Well Done, Master

Mori Ken never fails to make Hayashi Sakura's cheeks burn whenever he looks at her like that, and she wishes he would stop popping into her life every now and then so that she won't have to deal with these stupid, foreign feelings whenever he's around anymore.

Sakura tried her best to keep herself calm and took in a deep breath then exhaled it. Now that she was able to successfully convince herself to relax, she faced Ken with a sweet smile spread across her face and greeted him as normally as she could.

"Welcome back, master Ken,"

It took literally three seconds before Strawberry notices that these two are just staring into one another so she took the urge to nudge her co-maid back into its senses as soon as possible.

"Hey. Don't just stand there. Lead him to his seat right away," Strawberry whispered, enough for Sakura to hear.

Sakura began to panic and thought that she might have looked like an idiot before taking Strawberry's words into consideration.

Barking a nervous laugh, Sakura added, "I-I shall take you now to your seat, master."

"Right. Yes, please." Ken also chuckled with that kind of reaction from the maid and trailed behind as they walked towards the VIP lounge.

A few minutes later, Sakura turned on her heels as she hurried toward the kitchen after writing down his usual order of omelet rice and strawberry parfait in her mini notepad.

As the retreating figure of his maid is going for the kitchen, Ken just happened to look at Patty's pair of shoes out of boredom and his eyes immediately sparked upon seeing something familiar.

{"Are those from Yamamoto… perhaps?"}

Suddenly, Ken remembers his last conversation with Sakura the other day as he asked her about the pair of shoes that his friend Ryuuiji had bought for her in the past.

Though Sakura didn't answer his question that day, there was no doubt for Ken that it was the shoes that he and Ryuuji purchased back in Kyoto.

But seeing Patty wearing the same pair of shoes as what Sakura is wearing at school, could it be…

Ken immediately shook his head violently. Given Sakura's shy and introverted nature, there's no way she would work in this kind of place!

Right?

Additionally, it's not like there's only one stock of this kind of shoes all over Japan! Unless it's a limited edition type of item, which it certainly is not when they bought it before, there's no way this is the same pair of shoes that Sakura is wearing at school.

Not long after that, Sakura was able to return to Ken's table with his omelet rice and his strawberry parfait.

Seeing that there aren't that many customers entering the cafe at this time, Ken decided to seize this opportunity to dine with Patty, which the latter only sighed in defeat mentally before taking her seat across from this pushover lad over here!

Sakura just sat there quietly while trying her best to think of a topic to share with him.

This is so unlikely of me! Usually, I have too many things that I could think of when I am with other customers. But with this guy, it seems like my brain is always drained on the spot!

And I am being called as the top-notch maid in this situation? Geez.

After squeezing her brain so hard, it felt for her as if she just won the lottery just by coming up with a random topic to talk about with him. Sakura was just about to open her mouth to start babbling nonsense when Mori Ken also chose that time to begin speaking as well.

"I'm sorry if I have to drag you to eat dinner with me again," Mori Ken apologized all of a sudden, catching Sakura off guard.

Eh? Sakura wondered, why is he suddenly apologizing to me?

"I really don't usually have someone to dine with during breakfasts and dinners. But thankfully, at lunch, I have some friends that I could eat with at our school cafeteria," Ken continued as he was sawing his omelet with a graceful motion.

Uncertain of what to say at the moment, Sakura only listened to Ken speak out his thoughts that he must have been holding inside for some time.

"I have become so accustomed to eating alone all the time, that I have forgotten what it feels like to dine with other people."

Ken avoided having eye contact with the maid seated in front of him and continued eating his omelet rice.

As much as he doesn't really want others' sympathy towards him, there is something special within this maid that lets him share his thoughts with her while feeling at ease at the same time.

If Ken is not mistaken, the last time that he has ever felt this way is with Sakura only in their childhood years.

On the other hand, Sakura was speechless for a while after hearing his master's words just now.

{"His adolescent life was difficult, you know…"}

Ms. Cookie's words the other day suddenly echoed inside her head just now, adding to Sakura's sympathy for Ken to the point that she began developing the urge to extend her arms and pull this guy into a tight hug.

Just merely thinking of hugging Mori Ken sent some steam on both of Sakura's ears while her cheeks were burning as well! What more if she does it in person!

Also, they have this rule of not getting too touchy with their customers. Sakura is one hundred percent sure that hugging her master is already violating that said rule.

Geez, is this his way of luring me into his trap or something? If that's the case, it's definitely working on me!

After being quiet for some time now, Sakura has finally made up her mind on what to do at this point.

As Ken was finishing his meal, he felt a warm hand lightly caress the top of his head right now. He was so stunned that his eyes widened in shock.

"I don't know what challenges you have overcome in the past..." Patty trailed off and gave his master a friendly smile. "But you've done very well in surpassing all of these things."

When Ken didn't say anything, Sakura decided she should continue with what she was about to say.

As she continued to pat his head, Sakura crooned, "Well done, master."