Coffee or Tea?

Elara felt her face heat up as she watched the male before her smirk in mischievous delight at her reaction. She could vividly tell just how much fun he was having teasing her.

"You still haven't replied, Miss Elara, Coffee or Tea, which do you think I should pick?"

[Earlier]

After completing the soul-sucking project and having their fifth and last submission accepted, Elara and her team members were finally free!

As per her contract, which stated that whenever she was needed for any major project, she'd work for five days a week, but otherwise, she only had to work three days a week; Elara now had two days to relax. Ignoring her team members' slight resentment after her third day of work, she clocked out completely for the week.

Usually, her free days were spent alone or sometimes with her friends after updating her novels. Working for Neva didn't stop her writing career. Instead, she balanced her time so that whenever she was free, she'd update her novel until it was completed.

Thursday was another one of those days she didn't feel like hanging out with friends, so she simply stayed back home and relaxed after completing her planned chapter quota. She had just finished taking a bath and turned on her favorite anime show when a call came in from her business line, surprising her.

She couldn't think of any reason she'd be receiving a call from that line but she answered it anyway with a face filled with question marks.

"Hello?"

"Is this Elara Sinclair?"

"Yes, that's me. Who are you and how may I help you?"

"It's Mr Merlin, from Neva."

"Huh?! Sir? Sorry for my discourteousness, am I needed for something?"

"No, of course not, miss. No need to apologize; in fact, I am the one about to be discourteous with you now."

"Huh?"

"It may come as a sudden invitation but I beg of you… can you please come to 'The Beanery'? My boss, Mr Terrence is inviting you… unofficially," Merlin asked in a pleading tone.

The last thing he ever wanted was for his supposedly perfect boss to suddenly decide to misuse his power to ask out a female employee. After suddenly calling him to find out everything about the employee, his usually uncaring boss suddenly wanted to invite her out for a "hangout".

He had to beg him to wait until the lady completed her ongoing project to stop him from intruding and whisking her away mid-project. The entire situation was just bizarre to him and it took him all the self-control and professionalism he had accumulated over the years to not ravage the security cameras to find out exactly what went on that day to warrant all of this.

He knew his boss, and because of this he couldn't help but worry. His boss's luck with love was so terrible that he, Merlin, had nearly thrown a party when he finally decided five years ago to give up on relationships as a whole both sexual and romantic ones.

One would think with his good looks and niceness he was guaranteed a perfect relationship, but even nature seemed to agree it gave him too much and decided to nerf him when it came to the aspects of relationships. He always found it shocking that someone as mediocre as him, with his horrible attitude, could bag a wonderful wife who helped him become a better person and live the best life while someone as perfect as his boss couldn't.

He wasn't heartless enough to see it as a flex; rather, he pitied him. After all, he knew just how bad it was to be betrayed after giving all your heart to a person, talk more of trying multiple times only to be shattered every single time.

This was why he was happy when Terrence finally gave up on relationships. Although still very resistant, he believed he'd soon help him open up to making companions through friendship instead.

However, it seemed like he was too late because Terrance, like a moth to fire, was drawn into another relationship… and he honestly wasn't hopeful about this one either.

'Maybe he just wants to be friends with her? I am not very optimistic, though. I just hope this Elara won't be the bomb that'll set him off to his destruction this time.'

Although understandably confused, Elara accepted the invitation.

She dressed up in a white, long-sleeved, collared blouse with lace-up detailing on the front, a high waist, beige-colored pleated skorts complimenting the top, a matching beige oversized blazer, and a pair of white canvases.

Putting up her curls in a bun with an equally beige-colored pompom, she adjusted her makeup a bit and was off to 'The Beanery'.

***

[Present]

Elara had walked into the café and ended up confused after not finding any traces of Terrence. However, a hand soon waved to her, and walking up to the two-person table, she was a bit surprised to see Terrence's outfit.

He had on a black turtleneck shirt with a body-fit black blazer, a silver chain necklace, and a pair of black pants. It was simple yet stylish clothing, and even though he had on a hat, mask, and sunglasses to mask himself, his beauty was still astonishing.

His covering was understandable; in order not to make Elara uncomfortable, he had booked her favorite café, or at least what he assumed was her favorite considering the number of times she had patronized them. It was quite an expensive café with one of the best coffee and teas ever served in LA.

Since it was late morning and everyone was mostly busy with their jobs the café was quite scanty compared to its usual fullness in the early mornings. Even with that, with how eye-catching Terrence was, it wasn't a good idea to walk right in with Elara or the media would have a feast.

'Even while completely covered, he's still so fucking good-looking,' Elara thought as she glanced about.

Nearly everyone was ogling at Terrence, and she was sure if it wasn't because of privacy laws some of them would have swiped out their phone to take a picture.

The man before him was just too good-looking, and Elara suspected that even if he were to be covered from head to toe with nothing to see, his good looks would still permeate through.

"Good morning sir," Elara said with a polite smile while taking a seat.

"Yes, good morning, I am very sorry for the sudden invitation," Terrence replied with a nod. He had pulled down his mask to avoid sounding like his mouth was stuffed full of cotton.

"It's nothing, sir; I assume you had an important reason for inviting me out," Elara said while gesturing to the waiter to come to attend to them, "Are you ordering now?"

Elara was stunned by Terrence's next move; his lips curved sideways in a smirk dazzling Elara, but even more shocking were his words, "Yes. I'm quite new here so I'll have whatever this pretty lady recommends. The ball is now in your court, lovely miss."

Something like this wasn't a big deal actually; she knew her beauty and had been complimented for it many times, but for some reason, when someone like Terrence does it…. It feels different!

She felt her face heat up as she watched the male before her smirk in mischievous delight at her reaction. She could tell vividly that he knew his charms were working and was having an awful lot of fun.

"You still haven't replied, Miss Elara, Coffee or Tea, which do you think I should pick?"

"E-erm… I recommend the Jamaican blue mountain coffee… and for me a large-sized caramel tea..." Elara stuttered shyly; with just a few actions, Terrence had managed to demolish her.

'Damn, being that hot should be illegal ugh…'

After confirming the size of the coffee, the waiter left to go get their orders, leaving a shy Elara and pleased Terrence alone once more.

"Sir…"

"Don't call me that when we're alone. From now on, whenever we're alone together, just call me Terrence," Terrence said with a light smile, causing Elara's inner self to blush fiercely.

"Yes…"

This was going to be a long day, at least for Elara.