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“One almond tofu patty, please”. Xiao timidly said to the blonde behind the counter.
“Coming right up! Should I warm it up for you?” She replied in a bubbly voice.
“...N-no, it’s okay”
“Surely!”
A group of highschoolers whispered at his back and then giggled nervously. They thought they were being discreet but he could listen to their banter with absolute clarity. “He fine!”... “go talk to him”... “so cool all dressed in black”... “isn’t he from the tattoo parlor across the street?”... Among other stuff. Silly. Bright. Cheerful. He almost regretted allowing himself step into this cutesy cafe just to see he— just to get himself some almond tofu before opening the store.
The blonde girl got the patty from inside the glass counter with a long pair of tongs and slipped it into a white wax paper envelope with a print reading “Cecilia’s Garden café” in cursive. Then she passed it to him over the counter, beaming a heart-attack-inducing smile. “Anything else I can get you?” she asked, friendly. Flushing, he stared at the gold name plate over the left side of her chest. Lumine. He had been trying to simply utter her name for three days straight. Nothing came out.
“It’s fine. Thank you.”
“Have a good one!” She waved, greeting her next customer. Defeated, he slowly walked to the cashier, a guy who bore the exact same face as her. Only... manlier.
“It’s 1.50 please”, he courteously informed. While he fumbled for his wallet, the cash register guy eyed him with a very eloquent gaze. “It’s not rocket science, you know? She’s quite easygoing”.
Xiao froze, change in hand, unsure about what had he heard.
“S-sorry?” He stuttered. The blond man just chuckled.
“Nevermind. Thank you for coming!” He send him off. Xiao walked to the door, pulled it and stepped out before fully registering the cheerful “See you tomorrow!” she had told him out loud. Frozen in the middle of the walkway he immediately thought about going back in there and respond accordingly but he quickly shook off the idea, realizing how big of a dork he would make out of himself if he did that.
He frowned and crossed the street.
———————————
The first time he saw her was sketching the afternoon away at the counter of the tattoo parlor. No appointments and no walk-ins allowed him to unwind alone having sent the staff home for the day. Taishan Mansion Tattoo was right across the street from Cecilia’s Garden Café, and under mysterious circumstances that he himself hadn’t even begin to grasp, his interest shifted away from the paper, outside the window and fixated upon a girl sweeping the walkway in front of the cafe. From then on, he found himself staring across the street way more than he used to, studying the coffee shop and the people who worked there. Over time he noticed it was a fairly popular spot between young girls, equal parts attracted by the clean and cutesy decoration and by the male clerk, quite obviously the girl’s twin brother.
The moment Xiao and the girl across the street met their eyes and she —Lumine, that was her name, Lumine, smiled at him amicably, he was dead set to talk to her, so he stepped on the coffee shop the next morning, completely unsure of what to order.
Apparently he had even forgotten how to speak.
Aether, the twin brother, stared at them throughout that entire interaction with an amused smile on his face, eyeing a diligent Lumine as she tried to figure out what could be this new customer’s favorite pastry with the patience of a saint, and a flustered guy, black and green hair, pierced, with a large tattoo on his right arm, dressed in black and chains and straps from head to toe, who happened to be the owner of the tattoo studio right in front of them, standing out against the aseptic pastel colors of their shop.
He left twenty minutes later with three flavors of pastries in a bag and one cup of tea.
He had let Xinyan and Beidou to take two of the sweetest options and he cautiously nibbled on the almond tofu one. He couldn’t bring himself to tell the coffee shop girl he had extremely sensitive tastebuds and couldn’t manage to go through much food unless it was plain or mild in flavor. Luckily this one turned to be much better than he was actually expecting. Soon after, he became a regular at the coffee shop, always asking for takeout, always the same type of pastry, never exchanging more words than necessary, and then one month had passed, and he realized he didn’t even knew her name. But even when he had already read it on her name plate, and called it out loud whenever he was sure he was alone, he couldn’t bring himself to speak to her. A direct stare of her golden eyes and a tiny smile and he was done. Morning after morning. And even though Aether had just told him that it wasn’t that hard to speak to her, words got tangled in his throat. Every single time.
—————————
“Xiao”, Beidou called him, watching him fumble with the keys to the padlock of the tattoo parlor’s door, after yet another unsuccessful attempt to talk to “pudding babe” as Xinyan and her had nicknamed her behind his back, “y’know... we know you’re like the quiet and mysterious type of dude but”, Xiao opened the door and stepped aside to let her go in first, “you’re just making it way too hard for me to stand it”. She tried to laugh the last bit off, but Xiao stared at her piercingly from the light breaker.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh come on!” She scoffed. “Just ask for her goddamn phone number”.
“Oh yeah”, he snarkily said, “what, should I just go and say ‘hey give me your phone number’?”
Beidou stared at him, blankly, and blinked once before exclaiming, “well yeah!? That’s what one usually does?!”
Xiao kept walking turning all the lights on, buffing “ridiculous!”, leaving Beidou to set up the counter. “Why would I want her number for anyways?”
“Because you like her?” she pressed. This man was honestly a textbook dork. Xiao scoffed once again.
