SERENE, choso kamo

SCENE 02

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It's been a few days since that morning, a weekday. Alora went on with her dedicated streak of stopping by the cafe every day and nor did she plan to not. But, she had been staying for shorter periods that simply rose briefer as time moved on. Now, it came to be regular for her to only be in the cafe for around an hour at the least.

She had been in an awful and sour mood lately. Her father, the current chairman of a large company was bothering her more than usual, which he always did at random times. The last time he did so was about 4 months ago and he stopped to bother her other siblings but now he was back.

Every time they entered that period, her father would bother Alora about her future and how she should make the best out of this life, how no other life she would grow up art luxuriously as she did in this one. In Alora's eyes, spending her money and getting a glimpse of Choso every day was her idea of making the best out of her life.

In an attempt to put an end to his child's stubbornness, he put a strict limit on all of her credit cards which of course ran the black-haired woman up the wall, but it was nothing her favorite latte couldn't fix.

Responding to the air that was not getting any warmer as they moved closer into fall, she dressed more comfortably and warmly than usual and still looked nice.

She approached the cafe with a bright smile on her face, swinging it open and walking inside where she was happily welcomed by her friend, Emma. the worker she most wanted to see was nowhere though.

Emma didn't even bother to ask the woman what she wanted to order since she got the same thing every time, Alora noticed this and was okay with it since she didn't plan on ever ordering anything else in the present and near future.

She took her wallet out of her bag, sliding out a black card to swipe it through the machine and pay for her coffee. Before swiping it again, and again, and again.

The brunette-haired manager swore a cold sweat ran down her face, grabbing a piece of paper and scrawling on it. Waving it in front of the woman so she could read it.

"Alora, are you sure that's the right card? It has no balance."

The woman wiped her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things, realizing what she was seeing now was annoyingly true. She snagged her phone out of her bag and opened her dad's contact, stepping away from the counter as she began to let out her frustration.

After texting back and forth with her father for a good 5 minutes, she returns to the counter, slowly and gloomily showing Emma her phone screen that read, "I can't buy it. Next time." it reads. Emma frowns, nodding in understanding and agreement.

The black-haired woman decided she would just take a seat at a vacant table and spend her time there shortly since she would end up being kicked out for taking up space. Opening the messages app again, she begins to complain to her mother and siblings about her father being too extreme this time, her facial expression worsening every minute as she slouches further down in her seat.

Choso had just finished tying up his hair, and his coworkers surrounded him as usual, but the numbers had increased only slightly.

"Did you see? That lady looks like she's going through hell." one of them says as they talk among each other with Choso right in the middle of it all. One of the men crosses their arms, "I don't think she's going to order anything," the rest of the men agree.

A hand pats Choso on the shoulder comfortingly, "You can rest easy Cho, looks like you don't have to make any of those lattes today." the coworker erupts into laughter, and everyone in the room shortly after doing the same except for Choso whose expression didn't change, not one bit.

He slides past them, exiting the suffocating space without sparing them a second glance, the laughing didn't stop.

As he exited the changing room, he had seen for his own eyes just how upset Alora was and how his friend's exaggerations were completely true, if anything maybe an understatement. As if her mood began to radiate onto him, he ripped his gaze away from her and walked up to Emma, the manager, waiting for him to be given orders.

The brunette must have felt the same as Choso seeing how she kept on glancing over to Alora at times but it didn't look like she didn't at least try to not make it obvious. Her worried look was all over her face.

Turning to Choso, she began, "I'm about to ring up some orders, you can just deliver their orders to their tables for now." she said, her tone less enthusiastic and charismatic than usual. It surprised Choso how Alora's mood could easily impact other's moods, too.

He nodded, carrying out his directions immediately as he purposely avoided looking anywhere near Alora who was effortlessly pitiful, but it didn't help much.

When Alora caught sight of the man, even she in her depressive state could tell he was deliberately forcing himself to not even spare her a look which made her all the more disappointed.

To be honest, she was exaggerating her mood because she had hoped he would sympathize with her and comfort her, but she felt stupid as she watched him do the exact opposite.

Choso, reaching his limit of stuffy, escaped behind the counter far away from Alora's eye of sight. That too, was when Alora reached her limit.

Feeling like a burden, she had decided it was finally time to leave. She begins to rise from her seat, her bag hanging around her arms as pushes the chair in slowly, a frown on her face.

At that moment, her phone went off. The sound was one of when you get messaged so her curiosity led her to open her phone immediately and view the notification.

Her father had texted her, a short apology saying how he had gone too extreme. Alora uncounsiously began to smile knowing her mother had talked to her father for her and convinced him to remove the limits on her credit card.

Her fingers tapped the screen and sent a series of sentences that thanked her father over and over again as well as giving her mom her gratitude.

She twirls her way back to the front counter happily, the mood swing had made Emma's eyes go wide in confusion as she immediately began to sign, "What happened?"

Alora didn't bother telling her as she just waved her credit card around. That much, explained the situation to Emma.

The brunette laughs, asking her for her order to which Alora replies like she usually does, paying for her latte with no problem this time.

Emma nodded, going into the kitchen to find Choso, who was doing his own thing.

"Alora just paid, make that latte asap!" she exclaims, her mood changing just as quickly as Alora's did.

Knowing how Choso always took orders well, she didn't feel the need to say anything more and let him be. She thanks him for his hard work and leaves.

It took the man a few seconds to process the situation, the glass coffee pot in his hands eventually being brought down and placed on the cold marble countertop where a small variety of materials were laid out carefully.

Thinking back to earlier, Coincidentally, Emma had stepped in right as he was about to pour the warm caramel beige-colored liquid from outside the coffee maker into a small white glass cup in front of him.

Even before his superior coworker had told him to, he would have ended up making the latte anyway.

He was embarrassed about how seeing her sad had made his hands move on their own.

He was embarrassed about how he had planned to pay for her drink, as long as it meant she wouldn't be so suffocatingly upset.

He snatched his cap off his head and used the arm to begin leaning on the counter's surface, his head hanging low while his free hand ruffled his hair into a mess out of frustration.

"What the hell am I doing..?"

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