The cold day marked the early shift to autumn. A number of people could be seen loitering the street with their coats and jackets on. And a lot of them made a stop at Café Olivier; an up-and-coming pitstop for some coffee in the Fashion District. Vivian picked the place for exactly that reason; although she had an extra motive in the pocket.
"The owner's children are coming over to grab their coffees," Belle, the manager, announced with a louder voice than usual for Vivian to catch her, "They sometimes preordered through texts and made a short stop to grab them on the go".
"Got it, I'll make their order," Vivian responded over the coffee machine, "You go get a break after this one order and I'll take charge of the cashier". They just went through the first rush of customers in the morning. Belle was 5 months pregnant, surely she deserved a break after all that.
"One cappuccino, no sugar, with lactose-free milk; and a serving of café latte," Belle exclaimed before returning to their other customers in line and taking in their orders. Vivian was almost done with the latte when Belle gave her one more order and withdrew to the kitchen. Vivian quickly made her next order while the queue is empty. The next rush would come in about 2 or 3 hours for brunch.
She just finished making the call for the last order when she heard the door to the café opening and a series of sneezes.
"Maybe someone's talking about you, Ed-Ed. Or maybe you developed a sun allergy after holing yourself for three days in a dark room".
She swore the voice sounded familiar to her; but that would happen a while after working at a cafe she supposed.
Then came a grumble, "Shut it, Kai".
Kai. With the name came a face to the forefront of her mind - the one face that all the female seniors were gushing about at their orientation yesterday; then her brain automatically made the connection between that and the voice. She poked her head out from behind the coffee machine.
She was confused when she saw two Kais.
It didn't take long to figure out which was Kai - that iconic green hair was quite telling. And who else would be crazy enough to wear a sleeveless shirt in this weather if not that drama student?
"Hi, we're taking - Vivian?" Kai blinked dumbly at her, "I'm surprised to see you here".
"The surprise is mutual," she smiled thinly, "How may I help you?"
"Oh, we're here for those," Kai pointed at the two cups she saved for the owner's children behind the coffee machine.
"Those are reserved for the owner's kids," Vivian explained.
"We are the owner's kids. Our mom owns this café - well, alongside one other woman - but yes we're the owner's kids. She also owns the boutique next door. Mom's good with business, you see," Kai grinned widely while grabbing the two cups himself from over the counter and handing one to the person next to him.
Said person was Kai's perfect copy, except for the hair and the overall dead stare. He had his dark curly hair in a messy bun with some stray strands falling to his chin. They had that same exact small sharp jaw and small lips; although perhaps his dark eyes were a tad rounder than Kai's. In comparison, this new person is probably a little shorter than Kai. And, fortunately, if Kai liked making fashion statements, this one at least dressed for the weather. He's wearing a denim jacket over a white hoodie. His jeans, however, were exactly the same as his twin's.
Vivian felt the stare the new guy was giving her as he took his cappuccino from Kai's hold. "This is?" He asked Kai.
"Vivian. She's a senior at my school. She's in the dance program," Kai's response was choppy. His eyes moved nervously from Vivian to this other guy. The latter snorted.
"Figures. Going to school to dance doesn't really pay, does it?" The guy said before taking a sip of his cappuccino.
Look, for a split second, Vivian actually considered this guy as attractive as Kai himself - because, well, something about their looks screamed, "Fresh out of the ocean", with Kai being half Hawaiian and all. But all positive thoughts about this guy went to the drain the moment he opened his mouth. Vivian knew she would never get along with this person.
"Who the fuck is this?" The 'fuck' in her question was barely there, almost as though she reminded herself that this person was still the owner's son.
"Oh! I mean, if it's not obvious from our faces, haha," You could hear the slight panic in Kai's voice while he widely gestured around his face, "That's my twin! You know what, a reintroduction is in order. Vivian, this is my twin Edward; Edward this is my senior, Vivian".
That did not dissolve the tension. Edward was sipping from his cappuccino all calm and collected while Kai was obviously fighting his fight or flight instinct. "You have a fucking twin?" Vivian's calm growl barely hid her anger. Kai nodded; he must've patted himself on the back for maintaining his charming smile, "Yep, aren't you glad there's more of me?"
If anything, Vivian's expression darkened.
"Uhh, Ed-Ed, how about you go sit there at the bench? I gotta catch up with my senior here," Kai hurriedly pointed at a bench outside the Café to his brother. Ed barely said a word as he followed the instruction and left Vivian's line of vision. Kai sighed, "Hey, sorry about that, Ed's cranky whenever he hasn't had his morning coffee - but seriously, what are you doing here? I thought the spying job pays well enough".
"How else do you think Ken and Samuel caught those perfect shots of that guy?" Vivian answered instead. Kai's eyes widened.
"You work here to spy??"
"Sssshhh!" Vivian put one finger to her own lips and leaned closer to Kai; eyes checking left and right if anybody heard that. "Ken and Samuel had been working here since we first caught wind of the target frequenting the area".
"Really? Weird, I never noticed them and I go here a lot whenever I want coffee or breakfast".
