Chapter 3

No, I'm not okay.

I'd known Mrs Lee since I was born and that was the first time I ever seen her getting that mad and not being herself. I stood up abruptly from my seat making Mrs Lee startled and she fell on the floor. She was looking at me with wide eyes and a flustered expression.

"I-I'm going out for a while." Without taking any glances back, I dashed out of the room. Everyone gasped when I suddenly walked out of my office room. Some stumbled on their chair when they tried to stand on time and bowed to me. I ignored them and entered the opened elevator, not waiting for anyone else. Not like they were gonna share the elevator with me anyway.

I came back to my senses when the door I entered let out a tingling bell sound aggressively. I stopped on my track, still breathing quite heavily after a mile of running. I glanced around the small, cozy, brownish gray, place. There were not a lot of people but there were few people which seemed to be students, relaxing with opened laptop and messy pencil case on the small round table, dangerously near to them was a medium sized cup with brown liquid in it.

I realized I was in a cafe

Not really sure what to do, I strided towards an empty bar stool facing towards the window. I sat there, seemingly waiting for someone or waiter to take my order. But it had been 10 minutes and the cafe was not that full for them to take that long to notice me. I was ready to dash towards the counter when suddenly a girl, probably younger than me, approached my seat with two cold drinks in her grip.

I stared at her eyes that were already staring into mine. They were mesmerizing. Blue in colour and was very light that if you looked in a glimpse you could mistook her for someone from a different universe. Her lips. She was smiling, showing me her upper line of white perfect teeth. I could feel the corner of my lips stretched up. Her hair was blonde and very smooth. Despite the darkness inside the room, she shone naturally.

I averted my gaze from her back to the window. Thinking that she might be sitting somewhere near my booth, I tried to act as if I didn't just shamelessly stare at her for a good minute but was stunned when I saw a creamy, delicate hand passed through my shoulder. That was when I noticed a medium sized cup was placed in front of me. Her body was so close that I could smell the cherry blossom scent from her shirt. She was wearing a baby pink flowery blouse paired with a white skirt. Her feet protected by the white Adidas sneakers she was wearing.

When she was seated comfortably on the stool next to me, I forced all the neurones, muscles and bones to cooperate so I had the courage to actually faced her. And maybe, thanked her.

"Thought you could get yourself a nice cold drink on this sunny day," I flinched when she suddenly broke the silent. I nodded my head slowly, not really knowing if she saw my action or not but, screw it.

"You're very jumpy aren't you?" she asked. From the voice itself, I could tell she was smiling. Her voice was very cheerful yet very soft. I looked at her, finally having the courage to do so. She was looking back at me with a soft smile, teeth showing cutely. "Did I scare you that much?" she asked.

"Y-yeah." I answered her rather awkwardly. She giggled at my answer before nodding, looking very satisfied with my response. We both fell into a sudden silent. And as for me, the moment was very awkward. Not that she was just only centimeters away from me but she sometimes accidentally brushed her elbow on my forearm when she was making any movement. I wanted to get mad, shooed her away but I couldn't. Not when her presence somehow gave me a feeling of comfort.

I took a sip on the drink she gave me and my nose automatically scrunched up when suddenly the sweetness of the coffee kicked out through my system. I looked at her wide-eyed as she giggled again at the expression of my face.

"What?" she laughed. "You don't have a sweet tooth? That's boring." She pouted lightly before taking a sip on her own drink. She gulped her drink before shifting on her seat so she was facing me.

Wait, she looked familiar.

"It gave you diabetes, what are you talking about?" I answered-asked her with monotone voice. She didn't seem to care but I knew I was being quite rude. Especially when she was the one that payed the drink.

"How old are you, anyway? I don't think you're that old to not like sweet things." She shook her head lightly while smiling before taking a sip again. Eyes looking at me expectantly. I hesitated for a while. Why was she so nosy about my age anyway.

She realized on the uneasiness in my action. She raised her hand, shaking her head more vigorously than before.

"It's okay if you're not comfortable, i-i just want to, you know, making sure. You look very young but you don't like sweet coffee and that made my assumption about younger people wrong and that not all people experienced sweet tooth but I'm glad I chose coffee over chocolate cause you seem a bit happy to know it's coffee and, and-"

"I'm 18." I cut her off. She jerked her head towards me, nearly elbowing the cup of coffee on the bar table. The cup stumbled a bit, swaying from left to right. I released a sigh of relief when the stumbling cup stood back to it's original position. I'd never been that grateful for such a perfect amount of water for balance. I looked at her. She was shocked. Clearly, with the widen eyes she used to stare at me.

"You're 18?!" She eyed me from the top to the bottom, scanning my entire outfit before she raised one of her eyebrows.

"What type of high school uniform are you wearing?" she laughed lightly on her own 'joke' but stopped when I didn't give her any response. I stared unknowingly through the window. A lady, probably around her 50s was carrying a bucket full of dirt. She was bending in front of a landscape full of different type of flowers. I smiled at the sight. The sight was very beautiful indeed.

"That's Julia. She's 52 and her husband died because of cancer. Lung cancer to be specific. The shop, was built 30 years ago. Run by their small family. They don't have any children so they depend more on each other. She sells flowers, not for wedding but she took orders for funerals." I watched her from the corner of my eyes, she was also admiring the lady across the street. She was smiling.

Sadly.

I frowned at her sudden change of emotion. "Well, it's fate. There's nothing you can do about it." My thoughts seemed to drag her attention. She looked like she was about to give me a piece of mind but she stopped herself when she sighed.

"Anyways, I'm 24 years old." Now, that caught my attention. It was then my turn to scan her from head to toes. Sure, she wear casually and during weekdays. Sure, she did look mature from the way she wore her clothes. But still, I thought she was around my age, and maybe a bit younger.

"No way.." I whispered. She nodded her head. "Yes way.." She took a glance on her wristwatch before she steadied herself on two feet. She slurped the last tiny drops of the coffee making a very loud annoying sound. She turned a few heads in the quiet cafe but she didn't really care. She tossed her rubbish in the nearest bin. Aiming it perfectly before she threw it with a three worth points shot. She tapped my shoulder before shouting a 'bye' to the people at the counter.

I sighed, suddenly feeling a bit empty. I sipped the coffee non-stop, totally forgot about the sweetness earlier. I found myself actually enjoying the taste of the sugar. So full of energy, so carefree and I might lie if I said it didn't brighten up my day a bit. I even forgot about Mrs Lee. My eyes shot open. I glanced at the ticking arrow in my wristwatch just to notice I was 40 minutes late for my meeting. I stood up from the stool and emptied the cup when I caught a glimpse of weird drawing on the surface.

It was a smiley face with the eyes in greater than and smaller than sign, the mouth shaped into a wide grin. And it was toothless. I turned around the cup to find a few words.

'Cheer up! The window was probably not liking the frown on your face >:( Miss in suit.'

I chuckled on her weirdness. How could someone be that comfortable with a person they just met spontaneously? I hesitated to throw the emptied cup at first but then thought it was not really a big deal. I was ready to exit the cafe when someone stopped me by grabbing my arm. I turned towards the girl with masked on. She was smiling awkwardly.

"Umm, sorry Miss, but you haven't payed for the two cups of coffee."

"What?"