Work Text:
Today was rather a busy day. If you were to ask Rosa, she would say that it was an incredibly tiring day. The law firm had been quite busy recently with case after case, commission after commission. With work constantly piling up, everyone was understandably exhausted. The overload of work had been going on for weeks, it felt like forever to her.
With how Rosa was as a person, similiarly to her work partner, Artem Wing, she buried herself in her work and her communication with others had steadily been decreasing. No one could get a hold of her, even Artem could barely talk to her due to his own pile of work as well. Out of worry, both Celestine and Artem had given her a few days off to prevent her from further overstressing herself. Luke was out of Stellis with missions, and Marius had been busy with meetings at PAX, Artem could only ask a certain psychiatrist to help with his work partner.
——
"Good afternoon, mademoiselle. Thank you for agreeing to accompany me."
Vyn smiled as he saw Rosa walking towards a table he was currently sitting at. The two were at a small cafe, one that Vyn was fond of going and thought it could help Rosa with its known calmness. Though, it seemed that it did not give the same effect to the rookie attorney. As she sat down, Vyn could see her distress. Her hair was slightly messy, as if she had not been styling it like she usually would, her hands holding one another, her fingers fidgeting at her nails, skin, her eyes looking at another direction, not even daring to look at him.
"Rosa?"
His call fell on deaf ears as she continued to stare at something else. Vyn followed Rosa's gaze to a news broadcast from a mounted television in the cafe, explaining a recent case that Vyn had recognised to be a case Rosa had been commissioned to work on. When he looked back at her, she was visibly shaking, her breathing uneven and heavy, as if she was gasping for air and simultaneously trying to hide the fact that she cannot breathe.
Without wasting any more time, he stood up from his seat and walked over to Rosa, kneeling down so his gaze would be alined with hers, effectively causing her to look at him for the first time since they came to the cafe.
"Rosa, can you hear me? Is it alright for me to touch you?"
She stared at him for awhile before nodding, tears were slowly forming from her eyes as she started to choke on air, doing her best to not make too much noise so the customers in the cafe would start to look at them. Their seat was at the corner of the cafe, it was rather secluded and the cafe was not filled to the brim with customers as people would still be working at this hour.
"You don't have to say anything, everything will be okay. I'm here. I need you to not worry about your work right now, alright?"
Tears started to roll down her cheeks as she could not contain them any longer.
"Dr. Richter I...I'm....worried.."
"I know, Rosa. But I need you to focus on me right now. Okay? I don't want you to focus about anything else. I'm here. Take deep breaths. Do you know where we are right now?"
Rosa stopped at the sudden question before slowly answering, her voice soft and shaken.
"We're...at a cafe..."
Vyn smiled softly, his hand resting on top of hers before squeezing them softly, spreading the feeling of warmth and comfort to her.
"You're right, we're in a cafe. Who invited you to this cafe?"
"You.." she answered after taking a deep breath.
"Good, what is my name?"
"..."
"Rosa, breathe. It's okay."
"Vyn.."
He smiled again, using his thumb to rub the back of Rosa's hand, reassuring her that she was safe with him.
"You're doing really well, Rosa. Everything's going to be okay. I'm here. I won't leave, I'm right here by your side, I'll protect you."
The comforting words that came out of his mouth caused tears to roll down Rosa's face even more. She slightly leaned towards Vyn as she tried to open her arms. His smile grew softer before sitting next to her and embraced her, rubbing her back. That was what caused her to finally break as she started sobbing into his shoulders, hugging him tighter.
"I'm so so sorry...I'm ruining your outfit, I'm so sorry..."
"It's okay, no need to worry about that. Let them all out, you've been through enough stress already."
Vyn lifted her up and put her in his lap before continuing to comfort her, rubbing circles on her back and giving her comforting and reassuring words.
"Did I offend you by doing this? Do you want me to put you down?"
His question caused Rosa to hug him tightly again, burying her face into his neck as she shook her head aggressively, refusing to let go. Her response made him chuckle a little, before petting her hair softly.
After awhile being in the same position, Rosa finally lifted her head away from Vyn's neck, sniffling and rubbing on her eyes from how irritated they were after crying. Vyn looked at her with such care, causing Rosa to avert her eyes away from him blushing.
"Why are you looking away again? Are you looking for the news broadcast again?"
"No no! I wasn't! I.. thank you...dr. Richter. I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble."
Vyn chuckled before putting his hand on her cheek, wiping away the tears in the corner of her left eye.
"Nonsense. You are never a bother to me, Rosa. In fact, I wish you can put your faith and trust in me to help you through these situations. You had a panic attack, those are very traumatic to go through. Please, never think that you are a bother for needing my help, I will do anything to help you, mademoiselle."
"...."
Rosa could not help but to smile at Vyn's thoughtful words. She closed her eyes and leaned into his touch, startling Vyn for a split second before his warm smile returned.
"ahem..."
An awkward cough could be heard next to them.
"Am I....interrupting something?"
the two looked to their side to see the waiter of the cafe awkwardly staring at them. It was then that Rosa realised, she was in Vyn's lap with red puffy eyes.
"S— Sorry!!!"
Rosa quickly apologised as she removed herself from his lap. Vyn simply closed his eyes and sighed.
"We are so sorry! Uhm...how long were you there, exactly?"
Rosa asked with caution. The waiter tugged on the collar of his uniform as he held the pad in his hand close to his body before answering.
"Not that long....you two...didn't seem to notice I was here..."
"!!!"
Rosa sat at her seat mortified before putting her face in her hands in embarrassment. This was going to be a long afternoon...