'It really is her,' his suspicion was confirmed when he saw her face, his eyes kept glimpsing at the ginger-haired girl. 'She looks adorable in that dress--- ahem! What am I thinking?', Kai's cheeks tinted in a lighter shade of red as he adjusted his sunglasses on his face. He truly liked her waitress dress which was adorned with ruffles but as usual, the mighty and cold young master was not ready to admit it found her looking beautiful.
He walked towards the counter to order something. It would buy him some time and for some reason, he felt like sticking around. He looked at the menu to see if there was something he liked.
'What is he doing here?' Alena was taken aback as she recognized Kai through the silver hair beneath his hat and the 6 feet 2-inches tall height and the maple leaf and snowflake bracelet around his hand. She immediately knew it was him. She was standing near the counter cleaning it when she noticed his presence. He was merely standing 7-8 meters away from her.
He was pretty close and he had already seen her as an employee working in this cafe. It was right then when he saw her face to face. Their eyes made contact. A spark was felt through their bodies as they held the gaze of each other for a few seconds before breaking it away. Both of them surprised and baffled by what just happened.
'What was she doing working here? In a café?' He thought to himself, wondering at last. Finally, his mind had struck the right question as it was previously preoccupied with being mesmerised by her. It was as if his feet had walked him here themselves when he saw a girl with ginger-red hair, even the faint hope that it could be her had such an impact on him. It was a mysterious, incomprehensible force that always pulled him towards her. He didn't know why or what it truly was. Why was it always her that made him behave differently? What was it about her that he was so captivated? Those were questions he had no answer to.
It astonished him whenever he came into her vicinity, the kind of reactions he displayed. As if his mind, body, and soul weren't even his own. Something electric sparked within him whenever he looked at her. It rattled him. It made him want to run far away & hide somewhere deep, somewhere far away from her, for the impact she had on him made him behave abnormally, unusually, totally unlike him.
The girls at the shop fawned over him including Alena's female colleagues. All the girls looked his way and swooned dreamily over him. Wondering who this mysterious and charming man was. Be it a customer or an employee of the shop, all were drawn to the aura of this mysteriously handsome-looking man. His sharp features were evident despite being shrouded.
He sighed internally. 'Not again. Even though I'm dressed like this?' He was a little irked and a little anxious by the reactions of the girls in surrounding area.
'Is he a celebrity?', one girl whispered in the background.
'Maybe a male model or perhaps an idol?', her friend on the extreme left asked the girl who was seated in the middle of the two of them.
'No, he doesn't look familiar. If he was, I would've known', replied the girl in the middle on table no. 7.
'How would you know? Look at how he's dressed up! His identity is hard to guess but the way he's dressed he is definitely trying to hide his identity and only someone popular would do that', whispered another in response.
'Gosh I wish I could ask him out but I'm scared to approach him. He looks scary,' the girl on table no.15 said to her friend, but her voice was so auidible as the cafe was silent as a pin drop but was soon crowded with whispers and occassional loud feminine voices.
'Aww geez, what are you scared of? I want to devour him,' smirked another girl with cherry red hair.
He didn't like being treated like a boy toy anytime he stepped out of the house. It was utterly annoying. The girls couldn't see his eyes but his eyes behind the dark sunglasses that reflected no light, were completely opaque emitted a coldness that could freeze the whole café.
He quickly turned around, took off his sunglasses, and glared at them. It was a quick series of motion, like a short movie and the girls froze in their places. He felt the need to make it clear to them that he would not take their rubbish and be treated like a toy. The chattering fizzled out as the girl's faces went blue with fear.
"I'd like to order one cappuccino with ice and only one sugar cube. Make it fast. I'm in a hurry," spoke the mysterious boy in black jacket, white T-shirt and light blue jeans. His voice was as cold as an ice berg.
"Okay, sir. Do you want to have your order here or do you need to get it packed for takeaway?" asked the employee at the counter.
"Takeaway," he replied and took his phone out.
Kai decided to take a seat as he waited for his order to be prepared. He thought he would take his time to explore and observe the café and of course, his supposed new maid 'Alena Flameheart'. She was most probably asked to be hired and he felt like she would take up the offer.
He didn't know she worked part time as well and it was surprising to see her in a café maid outfit. It was not uncommon though for high schoolers to work part time. She must really be in need of money to be working at a café on weekends.
"Alena, take the order to the customer on table no 17", instructed Mr. Takeshi as he came outside the kitchen and placed the order on the counter.
Alena heaved a sigh. It had to be her, huh? It was awkward enough to bump into him at her workplace but now she had to deliver him his order personally. 'Way to go! The day was just getting more and more awkward,' she thought. She took a deep breath and took the order bag to where he was seated and placed it on the table.
"Here's your order, sir. Would you like to order something else?", she forced a smile, as it was a necessary element of treating customers well. Mrs. Hales always emphasized to treat customers with a friendly attitude after all, customers were the most important part of a business.
Kai was scrolling through his phone when he was interrupted by Alena. He looked at her and at the order on the table. "No that will be all", he replied. His face completely expressionless, so it was hard to read what was going inside his head.
"Alright, sir. Thank you for visiting us. I hope you have a great day!", she smiled and bowed.
He grabbed the order. Before, leaving he whispered into her ear, "looking forward to work with you Miss Alena. You do know you need to leave this job before you join us, right?" he smirked and left the café.
All the other girls were envious of Alena who got to talk to the beautiful yet scary man. He was incredibly attractive although intimidating.
All the other girls wished they could talk to Kai as well. They secretly wished they were Alena at that moment. Some girls sighed in sadness. Feeling gloomy that their eye candy just walked out of the café.
It was yet another long day for Alena today. Many customers visited the shop today so it was full and busy, bustling with customers. It was certainly because it was a weekend. Usually, customers were lesser during weekdays.
It was the next day, a Monday morning. Alena yawned as she switched off her alarm. She felt fresh and followed her usual morning routine. On the way to her school someone called her from behind. "Hey Alena!", shouted a boy. She turned around to look, it was Rei.
"Oh Hi, good morning.", she greeted with a smile. He joined her and they started walking together.
"Good morning! How's your morning going so far?" he quipped with enthusiasm, a freshness visible on his face.
"Wow, someone's feeling cheery this morning," Alena noticed with humour.
"You don't say. I feel that today's a good day," he replied back with a cheeky smile. The smile lit up his face, almost like magic it also made Alena curl up her lips. His eyes sparkled with joy.
**********
To be continued.....