WANTED

The beginning

The first snow fall began on 9th of March when I was walking home from my part-time job. It was a pleasant evening, the street was lively, even though it was cold there were many people. Some rushing home, while others enjoying their warm drink in a cafe with their beloved one. I took out my phone and posted a short video of the snowfall to my boyfriend. He replied almost instantly.

are you on your way back from work?

yes, it's snowing.

i saw, man I missed the cold. It's always summer here.

i know, maybe you should plan your next trip in winter next year.

haha, for sure. call me when you get home ;)

kay. see you later.

I whipped out my wallet and entered the cute cat cafe that was near my apartment. It's my second work place, I actually love this job. I get to enjoy being around fluffly kitties and serve my customers their drinks and snacks. The work isn't too tiring here, my job is pretty simple.

"evening" I greeted my only other coworker Carmen.

"Are you here as a customer or my coworker" he asked teasingly while he eyed the wallet in my hands.

"well my job doesn't start until it's 8pm sharp. There is still 10 minutes left to 8pm so could I have a slice of strawberry cake and hot cup of cappuccino" before he said the price I pulled out the money. "here is $11.50. that is all for now" I smirked.

he laughed lightly shaking his head at our silly behavior "coming right up miss Emma" he winked.

I shouldn't have favoritism toward our cats in the cafe, unfortunately I do. There is one cat here that I absolutely adore, her name is Stacy. She has two different coloured eyes, blue and green. And her fur is as white and soft as snow, she is quite friendly and always follows me around wherever I go. I guess my liking to her started because she only follows me around, she's a loyal cat.

I grabbed her as soon as she approached me and began to graciously pet her while she purred in content.

"my cute little kitty" I whispered. I continued stroking her, I noticed our cafe was empty. There was only one customer here other than me of course. It was a man, he was sleeping on the long sofa with a cap over his face. Customers are not allowed to lay down like this in our cafe. I don't know what Carmen was thinking, if our employer sees this Carmen will not only get himself in trouble but me as well for not speaking up. I put down my cat and approached him.

"Excuse me, mister" I tapped his shoulder, one of his arm was under his head while the other was on his stomach. His breath was rhythmic and soft, he looked like young man, from his physique I could tell he worked out. He was wearing a black long neck sweater.

"Sir you can't sleep here please wake up" I tapped again.

"what are you doing?" Carmen whispered harshly from the counter.

"I'm trying to wake him up, you know customers are not allowed to sleep here." He shook his head in disagreement and quickly walked over to me. Carmen dragged me behind the counter and whispered lowly

"that man paid three thousand dollar to rent this cafe for the night. Mr. Newton ordered everyone not to disturb him and serve him only. "

"what the hell. Who would rent a cafe for that much money just to sleep here"

"I have no idea. Something is off about that guy, he gives me the creeps"

"why?"

"his forehead was bleeding when he entered the cafe and he was holding a g*n in his hand. "

"what the hell? why would Mrs Newton allow someone like that to stay at the cafe. that is so suspicious."

"because of money of course. You know how greedy that man is" I rolled my eyes, of course I know. Mr. Newton will do just about anything when someone offers him generous amount of money. I personally witnessed him getting bribed by a lawyer to false witness in a case against a political leader of some state.

"sure I do. Where's my cake and cappuccino. I have to finish it before your shift ends"

"here it is. Hurry up and finish it" I nodded as I carried my snack to a table by the window. I digged in to my cake while my cappuccino cooled off, when it was 8pm Carmen left the Cafe.

Since the Cafe was rented out for the night, I guess there won't be much work to do except serve that one customer. I did my usual cleaning of the cafe, wiping the floors and tables, fixing the chairs, throwing away old deserts and replacing them with fresh ones. I tried to do them as quitely as possible, at last there was only one task left to do. Wipe all the cups and plates in the store room. Since the store room is cold I decided to clean them in the cafe, I plugged in my headphones and began wiping the cups with wet cloth as I listened to music, I washed off the cloth every now and then to keep the cups clean and ready to use.

I hummed along when my favorite song came up, I was almost done with the cups when I noticed the man was no longer sleeping. He was staring at me, my heart did a weird clench when I saw his face. He had deep set of green eyes, long dark lashes, full pink lips and a defined jaw line. His hair dark as the night, it was a bit messy but he looked attractive nonetheless. He removed his gaze from me when I looked up to him. I took out my head phones and stood up.

"Good evening sir, my name is Emma. I will be serving you tonight, would you like to have anything to eat or drink?"

"where is that male worker" he asked in a rough voice, it sounded tired even though he took a nap.

"his shift finished so he went home"

"is there any other person here besides you?" I was honestly a bit offended, I didn't understand why he wanted someone else to serve him.

"all the workers went home, as this is a small cafe we do not need many staff. You do not have to worry about anything, I can do my job perfectly fine" he inhaled deeply, seemingly unhappy of my response. He run his hand through his hair and looked out the window.

"make me coffee" he ordered standing up, he sat down in the corner one table away from the window.

"what kind of coffee would you like?"

"dark coffee"

"would you like to eat anything with it?"

"no."

"alright" I washed my hands and made his coffee in less than 3 minutes. I looked up at the clock and it was already 2am, I was beginning to feel drained. I wasn't suppose to work tonight at the cat cafe, but Mr. Newton insisted on paying extra if I did tonights shift. He couldn't ask Carmen because he pulled an all nighter last time. "here is your coffee, enjoy" I set it down in front of him with a soft clink of the cup on the table since there were both made of glass.

"could I use your phone? there's someone I have to call"

"of course" I handed him my phone and went to my table to finish wiping the cups and plates. I couldn't help but eavesdrop on his conversation, it wasn't long. He only talked for two minutes. I don't know who he was talking to, but he was assuring the person he was on call with about his well-being and that nothing serious happened tonight.

I assumed he was in a g**g from little information I knew about him. He caught me glancing at him while he was on the phone call, I felt flustered and tried to concentrate on wiping my plate. He hang up the phone and was about to hand my phone over to me when he abruptly stopped and stared at something on my phone. I felt anxious and petrified thinking I forgot to close a p**n site I was watching yesterday. I quickly stood up and snatched my phone out of his hands without thinking.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be noisy. May I ask who that man in the picture is" he asked not looking sorry at all. I looked down on my screen, he was talking about the wallpaper on my phone screen.

"oh, it's my father" he just stared at me blankly.

"your father" he repeated slowly.

"yes" I didn't know why he was curious, it seemed like he knew my father. "do you know him?"

"no, not really." he didn't say anything further. It definitely seemed like he knew my father. "I have to go, thank you for your service. " He set down a hundred dollar tip and left the cafe without another word.

Bewildered by this man, who didn't even took a sip of the coffee I made, I closed the cafe at last and went to my apartment.