I stormed out of the back door of the restaurant and sat on the steps. It was still dark despite the lamp post hovering above my head.

'Damn people these days!'
I cursed and took off my apron. The chefs had critisized me of messing up the special soup but I was told to put salt in.

Salt! They could fix it with a snap of their fingers but they critisize me nonetheless?

Everyday is like this, blame everything on me! I buried my face in my palms and I decided to take out my box of cigarettes from my pocket.

I placed one between my lips and searched for my lighter.

Once I had it in my hands, a short haired girl with wrinkled clothes took the cigarette away from my lips, put it between her lips instead and snatched the lighter.

She sat beside me and lit the cigarette. It took me a moment before I was going to curse at her but she faced me and I could notice her red eyes and tear stained cheeks.

'Will you forgive me for stealing your cigarette this once?'
She said in a broken voice.

I softened and nodded although at the back of my head, I guranteed that we won't meet again.

I didn't want to ask her anything about it or comfort her. It seemed like having her own puff of smoke was the only source of comfort.

So I just watched her silently. She coughed way too often while smoking so I had to make sure she was okay.

'Hey, you alright? You're coughing. A lot.'
She smiled bitterly and looked at me again.
'This is my first time.'

My eyes widened.
'O-Oh. Okay, be careful then. Just... inhale slowly and take a moment before inhaling again. I noticed you, um, smoke really fast so...'

This time she smiled without sadness.
'Thank you for the tip.'
'No problem.'
She still had a long way before finishing the cigarette. I looked around awkwardly and thought my breathing was too loud which made it more awkward. Unexpectedly, she breaks the silence.

'Why are you still sitting here or not smoking? Didn't you want to smoke?'

I blinked at her. I looked back ahead.
'I can't leave a woman alone in the dark and when it's already late. I'm doing you a favor,'

She smiled at me again. Now that I looked at her properly, she had an attractive gaze. She wasn't even that pretty but her eyes were definitely something.

'And about the smoking... it won't hurt to do it later.'
She hummed.

Then she looked at my apron that layed on my lap.
'Do you work here?'

'Yeah but it's .'
She laughed and took a long inhale of the cigarette.
'Life is .'

I laughed as well and looked at her as she was looking at me too.
'You have a lot of questions don't you?'
She said with a small smile. I smiled back.

'Yes, I do.'
She took her last inhale of the cigarette and gave it to me. I raised my eyebrows.
'How do you, uh...'
I chuckled and took the cigarette from her.
'Like this.'

I pressed the tip of the cigarette onto one of the steps until it bent and went out of light.
She hummed again. I assumed that it was a habit.

'Are you going to smoke again? Not forcing you or anything but you shouldn't smoke. It breaks your image.' I hesitantly spoke.
'Then so should you.'

I was quite taken aback from her retort. I was searching any signs of joking on her face but she looked serious.

We stayed like that for a while until she stood up. I stood up as well.
'Thank you for everything... If it wasn't for you I would've jumped off a cliff by now.'

Before I could answer she pulled me into a desperate hug. I was frozen but I melted into the moment and hugged her back. I patted her in a rhythm and closed my eyes. I lost track of time but that hug lasted at least  5 minutes I thought.

When she felt like it was enough for her, she pulled away and smiled brightly. Just like that she turned around and went to wherever she was going.

I don't what took over me but I stopped smoking for the whole week.

And the most hurtful thing was, I didn't even know her name.