CHAPTER 1: THE MYSTERY CHARACTERS

The cab driver made an abrupt left instead of a right and I had the least idea where he was taking me, my palms are trembling and my breathing jagged. Even though I blasted him with questions, he wasn't responding to a single one and just kept driving to god knows where. The radio's volume was increased to the fullest while I started to scream for help, but it was all in vain because it's past 11 and the roads were crystal clear, there was not even a single stray dog or a cat and even this creepy guy probably didn't hear me. I decided to jump out of the cab no matter the risk and started fidgeting my fingers to open the lock, but it won't open at all and then I started kicking the door with both my legs, but it still won't open. That's when I realized I can call the police; I hurriedly took out my phone when the car suddenly stopped. He got down with a baseball bat in his hands and pulled me out of the car in one tug and whack!!!

I woke up with heavy agitation and panic and can still feel the blood pumping through my chest, and this is not even something unusual for me because it happens every day with different scenarios each day. Well, this is how my typical morning starts. It's another Monday, I mean it doesn't really make any difference what day it is for me. My only wish is that my workplace can have more customers so that I can get paid on time. The place I work is a small café that opens only morning and evening and it's a very small and cozy place where people often come by. I usually wake up at 6:00 am every day except for Mondays because I need to be earlier than the rest of the days in order to set some things. Today I woke up feeling tired and realized that I haven't eaten anything the day before except for breakfast. Well, I'm a morning person or probably became one due to the kind of life I'm living, and I have made it my habit to never skip breakfast no matter what. I read somewhere that the most important meal of the day is breakfast and since then I've never once skipped my breakfast, it's not like I tend to follow everything I read but this has somehow become my routine. Ever since I've been on my own, I have forced myself to be a morning person in order to sustain the hassle. As soon as I wake up, I quickly do a small workout. Well, you can't call it an actual workout because I only do five crunches and two 30 second planks with a 10 seconds gap in between. You are probably wondering why do I even bother to do it anyway, but this is more than enough for me given the quantity of food I eat and my body type and truth be told it's not that I don't but I can't do anything more than that. Me doing all this while still in bed is enough to boost some energy for the rest of my day. Then, I quickly get up and complete my morning routine starting with a hot shower, but you can also call it a steam bath because that's probably how hot my shower runs and how long I take a shower. I also know how bad it is for my body and skin but that's how I am. Since today I'm feeling tired, I have reduced my shower time because I'm already very hungry. I can literally hear my stomach growling. I quickly made myself some scrambled eggs with toast and a glass of milk. That was the fastest and easiest considering my grumpy stomach. After my breakfast, I realized that I am early today, but I've decided to go. It's just a small stroll down two streets more like at the entrance of this small colony that I'm living in. I have a set of spare keys to the café, but I only get them on the evening of Saturday, and I must return them on Monday, and this is the reason I'm earlier than usual on Monday. My boss is a bit skeptical and only trusts me of course not completely yet. I quickly got into the café and got busy setting the tables and a few of them are also set out in the façade as I've already mentioned it's a very small place. By the time people start coming, I still have some spare time so I decided to make myself some coffee and sat down at the corner. It's my favourite place and no one actually sits here, and I keep an eye on this table. The smell of my coffee itself is invigorating and uplifting. I love coffees on cold weather days, but my body can't tolerate too much caffeine, so I rarely enjoy such moments. I opened my small bullet journal and started journaling. I mostly tend to doodle or write down my thoughts. After a while, I decided to stop journaling and enjoy my coffee. It's a fine day today with the weather being exceptionally good. While I'm sipping my coffee, I observed a tall man looking in my direction. He was wearing an all-black outfit with a black cap and was about six feet tall or maybe even taller, I don't know but he never once looked away from my direction and I started to get worried because except for me there's no one else in the café. I silently started praying for Pops, my boss to appear as soon as possible. After finishing my coffee, I decided to get busy in order to not panic. Keeping ourselves busy during such situations always helps. Suddenly I heard the door opening and turned back with a smile assuming it was Pops, but there he was, the suspicious man standing in front of me. He then started approaching me slowly and you can literally see me quivering in fear and can practically hear my heartbeat. I took a step back and secretly took out a small frying pan from the cupboard underneath. The door opened again and this time I really thought it was Pops, but damn me it's not him and instead, a tall handsome man in his mid-twenties entered the shop and to my surprise, even the suspicious man was staring at him but the handsome man didn't even bother to look at us and silently went and sat at my favourite place with his eyes, body and even soul immersed in his mobile. The suspicious man suddenly started shaking and lowered his cap to cover his face. Before I could even ask or say something, he ran out of the shop in a hurry. Thanks to this handsome I got saved by him but wait, is he sitting in my place? This is the first time I've ever seen someone sitting in my corner. Anyways since he unknowingly helped me, I'm going to let it pass today. I placed the frying pan back in the cupboard and made my way towards him to take the order. He seems even more handsome as I approach him. He has dark roasted chestnut-coloured hair nicely parted and brushed. I couldn't yet see his eyes, but his legs were really long and even though he's seated can tell he's a tall man, with beautifully elongated fingers holding his mobile. He seems rich with all the fancy and flashy clothing and attire, I bet anyone can tell, anyways as soon as I reached him, I cleared my throat, but he wasn't looking. Since it doesn't matter if he's looking or not because I don't really care much so I cleared my throat again and finally spoke up to him.

