I said I do

Chapter 1

“Do you believe in love Mister?” Nahan looked down at the three foot something little girl standing on the other side of the counter and smiled brightly.

“Why yes I do! Why do you ask?” He shook his work hat which had a little bell attached to the side which made the girl laugh, a pleasant tinkling sound escaping her lips.

“My uncle is an incredibly grumpy old man, I’m just looking for someone to be the prince in his life.” She pouted, looking back at someone. Nahan scanned the coffee shop to find the girls guardian, but no one seemed to fit the ‘grumpy old man’ description that she provided him with.

“Who are you here with?” Nahan asked her.

“My uncle, he is a sunde.” At that he couldn’t help but laugh loudly.

“A Sunday? Like an ice cream or the day of the week?” Nahan teased her, while taking down a candy cane hanging from the mini Christmas tree beside him. He handed it over to the girl who smiled an adorable one toothed smile.

“Thank you Mister! I mean the anime sunde!”

“Anime? A tsundere!” Nahan exclaimed wide eyed, pleasantly surprised.

“Uncle makes me watch them with him when mama leaves us together, he loves cartoo-“

“Shisa!” A frumpy looking college student waddled up to the counter wrapped in a black coat that looked a couple of sizes too big, accompanied with a mask that just about covered his whole face. He looked out of place in the café that was full of bright colours celebrating Christmas, but he didn’t seem to care. He lowered his mask and glared at the girl who still had an extremely bright smile on her face.

“Uncle!” She exclaimed to Nahan's surprise, “here’s your Christmas present from me.” She gestured grandly towards Nahan who blushed under the stare of the grim looking man. He bowed slightly and then kneeled on the floor in front of Shisa.

“How many times have I told you not to run away from me! Do you want your father to kill me?” He pulled Shisa's beanie over her eyes and left a kiss on her forehead, which made the tinkling laughter escape her lips again. Then the dark haired man stood and turned towards Nahan who was almost about to start crying with how cute the scene in front of him was. He was a sucker for kids and cute boys interacting.

“I’m so sorry for all the trouble she has caused you, do I need to pay for that candy cane?” The man asked him, opening his wallet and bowing once again.

“No no no!” Nahan smiled, waving his hands to emphasize. The canes are kept on the tree to give to children anyways. I was surprised when you turned out to be the uncle she was finding a prince charming for, I thought it was going to be a forty something year old unmarried man.”

And then Nahan heard the most beautiful sound in the word emit from the goth man in front of him. A chuckle, one that could end world wars and make insane men sane. One that was so soothing, so wonderful, that Nahan wanted to convert it into an mp3 format and play it on loop for a long time.

Nahan was in love and he refused to let the man leave without a name or a number.

But by the time he got out of his daydream and looked, the two of them had disappeared without a trace. Or well, he saw their backs exiting the café, but as much as he wanted he couldn’t abandon his post from behind the counter and run. A tired sigh left his lips.

"What's wrong Nahan?" He heard Sakura's cheerful voice come from behind him. He turned and felt a gentle kiss being placed on his forehead by his best friend.

"I just met the love of my life, but he left." He sighed again, picking up his now cold hot chocolate from the counter and taking a sip.

"Another one?" Sakura's eyes crinkles up in delight.

"Not another one Sakura, THE one. I'm telling you, he's the one in going to live for and die for." Nahan turned to look at the door again, hoping that the love of his life would reenter the coffee shop panting as he ran to take his number, but alas! He didn't have such good luck.

"Okay Romeo, for your lost love you can have one more glass of hot chocolate, but not any more." Sakura ruffled his hair and went to greet a customer who had been unsurprisingly regular for the last one month, his close friend Jitin.

Nahan knew that the two of them had the fattest crush on each other, but neither of them seemed to be in any rush to confess. Didn't mean that they weren't loud and obnoxious though. With both being terribly affectionate people Nahan had often walked in on the two of them cuddling to such an extent that he couldn't differentiate ones arms from the other.

Jitin waved from his seat when he caught his eye, and then turned back to flirt with Sakura throwing his head back in a loud laugh.

Nahan got back to work with his mood suddenly gloomy. The day went by with him making and serving a wide array of drinks to his customers, with occasional help from  Sakura and Jitin when they saw him struggling with the trays. He left early after being reprimanded by Sakura for working too hard, even though he knew it was not needed as he spent a majority of the time day dreaming.

"Nahan, don't come in to work tomorrow, Kira is taking an extra shift." Sakura smiled, expecting Nahan to be happy as he had been whining about a holiday for a while now, but he must have been confused to see him whine and stomp out of the shop with a frown on his face.