🌒 Chapter 5
The morning was unusually quiet — a fog had rolled in, wrapping the city in silver silence.
Seraphina unlocked the café alone, flipping the sign to Open. Her breath clouded in the cold as she rolled up her sleeves. The world didn't wait for broken people to catch up — so she stopped expecting it to.
By 8:00 AM, the regulars shuffled in.
But today… new faces arrived too.
🌼 Ivy Maren – The Good One
A petite girl with dyed lavender hair and too many bracelets walked in holding a sketchpad. She ordered a hot cocoa with marshmallows and smiled like she hadn't been broken yet — or had, but chose to love anyway.
"You're Seraphina, right?" Ivy asked brightly.
Seraphina blinked. "Do I know you?"
"Nope. But I've read about you," she said without malice. "You were kinda a mystery. Like a fairytale gone wrong."
"And you're... a fan of tragedies?"
"No," Ivy grinned. "But I root for comebacks."
She left a generous tip and slid a napkin across the counter — a quick sketch of Seraphina pouring coffee, with tiny flames drawn around her. At the top, Ivy had scribbled:
"Some people rise from ashes. You're one of them."
🦊 Bennett Kreel – The Smiling Threat
Later that afternoon, a man in a velvet blazer stepped in, his smirk sharp enough to slice glass. His eyes scanned the café like it was prey. Seraphina knew him.
Bennett Kreel — the man who once called her "the most overrated charity doll of the season."He worked for Darven Holdings — the very company rumored to have helped destroy her father's legacy.
"Seraphina Langley," he said smoothly, "pouring coffee now? How humble of you."
She didn't flinch. "Bennett Kreel. Still wearing jackets that overcompensate?"
He laughed. "Same fire. But no match left to burn with, hmm?"
Lucien, sitting near the window with his usual coffee, stood up. Quietly. Calmly.
"You're in my light," Lucien said to Bennett.
Bennett tilted his head. "And you are?"
Lucien handed him a card — this one with full name and title.
Lucien Vale, CEO – Vale Global Holdings"We don't tolerate roaches in our branches."
Bennett's smirk twitched.
Seraphina didn't say thank you. She didn't need to.
But Lucien's presence remained like armor draped over her shoulders — not to carry her, but to say: "I'm watching too."
🌧️ The End of the Shift
Ivy returned at the end of the day with a thermos of homemade tea. "You work too hard," she said, placing it beside Seraphina. "And I live upstairs. If anyone messes with you — I've got glitter and mild rage."
Seraphina smirked. "Thanks, vigilante."
Ivy winked. "We all need backup."
As Seraphina locked the café that night, her reflection stared back in the door's glass. Not as royalty. Not as rubble.
But something else.
A fighter.With flames at her feet and shadows at her heels.