SERENE, choso kamo

SCENE 01

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Since then, there has never been a day when Alora didn't visit the cafe for a latte. She still goes a bit before noon and ends up staying a few more hours than she used to, turning herself into a devoted regular customer, maybe even a VIP.

Choso's in the breakroom, putting on his usual black apron with the cafe's logo, tying the strings tightly behind him just as he always did. As he was opening his locker, a co-worker of his draped their arm over him in an aggressive but friendly manner.

"Yo, Choso, that lady's here again." the man teased him, a wide grin on his face as he backed up and gave Choso his space to put his belongings in his locker and slam it shut when he was done. His expression remained nonchalant, "She's a regular." Choso mutters, no emotion behind his voice as he tells his friend there is nothing special about it.

The friend laughs softly, crossing his arms, "Oh really? As soon as she saw no sign of you, she hasn't looked away from behind the counter once. She's waiting for her prince charming." this earns some laughs from the other co-workers in the room.

The black-haired man sighed, tying his hair into his usual low ponytail that just barely grazed his shoulders. A new custom that was brought along besides Alora visiting the cafe every day was his co-workers teasing him at any possible time.

Choso, done getting ready, left the break room and appeared from behind the counter where his colleague's statement was immediately proven true. When Alora sought site of Choso, her eyes lit up with joy, the sparkle growing brighter when they made eye contact.

That morning, the cafe was busier than usual, the line had at least a dozen people and more tables were filled up. The noise level was higher but not to the extent of it being unbearable, just noisy.

Emma, the hard-working brunette who was the manager and also Alora's precious friend scattered around behind the counter frantically with alot of pressure on her hands since most of the workers were in the back getting ready.

When she saw Choso walk out from the breakroom, she immediately called him to go out and take orders from the tables, passing him a notepad as she nodded her head towards Alora.

'Of all people,' he thought to himself, pressing his lips together as he took the stack of notes from his boss and walked out from behind the counter and straight to Alora's table where she sat with her elbows on the surface and a wide grin on her face.

When he approached her, he nodded politely and gave her a wave which she immediately returned with 5x more energy. He took out his pen, preparing to use it to write, and asked her what she wanted to order but he was stopped as she pulled out her phone and showed him the screen.

"The usual, please." it read. At least it said nothing concerning the idea of love this time. Relieved, choso nods and writes down her latte and its specific details, going to assist another table when he finished.

It was fun watching Choso even if all she could see was his back, but, she began to sulk on the fact that she's made no progress at all so far and the only conversations she's had with him are about him asking her what she wants to order.

He didn't seem to be of many words anyway, he gave short and vague answers and would never seem like the type of person to bring up or ask something if someone doesn't do it first. But Alora didn't mind at all. She had alot to say and he didn't, the fact their personalities were opposites was exciting to think about.

Giving the stack of orders to the counter, Choso goes behind there himself to make Alora's latte as it seemed like it became the law for him to be the only one to make her latte from now on, he didn't mind it though, he was happy that she enjoyed it and had positive thoughts on it rather than negative ones.

Alora had her long black hair done in a neat claw clip bun, two long strands framing the sides of her face. she unconsciously began to twirl one of them as she scrolled through her phone, checking her notifications on Instagram.

Behind her was a group of high school students sitting at a corner table, giggling uncontrollably and telling each other to shut up when they got too loud.

"Are you for real gonna do it?" a hooded one asked, passing glances to Alora who quietly minded her business. One of them with curly hair started giving his friends high fives, "Yolo." his friends erupted into laughter and cheers hyping up the teenager as she stood up and walked away to Alora's table.

Seeing the boy approach from the corner of her eye, she closes out the app and turns to the high schooler.

"Ive been watching you since earlier and I think you're pretty hot," he begins, a smile on his face as he fidgeted with his hands and his obnoxiously loud friend group watching and laughing at the scene.

Reading his lips, Alora's tongue poked the inside of her cheek outwards with a bored expression on her face as she continued to concentrate on what the boy was saying.

The curly head hesitated, scratching the back of his neck, "I was wondering if I could get your Snapchat?" his friends behind him started hitting each other as their mouths were carved into the shape of an 'o'.

Just as Alora got out the notes app on her phone to respond, Choso who had just finished making her latte appeared, interrupting the highschooler's awkward confession as he slammed the coffee in front of Alora but not enough for it to spill out of the cup.

The loud clack and aggressive vibration of the glass hitting the table immediately caught the attention of the boy and Alora at the same time, turned to Choso who had his eyes set on the ignorant curly-headed teenager.

"She's way too old for you, kid," he states, his usual expression and nonchalant tone present as the high schooler and his group of friends all went quiet and the mood turned awkward. Unfortunately, Alora was unable to read what he was saying, so she sulked as she was once again left in the dark

The boy pressed his lips into a thin line, "Oh, haha. She looks young so I was mistaken." he explains between long pauses here and there before fast walking back to his friends.

"What was that? Is he her boyfriend or something?" one of them whisper, looking back and forth between his friend and Choso. "Who cares, he's weird. Let's get out of here." another one of them scowls, the group of friends all agreeing.

Alora begins to type on her phone, showing it to the black-haired man when she is finished.

"What did you say?"

Choso stared blankly at the screen, then at Alora whose face was full of curiosity as her eyes were lit up with anticipation with his reply.

Eventually, after the woman's arms began to hurt after holding the phone up for too long, Choso slowly took it from her, typing into it and giving it to her. When she received it, he walked away without giving her a chance to reply.

"There's your latte. Pay at the counter when you're done." was all it said.

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