complete picture. ( stephanie & yuna )
Stephanie had no idea how a jigsaw had managed to land in front of her, but work had been unnaturally slow that evening, and anything to pass the time was welcome. She was on another fifteen-minute break, as per her manager’s instruction, but kept her apron tied around her waist, in case a new customer entered Comma. With so few customers — a strange feat, considering the weather — the other waitress had taken their manager’s offer of an early clock-off, but with nothing else to do at home, Stephanie had chosen to finish off her shift.
The jigsaw was about the width of the table she sat at, and while she had expected it would take a while to complete a 500-piece puzzle, she was nearing the end of her break with only three pieces left. She took a sip of her coffee (gotta love them employee perks!) and place the few remaining pieces in their rightful spot. Childish as it was, Stephanie still found herself smiling at the tiny accomplishment, standing up, ready to stand behind the counter. Surely ending her break a minute or two earlier wouldn’t get her into trouble, would it?
Picking up her mug to finish the last of her coffee, Stephanie spotted the gaping hole in the lower right corner of the jigsaw. Her eyebrows perked up, then furrowed in confusion, knowing she had finished the puzzle just a moment ago. She checked the rest of the table, and the floor beneath, even lifting the box over her head with a shake in case she really had missed a piece. Slightly dejected, she took a seat again, eyes glued to the puzzle, in search of an abnormal bump where the stray piece may just be hiding under. It’s just a jigsaw, she reminded herself, but the gap looked so out-of-place, it was nearly impossible to ignore.
"Excuse me," she said, leaning over to the customer at the closest table. "You wouldn’t happen to have seen a stray puzzle piece anywhere, would you?"
Yuna had meant to go straight home after work, like she normally does. The problem was the weather--she hadn't even walked a block away from work when the snow had started to fall. It was pretty enough, especially in the middle of the night, but Yuna didn't have the energy to deal with it; hopefully, she had thought, it would stop soon enough. With this in mind, she had ducked inside the nearest establishment--appropriately enough a cafe, lucky as well as the scent of coffee was one of the few strong smells that didn't make Yuna want to gag and throw up.
She quietly bides her time, sipping on a cup of hot tea while staring out the window, just waiting until the snow lets up, when she realises that the girl from the next table seems to be trying to catch her attention. "Hm?" She looks over to see what's needed for her; she immediately notices the spread on the table--a complete jigsaw puzzle, and it makes her smile because it takes her back to Christmas mornings with her little sister. There was a string of Christmases when they'd gotten nothing but puzzles from a close Aunt--to stimulate their minds, they've been told.
It's not until the stranger poses their question that Yuna notices the missing piece fom the corner of the otherwise complete picture. "Oh!" She immediately pulls out from her chair, if only so she can peer under the table or by her feet. "It's not here--" She starts to say, when she suddenly notices a small pice of cardboard stuck under the leg of the empty chair from across her. "Oh, wait," She says, crouching down so she can reach for it.
