Elara felt very guilty for the kind of thoughts she had been having about Benedict, which had become even more invasive since he had given her a ride home a month ago.

It did not help either that since then, she felt she had coincidentally found herself in more positions requiring her to interact with him.

Not that she was complaining.

For instance, recently most of her shifts when she had a break, would be when Ben was coincidentally also in the breakroom or on a break.

She noticed most of her days working aligned with when he also would be working. He also started checking in on her far more than he used to and he complimented her frequently.

In all honesty, Elara was not sure if it was just a coincidence or if perhaps he was indeed interested in her, but regardless she loved it.

However, he was still her manager, and she frequently heavily debated upon how wrong it was for her to think of him the way she did, to yearn to see him again as much as she did, or to even try going out of her way more for his attention.

This included coming in to work earlier consistently, improving the speed of scanning groceries, and even putting her hair up more or wearing jewelry to work more often.

It was a nice distraction from her mother's death. Not that she mourned her at all, rather, Elara was relieved the awful woman was gone. But it was a distraction from the guilt she felt at having such thoughts. She was still her mother, after all.

Even her coworkers had begun to pick up on the change.

“You’ve definitely been a lot more upbeat lately,” commented Thomas as he emptied the trash bin behind Elara’s register.

“Oh, yeah, I guess so.” Elara nervously toyed with her bracelet.

It had been much slower today than it usually was, and for the first time since Elara started at Living Bread, there was no line of customers at her register.

Though, this may have been in part due to the terrible weather as it had also been pouring rain with heavy thunder all day.

“Well, look. I don’t mean to pry, but there have been like, some rumors and whatnot.” Thomas mentioned.

“Rumors?” Elara asked concerned, she was not the most social, and especially at work really only spoke to Ben aside from the expected “how are you, I’m good, and you” conversations she had with those she directly interacted with at work.

Elara had not even been aware of any rumors going around and was not sure if it was a good thing to be a part of any rumors floating around work.

“Are you and Ben dating? I won’t tell anyone and I know it’s not my business, but with how close y’all have seen more recently and you’ve both seemed a bit happier, people have been talking about it.” Thomas explained nervously.

He knew Elara mostly kept to herself, and he rather liked her and had no intentions of crossing any boundaries with her or causing her to feel uncomfortable.

He was however rather curious himself as to her relationship with Ben.

Immediately Elara felt her face heat up and knew it must’ve been bright red. She felt both very embarrassed and ashamed.

Though she had not explicitly thought it until now, she would not at all mind being in a relationship with him.

However, she was not very certain such thoughts were acceptable or such a relationship would even be allowed. Could she lose her job over her feelings for him?

Not to mention, though she felt excited at the thought that someone like him, who she found herself looking up to as much as she admired him, would be interested in her.

Realistically however she concluded he was likely just trying to be more friendly towards her, perhaps he wanted her to feel more socially included at work.

It would of course be improper and unprofessional for a manager to have feelings towards one of his employees anyway, Elara thought disappointedly.

Right as she was about to deny the rumors of them dating, Benedict came up behind her.

“What’s got your face so red, Elara?” He asked, placing a hand on her shoulder, finding her obvious embarrassment to be rather amusing.

Thomas looked between the two of them and immediately concluded to himself that there was most definitely something going on between the two of them.

Thomas thought of ways he could respond but ultimately was not sure he wanted to directly ask Benedict, his manager, if he was dating his fellow associate Elara and he didn’t wish to cause her further embarrassment.

Meanwhile, Elara also struggled to answer.

“H-he just asked a question.” Elara stumbled over her words, not wanting to give away what was asked.

“I’m uh gonna go finish with the trash,” He said awkwardly as he pushed his cart filled with trash bags away.

“Just a simple question made your face that red? Elara, you look like a tomato.” Ben said, trying to restrain from laughing.

He of course already knew what was asked, and had already been aware of the rumors circulating amongst the other employees.

He very much wanted it to be the case, and knew she likely did too given her reaction to Thomas’ question, however, he also knew he needed to remain more cautious.

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He had yet to tell his family of her and was not sure how his brother-in-law would react to his interest in the girl.

Especially considering the circumstances surrounding her hire.

In response to Ben’s further questioning and comment on the redness of her face, Elara felt even more embarrassed. “He uh, I didn’t realize I was s-so red. He just, he uh asked about a rumor” Elara tried to explain, unsure how to though.

If she admitted directly what Thomas had asked, given her facial redness, she was certain he would suspect her feelings towards him if he didn’t already.

Not to mention, she worried that given the rumors, the increase in friendly attention he’d been giving her could diminish which was something she also dreaded.

If he suspected she liked him and he did not reciprocate her feelings, he may even stop talking to her altogether, not to mention Elara worried she could potentially get in trouble for having feelings for him.

“Let me guess, he asked if we were dating?” Ben asked, raising an eyebrow and showing off his signature smile.

