shared some small secrets with her co-workers, as they were concerned for Steven. She didn't want too many people to know, and especially Wallace. Perhaps Steven's depression was rubbing on her.

"Where have you been?" Martine asked, hoping to change the topic.

"Vue sur la Lune," Winona replied. "Wallace hoped to find Cynthia, but that wasn't happening. It seems that Cynthia has left Cyllage City."

"Oh…" Martine bowed her head down. "I see. Laurent mentioned that earlier."

"Can we continue our battle?!" Sophie shrieked.

"Oh, of course, of course!" Wallace said. "I will gladly watch the two of you battle. You two are destined for each other, after all! Is it why you are battling? Because you want to share a tighter bond?"

Winona palmed her forehead.

"Just ignore him," she said. "You may not know it, vous deux, but Wallace is the current Hoenn Champion and I'm a Gym Leader myself. We take battles seriously." That sort of revelation was unexpected for both receptionists, but they managed to hold in their shock and merely nodded. Then they continued battling.

Wallace and Winona then sat with Martine on a nearby park bench, while watching the battle rage on.

"If only Steven could learn something from Sophie and Laurent, you know?" Wallace complained, although it really seemed pointless to do so. "I told him, right before we left for Lumiose, that he could learn a thing or two from how their relationship. Now it has just become the opposite."

Martine grimaced. She wished it were true that Steven's relationship with Cynthia could be modeled after her co-workers. But given how she saw Steven's state last night, she had to admit that that was a long shot.

Personally, Martine felt like she was the only person who understood Steven's feelings best. It was also her burden too, so what could she do about it? It had become a problem: the solution was to help Steven out, but there was only so much she could do. She also wondered how thick the relationship was, whereas Sophie's case was much simpler.

"Lisia told me you expected their relationship to blossom after that cook-off," Martine said. "But now that Vue sur la Lune is possibly heading to an ownership change, isn't that the same as the relationship didn't work?"

"Oui," Wallace replied with his head down. "I can't tell who is unhappier, but something has to be done. Steven cannot – and I mean can NOT – continue living like this."

Martine still thought back to last night. Steven at the bar, his feelings for Cynthia being the most real thing ever, and blaming himself for all of it. Something had to be done. "We need to drag Steven out to look for Cynthia," she said abruptly.

"I like your thinking, Martine! I would have said the same." Immediately, Wallace's face had turned from a darkened sulk to a face as bright as the sunrise. It was almost creepy, even by Martine's version of what was creepy.

Lisia noticed Martine's reaction.

"Oh, don't worry about that. He does that more often than you think," Lisia giggled. She took out a spare piece of sticky note and scribbled something on it, and then gave it to Martine. "Give this to Steven, please!"

The conversation ended just like that, and the rest of the morning was spent observing the raging battle between Laurent and Sophie. Wallace subsequently decided to drag the two of them into this.

Steven was in no better shape than he was last night, but he admitted that after telling his feelings to Martine, he felt like a weight had been lifted off his brain. Even though James had still forbidden him from working, Steven was allowed in his office.

Upon arriving at his office door, he noticed two sticky notes stuck on the door at his eye level.

The first read, "The fifth chapter of your love story! "Looking for her now!"" Steven took that note down right away.

The second read, "Boss. You can't suffer forever." Based on the context of what he was going through, Steven guessed that it was Martine's words. He did not take the note down right away but instead looked at it for half a minute.

What had Martine been doing for the past while? She must have met up with Lisia and Wallace. But despite that, Steven was grateful Martine was willing to listen to his thoughts and offer him counsel and an ear. Hiring this nineteen-year old redhead was no mistake.

Martine said it took something to admit he was wrong, and she couldn't be closer to the truth.

I didn't count on Martine to be this important when I first started out the book, but I'm glad how it's turning out now. Please! Leave a review and enjoy a cup of Pecha berry tea.