Love and Coffee

Chapter 2 The Conversation

As I was working through this month's profit and loss- more loss actually, Rohan looked up from his own laptop and rested his gaze on the play area where my cats were either licking themselves or playing with the yarn which I gave up to them for they just wouldn't let me crochet in peace.

"Are they your cats" He asked.

I gave a brief glance at the play area and replied back; "Yeah, they all are."

"Wow that's a lot of Persians to own" he said.

"Well, Lulu is a ragdoll actually" I said.

"Oh, I see it now" he said on closer inspection.

"So, you bring them here every day?" he asked.

"That's kind of a point of owning a cat café, no?" I replied back smiling at him.

"So, you bought all these cats for your café?" he asked getting more inquisitive.

"No, the other way around actually. I bought the café because I have all these cats. I love cats! And I wanted to share my love for cats with others too" I said with a gleeful expression spreading across my face.

"I can see that!" he said smiling back, and continued, "Why no strays?"

"Oh, Lemon, Zesty, Mocha and Pompom are from the same litter. My cousin breeds cats and I already had Lulu, but when I saw the fur babies at her house- whom she wanted to get rid of- I couldn't help but adopt all of them. You see, their mother died during childbirth and they were malnourished. As caring as my cousin is, she wanted to do away with  them because taking care of four new born kittens was just too much for her. I just couldn't help myself! And I already have 5 cats to take care of by myself, don't have much space for more" I said with an apologetic smile. I don't know what I was sorry for. My cousin maybe? I didn't want to paint a bad picture of her to him. I also didn't want him to think I was anti strays. I loved all cats. All animals, in fact. But I can't house so many!

"That's very generous of you, Jasmine" he said, sipping his americano and looking at me intently. Like he was proud of me.

"Thank you" was all i could muster up to say what with a sudden flush of colour rose to my cheeks.

"What do you do for work?" I asked changing the subject.

"Well, that's an interesting question" he said with curling in his upper lip and broadening his lips wide. I took it as if I hit a nerve and thought he wouldn't elaborate on the answer. Maybe he was between jobs? I mean, who brought their cat to 'work' on a Monday morning to a cat café? He had to be a nomad.

"It's okay, I should get back to bookkeeping" I said, looking down at my file.

"No, it's okay. I will answer" he said. "I have had many jobs over the last 6 years. I was a project manager, I owned a start-up which failed, two actually, that's funny, and now I am a screenplay writer. Yeah, quite a jump, I know! But I always liked writing and decided to give my passion a go. So, here I am, in Coffee Cats, writing the first draft for a Netflix show" he finished.

"Wow! That's quite a resume! What were your business start-ups about, if you don't mind my asking?" I was intrigued. And bored. I didn't want to look at the terrible sob story that the numbers were telling. I didn't want to balance the sheets. For I knew, the liabilities outweigh the assets currently. Also, I wasn't very good at bookkeeping. I was on a lookout for hiring an accountant, but with our profits being so low, I decided to soldier on the bookkeeping duties for now. We were going to introduce new coffees soon, which I clung on to give us a profit turnover. With that, I could afford to get a new accountant and even some wait staff. Maybe just one wait staff. And someone to keep company to the cats and groom them and make sure the guests were being respectful to the cats. I do love my babies.

"Well, believe it or not, it was a coffee shop, the first one! And the second one was a marketing agency. Both failed successfully" he laughed and I did too at the oxymoron.

"Wow a coffee shop! Tell me more please. That is if I'm not distracting you with your writing" I said.

"No, no it's fine, I have reached a writer's block anyway. So, it was called Rory's Brewery, you get it? Short for Rohan and then the...anyway, it was in what I believed was a gentrified neighbourhood. But Kurla crowd? Anything but! They didn't get my unique coffee blends and frappes. They didn't understand the menu. They would come in groups of 4-8 and order like 2 things and sit all day. Not only did they deter the actual paying customers what with their garishness- which was totally not the vibe of my café- but they also plummeted the profits as that's all the crowd there was... 2 large groups ordering 4 things in total. Every day. It didn't work. Had to close shop and move on to my next adventure" he said.

"Ooh Kurla! Tough crowd. Should've tried BKC instead" I suggested.

"That's what everyone had told me too, but, 1. The rent was outlandishly insane and 2. I didn't want to be called a BKC snob, you know? It was a personal decision, one which I regret due to my own hubris" he said.

"So what if you're called a snob, you could still be running Rory's Brewery!" I injected.

"But then I wouldn't have the pleasure of writing my first screenplay in this beautiful café, with the beautiful cats and a beautiful young lady sitting opposite me" he said with a genuine smile. I blushed.

"Hey crazy idea. But, would you mind someday soon helping me brainstorm the coffee menu in my café? I could really use all the help I can get!" I spoke.

"Why not, absolutely! It would give me the pleasure of coming back and enjoying another cup of this americano. What beans do you use? Arabica?" he asked.

"Arabica blond roast" I said.

"Perfect. It's a date" he smiled and offered his hand for me to shake. I put down my pen and folded the laptop screen a little to awkwardly extend my own hand and shake on it.

"It's a date" I confirmed.