"Umm, excuse me, sir, what would you like to have?"

"Oh yes, can I get breakfast here? Or only desserts?"

"Yes, you can, but there's only one option. We only provide a simple English breakfast"

He still wasn't looking. What's wrong with him acting all elite or maybe he is? Whatever.

"Ok then, get me the only breakfast option I have"

"Ok, do you like something to drink?"

"Do I at least get options for this?"

I rolled my eyes thinking to myself why should he even come to this small café then. He could have gone to some fancy bistro and enjoyed his wide variety of options.

"Yes, since this is a café but sadly no options for breakfast since it's not some grand luxurious diner"

He finally looked at me for my sarcastic words. I was shook for a moment, oh my god, he has the deepest blue oceanic eyes and a chiselled jawline. I looked away from his eyes and stared at my small notepad in my hand.

"Umm, ok then would you like to suggest something?"

I looked at him by surprise and he was looking at me with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. What's with his smirk?

"I can get you some coffee, anything you like?"

"No, I'm not much of a caffeine person. I can't tolerate much caffeine you know"

Okay, he's just like me but what should I even suggest now.

"I can get you some juice or something, some warm cinnamon milk maybe"

"Warm milk with cinnamon sounds good"

"Okay then, please give me a moment"

I turned back and immediately rushed inside to toast him some bread and fry him two sunny side eggs. Meanwhile, I warmed some fresh milk with cinnamon, keeping an eye on my surroundings so that a suspicious guy would not appear all of a sudden, and kept looking sideways at this handsome who's currently, enjoying my cozy place. When I turned back, I observed him staring at me. What now he didn't even look at this way in the beginning and now he can't look away, Is he that hungry? I arranged the toast and eggs on one plate and placed them on a tray along with the milk and some sugar. I take really small steps while carrying the tray because once I've spilt the whole tray on someone and got my pay cut. Since then, I've been very careful with the load. I placed the tray on the table gently and slowly placed all the things in front of him. He's still looking at me with a smirk and when I placed everything in front of him and cleared my throat, he immediately adjusted himself straight looking at his plate intently. This time the door opened and it was my boss finally. I immediately went to him and asked why he was so late today and he replied,

"Okay I'm sorry I'm late"

"Do you even know what happened today?"

"What? Is something wrong?"

And before we could even complete the conversation this handsome guy was calling for me again.

"Excuse me, can you come here for a second? Uhm, Gabriel"

Wait a minute, how does he know my name??? I for a second started suspecting him wondering if he had a connection with the suspicious man? Before I started panicking, my boss pushed me saying,

"Okay go now, we can talk later"

I rolled my eyes and went up to him with my hands behind.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Is this yours?" He said pointing towards my journal, Oh no! I left it there when I'm busy following the movements of the suspicious man probably because I know that no one ever sits there. This man already invaded my space by sitting here and now he's even checking out my journal. In a split second, I grabbed my journal from his hands. I was about to tell him that it's not right to go through someone else's personal things, but he stopped me by showing his palm and spoke,

"I wasn't going through your book; I'm just checking the cover page of this journal because I used to have a similar one too"

"I wasn't going to say anything," I replied with a straight face.

"I bet you were thinking of lecturing me about personal things and privacy"

"No, I was just Uhm," I then fumbled for my words and didn't know what to say.

"Never mind, it's okay, but I'd like to have some privacy while eating"

"Yeah, sure" Like I will stare at his handsome face while he's eating.

By saying this I turned back and went towards my counter and noticed the strange mysterious guy again. He's now standing behind a lamp post with a mobile in his hands. He's probably speaking with someone on his phone. I'm now imagining all kinds of scenarios like what if he was asked to kidnap me or something, what if I'm sold out to some rich guy as a slave. I started panicking so much but then I saw him looking at the handsome man who's enjoying his breakfast instead of me. I then recalled how he practically ran from the café after the handsome man entered. It looked like he was observing him from a distance. So, there's nothing for me to be worried about or maybe it's just nothing. I'm just picturing things and overthinking. So, the handsome man is either a powerful guy or a really really bad guy. This handsome finally ate his breakfast and called me for the bill. I went with a small handwritten note with the details and price. He stares at the note for few seconds and takes out his card and asks me,

"Do you accept cards at least?"

"Well, yes actually because we're not living in some 14th century or something."

He then gave me the card with his two fingers and let out a small chuckle staring at my face. I went back to the counter with a straight face thinking to myself how he must be a spoiled brat for behaving like this. When I went back to return the card, he was now staring at the suspicious man and he suddenly stood up in a hurry which scared me. The suspicious man ran immediately after noticing this guy. This man was about to chase him or don't know what, but he was about to hurry from the café when I stopped him and returned his card, he then relaxed and finally looked at me. He's now standing next to me practically hovering over me because I'm painfully short and I was wondering if I could tell him about the suspicious man that he practically ran from the café, when he entered but instead, I questioned him.

"Do you know that suspicious man?"

"No, why do you know him?"

"No, of course not. I was just asking."

"Okay that's good then, take care"

By saying this he just left in a hurry after him. I just stood there wondering to myself what's happening around me.