Unlocking the doors and walking in was such a surreal experience. The memories this place holds are in stark contrast to the now-empty lonely looking space. When Sofia turns the lights on she can see dust is already starting to settle on every surface. The display case has stale cookies, cakes, and pastries of all kinds showing what a sudden and unexpected event yéyé's death was.

Digging around for a bit, Sofia finds a clean rag and heads to the back where the baking room is, and cleans off one of the stainless steel work tables, bringing a stool over to eat her lunch. While she eats she looks around and mentally survey things. The first task will have to be cleaning and throwing out anything that has gone bad. Setting up a plan of action in her head helps to keep her focused and grounded but after a while, the silence becomes too much and she turns on the old radio in the corner.

Inside is an old cassette mixtape of some of her grandfather's favorite songs. The first one up is a Beach Boys song and her mood lifts instantly. Putting aside her leftovers, Sofie starts on the task at hand. Without even realizing it about fifteen minutes and a few good songs in she starts to sing and dance around while getting the place looking clean and vibrant once again.

A few hours into cleaning, she is kneeling on the floor scrubbing the inside of one of the ovens belting out Cat Stevens 'If you want to sing out, sing out' In the loudest most off-key way possible when she hears clapping behind her and automatically goes to lift her head. Unfortunately, she just ends up banging the back of it against the top of the oven.

Rubbing her aching head she takes the smarter route, backing out before turning and looking up. Sofia can feel the vein on her temple pulse as she looks at a smirking Cassius Moreau watching her kneeling form while she cradles her head. In a huff, she stands, walking to the nearest mirror to make sure her head is fine then turning to her unwelcome guest with crossed arms. Her annoyance at his unexpected appearance meshes with her embarrassment and effectively tamps down on the warmth she had felt for the man who took care of her on the worst night of her life.

"You doing alright there, darlin'?" If anyone has ever wondered whether you can be annoyed at someone and check them out at the same time, the answer is yes. In fact, it somehow adds to her annoyance. "I'm not as fine as I was about five minutes ago when decided to walk in uninvited."

It is then that she realizes that the radio is still on and she is having to yell over it. Honestly, could she be an even bigger dork? For some reason every encounter they have resulted in her looking like an idiot. Trying to hide her reddening cheeks, Sofia shuts the radio off and turns back just in time to catch Cassius looking her over.

"I wouldn't have been able to if the door wasn't unlocked. Even in a small town it's not smart to be alone at night with the doors unlocked". Cassius knows he could have gotten in, locked door or not, but he felt the need to make a point. With the threat of the rogue hunters still ongoing, he needs her to be careful and observant. Cassius wishes he could be there to protect her at every moment but it would be impossible to do so when he has duties to see to.

Sofia raises her eyebrow at him and rolls her eyes "It's gotta be like, what, 4 pm maybe? I'd hardly call that night time" she snarks back. The moment that smirk comes into view though, she knows she's said something stupid. Her eyes follow him as he approaches until he is standing in front of her. Cassius is so close that a single step would bring them flush up against each other and she has to ignore the way it makes her heart flutter.

In an attempt to cover up the effect of his proximity Sofia goes to protest. Before she can utter a single word, Cass places his hands on her hips and swiftly turns her around, and lifts one of his hands to point at the clock on the wall that is clearly indicating that it's nearly a quarter after 9 pm. The heat that had been diminishing from her cheeks now rises and it is only made worse when Cassius leans down, his chin nearly resting on her shoulder "Looks like it is just a tad after 4, doesn't it?"

Sofia can hear the amusement in his voice and if she didn't think she could blush anymore she was wrong. Pulling his hands off of her, she walks off to grab the dirty cleaning rags and puts them in a pile just to make herself look busy. "Well, I guess it's later than I thought but as you can see I am perfectly okay so you can feel free to show yourself out".

Sparing him a glance, Sofia then looks down at her hands tying up the various full bags of discarded sweets and trash. A part of her wants him to stay. It is the same part that feels an irresistible pull to Cassius any time the man is near. The larger part that feels unbalanced and still too vulnerable to deal with the confusing emotions his presence brings up, hopes he took that as his cue to leave but knows better because she would've heard him walk out.

When Sofia reaches out to grab two of the bags, Cassius is there taking them out of her hands. Before she can start protesting he is out the door then back for the rest. "It is simply how I was raised, love. This is one fight you are not going to win so I saved us both the time." Again, she goes to argue that she can handle it but he's out taking the trash before she gets a chance and she has the sudden urge to throw something at his stupidly handsome face. Why does he affect her so much? She wants him close but something about him also just puts her on edge and it is making her feel crazy.

When Cassius walks back in, Sofia had managed to calm herself down and grabbed her keys and bag then shut off the back lights. There is an indiscernible look in his eyes and Sofia has to look away before she gets lost in them. She reaches to turn the front lights off so they can walk out and close up the bakery but Cass comes up and does it for her despite her finger already being on the switch.

Sofia makes her way towards her car but is stopped when a strong hand grabs her softly. "Come on," Cassius says with a tilt of his head towards his coupe. He starts walking expecting her to follow but Sofia stands there conflicted and he looks up with questioning eyes.

"Look. I appreciate you being there for me at the hospital and then finding me at the cemetery but, I barely know you and that's how you ask me to go somewhere? What the hell? Just because you have a pretty face doesn't mean I'll follow you anywhere" she mumbles the last part and hopes it was too quiet for him to hear.

Sometime during her rant, Cassius leaned against his coupe with his arms crossed and a look close to amusement. Silence follows and Sofia stands there waiting for him to say something until she just walks around him to get to her car. She is almost past Cass when she feels him grab her hand and gently pulls her back. "Come on Sofie, let's grab something to eat. Consider it an apology."

The temptation to say yes is real. There is something enigmatic about the man and she wants to know more, to see which of the sides he has shown are the real him. Besides, she could use a nice distraction from the heavy emotions of the last week and it sounds much more appealing than eating dinner alone. With that being said, it also terrifies her. This need to be around the gorgeous man makes her nervous and she freaks out without meaning to.

Sofia is ready to just say screw it and accept the invitation but then she sees that overconfident look in his eyes and knows he expects her to say yes because she very much doubts any girl has ever said no to him. So that's exactly what she does. Is it rational? No, probably not.

Leaning in close as if she was going in for a kiss Sofia turns her head at the last second, whispering in his ear "Not interested", then pulls away and saunters over to her car but not before catching the surprised look on his face. It quickly morphs into something more mischievous and possibly...pleased? That can't be right. Driving off she looks in the rear mirror and knows that she'll be seeing much more of Cassius Moreau. Only time will tell whether that's a good or bad thing.