He tries to catch her gaze, but she only looks down at the ground.
As she's getting closer, he finally recognizes her.
'It's Nayla, right? But I feel like something is wrong.'
The familiar girl walks past him.
'Does she not recognize me?'
He watches her every move at a short distance, hoping that she'll recognize him, but he fails to get her attention.
'Maybe she's looking for something.'
When she found what she was looking for, she grabbed a basket and filled it with alcohol.
Right then and there, Zane understood that she didn't care about anything and only wanted to get wasted.
A mysterious hand blocked her from getting more.
"Excuse me, sir, can you please mind your own business?"
She looks at his upper body as she asks him to remove his hand; she still doesn't know who he is, and she doesn't care.
"Are you gonna drink this all?"
The mysterious guy asks with a calm and low voice.
As she looks up to check who it is, she's surprised that Zane is in front of her, which makes her lose her balance, but Zane holds her arms to assist her so she doesn't fall.
"Ohh.. Zane, it's you. Why are you here?"
She distances herself a little from Zane.
"I should be the one who should ask that question."
"It's.. Nothing.. You don't need to know about it."
Nayla says while looking down as she avoids his stare.
He has a lot of questions, but is afraid to ask them because he feels that he doesn't have the right and is also afraid that he's gonna only make it worse.
She puts down her basket and is about to walk away, but Zane stops her by holding her hand.
"If you want to drink, you can drink at my PUB. Today's a bit slow, so there are not many customers."
"No, thank you, I just remember that I have to do something."
"I insist."
Zane holds her hand tightly.
"I'm not gonna leave you alone if you don't come with me, trust me, I'm quite persistent."
Nayla just sighed in disappointment, but she still agreed.
'This guy is persistent. Why can't he just go away?'
Zane softly smiles directly at Nayla. In exchange, she gives him a blank expression.
"Let's go."
He's still holding her hand as they leave the convenience store.
"Why are you still holding my hand?"
Nayla asks curiously.
"Because I'm sure you'll run away."
"Do you think I'm a dog on the leash?"
"Yup, so I'm not letting go of your hand."
Meanwhile, Laurence visits Nayla's apartment, and he rings the doorbell, but no one answers.
'Looks like she's still resting until now, but I'm glad that she took the food.'
'I'll visit her again tomorrow to make sure she's okay.'
Meanwhile, at the PUB.
"Have a seat here; I'll be the one who'll tend to you."
Her seat is near the counter, so Zane could watch her.
"Aren't you busy? And there's also an empty seat near the doorway."
Zane moved closer to her and said.
"I have employees who will handle my work, and I know you'll escape, so you should be near me."
She placed her hand on her forehead with an annoyed expression.
Zane stood up to get her drinks and appetizers.
'I don't understand why he insists that I stay here; he didn't even take my order.'
While preparing her drinks and food, Zane can't take his eyes off Nayla.
An employee asks him.
"You keep on looking at that table. Who is she?"
"That's none of your business, Joe. Just do your job."
"Is it your girlfriend? The one who pukes at your shoe?"
Zane sighs annoyingly.
"She's not my girlfriend."
"But you like her, right? You kept on looking at her when she was here."
"If you want to keep your job, just mind your own business."
"Copy, boss!"
Joe left him to tend to other customers.
The food and drinks were served, but the woman in front of him was staring at the abyss.
Zane waved his hand to get her attention.
"Are you just going to stare at the food? Or do you want to stare at me? Because I'm fine with that."
She began to startle and apologize.
"I'm sorry, I tend to stare into nowhere."
"If you're truly sorry, then you should try all that I served you."
After a deep sigh, Nayla tries all of the food Zane serves while drinking alcohol, but she remains expressionless.
"Don't you like it?"
"All of it is tasty, but it's me, I'm the problem, not the food."
With a worried look on his face and a bit of hesitation, he asks,
"If it's okay with you, you can tell me what's bothering you; they say it helps if you share it with others."
Nayla suddenly smiles, but the look in her eyes is full of sadness.
"I.. I don't really know what's causing my anxiety and what's making me feel so sad- this heavy feeling in my chest that's leaving me feeling empty all of a sudden."
'The root cause is unknown since it's a lot'
"Maybe it's not all of a sudden; I've been feeling this way all along. I just ignored it or made myself in denial."
Zane looks at Nayla with a sympathetic look on his face.
'I don't know what's got into me to share what I'm feeling. Is it the drinks? Or his warm company?'
She shrugs it off and makes excuses as to why she acted that way.
"I'm sorry, I'm too emotional right now. Maybe it's because of the alcohol that I blurt out negative thoughts inside my head. You just recently met me a few days ago, and here I am making a drama."
Zane thinks it's ridiculous.
'Recently? I've known you for quite some time now.'
(Zane and Nayla's first meeting.)
Zane was in the cafe in front of Nayla's newly opened shop, taking his time off while drinking his coffee. Since he had nothing to do, he noticed the couriers moving stuff in the shop, and he also realized that a woman was carrying a huge box.
'Isn't that heavy? Why are they not helping her?'
Then, suddenly, the couriers were about to leave because they needed to deliver the other items to other customers, and due to a lack of time or simply being lazy.
'What a bunch of douche.'
He gets up and walks towards the newly opened shop.
"Sir, can you please help me with a few more? I'll handle the rest, and you can go."
"Sorry, Ms., but we still need to deliver the other boxes, and we don't have time. It's also not in our job description to carry this inside your shop."
They left, ignoring her request.
"I can't lift some of it..."
Nayla said in frustration.
A tall guy wearing an all-black outfit, wearing a mask, and a cap appeared in front of her.