"So?" She asks dryly as she rolls her eyes, clearly uninterested in the topic, a culinary orchestra fills in the air, the voice of people taking their orders and the giggles of teens as they clicked selfies at the next table. She takes the tiny bowl of chili paste and pushes the whole portion onto her plate, the colour of the white noodles turns red when she mixes the spicy paste, swirling it around her fork, she takes a bite and looks straight at him again, who was observing her movements.
"Aiden I...’
"Sure," she cuts him off as she chews the food in her mouth, those eyes make him gulp down his saliva.
Mike curls his lips as he looks around in awkwardness and he leans forward moving his gaze back to her "I didn't even ask you anything," he says in a low voice.
"You have no need to give me a lengthy explanation," she places the fork on the surface of the plate and clasps her hands, her elbows rested on the table. The pair of narrow black eyes never leaves him "Let's break up as you wish," she shrugs and moves back to continue her meal while he looks at her surprised, even though he expected this is how she will react.
"I know that our relationship wasn’t stable from the beginning," Aiden says after a moment of silence "I'm not blind to be unknown about your little puppy," she scoffs.
She takes a sip of water from the glass, licking her lips she passes him a glance, this time he is astonished at her statement, "All those explanation of me having no time to spend with you is just an excuse," the right corner of her lips twitch up to a smirk, her brain flashes the day of their first blind date arranged by their parents who were friends "But it's true," she chuckles and leans back. She adjusts the collar of her black shirt underneath the leather coat " I don't like wasting time on rubbish," she utters bluntly and gets back to eat. Mike stands from his seat furiously and curses under his breath but she doesn’t care.
He takes his phone from the table and steps aside not looking back at Aiden "Mike," she calls out soft, the way he liked to hear his name rolling down her tongue, he turns around immediately and faces her. His inner self expecting her to ask him for an explanation, to request him to stay, to tell him they have been good together.
"Yeah," his voice, sweet.
Aiden looks up at him "Pay the bill for your portion," her lips spread to a smile, "Goodbye," she waves at him ignoring his act of stamping on the floor. The fork gets into the rolled red spaghetti when his footsteps fade in her ears, she lets out a long sigh and gulps down the rest of the Americano.
The glass door of the restaurant opens, the chant of the crowd turns to gasps and some screams when a person drags a man with two men who are wearing masks. The crowd gathers around the door for a chance to escape, the two masked men orders them to stay threatening them with a gun.
BOOM!
The loud screams turn to gasps and muffles when the gun shot is fired in the air, people who were by the corner move to the centre, congested with no space between them. Aiden is the only person who stands there calm behind her chair, her eyes move to the left and right examining the surrounding, she crosses her arms over her chest and stays still; away from the crowd with only a group of four people beside her.
“Give me the pen drive,” the masked man who held a middle aged man in hostage orders, his eyes watching around.
“Give me the fucking pen drive, if you want your dad alive!” his rough voice is loud enough to bang on each and everyone’s ears present in the room.
“Step forward, you bastard!” the other man by his side yells, those thick eyebrows furrowed above the blood shot eyes, he grips onto the pistol tighter and lifts it pointing at a random person’s leg in the crowd, “Don’t test my patience,” his stern cold voice alerts everyone, the victim shivers while his heart pounds and he didn’t dare to make a move.
His index finger placed onto the trigger, his furious nerves anxious to pull. Just in a second before he pulls the trigger a person in the crowd steps forward, his fingers brush over his ears, he removes the mask which he was wearing, Aiden’s eyes are glued on the back of his head as he stands in front of her view, some in the crowd begin to whisper as he tosses the mask on the table, a popular idol in their view, Riley.
“I’ll hand over the pen drive only when you let him go,” Riley steps forward and puts his hand into his pocket “And everyone in here should be able to leave safely,” he states as he maintains his tone to be steady. He passes a glance to his dad who seems to be worried more than terrified, Riley blinks in assurance. He pops out the pen drive from the pocket and holds it in the air “Let him and the others go,” his words come out low yet stern.
He notices the grip around his father’s neck loosen, a smile of relief forms on his lips and shrinks the very next second. The man who released Mintz pushes him to a side and they march forward towards Riley. He gulps down the lump in his throat which rises up again, his wobbly legs step back, his sight shifts from right to left watching them. The change in scene leaves a chance for the people around to rush out, the crowded restaurant is now with few people inside.
“You sure have the gut to surrender alone,” one of the men scoffs, he jumps forward and kicks Riley’s stomach, he falls on his knees.
Riley buries the pen drive in his palm and looks up, ready to take the next hit. Mintz rushes to his son, his weak eyes welled up unable to watch him hurt “Give it to them,” he orders as he holds Riley’s arm to help him to get back to his feet.
“Take the pen drive and kill them,” one of the men commands.
The announcement startles Riley, he drags his father behind him and steps forward. Even though his inner being is intimidated by them, he covers up his fear with bravery. Before he could make his imaginary planned action, his legs stumble backwards when the foot comes in contact to his stomach once again.
“Trying to be a hero,” the guy in front of him laughs “One of us is enough to beat this kid” he keeps a step forward and stops when a loud scream gets into his ears.
Everyone’s eyes widen in surprise at the scene. One of the men laid down on the floor, one hand on his stomach and the other on his face, his nose covered. Their eyes move up to the person who cracks her knuckles, chewing onto her inner cheek. She inserts her hands into her black jacket's pockets and looks straight at them and at Riley who stares at her with his eyes widened, big as saucers, his lips apart in surprise.
 “You’ve brought a girl to help,” the man in front of Riley sneers, he leaves the other man to watch over the them and walks toward Aiden.
Aiden waits until the guy arrives to the spot she marked, she picks up a plate from the table beside her and hops forward, she throws the plate at him, the broken ceramic cuts through his skin, the half-eaten spaghetti stained over his clothes, he grits his teeth and steps forward, his hands formed into fists, his elbow hits through the air backwards and comes forward forcefully, a loud yelp leaves his lips when her ankle meets the side of his neck, his body stiffens when pain shoots through the neck making him to fall, his heavy eyelids ready to bring him darkness.
She picks a tissue from the table and wipes the sauce in her hands, her eyes fixed on the man in front of Riley, his eyes widened in astonishment. He moves his gaze from her and to Riley and Mintz. A satisfied smile sweeps across his lips as they are focused on Aiden, in a blink of an eye he snatches the pen drive from Riley’s grip and turns around to run, his feet freeze when the cops barge in.
“Thank God,” A sigh of relief leaves Riley’s lips, he passes a glance at Mintz “Take care of it, I’ll be back,” he hurries to stop Aiden “Hey, you……,” but before he could utter another word, she walks out through the kitchen back door.