Justice Served

28 | Ms. Detective

Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jayce Mirella

The soft whirring of the coffee machine as it drips bitter, freshly ground black coffee into a tall, cylinder-shaped cup fills my ears. Leaning against the granite counters, I reach up and pull open the drawers to revel multiple rectangular boxes that held an assortment of easy make drinks. From herbal teas down to hot chocolate, the arrangement of the colorful boxes is neatly placed inside the storage space.

As Luna continues to ramble on about God-knows-what on my left side, I step onto my toes attempting to reach for the hot chocolate that was placed on the second shelf. I grumble aloud, pent up frustration rising within me as the tips of my fingers continue to graze the box but my inability to bring the box down due to my damn height hindering me. Moments like this, I can't help but wish I was taller even just by a mere two or three inches. As with everything else in life, I'm at a disadvantage here.

I huff and turn to look at Luna who obliviously continues to talk about something I'm completely unaware of without noticing my current struggles. In the beginning stages of my encounters with Luna, I had the belief that she would purposely continue to talk and ignore her surroundings in order to spite me while she acted like a saint on the outside because it was just too hard for me to believe that she was that innocent and pure. It took no time at all for me to regain my initial belief from the day we first met that she truly was a saint but she was cursed with unawareness of both people and her environment.

I didn't understand why Rhys hired someone like her, not because of Luna herself but because of the kind of guy Rhys Chandler is. He's strict, stern, prudent, get-to-the-point, know it all, straightforward, cold, monotonous, indifferent — basically everything of that nature — so how he managed to hire Luna Young, an outgoing free spirit just bubbling with positivity and joy, is beyond me. How he managed to deal with her all these years is another surprise of its own.

Bringing my focus back to the challenge at hand, I narrow my eyes at the wicked hot chocolate box that taunts me from its high position. I would ask Luna for help but she's just as short as I am, standing two inches shorter at what looked to be four foot eleven inches. The coffee machine dings as a signal that the disgusting black coffee that Rhys loved oh-so-much is done, the contents filling the cup leaving three inches of space leftover for safety reasons.

I groan internally, I just wanted some tasty hot chocolate. Was that so much to ask for?

Ever since I stole a sip of the hot chocolate Dimitri was sipping on only days ago that he did not permit me to do but was forced to helplessly watch me do, I've been hooked as if I was a crack addict addicted to cocaine. Whenever I would embark on my way to the break room Rhys would follow along with me in order to grab himself a cup of coffee as well, not because he enjoyed spending time with me just to set that straight, so he would always grab me a packet of hot chocolate powder from the box.

Now that he's sent me to retrieve his a glass of coffee all by my lone self, I have come across a challenge I hadn't thought about. Now I have to decide whether or not I want to return back to Rhys Chandler's office with just his cup of coffee or if I want to dawdle some more on a losing battle. Going down the typical Jayce Mirella path, I step back onto my toes and reach my hand upwards to grab the white and brown luxury hot chocolate box — yes, luxury hot chocolate.

Deep brown hands grab the box of hot chocolate from behind me, the warmth of a tall presence tickling my back. I twirl around immediately to see who stole the entire box and I end up looking at a smiling Dimitri.