Chapter Text
“Fuck!” You hissed to yourself as the steamed milk lightly splashes onto your fingers after your coworker accidentally bumped into you. The buzz of the afternoon rush muffled your thoughts as you bit your lip to control the pain while you continued to make two more orders, careful not to spill any more of the hot liquid onto yourself or else you might just quit right on the spot.
Making a quick trip to the sink, you let your pain subside for just a few seconds as you run some cool water on the light burn before rushing over to one of the tables by the door. “Here you go, one latte, one cappuccino, and a slice of vanilla shortcake. Anything else I can get you?” You greet your table, a fake smile on your lips before turning around to walk away, back to your station once you’re dismissed. But before you can fully make it back, you’re almost hit by the door as it’s swung open, a loud voice immediately making its way to your eardrums.
“You know how to order by yourself right?” The white haired boy who swung the door almost to your face asked as he looked down at the spiky haired kid beside him who could only stare ahead, eyes attracted to the display of goods by the counter.
The little kid stared up at the boy. “I’m 5.” Was the only response that the kid said before beelining for the displays.
Unable to help yourself, you give the white haired guy a side-eye, muttering to yourself about his carelessness before making your way back to the counter, tidying up your area as you continue to take and make orders.
After a few minutes, you turn back to the counter and find yourself faced with the black haired kid from earlier, now all alone standing before you, a black card in his hand and the white haired teen he was with earlier standing beside the door, busy on his phone.
Too busy, in fact. You can practically hear his voice from where he’s at. “What? I thought you were gonna take care of it? Today’s my day off though!” He exclaims, uncaring for the other people in the cafe with him. “In the end, those old cronies just came crawling back to me to do their dirty work.” Clicking his tongue, the white haired teen threw a look at the kid before you, waved his hand then walked out of the cafe, still on his phone.
Ignoring the guy, the kid turned back to you and started pointing at the menu. Perplexed, you took down the kid’s order. “That’ll be 1,500 yen.” You told the kid as you rang up the order. Once more, you’re surprised when the kid hands you the black card he’s holding.
This kid’s richer than me…
“Alright then, your order will be ready in a while, you can take a seat anywhere you’d like.” You give him the receipt and smile before watching him walk away, not a word out of him the whole time.
The day goes by as usual. Although you can’t help but notice that as the customers came in and out, that little kid from earlier is still in the cafe, still in the corner spot that he found and not a sight of that white haired guy from earlier.
You can’t help but be a bit concerned. The kid said that he was just five years old and now he doesn’t even have his guardian with him. You’ve probably gone and talked to the kid 4 times your whole shift and only managed to know his name - Megumi - on your third attempt at making sure that he’s okay. To make it worse, you’re an hour away from closing and the kid is still in that corner, now eating a sandwich that he ordered not long ago.
Biting your lip to refrain yourself from cursing, you finished cleaning up your station, along with wiping off the tables and chairs, your eyes drifting back to the clock by the wall then back to the door, hoping that the loud and obnoxious white haired guy would suddenly show up.
After a few more minutes of silence as you wait for the last of the customers to leave, you finally approach Megumi again.
Sitting across from him, you offer him a small smile. “Hey Megumi, is the sandwich okay?” You start, trying your best to sound as gentle and friendly as you can be. The kid only nods as he continues chewing. “Well… actually, the cafe is about to close and I’m really concerned that your guardian, or whoever that white haired boy was from earlier, isn’t here yet. Do you know where he could be? Do you have his number?”
At that, Megumi sets his sandwich down. “He’s probably out fighting again.” That doesn’t necessarily make you feel better…
But the clock is ticking and you don’t think you can stay the whole night in this cafe waiting for someone to pick Megumi up. “Oh, okay then, well, do you have anyone we can call? Or do you have his numbe-” You’re cut off by the sound of loud banging on the cafe door.
With a jolt, you whip your head towards the door and are met with the sight of the white haired teen from earlier banging at the door like he’s planning on shattering it to bits, all while calling out for Megumi, his voice making your ears ring. Your lips purse in annoyance. Standing, you smile at Megumi once more. “Go on, Megumi. Finish your sandwich while I open the door and talk to your brother for a bit, yeah?”
You try your best not to stomp your way to the door as you hastily unlock the door, but before the guy can enter, you stop him. “Can I talk to you for a bit? Outside?” You ask, a strained smile on your lips as you contain your irritation.
Your skin feels like it’s about to be burned off when you see him roll his eyes and sigh a little at your words before following you out.
The nerve of this guy!
Once you’re both out of Megumi’s sight, you turn towards the guy. “Hello, um, I’m the barista from earlier. I don’t know if you remember, but I saw that you left-”
“Can you get to the point? I don’t really have much time.” The guy cuts you off as he stares down at you, his strikingly blue eyes peering at you from above his sunglasses.
Who wears sunglasses in the evening?
Your eye twitches at his words and tone, you can practically feel it in your skin, an indescribably pressure, like he’s actively trying to push you down to the ground merely from his stare alone. Clenching your fist, you finally drop the customer service act.
“Okay, fine. You can’t just leave your brother-”
“He’s not my brother. We’re not even related.” He chuckles.
“I don’t care. Your brother or some kid you kidnapped, you can’t leave random kids alone in public! You didn’t even leave him a phone or a contact. What if something bad happened to him?! What then-”
“But nothing bad happened and now I’m here to pick him up. What are you so upset about?” The fact that he cut you off again was enough to almost make you blow your head off from anger, but the mere fact that his tone alone was so smug, along with the matching smirk on his lips makes you want to take your shoe off and throw it straight at his face.
Almost shaking from anger, you’re about to really give him a piece of your mind as to why you’re so upset, but then, he pulls his wallet out of his pocket, shuffles through a few bills before giving you a thin stack. “Here, this is probably at least 2 weeks from working at this cafe.” He shoves the bills into your hand, not even giving you time to comprehend before he’s making his way back to the cafe.
A few seconds too late, you try to follow him, about to throw the stack of cash right at his face but he’s already got to Megumi and you don’t really want to blow your fuse in front of a kid. So instead, you bite your tongue and offer the little kid a smile, all while glaring at the white haired kidnapper guy whenever you’d glance up at him.
Megumi gives you a wave goodbye, thanking you for keeping him company the whole day.
“Goodnight Megumi, get home safe.”
You wait just a few seconds after they’ve walked past you before throwing your hands up, middle finger up in the air and pointing right at the white haired teen. But then, as if he sensed it, he turned towards you and smirked at the sight of you seething behind the glass doors of the cafe.
Normally, you would’ve been embarrassed having been caught being so childish, but instead, you held your ground and watched as he continued smirking at you.
You watch as they get into a sleek black car.
“Arrogant, rich bastard…” You mutter to yourself as you look down at the stack of cash in your hand, along with the fact that Megumi was using a black credit card - must’ve been that guy’s card -, and now that sleek car. “Why didn’t he just get Megumi picked up by that car if he had that in the first place?!” You continue to hiss and fuss as you get ready to finally head home and start studying for the night.
Keeping the cash safely tucked inside your bag, you begin your walk home. “Paying me off like I’m some kind of bug… He;s lucky I actually need the money, but still. I hope I never see that guy again.”