“Please.”
“Well if you don’t, then I might go and ask her out first, since you clearly don’t care anyways.” Beidou crossed her arms and faced away from him, who crossed the shop at the speed of light to plant himself in front of her, crossed arms and eyebrows furrowed even though she was several inches taller than him.
“Over my dead body”.
“Aha! See?” She smirked and bounced playfully, pointing a finger at his face, and then circled around him to continue on her stuff. “You like her, dude. Just do something about it before someone else takes the chance away from you!—“
Sulking, he slumped himself on the stool behind the counter and nibbled on his pastry. Okay, he thought. Maybe he did like her. Maybe more than just a little. But that didn’t mean she had to like him back. Or that she could simply refuse to give him her number. Maybe she was already seeing someone, given the two or three male regulars that sometimes came to the coffee shop, namely that long hair eyepatched human skyscraper, the carrot head that always seemed to be looking for trouble and the ashy blond princess-looking nerd. Just the sight of any of those three clowns gave him enough fuel to be on a very bad mood all day. He found solace in the fact that the one who always showed the first two their way to the door was Aether. So maybe the nerd one was the boyfriend? Xiao buried his head on his hands, suddenly finding his almond tofu pastry unbearably bitter.
————————
“You keep doing that and I swear I’m gonna puke one day”, Aether mocked after the coffee shop door frame bell rang, closing behind the tattooed guy, and Lumine gave very little regard to the next customer in line in order to keep her eyes on him until he crossed the street. She blushed as the sole answer. Aether chuckled. His sister was the one person he knew better than anyone in this world, and he was sure she had never been so interested in anyone to this degree before. Of course she had been courted and loved and she had done just that as well, but this time was simply different. He could tell she had felt an immediate magnetism to the tattoo guy, and the good thing was that it was seemingly mutual. They just seemed to be unable to function properly around each other despite the very obvious pinning hints they kept throwing at each other. The first time he entered the store Lumine spent twenty minutes waiting for the guy to decide what he wanted, recommending fillings and ended up giving him one pastry and a cup of tea for free. He, on the other hand, had been religiously buying one almond tofu pastry a day since then. Not even the keenest most stubborn of Lumine’s suitors (he simply could not stand the Schneznayan guy) had shown that level of perseverance without even actually talking to her about anything substancial. He came, he stared at her stupidly and left. Not a phone number request, not a question about her, nothing. And every time he crossed that door and left, the face of his sister saddened for a split second, before coming back to beam her usual businesslike smile to the next in the line.
“Just ask him his number already!” He urged her once, catching her longingly looking at the not yet open store across the street while they cleaned the coffee shop.
“I don’t even know his name?” She reminded him, turning her back on him and staring away from the window.
“And?” Aether sprayed a cleaning solution over one table and scrubbed with a cloth, “ask for his number and then tell him ‘should I save you as <<hottie>> or do you have a name?’, it works like a charm”.
Lumine dusted the countertop and stared at him with a grimace. Her brother just laughed.
“You did that to Albedo? I’m going to have to apologize on your behalf, Aether, oh my god”, she scoffed over his laughter.
Aether’s wrist watch made a beep indicating eight o’clock and he flipped the “open” sign for it to face the street.
“Just think about it”, he finished. “Maybe something good comes out of it”, Lumine raised her eyebrows to this, arranging the fresh pastries inside the counter display, “or maybe nothing comes out of it, but either way you tried, and that’s what counts”.
She stood straight suddenly and raised her arm high, making the tongs point up to the ceiling and used the now empty baking tray as a mock-up shield. Then pointed at Aether with the tip of her pretend sword.
“Sister!” she roared, “brace yourself! your third-wheeling into my dates with Albedo are now over!”
Aether furrowed his eyebrows, mouth agape. She then winked and finished cheekily:
“Or something like that?”
Their laughter was so loud it spilled down the street.
————————
He elbowed his way through the worried crowd forming around the coffee shop door and found Lumine there, alone, trying desperately to get ahold of someone on her cellphone, biting her thumb.
“What’s wrong?” Xiao just blurted. Lumine’s eyes opened wide. When she spoke, she did it just as hurriedly as him.
“There’s a leak on one of the fridges and I had to ask the customers to get out because I don’t know where is the broken pipe because there’s too much liquid and it smells awful and Aether went to search for someone to help and I’m trying to get ahold of the technician but they have me on hold and I don’t know—“
Lumine’s eyes were all over the place, trying to remain calm but ultimately failing. Xiao placed both his hands on her elbows, barely touching her, and searched for her gaze.
“I’ll go check”. He stated, and opened the door. Lumine grabbed a fistful of his hoodie, holding him back. “NonononoWAIT it’s really bad!” She explained, slurring her words. “Besides the technician is...” the stupid music in the service line kept playing and she couldn’t continue.
Xiao adverted his eyes away from her.
“The technician might take a day or two to fix this”, he warned, quietly, “just let me check, it’s probably not that big of a deal”.
Lumine blinked. “Okay”. She opened the door.
