Moon of The Afterlife

Chapter 2: Light Cafe

The moon's sudden change mesmerized everyone when it blinked. The stars, the heavens, the Gods, the dead, and the living were astonished seeing it glow even just for a few seconds. 

Sidapa, who's now Dante, didn't notice what happened, and Arche— the missing deity of the moon— didn't get to see what happened either. He doesn't have any idea that his shell finally showed life from being lifeless for thousands of years. Everyone rejoiced, except someone who's always been watching the lightless moon from the dark sea— the Bakunawa. 

Bakunawa is the deity of disasters and the guardian of the afterlife. She guards the gates of the afterlife to prevent vengeful souls and unrested spirits from escaping to go back and bring chaos to the land of the living. 

Bakunawa plastered a wide smile as she stared at the— now— lifeless moon. "The seventh moon looks stunning..." she said. "...And yummy." Bakunawa glanced at the world of the living before sinking to the deep waters of the dark sea. 

STANDING on a bridge while waiting for someone bound to expire in a few minutes, Sidapa happens to overhear a conversation of two passersby, which caught his attention. 

"I kept seeing articles about the moon since last night; it's flooding my feed!"

"Yeah. Everyone's talking about it."

"My sister kept telling everyone how fascinating it was in person. The footage available online doesn't look that enjoyable, given that it only lasted for a few seconds,"

"Sadly, I didn't get to see it."

A sudden rush of surprise and excitement made Sidapa's heart race. The moon he's been eagerly waiting to show life finally did, but without him knowing. How come he didn't notice? How come he missed it when he's been watching the moon all those times? 

Sidapa then remembered Arche, his neighbor. He remembered how the fireflies danced for him and how one of them perched in Arche's shoulder— as if it's saying they have found the missing deity. 

All those ideas made Sidapa stop.  He doubts Arche is Libulan because he didn't recognize him, so he concluded Arche could lead him to Bulan. 

Sidapa left to go back to his apartment building, and instead of going straight to his unit, he knocked on the door of the apartment unit next to his— Arche's. His knock sounded rushed and frustrated, like what he came for is an emergency— well, for him, it was. 

Louise then opened the door in a rush, thinking it was her brother. But then, she saw a man wearing a faded green tee and a cap. Louise looked at him with fear, thinking he was a bad guy who came to harass her or do something similar. 

"W-who are you?" Louise asked, sounding scared. 

Sidapa stared at Louise and immediately realized that the person he was looking for wasn't there. But instead of answering Louise's question, he murmured, "You're time's almost up,"

"What?" Louise didn't hear what he said clearly. She's scared but still tries to ask nicely, "Can I help you with something, Sir? Are you looking for someone?"

Sidapa went back to his senses and tried to fake a smile as he nodded. "Yeah. Is Arche home?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer was no. 

Louise shook her head as expected. 

"Sorry, but may I know your name, Sir?" 

"I'm Dante. I live next door." Then Sidapa pointed out the apartment unit right next to Arche's door. "I must've scared you earlier. I'm sorry."

"Oh," Louise smiled at him awkwardly.

ARCHE's cafe is a little busier today, and he's been having a real hard time assisting customers all by himself. His only employee resigned for some personal reasons, and he still hasn't found a replacement.

"Here you go, Ma'am. One latte and a muffin," Arche smiled as he served the lady's order, and right after placing them to the lady's table, he left to take three more orders. 

Arche went back to the counter to pick up two iced americanos and serve them to table six in the left corner of his cafe. Just as when the customer thanked him, another customer called him. 

"Uhm, excuse me?" The customer raised his hand, which Arche immediately noticed, so he rushed to the customer's table. 

"Yes, Sir. What can I do for you?" he asked nicely and with a big smile. 

"You gave us the wrong order. I ordered hot chocolate for my daughter, but this is white hot chocolate," the customer complained calmly. 

