“Oh…he’s here too…” Kat whispered with her eyes still on Reiner.
I could tell from her face that she didn’t expect to see him here at all. Before she could ask me more questions, I asked her if Jamie was in.
“Oh, Jamie. He’s in his office at the back. You need to talk to him?” Kat asked curiously.
“Yeah, a little. I’ll go back there for a bit,” I mumbled before I walked towards the back.
Reiner followed after me dutifully and soon we found ourselves inside Jamie’s small office. Jamie looked from me to Reiner and then back again before he heaved a loud sigh.
“So, why is Queen’s bigshot son here to see me?” Jamie asked as he leaned back in his seat.
“The thing is…” I began saying before Reiner stopped me by holding up his hand.
“I’m Knight. I think you already know who I am. Thank you for being friends with my mother and keeping her entertained whenever she comes here,” Reiner said casually with a smile.
“Sure thing. Your mother and I go way back…” Jamie said before he waited for Reiner to continue.
“Natalia and I recently got married. You know how things are with my family, so I won’t bother to explain. From now on, Natalia can’t work here anymore. I am very sorry about the trouble that this may cause, but as of today, Natalia will resign from her job here,” Reiner explained smoothly.
“Well, congratulations! Marrying into King’s family is a big deal! Congratulations. Queen will make a good mother-in-law for sure, so you don’t have to worry about a thing. You don’t have to worry about this small bar here. We’ll figure something out,” Jamie said happily.
“Thank you so much, Jamie…for everything,” I replied as I felt tears sting the back of my ears.
When I was all alone without money and desperately looking for a job, it was Jamie who helped me by hiring me. He didn’t just provide me with a job, but he gave me friends and a family as well. I will forever be grateful for his compassion and generosity.
“You’re very popular around here so I really do hate losing you. It can’t be helped, though. You’re married now and I couldn’t be any happier for you. Knight, you better take care of her well…” Jamie said to me before turning to focus his attention on Reiner.
“I will…” Reiner promised as he gave my hand a soft squeeze under the table.
“Well then, enough of spending your time there. I bet you want to break the good news yourself to your friends,” Jamie said understandingly.
“Yes, although, it’s not really good news…” I mumbled.
“How so? You got married. That is great news! Everyone will be so happy for you, Natalia,” Jamie quickly corrected before he smiled encouragingly at me.
“I hope so…” I whispered before smiling back.
Jamie followed us back to where everyone was busy preparing for the opening of the bar later that evening. Everyone’s eyes were on Jamie when the old man started clearing his throat. Kat had a peculiar look on her face as she stared at Jamie, and I knew that everyone was probably wondering what Jamie wanted to announce all of a sudden.
“Well, I don’t have anything to announce to you all, but Natalia does! So, listen up!” Jamie spoke up quite loudly to get everyone’s attention.
My nerves stood on ends when the spot lights were suddenly forced onto me. Suddenly, everyone’s attention shifted from Jamie to me, and I cursed my fate silently in my head. This situation didn’t make it any easier for me to make the necessary announcements.
“Umm…I know this might be sudden but…Knight, this man here, and I…we got married the past weekend…” I said as I struggled to keep myself from stammering.
“You got married?” a colleague asked, sounding very surprised and excited.
“Natalia, you married Knight? Wow! Big congrats!” Kat screamed before she ran towards me and pulled me into a hug once again.
She kept congratulating me as she hugged me tightly. I could hear words of congratulations and blessing from my other colleagues as well. Their love and joy filled the air around me and it made me feel so blessed to have such a strong bond with my colleagues and friends. It was great that they were happy for me and my marriage but that also made it even harder for me to break the second part of the news to them.
After Kat finally let go of me and I had some personal space to myself again, I sucked in a deep breath to steady my nerves before I made the second announcement.
“Umm…because I got married, I have to quit working here. I know that this is very sudden and honestly, I am shocked and very sad too that we won’t get to work together anymore…” I said softly before I tried my best to smile bravely.
There was a moment of silence, and I could feel the shock and then the disappointment from my colleagues. Kat stared at me like I had turned into an alien right in front of her eyes.
“Oh…I see…” Kat whispered.
“Well, Natalia is married now so she has to move on with her life too, you know?” another colleague said brightly.
“That’s right. She has a day job too and now she’s married so she’s probably very busy. It’s normal that she would need to quit her parttime job,” another girl said before giving me an understanding nod.
“Don’t look so sad, Kat. Natalia will come and visit us often and we can hang out after work too,” the bartender said as he patted Kat’s back.
“Of course, I will visit often. Thank you so much for everything…” I said as I tried to keep on smiling.
It felt like if I didn’t smile, I’ll just end up crying instead. Reiner was by my side, and I let him hold my hand to comfort me and give me strength when he reached for it.
“I gotta say…the diamond on your ring is huge! Is it even real? Oh wow…” Kat exclaimed in pure amazement as she took my left hand and lifted it up closer to her face to stare at the ring on my ring finger.
–To be continued…