Story 1 Chapter 5: First day

A few days had passed, and after the paperwork was complete, it was the first day of Albert's new job. Looking at his phone, he could safely say that he was lost. He had already spent 15 minutes searching for the cafe, but he couldn't find the location.

'Where is it? I know it's around here, but I can't find it.'

Just when he was about to call Samuel, he heard someone call out to him.

"Albert, is that you? Why are you here so early?"

Turning to the left, Albert saw an old man with a blue button-up shirt and sweatpants calling out to him.

"Mr. Davis! I was just searching for the Cafe. I didn't know the way here so I came a little early in case something happened."

"Haha. I knew hiring you was the right choice. Follow me. Of course, you don't need to start working yet, I'm just showing you the place."

Albert hurriedly walked towards Samuel, who was entering a small building with glass doors. Stepping inside, Albert took a look around. It was a clean white lobby with an elevator and a reception desk that was currently empty.

"The cafe's on the second floor, so that might be why you didn't see it. Still, this place is pretty nice, isn't it?"

Samuel beckoned Albert towards the elevator. Once he was inside, Samuel pushed the rectangular button labeled 2, and the doors shut.

Vrr vrr vrr Ding!

The doors opened, revealing a series of shops all lined up with one another. On one side, there was a cafe that had a sign on the door labeled 'closed'. inside, there was a black counter with a cash register, a few coffee machines, and two kettles. There were a few tables and chairs scattered through the room, with one next to each of the large glass windows that spilled sunlight into the room. The place gave off an ambiance-not quite cozy, but still comfortable enough.

"Nice place, isn't it? I spent quite a bit on it, but there haven't been a lot of customers. Ha… what am I doing wrong? Alright. I've shown you the place, so come back in fifteen minutes. Take a look around if you want. I still have a few preparations to make. The door's unlocked, so just come to the back when you're done."

Samuel shooed Albert away, and then disappeared to the back of the shop. Albert took a moment to look around the cafe before heading out the door. He walked towards the neighboring shops, which consisted of a bookstore, a small restaurant, a dentist's office, an optometrist's office, and a few other buildings that were either closed or unoccupied.

'Interesting… This building is probably new. But still… Why is this the lineup of buildings? Doesn't make any sense.'

Albert stood close to the elevator, thinking deeply about the possible reasons that could be the lineup. After a few minutes, he gave up and shrugged.

'Ah well. I'm not one to judge. I've seen weirder stuff in Hong Kong.'

Checking the time, Albert saw that he had around 10 minutes left before he had to go back and start his shift. He decided that it would be a good idea to check out the bookstore. Pushing the door open, he could smell the strong waft of new books.

Ding dong~

A lady who was sitting at the checkout table looked towards Albert, a slight smile on her face.

"Welcome! You're the first customer for today. If you need any help, tell me and I'll try my best."

"Haha, thanks. I think I'll just take a look around for now."

Albert walked towards a shelf labeled Historical Fantasy, scanning the labels.

'Hmm… I haven't read these types of books in a long time. Let's see…"

Albert looked at the spines of the books, reading the titles. After looking through the shelf, there were two that caught his attention: The Vagrant and Age of Assassins.

'Hmm… both of these look good. Which one…'

After a bit of thinking, Albert sighed and walked to the desk, holding both of the books in his hand.

"Hey I'm gonna be at work for a while, but I do want to buy these two books. Do you mind keeping them safe for me please?"

Seeing this, the lady smiled.

"Ah, these two. Good choice! I'll keep them safe for you. Good luck at work!"

"Thanks! See you later!"

"Bye!"

Albert walked out of the bookstore with a smile on his face, happy with the encounter. He was ready for work now.

Ding!

"Ah you're back. Follow me. Today will be short, as it's mostly to get you used to this place and I also need to go back to the bar later."

Samuel beckoned Albert towards the doors leading towards the back.

