Chapter 1: Rose Coffee Shop

A calm breeze blows down a clean but slightly wet street, bringing with it a fresh but somewhat melancholy feeling to those who stand in its way. It is the end of September, and in the northern half of the planet, it means the start of fall and the sad loss of warm weather.

“Tick, tick, tick, tick…”

The rhythmic sound of a woman’s high-heeled shoes touching the wet ground in the darkness of the night with calm and unhurried steps gives the empty and calm street a relaxing and soothing feeling. It’s especially calming when the owner of the steps passes by street lamps and her shadow becomes smaller or bigger, rushing to pass her but suddenly falling behind.

The woman walks slowly and calmly as if the entire world is just a TV show and she is just passing in front of it. This gives people a feeling of isolation and being driven away by the owner of the shoe sounds. “She is someone with a story.” That’s what passersby would think in their hearts, but the person in question didn’t care about it at all. She was even in the mood to watch her step so as not to step on the line between the side road tiles.

The breeze suddenly stops its cold hands from crossing the woman’s red cheeks. As if instinctive, the woman raises her head to check the breeze, and the warm red and yellow lights in front of her bring her back to reality from the curtain of detachment that she had drawn around herself. Being curious about the warm atmosphere radiating from the shop in front of her to the calm and still street, she takes a few steps to the side to better see the shop front.

It was a coffee shop with a big glass front that was misty and slightly wet from the recent rainfall as well as the temperature difference between the sides of the glasses. There were several big and small flower pots on the ground or hung in front of the store. They were of many types, but the few red roses were the most noticeable ones. The woman’s gaze stopped on the slightly blushed red rose for a long time. It was as if she was trying to hear the rose’s proud voice boasting of its beauty.

“Drip… drip… drip, drip, drip, drip drip drip.”

The sodden sound of rain starting to pour down awakened her from her deep focus. She hurriedly raised her head to peek at the big red neon sign above the shop to see what shop it was, so she could feed her curiosity and run back home before she became a drenched rat. But what she saw made her change her plans.

“Red Rose Coffee Shop. Sounds good.” After taking one last look at the shop front, she steps to the door of the coffee shop and pushes it open.

“Ding ding ding." As she pushes the door open, the hanging bell above the doorframe makes a crisp but refreshing sound. Along with it, the warm air crashes into her face and makes her rosy face look even rosier. After a quick look at the hanging bell, she hurries inside so that the cold air from outside won’t rush in. After closing the door, she turns around and starts to scan the whole shop to get a general idea about it.

The first thing that catches her attention is that Despite the relatively small front, which is around five meters or so, the depth is a little bit too much. She hadn’t noticed before entering, but the shop was double-sided, and each side was facing a different street, making it have a long salon, up to twenty meters. “How expensive is this shop? The owner must be filthy rich; otherwise, there is no way to pay the rent for such a big store.”

The next thing that catches her attention is the fact that every table is full. And by full, it wasn’t just being occupied by one person sitting alone but every one of them had at least three customers.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Well, that explains how he pays the rent.”

To make sure she hadn’t missed any chairs, she took a few steps forward and stretched her neck to take a better look, and luckily she found one. But it isn’t empty.

It’s the corner-most table and away from the window as well as the island-like counter at the center of the coffee shop. A lonely boy is sitting there. He is wearing a neat dark blue shirt, has a round but not fat face, a clean haircut, and no facial hair, making him nothing but a young boy around the age of college.

Taking a quick note of the fact that he is a young boy, and coherently is playing with his laptop in front of him, she hesitates because college students normally bother her the most, but there is no other table to help her escape the rain. Even now, she can hear that the rain is getting denser and denser. So What is she supposed to do? Go back into the rain and become a melting ice cream?

The cashier, who is near the door and has noticed the young lady standing there and not choosing any chair to sit in, she followed her line of sight to the lone boy and almost immediately understood the lady’s concerns. She knows the boy in the corner. He is one of the old customers and has a very polite and kind personality. Even after such a long time that he was a customer here, not even once had she seen him doing something unsightly; so she decided to encourage the young lady about sharing the table with the boy. On top of that, she couldn’t let any customer leave in the rain.

“ Miss, excuse me for bothering you but if you are worried about sharing a table with the customer at table 13, I can assure you of his good behaviour. He is one of our old customers and is very polite. but if you are still unable to accept this then I can introduce you to our lovely customers at tables 3 and 5, even though they are old they are very kind.”

With that remark, the cashier pointed at the two tables near the fireplace. At each of them sat three old ladies who were talking with each other while drinking from their still-steaming cups.

Our protagonist compared the group of same-sex, old kind ladies with the young opposite sex, but possibly troublesome; and without thinking for a long time, she chose the opposite sex.

“ Thank you for your help.” After saying thanks to the cashier she made her way through the tables to the deepest corner.

“ That’s my duty.” The cashier smiled happily as she watched the young lady walk toward the boy sitting there and at the same time thought in her heart: “Next time he should remember to give me more tips. This is your big sister’s help. Don’t waste it.” Then she happily sat back in her seat and secretly peeked at table 13 with a little blushing face.

Our young lady walked to table 13 and looked up at the boy who was busy typing something on his laptop with a high degree of focus and passion and waited for the boy to raise his head; so she could ask for permission to share the table with him but after waiting for a while the boy didn’t even flinched his head.

Becoming impatient she faked a cough: “ Ahem…” which successfully made the boy raise his head impatiently.

He opened his mouth to say something as if wanting to drive people away but the moment he raised his head and made eye contact with the unknown young lady on the other side of the table his word got choked in his throat.

For some unknown reason to The lady, seeing him choke on his own words made her happy and she; in a brighter mood than before, shared what she wanted with the boy sitting opposite her:

“ Is it possible to share this table with you?”