The light wind is quietly blowing on the mildly crowded street, creating jiggles in the leaves of a tree that stands beside the sidewalk. Sun is shining brightly after a long time in the clear blue sky. The weather is good today and so is my day.
I am standing in front of the famous 'Signature Cafe', taking in the outside view of the well-decorated cafe. This place looks like a hangout place for wealthy people and I am standing in front of it.
I couldn't help but smile from excitement. I promised myself that if I get good marks in my midterms then I will treat myself to some sweets from this famous cafe. So here I am.
I take one last look at the outside of the cafe before going in. As I enter, a sweet sugary chocolaty smell hit my nose. I look around eagerly, and all I could see is cakes, pastries, macrons and chocolates.
Ahh, feel like I'm in actual heaven.
I go to the counter and stand in line to order some pastries. In front of me are two men who are deciding their orders so, to pass the time I start going through apps on my phone.
"Do you think Jay will like this cake?" One of the front guys speaks up.
My finger stop typing on a phone when I heard the name, Jay. That name brings back old memories. He and his two brothers, Roy and Kai were my childhood friend. They were my neighbour.
Roy was my age while Kai was one year older than me and Jay was two years older than me. We basically grew up together. We four were best friends for a long time but then I moved to another country when I was 10 and we lost contact.
I still wonder about them sometime, about what they are doing right now, how they look like now...so many things.
"Here, this one is final." One of a man says it in a deep voice. He reaches out to his back pocket to grab his wallet. He drops the card when he takes out his wallet. He doesn't notice it so I bend down and grab his card.
"Um, excuse me," I call out but he doesn't listen so I gently tap on his shoulder.
He quickly turns to look at me.
Damn!
I was blown away by his handsome face and sharp jawlines. His dark brown eyes were sparkling like dew in sun. His black shiny parted hair was covering his forehead, only leaving his middle forehead showing. He is tall and muscular... But something about him feels oddly familiar.
Wait a sec... his eyes. They look familiar...
"Yes?" His curious voice pulls me out of my thinking process.
"You dropped this," I say, showing him his black card.
These eyes do look familiar!
"Roy, should we try this cake first?" Another guy asks him without taking his eyes off of cake menu.
"Thanks." He snatches the card from my hand and turns around.
Wait! Did he just call him... ROY?!
Can this be the same, Roy?!
Other than his eyes nothing looks similar to my friend Roy. But then again 8 years is a long time. So this is possible that his face changed after puberty.
"Miss!"
I look up to see the cashier calling me. I was so busy thinking about Roy that I didn't notice when those two guys from the front went away.
"Oh, sorry!" I go close and ordered two pastries to go. Once the order was ready I grabbed a paper bag from a server, ready to go home.
But before going home I wanted to see those men one last time so I turn to the sitting area, and there I saw them sitting near the window.
The guy named Roy is talking on the phone. And another guy who has Caramel brown hair is drinking coffee with a bright smile.
I decide to sit at an empty table that was a few feet away from them to have better look at Roy.
After some seconds he puts his phone done and starts talking with his friend. He then smiles at him. His smile was similar to my friend's. Making me realize that he is the same Roy from my childhood.
Damn! What a lucky day!
I stand up immediately and walk over to their table. "Hi," I greet him softly when I reached their table.
They both turn to look at me.
"Yes?" Roy ask.
"Hi, Roy! Remember me? I'm Eva."
His eyebrows pull closer as he stares at me.
Suddenly I start feeling nervous. What if he doesn't remember me? But the worst part is what if he remembers me but doesn't wanna talk to me or have anything to do with me?
Well, that would be embarrassing. And maybe a little hurtful.
I tried to look excited but nervousness was killing me. Still, I held my beaming smile, hoping that he would remember me.
His eyes widen for a second before going back to a straight cold face. "Sorry. I don't know any Eva."
My smile drops instantly. Now I feel like I made myself a fool. I thought for a second that he recognized me but I guess I was wrong.
"Your childhood friend...?" I say it more like a question.
"I don't remember any Eva."
"Oh..."
Well, this is painful. I should better go away before I embarrass myself more.
"Sorry, I guess I have mistaken you for someone else. Sorry." I gave him an apologetic smile before turning around to go.
But before I could take any step, a big warm hand wrapped around my wrist. I stop to look at the owner of the hand and it turns out to be Roy. He has a playful smirk on his face while here I stand still in confusion.
He gives me big teeth showing a smile. "Did you really think I would forget you, Evi?"
"Huh?!"
I stare at him with uncertainty. Then realization struck in my mind, he called me Evi! My eyebrows went up high as my eyes widen. Roy used to call me Evi!
"You remember?!"
"Of course, I remember you! How can I forget you?!" He stands up and comes close, "Sorry about earlier, I was just joking with you."
Before I could say anything, he wraps his arms around me. I feel his warmness covering my body as his hands rest on my upper back, making me freeze on my spot due to the sudden closeness.
"God! I missed you so much, Evi." He whispers in my ear as his hug engulfs me.
I feel butterflies in my stomach for some reason. I dont usually have this type of reaction to hugs from the opposite gender but this was different. Maybe my body is reacting this way because he's crazy handsome or maybe it's because of the way he said he misses me in his deep rasping voice.
Well, whatever it is I need to control my shit. I take a deep breath and slowly pull away from the hug.
"I missed you too," I say with a smile.
