Yesterday, after we left the cafe. Aria-san and her maid "Mei" secretly went back to the cafe, giving Roji-san an enticing offer.
"I would like to buy this cafe, name your price."
Aria-san offered, with this arrogant attitude as they sat inside the store, facing old man Roji-san at the other end of the table.
Old man Roji-san sighs in tiredness, replying,
"Sorry young miss, but the store is not for sale." He apologetically replied.
Aria-san snapped her fingers and Mei laid to the table a briefcase with bundles of paper bills inside, seemingly amounting to the millions just from glancing. In the business world, Aria-san knew that what she was offering was already more than five times beyond the cafe's market price, so she thought this might change old man Roji-san's mind. However,
"My statement still stands." He still refused, not blinded by stacks of paper bills in front of him.
Aria-san raised an eyebrow, not expecting old man Roji-san to have such strong refusal.
The store was small, but if you combined the tables outside makes it relatively bigger. Judging by how he lacks the funding to employ two employees, it must mean financially the business was not doing that well off currently.
Also, looking at old man Roji-san's age, seemingly in his senior years, it doesn't look like he'll be making any big changes to the store soon. He doesn't have the luxury of taking on big risk unlike other young and flexible business owners.
Or so Aria-san and her maid assumed, looking at old man Roji-san's situation.
Her offer was good enough for him to live in luxury for the rest of his remaining years, that's why Aria-san is confused as to why he refused.
"Now you made me curious. The least you could do is tell why you refuse to sell the cafe."
Aria-san told old man Roji-san, while sipping on the coffee he offered when he invited them inside. Putting down her cup, Aria-san continued talking.
"It doesn't seem like it's doing great right now, nor are you in a position to haggle with me for the pricing. So, tell me?"
Old man Roji-san just smiled back on Aria-san, telling her
"It's not just about the money."
With a serene look on old man Roji-san's eyes, he began to tell his story.
"This cafe used to be run by me and my wife. I was just a youngster back then... when she entered the store, right then and there, I knew I fell in love at first sight."
"She came from a rich household, while I was just a son of a humble coffee shop owner at a corner somewhere."
"Believe it or not, I was what you called a delinquent back then, so her parents strongly disapproved of our marriage, haha..."
Roji-san chuckled as if proud and at the same time not of his past.
"I blamed my father for bringing me into this world poor, yet I know he did his best trying to raise me as a single father."
"Everyone in class avoids me. I didn't really have the best reputation per se. Being held back by two years due to poor grades and involvement in fights, I honestly don't blame them if they'd want to drop me then and there."
"That's why I was so surprised when she approached me that day."
"Apparently, she got held back as well due to being absent for the majority of last year. It was because she was hospitalized due to her body's weak constitution. She was conscious of being held back, so she was glad she wasn't the only one who got held back in our class."
"Though I was a year older than her, and way smarter than me, she treated me like a normal person. One day when some classmates were talking shit behind my back, she defended me and confronts them how nice I actually was."
"As we talked together day by day, I can no longer deny my feelings I had for her. I confessed to her and she accepted me with a smile, "Took you long enough" she said. She's the strongest girl I know, despite having a really frail body."
"After our graduation, we revealed to her parents about our relationship. They strongly opposed us being together, they tried their best to split us apart. So we ran away and eloped."
"We ran away from our problems, boarding the station without a plan or telling anyone."
"I bought her a ring and asked for her hand in marriage. She happily accepted with a huge smile and hugged me."
"With our savings, and my experience of operating the coffee shop, we opened a cafe, because she loved baking."
"We worked to together hand in hand, though we barely even manage to make a profit. Reflecting on it now, my father's brew doesn't taste that good either, and my wife just knows how to bake a chocolate cake. Somehow, we manage to pull through and eventually makes a stable income. We mastered our crafts until it was good enough, and locals in our area started to take notice of our store."
"Two years later, our first child was born. While the delivery was successful, my wife gradually became ill due to her weak constitution..."
"Worried about the hospital bills that kept piling up, our neighbors came together and aided us a decent amount of funding. They are costumers that supported our business throughout the years, watching over our growth as we build our store. Though they came to our store to eat and relax, they came back for our back to back bickering, taking shit about each other's preparation, letting the customers judge who did what better in our craft. For them, it was like watching your favorite noon time comedy show, and wanted to see it have a happy ending..."
Old man Roji-san held his cup in cold sweat. He smiled and continued,
"She gradually became better each day until she finally got discharged from the hospital."
Aria-san sighs in relief, smiling nervously in cold sweat.
"Hm, I got worried there for a second. What a clickbait, old man. I almost thought your wife will die or something."
"Hahaha, she passed away last year."
Old man Roji-san casually revealed with a straight face.
"Hm, I see... My condolences."
Old man Roji-san laughed it off, telling her.
"Don't worry, I'm over it already. We're already at that age, after all."
He dismissed, having fun of Aria-san's silent and perplexed expression.
"Anyways, after my wife fully recovered, we wanted to visit my father to show her his granddaughter. However, what I found was my father laying sick on his bed, weakened from over working. He kept saving money in the belief that I will one day return to our home."
"I told him about what I had been doing while I was gone. I told him about how we eloped, got married, how we opened the cafe, had a daughter, and my wife that got sick, and the kind neighbors who helped us persevered in our crisis."
"I see, so I missed the marriage haha", my dad joked hearing our story. "Sorry I wasn't there to help you." He apologized. Three years passed and he passed away peacefully. I made sure to take care of him in his last remaining years... Now that I think about it, he probably thought about that time I lashed back at him and blame him for us being poor. Maybe he at least wanted to provide for our marriage ceremony. We didn't have one though, so we thought maybe then was the right time to hold one to fulfill his wish to see the ceremony."
"We went to my wife's parents' house, and begged them for help in the arrangement of the wedding. As expected, they hated me for taking their daughter away. It seemed like there was no room for forgiveness in their hearts, they kept blaming me and their daughter, seeing at our current situation proving all the more they were right."
"However, when our daughter accidentally walked in the room, their hearts instantly melted, as though they saw a miniature version of their daughter, standing in front of them, still stumbling in her feet."
"They stopped their causing and hide their despise in front of the child. And we somehow manage to patch up our relationship with her parents."
"I wonder, if we didn't run away that day, would dad have lived longer? Would our running away pointless? What if we faced our problems head on, and talked it out properly. Would it prevent everyone involved stopped hurting?"
"We made our decision, and there was no more room for regrets. Our children got older, and they had their own families. They rarely visit us anymore and they had their own families to deal with."
"I wonder if this is what dad felt when I left the house. That's why he distracted himself from working in the fear of his child might never come back again the after the day he eloped with a woman and started his own family."
"This cafe is the place where the memories of my wife, our children, and my father's remaining years are kept. My memories are starting to become hazy, and I wanted to see this place over and over to be reminded of those joyful and sorrowful years. Though, it has really gone quieter over the years haha..."
With that, old man Roji-san has finished his flashback.
'What a long ass story.'
Mei thought to herself, and kept to herself as she has been standing there for the past thirty minutes, listening in to their conversation.
All they were planning was to buy the cafe, but ended up listening to a whole telenovela instead.
Aria-san, realizing old man Roji-san won't be giving up the cafe any time soon.
"Well then, how about this." She revised her offer, telling old man Roji-san. "How about I sponsor your cafe instead?"
...
And so here we are currently, face to face with Mocha-san embarrassedly wearing the store's waitress uniform.