A One Night Stand With My Boss

He gently patted John on the shoulder, signaling him not to be too hard on himself, then turned to Camila and said, "We were just passing by and thought we'd drop in." Camila nodded in acknowledgment.

As the store began to fill with customers, Camila quickly turned to attend to her duties. Craig and John also started helping out with the customers willingly. After a busy spell, Claire pulled Craig aside and whispered, "Craig, didn't you tell John about Camila..."

"I did tell him, but John can be a bit stubborn-us veterans tend to stick to our guns once we've made up our minds," Craig replied with a resigned smile.

"John is really a good guy, very reliable, but unfortunately, Camila just doesn't feel the same way about him," Claire sighed, a hint of regret in her voice.

In the days that followed, John continued to show up every day, diligently helping out in the diner. His hard work earned him unanimous praise from the customers.

Taking advantage of a moment when Claire was away, Camila said to him, "John, I actually have someone I like."

John paused, his movements halting abruptly. He looked up at Camila, his face breaking into an awkward smile. "It's okay, I know you don't feel the same about me. I just didn't have anywhere else to go during my time off, and I wanted to be helpful here."

Despite their conversation, John kept coming to the diner every day to help.

His persistence made Camila feel quite helpless.

***

is

took an early ride

for a tutorial on how to bake a cake. She carefully read each step, afraid of missing

didn't manage the oven temperature and timing well, resulting

of effort, she finally baked a perfect

evenly over the cake, then adorned it with fresh fruits as garnish. As she completed the final step, she glanced at the wall clock which pointed to seven. Just then, her phone buzzed lightly, a

fond of sweets, she had

sat on the sofa, anxiously

Ding-dong-

the sofa, took a few deep

the door, a strong

Camila was stunned.