Elara couldn’t help but admire the lack of symmetry of it, his dimples, and the way the left corner of his mouth went slightly higher up than the right, she found it mesmerizing and also distracting.

“Well, um, yeah that was what he asked,” Elara said, playing with her bracelet more aggressively than before and trying to avoid looking into Ben’s beautiful blue-hazel eyes with long lashes.

“What did you say?” Ben asked. He knew they were not officially dating, but he was certain she liked him.

He could just ask her out normally which he had envisioned doing so many times, but on the other hand, he wanted her to admit to liking him or being interested in him first. He didn’t know exactly why, but in a way, it felt more satisfying.

“Well, I um, didn’t respond,” Elara stated, staring intensely at his shoes, admiring the cleanliness of them, despite knowing he wore them every day and that they were definitely quite worn.

She wondered briefly how he kept them in such good condition, or if perhaps he simply had a very expensive pair of shoes that kept up better than the average shoe.

“Well, how would you like to respond to it?” He asked as he gently held her chin up to face him, enjoying the visible embarrassment Elara was experiencing.

Though already red in the face, Elara could feel it somehow worsening at this.

She wanted to answer yes, and part of her figured if he was flat-out not interested in her he would have just left it alone.

Plus surely, grabbing her chin was not something most managers do towards their employees.

However, she worried if she was reading him wrong.

Elara felt she had too much at stake to answer too boldly, and thus settled on turning the question back on him.

“Well, um, how would you?” she asked, trying to avoid staring directly into his eyes.

Deciding he had messed with her enough, Ben confidently responded admiring her light-brown eyes and beautiful complexion “I’d say yes, assuming you feel the same.”

Elara’s grin spread uncontrollably before she could stop it, but then doubt crept in.

Did she hear him right? Could this be real?

“Y-yes? We can… date?” Elara asked, her voice barely a whisper.

If he was okay with it, surely she wouldn’t get in trouble, right?

But what if she’d misheard him or—worse—he was just teasing her?

Did she even deserve this?

Her mother, if still alive, would’ve said she didn’t, or that if she did it was because he was using her.

“Of course,” Ben replied smoothly, fighting the urge to kiss her right there.

His heart pounded, but reality snapped him back—this wasn’t a movie, and they were still on the clock. He knew even being interested in her at all, was already plenty risky. Dating her even more so.

Ben watched her fidget nervously, feeling a knot of guilt tighten in his chest. He had no right to feel this way about her, especially knowing what the next few months held. But every time he saw her smile, his resolve wavered just a little more.

He would find a way to balance it—he had to. The Cena Sacra would go forward, just as it always had. But Elara… well, he wasn’t ready to let her go.

Not yet.

Heart racing, Elara found herself grinning ear to ear and without thinking wrapped her arms tightly around Ben excitedly. She had imagined this moment for so long, but it still felt unreal.

Ben wanted her, too—she hadn’t misread him.

Relief flooded through her, she regretted having second-guessed his intentions so much. It was really happening. Fuck her dead mother, she did deserve this.

For Elara, this by far, was probably the best day of her life.

“Elara! Good to see you. I need a word with you.” The deep voice cut through the moment like a cold wind, halting their newfound closeness.

Ben’s hand instinctively tightened around Elara, irritation flaring at the interruption. He turned, his heart sinking at the sight of the store director—Levi, his brother-in-law.

Levi, with his slight paunch, thinning blonde hair, and ever-present small brown glasses perched over sharp green eyes, rarely stayed past 6 p.m. Yet, of all days, he had chosen tonight to linger.

Ben stifled a groan. Of course, it had to be Levi. And of course, he had to witness this. His confession, the one thing he hadn’t yet explained to Levi, interrupted before he could sway his opinion of Elara.

Ben’s brows drew together, anxiety creeping in. What if Levi was about to write her up? The thought gnawed at him, and before he could stop himself, Ben spoke up, his voice edged with desperation.

“Can’t this wait? She was just about to go on break. She’s… not feeling well today. I was checking in on her.”

Levi’s brow arched. Elara had looked fine moments ago. His gaze sharpened on the way they stood so close, the redness in her cheeks, the awkward fiddling with her bracelet. It hit him like a punch to the gut—Ben was in far deeper than he’d realized.

There wasn’t much time before the Cena Sacra, but maybe… maybe he could protect Ben from this. He wasn’t going to lose him over a girl, not when there were other options. Levi would help Ben navigate this, even if it meant bending the rules they’d sworn to follow.

“It’s ok Ben, I don’t mind speaking with him before my break.” Elara said, unsure if she was in trouble or not, but figuring if she was she’d rather get it over with now than later. Ben furrowed his brow worried for what Levi wanted.

He begrudgingly nodded as he watched Elara walk away with Levi. He guiltily noted that he quite liked her rear-end in the jeans she wore, and felt his face heat up at the sinful thought.

Fortunately for Ben, given the rain having recently turned more into a sprinkle, there was now a line of customers forming at the register, distracting him from his thoughts.