"This is where all the stuff is. Over there-" Samuel said, pointing towards a shelf "is all the stuff for coffee. Next to it is the tea bags-"

"Hold on. Did you say tea bags?!"

Samuel blinked a few times, surprised by the strong reaction.

"Yeah… why?"

Albert stared at Samuel for a few moments.

"Did you… uh… do any research before opening the cafe?"

"..."

"..."

"No…"

Albert sighed dejectedly, moving his hand to his face.

"Let's talk about the coffee. What do we serve?"

"I haven't started selling Coffee yet. Still trying to figure out the machines and how to make it taste good. When we start, though, there's gonna be Espressos, lattes, and cold brews. We have the milk and sugar over there to make other drinks, but I'm not too sure how to make it." Samuel answered, pointing to a fridge. Inside were a few bottles of whole milk. Just whole milk. Albert was internally screaming at the sight.

'How is this shop open?! How are there even any customers??'

Albert then glanced at the coffee section, prepared for the worst. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was bags of coffee beans, sugar, and chocolate powder.

"Haa… this is fine. Can you show me the coffee machines?"

"Sure."

Samuel led Albert towards the counters, where there were two large, shiny Coffee machines next to a large coffee grinder. One of them was a commercial La marzocco coffee machine, and next to it was a black Gevi 4 cup small coffee maker. On the side, there was also a small white manual espresso machine.

"I know that the large one is necessary for good coffee. The other one is for cold brews and making coffee ice cubes. I'm planning on also using it for some other things" Samuel said, seeing the confused look on Arthur's face. "The manual espresso machine was a gift from a friend. Might as well put it to use."

Albert had never used a commercial coffee machine before. He had a cheap one at home, similar to the black Gevi, so he was confident with that one.

"Hmm… I think I can figure it out. So far what drinks do you know how to make?"

"I have figured out espresso shots and Lattes. Still trying to figure out the proportions, but it should be fine for now."

"That works. Can you show me how it works? I think I can figure it out from there."

For the next hour, Samuel taught Albert the little information he knew about the machines and how they operated. After that, Albert spent a while experimenting with the milk and tried to get a good ratio, searching up a few tutorials online. During that time, there were only a few customers, who served as taste testers for the coffee.

"So what do you think?" Samuel asked. The two of them were closing up the shop, cleaning the tables that were barely used.

"Hmm… I can definitely work with this. But for now, we need to get actual tea leaves, not just tea packets. I don't mind, but I feel like we should serve customers good tea, not just something from a teabag. Don't worry, I have a lot of experience with tea so it's gonna be fine. I see you have a few stovetops and kettles. I can definitely work with that." Albert finished wiping the counter, and started walking to the sink in the back.

"Do you think you could buy the tea leaves tonight? I'll give you a card to buy it. I'm not too good at stuff like this." Seeing that Albert returned from the back, Samuel walked towards the door with a set of keys.

"Yeah, I can do that. It should probably last us a while. We can set up a supply line later so I won't have to go get them every time. I'll also continue researching different Coffee styles, so don't worry too much about that." Albert checked his pockets, making sure that he had his wallet and phone. Feeling both of them, he jogged a little towards the door.

After locking the door, Samuel gave Albert a blue credit card.

"Use this to buy the tea leaves. I trust you enough, so don't go buying random things. Also buy whatever you think we might need. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thank you! See you tomorrow."

After Samuel left, Albert walked into the book store, holding his wallet.

Ding dong~

"Ah, you're back! I have the books right here."

The lady at the counter pulled out two books, placing them in front of Albert.

"Thanks for keeping it safe."

"Haha no problem. Would you like a bag for the books?"

"Hmm… I'm gonna go somewhere later, so yes please.

"That will be $30."

Wincing at the price, Albert pulled out a silver credit card and tapped it on the card reader.

Beep

"Thank you for your patronage. Have a nice day!"

Satisfied with his purchase, Albert walked out of the store. He already had a few locations in mind to buy the tea leaves, and was pulling up google maps on his phone.

'Now where is the subway station…'