"How are you?" His eyes look at me with genuine curiosity and excitement.
"I am good. How are you!" I answered mirroring the same excitement and eagerness that he was showing on his face.
"I'm good too!" His gaze falls on my feet before slowly moving up and finally meeting my eyes, "You look beautiful."
Really boi!
Because last I checked I looked like a raccoon with wavy long black hair and weary brown eyes. I haven't had proper sleep in months because of all the assignments and exams. Causing me to have dark circles under my eyes. I tried to cover it with some makeup but I could still see the shadow under my eyes from close up.
And he said I looked beautiful??
Even my clothes are basic. I'm wearing blue jeans and a hoodie because I was too lazy to dress up. My original plan was to buy some groceries and some pastries and go home. Since no one knows me in the city I didn't really think about what to wear. I just grabbed whatever I could from the laundry basket and wore it. But now I'm regretting wearing this.
"Thanks," I say with an awkward smile. "You also don't look bad yourself either," I said without admitting that he actually looks godly handsome.
"Ah, I know. People often tell me that I should start modelling." He smirks arrogantly while his eyes hold playfulness. He then tucks his hands in front of his jeans pockets and rotated his body left and right, showing me his modelling poses.
"What do you think?"
I giggle, "They are not wrong. Maybe you should consider doing modelling."
"So you also think I look handsome?" He asks me with a big smile.
"Stop praising yourself, Roy." The other guy speaks with a bored tone.
"Don't be jelly, Damon." Roy gives him a fake glare.
Damon scoffs and focuses his attention on me."Who is this lovely lady, Roy?"
"Damon, meet my childhood best friend Eva," He then turns to me, "and Eva, meet my friend, Damon"
"Hi, nice to meet you," I greet him with a formal smile.
"It's very nice to meet you as well." He gives me the sweetest smile.
"What are you doing here, Evi?" Roy pulls my attention back to him.
"I was here to buy some cake, I heard lots about this place so I wanted to give it a try."
"I meant what are you doing in this city? When did you come here?"
"Ahh...I moved here to do university, two months ago."
His eyes are studying my facial features carefully as I speak, making me nervous once again. A good type of nervous.
"Which university?"
"University of Southern hill."
"Why are you still standing? Here, take a sit." Damon moves the empty chair toward me to sit.
"Thank you, but I should get going now." I flash him my apologetic smile. If I don't leave now then I'll miss my last bus because today is the weekend so we don't have a bus scheduled after 4 pm in my area. Also, I feel less confident and self-conscious right now to have a full-on conversation with these handsome men in my gray hoodie and jeans so it's better I go home.
Roy's face drops, "Why so early, we just met."
"I'm sorry, but I'll miss my bus if I don't go now." I feel a little sad seeing my friend's cheerful face turn into a long face but I can't stay.
"I can drop you home if you want". He stares at me with a hint of hope in his eyes. He wants me to stay but I am feeling shy and overwhelmed by their presence. I just want to get away from them and this expensive place for now.
"Oh no, you don't have to. I can go by myself. If you want we can meet later!" I say it with enthusiasm to cheer him up. "Give me your phone number," I give him my phone to write his number.
He happily take it from my hand and tapped his number on it. He then gives miscall to himself from my phone before returning my phone.
"Done."
"Thank you. I guess I'll see you later." I smile and wave goodbye at them.
"Yeah, I'll call you later," Roy says happily.
"Sure, Bye!" I wave the last goodbye at them before quickly marching to the exit.
As soon as I come out, I take a deep breath to calm my nerves. I didn't know my childhood friend will end up looking like a model. This was totally nerve-wracking. But I'm glad I finally was able to meet him. I just wish I look a little more presentable.
.............
Third person POV
Roy let out a small quiet chuckle seeing Eva rush out of the building quickly. He knew she was nervous. He felt it when she was talking to him. He finds that amusing that his friend, who used to be anything but nervous and shy, is now running away from him because she felt nervous.
"Well, she exited quite fast," Damon states, still curious about that girl who made Roy act like this after a long time.
"Yeah," Roy replies nonchalantly, still looking at the door that she exited from.
"Sir, your cake is here." A waiter catches their attention. He serves them pieces of different cakes with drinks and leaves.
"Roy, are you okay?" Damon asks when he notices Roy smiling at a cake. It was bizarre for him to see serious Roy like this, but he kind of liked it.
"Yeah, I was just thinking about Eva." He is thinking about Eva's hug, seeing her face getting flushed red by hugged made his heart swell with pride and happiness.
He felt pleased and satisfied seeing that reaction on her face that was caused by him. Usually, his charms made many ladies swoon over him but he never cared about any of them. But Eva, her reaction made him feel something...something new.
"Bro, are you blushing?" Damon squeaks like a high school teenage girl.
Roy glares at him, "Shut up, eat your damn cake!" Roy starts stuffing his mouth with a cake to avoid Damon's gaze.
Damon sure is enjoying this. "And now jerk Roy is back!"
Roy rolls his eyes. "Damon, don't tell anyone about Eva. I wanna give a surprise to Jay and Kai."
*********
Thank you for reading it. I hope you liked it.
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This is my first chapter; I hope you liked it. I know there are some grammar mistakes and other mistakes, feel free to point it out. English is my second language but I'm trying my best here.
Thank you for reading this. Have an amazing day!
(28 March 2018)