"Tony!"
"Hey, Tony, co over here, quick."
Fiona waved at a man in a blue police uniform by the roadside. She was acting like a lucky cat now, her hand waving incessantly, a fake smile plastered on her face.
Tony stepped out of the patrol car. His police coat wrapped his body tightly, the collar turned up.
Walking on the morning street, he carried an air of toughness that said, "I am the order."
But the mont he saw Fiona smiling at him, regardless of what that smile ant, he seed to instantly turn into a wagging dog tail.
"Here, still hot." Fiona handed two breakfasts to Tony.
Tony looked down at the bag, then at Fiona. He seed to see the Virgin Mary descending on the South Side of Chicago.
"You—is this for ? Two?"
"You're a custor too, and the other one is for your partner." Fiona could only cough awkwardly.
But Tony's brain seed to automatically filter out so things, his tone dragging out a long note.
"Mmhmm, right, I'm your custor too~"
He added silently in his heart, "The most loyal kind."
Fiona: "—"
Fiona rolled her eyes inwardly countless tis. She wanted to turn around and run away imdiately.
But she couldn't. She had to brace herself and find topics to chat about.
"Do you usually patrol this area too?"
Tony didn't think this was awkward chat and started answering seriously: "No, actually I'm responsible for—to—of course, I just happened to be passing by now."
Fiona gave an "oh." "Then are you cold?"
As soon as she said this, she regretted it, wishing she could strangle her past self from a second ago.
Tony seed to hear the most beautiful language in the world. He imdiately puffed out his chest and secretly held his breath a little.
"Not cold, not cold at all."
Next, the two went through several such Q&As again, topics revolving around the weather and work.
Fiona's face was almost stiff from smiling, but Tony felt the gloomy morning sky was exceptionally bright today—Fiona initiated conversation with him, cared about his work, and specifically called him over!
So, no matter how awkward the chat or how la the reasons, in Tony's filtered eyes, they beca signals that Fiona was starting to rely on him and care about him.
"Hey, co on, man!" A bearded man queuing behind Tony finally couldn't hold back.
He raised his hand and pointed at his watch. "If you want to pick her up, can you wait until she closes the stall? My stomach is starving flat, and I'm almost late for work!"
The bearded man's words drew chuckles and agreent from people queuing behind.
Fiona felt even more awkward. Tony coughed, but he subconsciously straightened his back to the utmost.
"Alright, I'm going back to patrol."
Tony took a step back, but his gaze was still fixed on Fiona.
"Ahem... Fiona, are you free this noon? I know a new place, their vegetable salad is very good. Maybe we can have lunch together."
Saying this, his eyes were full of expectation.
Fiona's expression froze on her face. She started glancing sideways at Lip next to her.
Lip was bending over to help a custor get coffee. Hearing Tony's words, he imdiately looked up, putting on a face of extre regret: "Oh, this noon? That's too unfortunate... Fiona, did you forget? We have to go restock at noon. That boss is only free at noon, right, Fiona?"
He deliberately emphasized a few words.
"Right, right, right." Fiona nodded imdiately, while looking back at Tony.
"Tony, I'm really sorry, this noon really won't work."
Fiona was afraid Tony would set another ti, so this ti she spoke first.
"That—next ti, definitely next ti. I'll find you to set a ti then, okay?" She gave Tony an empty check.
Disappointnt flashed across Tony's face, but the words "definitely next ti" and "I'll find you" instantly ignited his hope.
"OK, it's a deal." Tony showed a sunny big boy smile.
"I'll wait for your news. Find anyti if you need anything!"
Carrying the burger, he turned and walked towards the conspicuous police car at the street corner, exuding a revitalized energy.
When Tony opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat, his partner rolled his eyes almost to the sky.
"Shit, Tony, what the hell is wrong with you?" His partner said while starting the car.
"She's obviously using you, using your uniform as a talisman for her small stall. Can't you see? Those people in line, and those vendors nearby, their eyes were all staring."
Tony was silent for a while. Just when his partner thought Tony had suddenly enlightened...
"Brother, you don't understand anything."
"Huh? I don't understand anything? Don't understand how you're being played around by this Gallagher girl?"
"No no no," Tony shook his head. "Using? If she didn't have in her heart at all, she wouldn't even think of using . So many people in the South Side, why did she call ?"
His partner opened his mouth, feeling he was persuading a fool, a pure fool.
Tony seed not to notice his expression, still outputting his love philosophy: "This shows that when Fiona encounters trouble, the first person she thinks of is . This shows I'm special to her. This is a start, do you understand? I feel like I'm going to succeed!"
His partner looked at him for two seconds, finally spitting out one sentence: "You really are a fcking pure-hearted police dog."
After speaking, he couldn't be bothered with the lovesick Tony anymore, driving the police car towards their patrol area.
As the police car gradually disappeared at the street corner, diagonally opposite Fiona's breakfast stall, at the location with the best position at the subway entrance, an old stall owner nicknad "Big Mouth Ray" spat fiercely.
"Fck!"
This Big Mouth Ray was considered the most senior stall owner on this street.
Before Fiona and Shane ca, his double patty juicy hot dog was the sales king of breakfast stalls on this street.
But for more than a week, his business had dropped by at least 30%.
The hooligan who went to find trouble with Fiona yesterday was sent by him to test the waters.
Originally thinking that since the Asian kid who looked like he could fight wasn't there, he could scare this woman and the new student kid. Maybe he could drive them away, or at least get so benefits from them.
Unexpectedly—
"Fck, no wonder they dare to be so arrogant, turns out they know cops."
"Knowing cops shouldn't be a big deal, right? Those cops can't co every day; they have to patrol," a small hot dog vendor next to him said.
"You know shit," Big Mouth Ray stared at Fiona and Lip.
"That cop doesn't need to co every day. If he cos two or three tis a week, stands in front of your stall in that skin for a few minutes, asks so nonsense, checks this and that, do you think custors would still dare to co over? They'd fcking run faster than rabbits!"
Several neighboring vendors exchanged glances, seeing the sa helplessness in each other's eyes. Their business had also decreased because of Shane's stall.
"Then what can we do? Report them for setting up a stall without a license?"
"Report? Are you an idiot? Once reported, the dog noses of those bullshit departnts will all fcking sll their way here. By then, every single one on this street, don't even think about opening here."
Silence.
Finally, Big Mouth Ray sighed, "Damn, earning so money is better than earning no money. That's all we can do. Or wait for them to make so mistake themselves, and we'll give them a push."
He temporarily accepted it.
Survival on the streets is sotis that simple and direct. Whoever has a "harder" background stands firr.
On the other street, not until the police car completely disappeared at the intersection did Fiona finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Taking advantage of the gap with no custors, Lip handed her a cup of water and asked, "How on earth did you call Tony over?"
Given Fiona's attitude of avoiding Tony whenever possible, getting Tony to co here voluntarily... he dared not imagine what reason Fiona used.
User Comments
0 comments from readers