"They worked the evening shift," Vivian inhaled, "And I just started this week". She lifted her chin in pride, "I figured, if we can't approach the target himself, I would aim for the person closest to him".
"Yeah, the mom. That's why you entered the dancing program in the first place; you want to be closer to her," Kai noted.
"True," she affirmed, but anyone in the school knew Brianna Drake was not involved directly to the students in the school. In fact, she rarely made any public appearance; in the rare times she did, Vivian never managed to get personal with her. "But I've found something better".
Kai looked intrigued, "Really?"
"Yes. Someone who I discovered comes to this café a lot -"
Before Vivian managed to finish, a guy with brown hair and a rather herculean build joined them from behind the cake display donning a black apron that looked too small on him. He was carrying a batch of fresh macarons. "Vivian?" He noticed the two of them. He then addressed Kai, "May I help you?"
"He's the owner's son," Vivian answered for Kai.
"Well, co-owner, actually; mom owns the place with one other person - but, yes, hi, I'm Kai".
The guy nodded in recognition and opened his mouth to return the pleasantry.
"He's also the new recruit," Vivian interrupted, to which the guy's jaw quickly snapped shut and Kai's eyebrows rose to the hilt of his forehead. Vivian pointed a thumb at the burly guy, "This is Johnathan. You two haven't met".
"Ooh, Johnny-boy!" Kai clapped his hands and pointed at Johnathan. Vivian heard Johnathan muttering Ken's name before saying, "Just Johnny's fine".
"Wait, are you saying that all of you are working here?" Kai did not expect this. Vivian exchanged glances with Johnny.
"Is this really the right time to go about this? This kid might have classes," Johnny put his tray of macarons inside the display case.
"Still orientation week, so I don't have much to do at school. My brother doesn't have classes anymore because he's a senior," when both Vi and Johnny looked at him questioningly, Kai looked like he had been waiting to give this explanation, "My brother's smart. He skips grades!"
Vivian groaned internally. Of course that other twin was not only annoying, he was also smart.
"Nevertheless," Vivian waved a hand to return everyone's attention to the topic at hand, "We're here because his lover goes here".
Kai's mouth formed an O in silent surprise, "Lover?? He has a girlfriend??"
Vivian felt her heart thumping hard. Yes, she thought, I did that; I found that information. "Yes," she took out her phone and showed Kai her collage of information. On the screen, Kai saw multiple pictures of Angelo Drake from the Instagram Account. In each picture, there was a red circle on the girl walking next to him. Kai reckoned that in each photo he was walking with the same girl. "Is that the lover?" Kai gasped.
"Yes. Most likely. Katrina Walts, she graduated from the dance program last year," Vivian observed the picture she saved on her phone again.
"So you knew her?"
"Yes. A little. As much as anyone can get to know Katrina". Katrina was a talented student in her year and had gained international attention since before she enrolled in the school. While she was a student, she often traveled to perform. She was always considered to be mysterious though. Word has it she didn't talk much, nor socialize.
"Okay, so what you meant is 'maybe' she's his lover," Vivian's thought was cut short by Kai's ramble, "I mean, just because you're seen walking around with a girl a lot, doesn't mean you're dating. Ed hangs out with Charlie, you know? And Charlie's dating me".
Vivian was somewhat taken aback by the logic. It was true, but she couldn't be wrong. No, she "couldn't" afford to be wrong. "I have asked Belle," she claimed, "Belle told me that Angelo had confided in her that he was meeting up with a lover in the area". Angelo did not come to this Cafe often, but when he did, he made heads turn. Therefore, Vivian could trust Belle's memory on the matter.
Kai squinted skeptically though, "And you're sure this lover is this girl because...?"
"Because Belle considers her a regular to this Cafe," Vivian finalized. Yes, that was not proper proof; but it was a good lead.
"I'm not convinced," Kai stated. Johnny shrugged, "I told her the same". Vivian huffed.
"At the very least we know that Angelo Drake has a girlfriend. And even if it's not Katrina, we could maybe get more information from Katrina," Vivian insisted. She knew she was getting somewhere with this. Kai grabbed her phone and took a good look at the pictures again. Not a moment later, he chuckled, "Is it really that easy? I mean, this Cafe is my mom's business and this lover has been here the whole time? Heck, the lover could just barge into our conversation anytime, even now. And what would we do? Tell her we're practicing for a play?"
"Kai, what have you been up to?"
The three of them jumped in surprise and turn to the source of the voice. Kai's twin was standing at the entrance in deadpan glory with his paper cup still in hand.
"We... we were practicing," Kai answered stupidly, "For a play".
Edward squinted at them suspiciously, but relented with a low murmur of, "Art School". He proceeded to address Vivian, "I believe the coffee beans had gone bad. There's a weird aftertaste to the coffee," which Vivian found hard to believe.
"There's no way you could taste that on a cappuccino! You're just -"
"No, Vivian," Kai put a hand on her arm, "Trust him. Edward knows his coffee". Edward, in the meantime, was sipping his cappuccino coolly as he watched Vivian and Johnny made a double check on their beans.
"He's right! It has gone bad!" Johnny exclaimed not long after - well, not that anyone else complained.
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To be Continued.