Haru puffed some air and was expecting a better answer even though he knew that there are many interpretations to dreams. He still wanted to know what her thoughts were to help him understand why he had dreamt of it. Despite his curiosity, he still noticed that something was bothering Nana.
"What's the prob?" he put the cups into the carrier, placed the boxes prepared by her into a special paper bag, and handed the orders to the delivery man who was waiting by the coffee bar counter.
Nana faced him and studied his face, "I was so preoccupied with school stuff earlier that I didn't notice the cut on your nose bridge. What happened?"
"Just bumped myself onto something this morning," Haru continued on taking the order of the customer in line with a charming smile plastered on his face. After giving the lady her change, he went to the counter and took a white ceramic cup from the cabinet. He poured one shot of espresso into the base of the cup and then steamed the milk using the frother.
"You still owe me something, Haru," she told him as she stood next to him.
"I don't remember owing you anything though," after putting a thin layer of milk on top of the espresso shot, he tilted the cup and started drawing a tulip on the coffee.
"You told me you'll treat me with anything if I help you with Sakura! Tell me you remember, or else you'll pay for my tuition," Nana jested, squinting her eyes at him.
After making a flat white tulip, Haru served it to the lady who was seated at the nearest table. He flashed another smile at her before turning to the other barista, "If you're looking for a sugar daddy, you're talking to the wrong man, Nana."
"I just need models for my photography class. Why is it so hard to find one?" she asked before taking another order from a college student, who's smitten with their model-like features.
"Have you tried contacting models?" he peeked at the tablet cash register and took out the ice cube tray from the built-in fridge.
"That's the problem, I don't like talking to strangers," she sighed and readied the milk to be warmed.
"So you want me to talk to them?"
Haru brought out two milk carton cups and glass straws, and using the cube tongs, he subsequently dropped the coffee ice cubes into the cups. He recalled the time when he trained Nana on her first days as a part-timer at Café Ai. It was just a year ago, but she had already proven her skills to the team. Nana, despite being a quick learner and acts maturely for her age, still needs guidance in plenty of other things, and as her trainer, he'd willingly help her anytime she needed him.
"Please, I need you to do more than that," she answered with a hint of desperation.
Nana poured the warm milk into the mini milk bottle, and set the two kori kohi and two chewy chocolate chip cookies on the tray. She gave a bright smile to the student who was waiting by the edge of the counter as she served her orders.
"You want me to make latte art for them?" Haru asked once she faced him.
"I want you to model for me. I can't ask the owner of the café a favor because she's busy, so I'm asking you instead," she fluttered her eyelashes first before showing him the cutest puppy eyes she could ever do.
An amused smile was displayed on Haru's lips with the sudden cuteness Nana was showing, "What are you doing?"
"Trying to look cute? I'm just copying what your fans do whenever they see you or whatever," she cringed, "I don't know. You might like women who act… or who are cute," and then shrugged her shoulders.
"Where did that even come from?" he chuckled. "I'm not used to seeing you act cute, but I don't mind seeing you do that from now on. It's a nice change of pace."
"Shut up," she rolled her eyes and turned her back from him, trying to hide the blush created from his remark. She's not the cutesy type of person and doing that in front of Haru out of desperation made her even more embarrassed. She then walked to the display cabinet and bent down to check the arrangement of the sweets, "The photoshoot will be in a month by the way. I'll let you know as soon as possible once the designer and I have finalized the details."
"Alright, and since I've already agreed to be your model, let me ask a question again."
"Shoot it."
"So dreaming about something is meaningless, huh?"
"I thought we're done talking about it?" Nana then glanced over her shoulders to look at him, "If you're really curious, then search it online and see it for yourself."
And so at midnight, after he had washed himself up, Haru headed to the balcony of his room and leaned against the railing. He was already feeling sleepy, but his dream kept bugging him ever since that morning. As he dried his hair with a towel, he started searching about the meaning of kissing someone in one's dream. He scanned the list on the first page of Google and opened it one by one.
"It is associated with love, tranquility, and contentment. Kissing a close friend means you have a strong bond with that person... Hmm... I don't think we're that close yet..." he murmured.
He continued reading the next article, "Your unconscious is telling you that you are missing something in your life, which is love.... have an open communication with that person… Also interpreted as the possibility of achieving something great in the future….
"These are nice interpretations though, especially the last one," he said under his breath, tilting his head to the side. He then changed what was on the search bar.
"Hmm… There's even a theory about it being insignificant." He continued scrolling the page and a certain line caught his eyes, "People easily forget their dreams because most of the time, these are senseless…"
With the dry towel on top of his head, he messed up his hair. "It's not senseless at all because how could I even forget it… goddamnit," he muttered.
Haru's head began to ache again because of lack of sleep, and when he closed his eyes, scenes of him kissing Sakura replayed at the back of his mind. It was very short, but it was quite vivid to the point that he started to wonder if he really kissed her for real.
'Was it a lucid dream then?' he mused as he went back inside his room. He hung his towel and laid himself on his bed afterwards. He thought of Sakura late that night, and the possibility of him brushing his lips against hers has not left his mind from that moment on.