Page 2 of Her Lion Lover

TWO

Lily surveyed the almost empty cafeteria. She'd finished sweeping and mopping most of it, except for the corner where two girls still sat, heedless of the fact that the cafeteria had closed.

Finally, one of the girls rose.

"I'll need another coffee if I'm going to be dancing all night at the ball," Anna said.

Elsa's eyes lit up. "Ooh, get me one, too, while you're up. Only make mine an iced coffee, with extra ice cream on top."

Lily considered telling them the soft serve machine was turned off, but decided they'd learn that for themselves soon enough. They'd probably only ignore her anyway, like they had the last two times she'd told them they were closed, and that it was time to leave. Sadly, the coffee machine stayed on all day and all night, because even at a prestigious college like Mirror Academy, some students pulled all-nighters when they'd left things to the last minute.

If these two were going to be sticking around, Lily might as well empty the mop bucket and knock off for the night. She could come in early tomorrow, before breakfast service started, and finish the job then. It wasn't like she'd be going to the ball tonight, drinking and dancing the night away.

Lily couldn't remember the last time she'd gone dancing. It must have been before her father died. She hadn't exactly been in the mood for dancing for a while back there, and by the time she'd gotten over her grief enough to consider dancing again, she hadn't had the time or energy for it.

She could dance after she graduated.

Balls were for the girls who were at the Academy to catch a rich husband, like Anna and Elsa, or their mysteriously absent bestie, Candace. They certainly weren't studying computer science with any intention to graduate or work in that industry. No, they'd both made it very clear they had only chosen that course so they could meet rich tech husbands who'd provide for them to live the life of socialites and influencers, without having to work a day in their lives.

Lily couldn't imagine living like that. She'd enrolled at Mirror Academy because of their women-only engineering program, knowing she had a job waiting for her the moment she graduated.

In the past, she'd attended the balls, but not for the same reason as Anna, Elsa or Candace. She'd gone to dance and blow off a bit of steam, enjoying herself for a few hours before she went back to school.

Since her dad had died, though, she no longer had the money to spend on ballgowns or fancy shoes. In fact, she'd had to sell all the ones she already had, to pay her tuition fees. Working in the cafeteria earned her free room and board at the Academy, plus a small salary that covered the cost of her books.

She was so close to the end...

But it wouldn't do to celebrate early. Sure, she had a night off work, as all the students would have dinner at the ball, but that didn't mean she could be lazy.

Instead, she'd be taking advantage of the cafeteria's early closing to finish off her final project. A project that was supposed to be purely theoretical, and as far as her lecturers knew, it was, but once she graduated, her plan would become reality. Well, possibly with some changes, depending on planning approval conditions, what the client wanted and any other speedbumps they encountered along the way.

If she just knew more about the power storage system...

A shrill scream jolted her out of her daydream.

Lily bolted back to the cafeteria.

"You can't just let it go like that!" Anna wailed.

"Well I don't see what else I can do. It's not like I can hold it back and I definitely can't keep it in! There's way too much for one cup!"

"Quick, let's go before someone sees!"

Lily arrived just in time to see the back of Anna's coat as they fled, leaving a trail of frosty footsteps all the way from...oh, fuck.

For the second time that afternoon, she shut down the soft serve machine. Much, much too late, as the sugary, milky mixture had overflowed the coffee cup sitting beneath the spout, before flooding the bench and forming a spreading puddle on the floor below.

Lily swore. She knew Anna and Elsa weren't exactly tech wizards, but they should have learned enough computer science to know that turning something off and on again often made it work. Of course, computers usually weren't filled with dairy or the hot sanitiser solution they used to clean the soft serve machine at the end of the day.

Normally, she'd stick a bucket under the spout when she drained the tank, to catch the frothy blue milk. There was no point doing that now. Better to fill a mop bucket with hot water and soap instead, because she had two sets of blue footprints to clean up, plus the entire flooded coffee bar, before she could clock off for the day.

Nothing good ever came from blue milk.

Lily sighed. The sooner she finished her project and graduated, the better.

THREE

Leo grinned as he greeted everyone on his way up to his office that morning, from Larry, the night security guard at the front desk, through to his personal assistant, Catrina. Everyone else had mostly smiled back or wished him a good morning, but Cat squinted at him suspiciously. "What's her name?"

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