"Oh, I'm sorry, sir," Arche took the mug of white hot chocolate and smiled. "One hot chocolate for a lovely princess," 

He left to serve the remaining orders and hurried back to the counter to prepare the little girl's hot chocolate. He took a slice of chiffon cake to give it with the hot chocolate as an apology. And after that, Arche could finally sit by the counter and rest for a while. He put the tray down and sigh and before he could even sit, his phone rang. 

Arche took his phone and saw it was Louise, then answered. 

"Louise," 

"Arche, do you know a man named Dante?" she asked as soon as Arche answered her call. 

"Yeah, he's living next door," he answered as he wiped the coffee spills on the countertop. "Why?" 

"So you know him? Like, are you guys friends?" Curiosity is evident in Louise's voice, which makes Arche feel a little alarmed. 

"Well, sort of. Dante seems nice, though. Why? Did he do something?" 

"Oh, no, no, no, no, no! He's looking for you, so I asked to make sure he's someone you know."

Arche breathed in relief and smiled. "I'm glad. Did you finish decorating the living room?" he asked. 

They were supposed to decorate his apartment together, but Louise insisted she wanted to do it herself since she's a self-proclaimed interior designer. 

"Almost. How's the cafe going?"

"Super busy,"

"Good timing, bro. The guy next door might give you a hand," Louise chuckled,  which made Arche's brows furrow. 

"Huh?" 

"Gotta finish this before 2 PM. Babye~"

Just like that, Louise hangs up. 

Arche shrugged and continued cleaning up the mess on his countertop. He didn't give much attention to what Louise said, thinking it was nothing. But after a few moments, someone walked to the counter instead of looking for a place to sit. 

"Yes, how may I help you?" Arche lifted his head to look at the man standing on the other side, and to his surprise, it was Dante. 

"Dante," Arche called with a smile. 

Their eyes met, and Dante could only look at Arche with so many questions lingering at the back of his head. Dante pulled the sides of his lips to smile at Arche while still watching him. Arche felt a sudden awkwardness when he noticed how his neighbor stared at him, so he broke the silence by asking,

"Can I get you something?"

Dante then took his eyes off Arche and shook his head. 

"I didn't come here as a customer. I'm here to apply for a job," he replied.

Arche knew he needed help when two more customers came and immediately called for someone to take their orders. However, he couldn't just hire Dante.

Arche thought for a moment, trying to make a quick decision, but three more customers arrived and called for him again, so he looked at Dante and smiled before saying,

"Well, I need a pair of hands to help me today, but hiring you still needs a brief procedure. Give your best for now, and let's talk about this at the end of today,"

Arche handed Dante an apron and patted him on the shoulder before hurriedly leaving to serve the newly arrived customers. Dante watched Arche as he went to the table of the two customers before looking at the apron with the words 'light cafe' embroidered on it, which Arche had handed him.

"Excuse me? how long will it take before someone comes here to take our orders?" It was one of the other three newly arrived customers, and he sounded annoyed. They are a group of three men.

Arche looked at Dante and gestured him to assist the three. Dante nodded and smiled awkwardly before hurrying to their table as he put his apron on.

"Sorry about that. May I take your order, sirs?"

"We'll take three glasses of soda and two medium-sized pepperoni pizzas," the customer said with a rude tone. "I need you to serve them quick because your customers don't have enough patience to wait longer than a couple of minutes." He added and then plastered a fake smile before gesturing Dante to go away.

Dante was taken aback a little by the customer's rudeness. But he decided to smile and be respectful. That wasn't the first time a human sees him as a typical human person, and it's not like they knew his real identity, and Dante considers that every time. He wasn't someone special in the eyes of humans, and he has to understand that.

"I'm sorry about that, sir," Dante said and smiled. "Your order will be served in a few minutes."

He left the table and went to the counter where Arche's busy preparing two frappes and two slices of fruit cake.

"What's their order?"  Arche asked without looking at Dante.

"Three glasses of soda and two medium-sized pepperoni pizzas," Dante answered while looking around.

