Sakura cheerfully smiled at Kiyoshi.
Haru started sectioning his hair half horizontally and brushed it with his fingers before tying it into a messy half pony. He scanned the paper first, "Well, you already have a list here. We just have to finalize this," and looked at Sakura "Why this theme though?"
Sakura stared at Haru with admiration as he tied his hair and snapped out of it after hearing his question. "I suggested it since the cherry blossom season wasn't that long ago and… I also wasn't able to enjoy it when I moved in here."
"You heard her, so you two better give Sakura the best cherry blossomed themed menu next Friday, alright?" Mei said with excitement, eyeing the two gentlemen.
"Thanks, Mei Mei," Kiyoshi kissed the back of her hand. He always feels calmer when Mei's around, and the way she holds his hand just soothes him every time. "I'm surprised that Ralme agreed to rent Cafe Ai tho. Didn't you always rent high-end cafes for your meetings?"
"They just preferred that hyped coffee shop with mediocre coffee over hers just because the owner was in a relationship with one of our bosses before," Mei rolled her eyes.
"I didn't know we went here for tea time," Kiyoshi laughed.
"Oops," Sakura murmured and tried to stifle her laughter.
"What tea time? I've already told you about it many times now," Mei nudged her boyfriend's arm. "But Kyoko's café's pretty popular especially to women because of Haru-"
"And me," Kiyoshi added.
"Right," his girlfriend beamed, "The shop's got the hottest and most talented baristas, yet she just wants to keep it lowkey," and paused before speaking again. "Sakura was there to back me up by the way. Who would have thought that a newcomer like her also knows about Cafe Ai?" she smiled adorably at her new colleague and newly found friend.
"It's because of Haru, if he didn't help me, then I wouldn't know about it," Sakura returned her gesture as she gaily watched the lovebirds in front of her. She was delighted to be able to go out and interact more with Kiyoshi since she had only seen him at their office building whenever he's picking up Mei, and only greeted each other from time to time.
"When did you and Mei get close by the way?" Haru glanced at her.
Sakura touched her chin while thinking, "Hmm.. one… no, two weeks ago?"
"Right. She was too preoccupied during her first two weeks at the office," Mei mentioned, trying to recall Sakura's first day at work. "She actually caught my attention. It's not because of her pink hair, but how lonely her eyes were when I approached her."
Two waiters then proceeded to their table and served their first round of grilled meat, seafood, and veggies. The two gentlemen started grilling the meat first as Mei carried on with her story.
"I invited her for lunch on her first day, but she politely turned me down. I knew something was wrong, so I kinda bugged her with my invitations-"
"Good thing you didn't scare her off, cos I'd be scared if I were her," Haru commented, making the other three laugh.
"Whatever!" Mei chuckled. "She's the one who scared me though! Moving on... we had to work overtime two weeks ago. It was a Friday night, and I went to the comfort room... I suddenly felt chills down my spine when I heard someone crying!"
Sakura was almost teary eyed from laughing too much. "It was soooo funny cos she thought there was a ghost!"
"For real! I almost peed my pants," Mei laughed. "To cut the long story short, she finally accepted my invitation for a late dinner and drink, then she opened up about what happened with her ex."
Haru earnestly listened to Mei's, but lost interest when she started talking about Sakura's ex boyfriend.
Of course, Mei noticed this. Out of all people, Haru knew and felt how broken Sakura was. "But something cute happened," she quickly added while staring at the long haired guy who was now invested with grilling the meat.
Sakura, who instantly stopped putting a spoonful of cabbage and walnut coleslaw on her plate, had a funny feeling about this and fixed her gaze at her colleague.
"So... while drinking, she bawled her eyes out again. I thought it's still about this Ruki guy, but-"
The pink haired lady cleared her throat and called out, her voice hinted with nervousness, "Mei?"
The other woman averted her gaze and continued, "Apparently, she's crying because she hasn't said thank you to this certain person."
Haru, still invested with what he was doing, looked at Mei's direction.
"No no no no…" Sakura kept murmuring while also shaking her head sideways.
"I've heard that Sakura talked to this person after a month and even made him bento," Mei wiggled her eyebrows.
"Why the hell are you censoring Haru's name," Kiyoshi snickered.
"It's not just Haru! I've also made one for Nana and the receptionists and-"
"I know, I know. I just wanna say that I'm happy you've already adapted with work and are making more friends. It's hard to live alone in a new city, you know, especially here in Tokyo," Mei reached for Sakura's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"Even if Haru didn't see Sakura that day, there's still a possibility that they'll meet and become friends through you, Mei Mei," Kiyoshi mentioned while putting some grilled veggies on his girlfriend's plate. "Hmm.. is this fate or just pure coincidence?"
Haru exchanged looks with Sakura, and his deep gaze locked with hers until the two couldn't hide the smiles forming on their lips. Both of them were grateful to meet each other and despite becoming friends in the last month of spring, they have already become each other's rays of sunshine.
The group continued chatting with each other and before they could finish the last batch of their meat, they ordered four beer stein glasses of draft beer and started their drinking sesh.
"The owner of Cafe Ai is... Kyoko, right?" Sakura finally asked. She has been wondering who Kyoko was and could not find the right timing to ask about it earlier.