Dream Girl

"What did you ask her for?" The others almost jumped on Kaia as soon as she left. Snatching the phone from her hand, they read it. "Oven Baked ranch chicken? Is that on the menu?"

"No," Shia answered.

"Please don't tell me you memorized the menu." Max sighed.

"I can't help it." She answered. "It's just how my brain works. I memorize what I see."

"That would explain why you could say all those orders without pausing for breath and all correctly too." Ran said, not sure if that is a tease or compliment.

"Why would you ask for that?" Carlotta asked, turning to Kaia.

"When I visited here in my last life, I had that. Till the day of my death, I still craved it." She signed, a dreamy look on her face, "I liked it so much."

"But is it ok to order something, not from the menu?" Shia asked.

"Sure, I do it all the time." Dor jumped in, "They just charge you a little bit more. But not much."

"Right, but those are first-class restaurants." Shia argued, "This is a small café in the woods. Not just that, Kaia asked for a very specific one. Won't you be suspicious?"

"I will be." Max said, "But she can just say that she was craving that and I am sure they think that too. You're worrying too much Shia."

"I hope I am." She said, pulling out a diary from those shelved at the side of the table and began reading it.

After what Shia said, Kaia began to get concerned.

I hope I didn't do something wrong, again. She thought as she looked at the door of the partition. Beyond that is the reception and then the kitchen where Layla will be giving the orders to Damien.

________

"Hunny?" Layla said as she entered the kitchen.

"Yes, dear? What is it?" Damien asked, looking at her from the stoves filled with pots of food.

"We have customers."

"I heard the door opening." He said, carrying a pot of soup to the other side of the room. "Sounds like a big crowd."

"It is." She said a little faraway look in her eyes. "They ordered a lot as well."

"That's great." He said, taking the paper with the orders from her. It was only then that he looked up at her, "Is something wrong?"

"They are all kids." She said, wringing the life out of her apron. "I don't feel right taking their money."

"Hunny, we talked about this." He said, putting down the piece of paper. "Sometimes people feel offended when their money isn't accepted. It makes them feel like they are being looked down upon."

"I know. I know." She said, "I didn't say that I won't take their money. I'm just saying that they all look so young. What if one of them is her?"

"Hunny." He said with an exasperated expression.

"I know what you are going to say." She said, sitting beside him on the chair beside the table. "But she ordered it."

"She must have just wanted chicken dear." He said looking at the list again.

"No, she specifically asked for Oven Baked Ranch Chicken." She insisted pointing to the order below. "She even asked me for it secretly."

"Did she whisper it to you or something?" He asked with a little laugh.

"No, she's mute." As soon as she said that, Damien froze. "Long black hair and the most brilliant blue eyes I have ever seen. It is her."

Damien looked at his wife with concern on his face. She has been talking non-stop of this girl she met in her dreams. Every day she has the same dream and every day she waits for the arrival of this girl.

She does not remember her face though it was so clear before, now it's just a blur. She only remembers her hair and eye colour, also that the girl in her dreams never talks just gestures.

They prayed endlessly, thinking that it may be something evil but every minute she stays in the dreams, she just feels warm and every time she wakes up, she feels empty all over again.

That is what she said anyway. Layla is not one you can understand just from observing her gestures and reactions to things.

Damien didn't bother too much with it because, those months that the dream started, were the only months that she began to smile again.

Before that, she constantly dreamt of something else. A loss she suffered a couple of months ago. Her dreams always relate a lot to how she is feeling that day and it was a tough couple of months for them.

Fear had become an imminent part of her everyday life and it was unsettling everyone, not just her. Once they made the café, however, the girl began to appear in her dreams.

He went with it as long as his wife was happy and he enjoyed feeding their customers, though scarce. They made the prices as cheap as they possibly could without having to face too many losses but Layla wanted to reduce them even more.

They couldn't do that and it took a lot of convincing for her to accept it in the end.

So she waited, every day with bated breath. She wasn't too upset when she couldn't see her during the day because she would open the doors to the shivering girl in her dreams as a heavy snowfall happened outside.

"It's her. I know it." She said with full confidence to her husband. "You may not believe me but I know it."

When the customers first came in, she thought nothing of it except that they look too young to be all the way up here without an adult.

She was intrigued by the girl with the long box braids at first. The way she carried herself is so much like a grown-up, even the way she spoke.

When the other boy began to speak as well, she became impressed all over again. He has the mannerisms and poise of a noble family from the older times, those that she knows so much about given her background as a historian.

The red-haired girl looks familiar but she can't seem to put her hands on who she may be. Perhaps she just looks a little like someone she saw somewhere.

The one person she didn't pay too much attention to was the little shy one in the corner that didn't even look at her. She was too busy being in awe at the decorations.

But after she took them to their seat and noticed the girl looking at her, she almost fainted there. She had the same blue eyes as the one in her dreams, piercing and cold though there is a hint of warmth if you looked hard enough.

While she waited for them to make their orders, her mind raced.

There are many people with blue eyes. That's what she thought but she noticed her black hair and felt her heart thumping against her chest. The fact that she is mute also adds up.

The girl in her dreams never talked either, only does gestures. She wouldn't have spoken there if she couldn't in real life either.

It all adds up but she can't know for sure just yet. In her dreams, Damien and she fed the girl a lot of things, what she ate the most are his special chicken that they didn't add to the menu under her request.

If she is that girl, she may just ask for that dish. One that is out of the menu completely but is something she enjoyed thoroughly in the dreams.

A little bell pulled her out of her thoughts and her hopes came down a little bit. The girl in her dreams didn't ring the bell, she walked to the counter and ordered, that's how they began their meal.

Relief washed over her though, when she saw that she was not the one that ran the bell but the boy. He looks used to this so do the others. The girls seemed to be the only one burying her face, attempting to hide from her.

A smile came on her face as she saw her reaction. The poor girl is embarrassed.

As she listed down their orders, she kept looking at the girl, hoping she would ask her about the specific meal she knows so well of.

But she doesn't even glance at her. Then again, her friend is reciting almost half of the menu from memory without taking a glance at it or making a mistake. It would be understandable if she pays attention to her more.

She read out the orders and asked, hope diminishing, "Is that all?"

When the girl took out her phone and wrote something on it, quickly showing it to her, her breath caught to her neck. That was all the confirmation she needed.

It is definitely the girl from her dreams.