Xiao let himself in, finding a big puddle of yellowish liquid on the floor. The girl followed him close, covering her mouth and nose with one hand while she kept her cellphone over her ear with the other. Anguished and also terribly embarrassed, she stared as Xiao let his lace-up black boots get wet and soiled on the dirty liquid on his way to one of the refrigerators from across the counter, where they kept the ice cream. She squealed a mortified protest when Xiao finally got down on his knees and palms and looked up below the white side paneling of the fridge. He chuckled as he stood and stared at her, amused.
“It’s just water.”
Mesmerized, Lumine just looked at him while he pulled the fridge and turned it around as if it was nothing. He then opened one of the sliding doors at the top and began pulling half-melted pints of ice cream. She swiftly hurried to aid him, putting her cellphone away and tip-toeing through the puddle.
The guy handed her one smaller cup of ice cream, fingertips grazing on accident, and let go too soon, ice cream falling to the floor and mixing with the slowly expanding puddle.
“S-sorry!” Xiao panicked, confusion taking over as he saw Lumine’s flushed cheeks.
“It’s fine!” She assured. “We can’t use those anymore anyways”.
He tried hiding his own blushing by returning to his work.
Half an hour and a trip to his store across the street to get his toolbox, he emerged from behind the counter without his hoodie, sleeveless shirt putting his tattoos on display. Lumine tried not to stare too much while she kept mopping the floor clean.
“I think it’s ok now”, Xiao told her, pushing the fridge back to its place.
“Really?” She said, a bubbly smile dancing across her face, “thank you very much! I was about to rip my scalp off my head”
He chuckled at the joke. “It’s nothing, really”.
She let curiosity wash over her. “So are you like a guardian angel? or you just happen to know how to fix fridges?”
Xiao stared to his boots, scratching his nape. “I—“ he felt his throat tightening. They were finally talking and he was about to let his nerves defeat him? Useless! “I’ve had a lot of odd jobs”, he lifted his stuff off the ground, preparing to leave. Panic flashed on Lumine’s eyes.
“Wait! Let me repay you! I just need my brother to get here and I—“ surprised, Xiao waved a hand while she fumbled her apron’s pockets, searching for her cellphone.
“There’s no need, really...” his Adam’s apple bobbed once at the sight of her phone screen lighting up. Time froze for two split seconds as they both looked up from it, and into the other one’s eyes.
“If there’s—“
“Could you—“
They chuckled, cheeks tinted pink.
“You first”, sighed the guy.
“You can come over for coffee any day, on the house”, she offered, but then stressed the final “please.”
“Sure”, he said, and the small smirk he gave her, face down and feline eyes on hers made a shiver go down her spine. Xiao furrowed his eyebrows, convinced what he was about to say was probably the worst idea he’d ever had. “Also, you should keep my number, just in case you— if you ever need anything you can call me anytime”.
“Anytime?” She reassured, surprised.
“Anytime. Just call me. I’ll be right there”.
She simply couldn’t hide her beaming smile while she input the numbers on the screen. She let it ring once, and hung up once Xiao took his vibrating phone out.
“How do I save you?” She questioned, before courage gave place to awkwardness.
He eyed her for a bit before replying. “Xiao”, he chirped.
Lumine didn’t write immediately. She let his name roll on her mouth, dreamily. “Xiao”.
They stared again at each other, dumbfounded. She then made a small jump and began typing.
“You save me as—“
“Lumine.”
The girl stared up again, mouth agape. Xiao’s feline eyes staring at her, softly.
“I know”, he finished.
“Well well well!” A voice sang, startling both. “Good morning, neighbor!” Aether let a plumber inside the store, but the puddle was gone, and the fridge ran softly once more. He stared at his sister, silently waiting for an explanation.
“Xiao here”, ohh the way she stressed his name syllables was something otherworldly, “just came and fix the whole thing himself, isn’t it amazing?”
She had said amazing.
Amused, Aether turned to look at him. “Geez dude. Thanks.”
“No problem”, he replied, quietly. “I should go now”.
He stepped outside, the doorframe bell ring harmonizing with the “thank you!” Lumine had thrown at him seconds before.
He crossed the street, opened the door and found Beidou and Xinyan smirking and staring at him fixedly.
“Shut up”, he spat, and hurried to the back of the studio while both girls giggled.
———————————
The punching bag swirled and he stilled it with a fingerless gloved hand, cleaning the sweat away from his eyes with a forearm. Xiao set loose the elastic rope he tied his ankles to his waist and stretched, relief washing over his muscles after a good kickboxing session.
Then he heard the vibration of his phone against the table.
He almost choked reading the name on his screen.
“H-hello?”
“Hi, Xiao, good evening!” A cheerful voice cooed.
“Good evening, Lumine” he then felt a wave of worry. “Everything ok?”
She chuckled. No matter the tinge of electronics in her voice, that soft sound so close to his ear set goosebumps flaring across his skin.
“Yeah, everything’s fine, I just—“ she sharply took some air before continuing, “you said I could call you anytime.”
This girl. For goodness sake. He rubbed his face with his free palm, trying to mush the huge grin away from his face.
“You can”, he replied, admitting his defeat. “Please do”.