"The pizza is in the kitchen, but you'll have to heat them for two minutes. The kitchen's a little messy. Will you be alright?"

"Yeah," Dante nodded and smiled as he looked to the door Arche just pointed. "I'll go get them."

Upon entering the kitchen, Dante stopped when he saw the mess. The flour, egg, and milk spills, and even the pot with the boiling white substance left on the stove. The stove was left open, but it's a good thing the fire is at its lowest. Arche hurried to the stove to turn it off in a panic, and he almost slipped with a cracked egg on the floor, which caused him to hit an empty pot that caused a loud troublesome sound.

"Hey, dude! Are you okay?" Arche shouted from the outside.

It was a simple almost-accident, but it made his heart raced like he just escaped death— which was funny because he's immortal. He slowly stood straight and released a loud exhale before answering,

"I'm fine!"

Dante turned the stove off and scanned the messy kitchen to look for the pepperoni pizzas, which he spotted sitting beside the trays of bread and other pastries.

"This will be a long and tiring day," he murmured before walking towards the pizzas.

THE CAFE closed at seven-thirty in the evening, after the last customer left. It was hectic, and both Arche and Dante felt sore after a few hours of work.

Arche put the tray on an empty table and looked around to see all the mess they still needed to clean up before leaving.

"It would be so ungrateful of me if I won't hire you after making you work on the spot," Arche started as he looked at Dante, who's cleaning up the table in the right corner.  

Dante stopped and looked at Arche. "Well, I'm afraid I wasn't a great help today," he replied awkwardly, which made Arche chuckle before starting to clean up the tables in the opposite corner.

"I can tell that you never worked in a cafe before, and if that's the case, I think I should consider that fact,"

Dante never worked in a cafe before, and he knew nothing about serving people's orders. For the past few hours of working, Dante caused several property damages to Arche by breaking a couple of glasses and spilling several drinks, making some customers unhappy.

Dante stopped and bit his lower lip as he rubbed his nape in awkwardness and embarrassment to his potential employer.

"Oh, yeah," he said shyly. "I used to work as a mechanic, and some other stuff related to fixing and repairs. It's uh-- I-- I n-need a j-job at the moment." Arche stammered at saying the last part.

Finding Libulan has caused him so much inconvenience for the past two thousand years, and he doesn't mind suffering from poverty like a human if it could lead him the way to his beloved moon. Now that he finally found a clue, he couldn't care much about the situation he might face.

He was the God of death who could live without worrying about being jobless or hungry because he got everything he needed in his home. But since he chose to live like a human, he has to go through the same hardship to be like them and blend with them. Sidapa is more than willing to live like this for millions of years to find Bulan.

"Hmm, I see," Arche nodded before he continued cleaning up.

"Well, you see, I really need a job right now. You can deduct the cost of the mess I made and everything I destroyed to my first salary, or if it wasn't enough, I could work for a month without pay, so please, hire me,"

Arche laughed at Dante, and even though he thinks he's weird, he couldn't seem to reject him. But he knows what he needs. He needs an employee who could work without a mess. He needs someone he can trust and someone with the necessary knowledge and skills. It's obvious it wasn't Dante, and as a business owner, he must consider that.

"But that wouldn't be fair,"

"It doesn't matter. I need the job,"

They looked at each other. The way Dante desperately asks for the job is what's making Arche feel bad. He wanted to turn him down, but he knew he couldn't, so he stood straight and faced Dante, who was standing approximately eight feet away from him, and smiled. He walked closer and stopped in front of him, and said,

"You're hired. You're officially a part of my team,"

"Team?" Dante asked, puzzled. "Am I not your only employee?"

Arche laughed and nodded. "Yes, you are. But We're a team of three. The lady you met in my apartment is part of the team,"

"Oh, her," he nodded and smiled.

"So," Arche held out his hand to Dante with a big smile and said, "Welcome to my team, Dante,"