Page 4 of Her Former Bear Mate

And Aditi had been a sucker for Lena's intense looks from the first day they met.

She quickly looked away when Lena turned back around, unsure what the protocol was for when they ran into each other like this.Despite working two blocks away from each other and running in the same friend circles, there had been surprisingly few unplanned meet-cutes.

She suspected it was good planning and deliberate avoidance on both their parts.

Lena paused a few steps away, much further away than Aditi was used to."Didn't expect to run into you this early."

"Early shift," Aditi clarified, as if that wasn't obvious from her attire."What about you?All-nighter?"

"Mhmm," Lena responded, simply nodding.She looked around a little before turning her attention back to Aditi, like she realised there was nothing else to distract her but the ceiling."I didn't realise you still came here."

"I don’t, really.This is my first time since… in a while," Aditi said, not wanting to bring up the breakup.Lena would know what she meant anyway.

Lena hummed.“Hah.Same.Funny that.”

“Yeah, it’s almost like it’s—” she really did swallow that last part of her sentence.The last thing she needed to bring up between them wasfate.Blasted fate, the very thing that broke them apart.

Lena narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything.Instead, she ran her hand through her short dark-blonde hair to push it off of her forehead.It was a casual gesture, but it drew attention to her jaw and her nice strong hands.

Aditi quickly looked away.The last thing she should be doing was checking out her ex.

She swallowed hard."So how've you been?"

"Fine.You?"Lena replied, although she didn't actually sound interested in the answer.It was more like a polite response.

"Yeah, fine too," Aditi replied.And to think they used to stay up talking for hours until late into the night.It was a sad reminder of what she lost.

"That's good to hear," Lena said in her cool customer voice.

Aditi wished she didn't know Lena well enough to recognise it for what it was and glanced over to the counter, wondering what was taking Renata so long.She considered just leaving and forsaking her coffee but she needed it to survive her shift.And it would make it so obvious that she was fleeing and if there was one thing Aditi didn't do, it was flee.

She faced Lena, boldly looking up into her eyes."It's Alix's birthday soon.Did she talk to you about it?"

For a moment, Lena looked surprised."She did.I ran into her not that long ago.She practically begged me to go.”

“And you’re coming even though it’s at my mother’s house?”

Judging from the expression on Lena’s face, she wasn’t aware of this yet.“It’s at your mother’s?”

“Mhmm.Alix didn’t tell you?”

“Nope, she just said to come to hers and we’d go together.”Lena shook her head.“That little shit.”

Worry stirred in Aditi’s gut.“It’s not a problem that it’s at my mother’s house, is it?”

“Well, I don’tloveit but Alix’s birthday is only once a year.Luckily.”

“She did remind me that we need to be on our best behaviour because she's determined to stay friends with both of us,” Aditi voiced, used by now to the twinge of guilt in her stomach whenever she remembered that their break-up had put their mutual friends in an awkward position.

Lena just shrugged."Tell her it's fine.We're both adults, we can be at the same party for an evening, can't we?"

"Right."Aditi gulped, wishing she could be as aloof and casual about their break-up.It was still fresh in her mind, and heart, proven by the fact that it was aching just from this short interaction with Lena.

She was fairly sure she was the only one affected too, judging from Lena's slack shoulders and neutral expression.

Then again, Lena always had been much better at hiding her nerves and emotions.

There was relief when Renata called her name and she got up to pay, moving past Lena without looking at her.She went up to the counter where Renata pushed two paper cups towards her.

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