Chapter Text
Winter was the season almost nobody enjoyed. It brought the cold winds and terrible road conditions, one had to dress themselves twice before leaving the house; first for their peers, and second for Mother Nature herself. No matter how many years you dealt with it, every year seemed to be worse than the last.
Chengling wasn’t a stranger to the blinding snow and painful winds, but that didn’t mean he liked it. Having only a scarf to protect his poor face from the snowflakes attacking his face, he pulled his jacket tighter around himself, as if it already wasn’t tight enough from being half a size small, and continued the uncomfortable journey to his work. He almost wanted to call it off for the day when seeing the weather conditions this morning, but then remembered his uncle had been running low on essential groceries and still needed to gain extra money for tuition cost, so off he went on foot to the small coffee shop he called work.
“Thank god classes were canceled today.” Chengling thought as he neared the building. Stepping inside, he could feel the heat immediately seep into his body, warming his numb and reddened cheeks. He let out a huff and made his way to the back, signing in to the employee sheet and heading to his locker, putting everything neatly inside.
The familiar interior of the place filled his senses; soft chatter between the few employees there, the smell of coffee, tea, and freshly baked pastries, and the cozy look of the cafe filling his eyes. The overall theme of the place wasn’t set, but the design and decorations made it feel like the mountain tops in ancient China.
Chengling’s reason for working in this place didn’t only stem from needing money to pay his tuition, but when he first stumbled upon the shop, he felt drawn to it somehow. To him it wasn’t just another coffee shop in the city, it made him feel at ease, warm, and like he finally belonged in this crazy world. It was strange if he was honest, the entire place felt like a kind of home to him, even when he already had one.
He took in a small breath, and his eyes wandered to the large painting hanging on the wall across him. It wasn’t too complex, the scenery was simple, white and blue and hints of yellow pulling it together to create the landscape on a mountaintop, and in the middle stood two figures, their backs facing the viewer. The two wore simple robes, one in very light, almost white robes, with a light coloured belt, its border a darker blue than the rest of his clothes. The other wore a dark blue outer robe, his belt holding the same shade of blue as his robes, yet the middle of it had a grey shade to it. Not only did their clothing complement each other, but their hair did as well. The man in mostly white had half of his dark black hair tied into a bun, a jade white hairpin embedded into it. The man in blue had half of his white hair tied up into a ponytail, letting it flow behind him.
Suddenly Chengling felt three rapid taps on his shoulder. Turning around he was faced with the manager, who had a playful smile on her face.
This is how it always went with Chengling, the moment he stepped into the main seating area, he would spend a few moments staring at the painting, locked into a trance with it. Sometimes his face would be filled with a multitude of emotions, and other times it would stay empty. Today was the latter. If he could, he’d spend eternity looking at the two figures.
“Ah…” he breathes out, the tips of his ears turning a light shade of pink from being caught once again.
“You always stare at that painting for so long whenever you come in, why not try to buy it, hm?” She joked, hands coming behind her back as she hit their shoulders together. Chengling’s ears turned a darker shade of pink, and he took small steps away from the painting, stuttering his words as walked.
“N-no I could never… this painting, it… suits the place really well.”
The girl giggled again, as she brought a hand to softly pat Chengling’s head. Even though she was slightly younger between the two of them—to Chengling—she always radiated an older sister vibe, especially with him. Maybe she was the eldest in her family, or maybe it was because she was used to taking care of other people, Chengling never asked, and he never would. Her reasonings for treating her co-workers as siblings would come out whenever she wanted it to. Until then, everyone let her take care of them—pretty fitting for her position as manager if you asked any of the workers.
“Chengling, you’re as gullible as ever,” she said a small lilt in her tone. “Now get to your post before I get in trouble for letting you slack off.” Then she walked past him, to check on the other employees, either going to chat with them or to get them back on task.
