The chime of the automatic doors rang as Ren walked out into the night, disappearing into the streets of the city just like he always did.
Juno watched him go, handing the Lycan after him his change, lips slightly pursed in thought.
She wasn't sure when it had started. The thinking. About him.
The last few weeks had been fun, some days it was like teaching him about the world. She still didn't understand why normal things seemed so foreign to him. Regardless it was exciting seeing the world through his very confused eyes and helping him navigate it.
It just caught her off guard when they ended up having so much in common. It was strange and different at first.
But now?
Now he sat with her while she wrote and drew.
Now they talked about the way they saw the world.
Now she actually noticed when he wasn't around.
Juno sighed, serving the next customer.
It wasn't just his "quiet, brooding, mysterious" stereotype aura —she had met plenty of those tropes working this job. He was smart, funny.. just reserved. But there was something else about him, something just beneath the surface that she couldn't quite put her finger on.
He was serious, yeah, but there were moments—small ones—where she caught glimpses of something lighter. A smirk, a quiet laugh, a quick-witted remark. It was like he wasn't used to joking around, but he was figuring it out. Like his personality was lighter, but he had buried it under a serious persona that had been built out of necessity.
Ren was different, he seemed genuinely interested in her art. In her.
At the same time not interested enough to tell her who he is.
But it also made her wonder.
For someone who looked the way he did—tall, strong, built like a damn warrior—he didn't act like someone who got that kind of attention. Most guys that ripped knew it, carried themselves with a certain level of confidence, maybe even arrogance.
But Ren? He looks thrown off whenever she mentions his looks. Even if just observations.. Like he wasn't used to people noticing him.
And then there was the way he talked about Omnivale.
She had assumed he worked there, but the more she learned, the weirder it seemed. He wasn't an employee, wasn't a lab tech or engineer, wasn't a security guy. He was a personal trainer—for Vilnius, of all people. A man who also did not work there.
Juno barely had a second to breathe before the next customer stepped forward.
But this time, instead of someone simply shoving snacks onto the counter, she was met with a look.
A very interested look.
The woman standing in front of her—mid-twenties, Omnivale badge clipped to her blazer, blonde hair pulled into a tight ponytail—was watching her with raised eyebrows and a knowing smirk.
"So," the woman said, grabbing a bottled water from the counter. "Do you know that guy? You seem awfully friendly"
Juno blinked. "Huh?"
The woman's smirk widened. "The guy who just left. The tall one. Handsome. Blond hair, blue eyes, blue jacket." She slides a drink across the counter as if using it as a prop to keep the conversation going.
She forced a shrug. "Sort of, he's a customer."
"Sort of?" the woman repeated, clearly not buying it.
Juno focused on scanning her drink. "Yeah, he stops by a lot."
The woman hummed in interest, leaning on the counter. "You know, there are so many rumors about that guy at Omnivale. People can't figure out what he does, why he comes and goes but nobody knows exactly what he's doing there all day. I knew he had to be interesting."
Juno scoffed. "You guys don't even know what he does?"
"Not officially," the woman said. "He's there all day. And when he's not there, he's here? Very interesting."
Juno rolled her eyes, sliding the woman's change across the counter. "Have you thought about just asking him."
The woman gave her a knowing look before grabbing her drink. "Well I'm asking you, and something tells me you know."
Juno looked over the woman's shoulder at the queue forming. "I don't work there, I work here, and right now you're blocking the line".
The woman leaned forward "Well I probably have some information you'd love to know."
Juno just shrugs "I doubt anything you say is of value to me"
The woman stands, her full height towering over Juno even from across the counter. "Well what I do know is he's Zoe Harpers secret boyfriend. They think nobody has noticed, but we see, when they're alone, she's always hugging him…. Kissing him."
Junos face betrayed her. She had suspected this herself. Hearing it still hit hard. It shouldn't matter but it did. Not because she was hoping for more, it hadn't crossed her mind, but because he couldn't tell her. He hides large parts of his life, when she bares everything to him. Something about that hurt.
A smile spread slowly across the woman's face. "Seems I knew something you didn't". The woman doesn't look back as she leaves..
Juno didn't have time to reply before the next customer stepped up, the moment passing just as quickly as it came. She disliked the idea of a 'next time'.
But even as she kept working, even as she drowned in the chaos of the rush, her mind stayed on him.
She felt silly. Had she been over-sharing? Had she misjudged him? How can you be the boyfriend of the most powerful woman on earth and not mention it… was the baby his?
—-
The rush had died down.
The last of the after-work crowd had filtered out, leaving the store in its usual late-night lull. The beeping of the register had gone silent, the hum of the fridges the only sound filling the space.
Juno leaned on the counter, propping her chin in her palm, idly tapping a pen against the surface. Normally, she enjoyed the quiet. It gave her time to sketch, to think.
But tonight, her thoughts kept circling back to him.
Ren hadn't come back.
She hadn't expected him to, not really—it wasn't like they had some set routine. He came when he came. But after seeing him earlier in the evening, after their quick exchange at the counter, a small part of her had thought—that he'd swing by again.
She wasn't sure how she felt about it now.
Or at least, she wasn't sure how comfortable she was with him now. Should she have set up boundaries? Did it matter that he's Zoe's boyfriend?
She sighed, flipping her sketchbook open. Maybe drawing would help clear her mind.
Instead, it just made her thoughts wander even more.
Because now she was thinking about the way people at Omnivale talked about him, but they wouldn't take the time to talk TO him. Maybe they were wrong?
That was weird, right? Imagine working at a stuffy office or lab, where hundreds of people work, maybe thousands, and a lot of them are talking about Ren, but none of them will just talk to him like she had..
That woman today—was she wrong??
People at Omnivale often assumed he was important without ever asking, it was always assumption, and she didn't like to assume.
Ren did have that air about him—the quiet, serious presence that made people notice him even when he wasn't trying. He wasn't loud, wasn't flashy, but somehow, that only made him stand out more.
And maybe that's why people at Omnivale assumed he was important. Because he didn't try to prove anything. He just was. He said and did things with intention regardless of the awkward undercurrent to his actions and words. Juno liked that.
And, let's be real, he was handsome.
Juno froze mid-thought, the pen slipping slightly in her fingers.
Wait.
Her brain caught up with what she had just admitted to herself, and she immediately felt heat creep up the back of her neck.
She tried to brush it off, shaking her head. It wasn't exactly a groundbreaking realization. She wasn't blind. Anyone with eyes could tell Ren was good-looking. That wasn't the issue.
The issue was her noticing it.
Like, actually noticing it. It wasn't just that he was handsome, it was that she found him.. attractive.
Juno exhaled sharply, dragging a hand down her face. "Oh my god, get it together."
She tapped her pen harder against the counter, trying to shake the thought away.
He's just a guy, she told herself. A weird, sword-carrying, trash food-eating guy who keeps showing up here and treating her like she's a person. Unlike half the Omnivale Heavy Industries staff who filter through who just see her as a sack of meat here to serve. She realized they don't really treat him like a person either. Just some interesting office mystery.
Was she jealous? She glanced at the door, half-expecting to see him walk in, as if the universe wanted to punish her for her thoughts.
But the store remained empty.
Juno tapped her pen against the page, her brows furrowing.
This is why she didn't make friends. Everything was starting to feel complicated.