She stood there, her gaze
fallen as she answered her next customer, almost as if he didn't exist to her.
She was just doing her job, pouring out the next cuppa as she waited, seventh
day in a row. She was fast losing hope now. It had been seven days since that
day at the movies.
They were two very different people leading two
very different lives. He was over forty, a History professor who was married
for fifteen years with a twelve year old son. She was twenty two, a Literature
grad, who worked at her aunt's coffee shop. She had been doing this for the
last seven years and began doing it to earn some extra cash. Soon it became her
way of earning her tuition and now she just continued to support her aging aunt
with the coffee business. In all her seven years, she never once went without
a chirpy hello or a vibrant, 'have a great day!' to every single customer she
served. This past week though, she could barely get by with a 'what can I get
you?' as she sniffed back tears.
She thought back to the first day they'd met just about a month ago. He walked into the coffee shop, soaking wet, with a broken umbrella and dripped all over her grandmother's carpet. 'Excuse me...umbrella bags are outside. Please don't bring dripping umbrellas into the store', she yelled out sternly across the crowd, yet with a polite fake smile. He took no notice and seemed pre-occupied with dusting off the leaves from his coat. This angered her even more, and she went straight to him to pick a quarrel right there in front of everyone. The minute he looked up at her though, he apologised in the nicest way for messing up her little joint. Her gaze softened and she could tell he meant it and for some strange reason she found his apology endearing. Her intention to forge a battle that day was put to rest and eventually they got chatting so much that she ended up having coffee with him, while her aunt took care of the customers.
It began then and he came to the
coffee shop every day after that, some days he even had breakfast with her
before he headed to the university. After two weeks of this,
they decided to go to the movies one day together. It was their first
appearance together outside of the coffee shop. Little did he know though, that his son
was going to be there as well with his friends, on the same night at the same
cinema. Somehow being seen by his son this way made him realise that this was
probably going where it shouldn’t. He apologised to her and left abruptly that
night, and she hadn’t seen him since. She considered going to the university to
find him, but somehow thought it would be best to wait for him, when he’s
ready, if ever he will be...