Chengling smiled sheepishly, letting out a quick “yes ma’am” to her and made his way to his spot for the day. He gave small greetings to the rest of his co-workers and finally found his place behind the register, ready to welcome customers on this unpleasant day. Even though the weather was awful to be out in, somehow the small cafe was filled with customers. Most of them just ordered a quick drink to get them through the cold, others spent time ordering a treat to go along with their drink, and few decided to sit down in the cushioned seats.
During a slower moment, Chengling decided to quickly check on the stock of different items, going to the back to grab what was needed. As he was refilling the sugar containers, the bell on the door rang, and two people walked in. One of them found a spot to sit down and the other stood at the start of the line, looking around as he waited for someone to help him.
“Just a moment,” Chengling called out, glancing at the register, and sighing after seeing only one person. Today only four people had been able to make it to work, two of which were preoccupied in the kitchen, and the other handling paperwork, leaving Chengling as the only barista available.
After everything was refilled and put away in the correct places, Chengling wiped his hands with a paper towel and quickly walked to the register. He didn’t look up right away, tapping on the screen to wake it up again.
“Sorry about the wait, what can I get you?” He asked, finally looking at the man in front of him.
The other man walked forward with a smile, taking a quick glance back at the menu, making sure he had the right order in mind. He wore a light blue winter jacket with a dark purple hat on his head. His hair wasn’t very long, but it wasn’t short either. His bangs fell all onto one side of his forehead, reaching just below his eyebrow, the back came to the middle of his neck. From what was peaking out from under the hat, his hair seemed fluffy and was black in colour.
“No worries, I’ll take a-“ His head turned to Chengling as he started speaking, but the sound fell quiet when his eyes landed on the boy.
Chengling’s eyes stayed brighter than the sun, his brows raised slightly when the man stopped talking. He was confused to say the least. The customer seemed calm, almost happy to be inside, but now he seemed to be frozen, shock spread clearly all over his face. A few moments passed, and Chengling opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but before he could even put sound to his questions, the other man spoke up, his voice quiet but gave a hint of surprise.
“Chengling?”
Just then another voice piped up as the other person appeared next to the man. She wore a light purple winter jacket, the length reaching to her knees. It was open, revealing a sweater with different shades of purple on the design and a pair of dark blue jeans. Her long black hair was tied into a side braid, two small sections on each side of her face acted as bangs. There was a light blue hat on her head, matching in style with the one on the man.
She came close to the man, tugging on his sleeve to get his attention as she spoke. “Weining I actually changed my mind, I’ll take a latte instead. Weining?”
When she didn’t hear any confirmation from the man named Weining she looked in his direction to Chengling and her eyes widened, the hand once holding the sleeve of Weining’s jacket now coming to her face. The two of them were stunned into silence, the only thing their bodies allowed them to do was continuously stare at the younger boy.
Meanwhile, Chengling was confused as to what was going on. Not only were the two customers in front of him stunned into silence at his appearance, but one of them also knew his name? He wasn’t even wearing a name tag, how could the man in front of him know his name? Before he could let either of the two in front of him say another word, Chengling spoke up again, trying his best to stay professional.
“I’m sorry, but could I please have your order? If you want to chat, I can spare a few seconds while I hand you your items.”
The man named Weining blinked a couple of times before finally coming back to himself. He cleared his throat and spoke quickly. “R-right, my apologies. I’ll take a medium ginger tea with one sugar along with a sponge cake, and Ah-Xiang what were you saying?” He asked the other next to him after giving his order.
The lady turned her head slightly, but her eyes stayed focused on Chengling. “Oh- um I’ll take a small latte and an egg tart.”
Chengling nodded and put in their orders for a price. The man paid with his card, and the two went to the spot that had been chosen earlier. Before Chengling started making their drinks, he gave one last glance to them, curious but also concerned. Even though the man knew his name, there was something about them that Chengling couldn’t shake off. It was like he had met them before, maybe even known them. But as Chengling was thinking back to everyone he might’ve told his name to, neither of those two appeared in his head. So how had they known him, and why did they feel so familiar?
Why did Chengling’s insides suddenly start going haywire when faced with these two?