04.

THEODORE.

"Here, the weather isn't very forgiving lately. Hope you don't mind something cold."

He took the drink from my hands, gave it a stir with the straw and took a sip. I swear I felt electricity run through my fingers as our fingers brushes across each other. What in the world was that?

His face scrunched up as he looked at the contents in the plastic cup.

"Vanilla latte."

"Yeah," I scratched the back of my head. "I just bought whatever that came to my mind. You didn't exactly tell me what you wanted either."

He nodded his head as he took another sip before placing the drink down.

"So. Uhm," I tried my best to strike a conversation. "The name's Theodore. Theodore Wu, but people just call me Theo."

"I'm Daniel."

"Cool." Think of something to say, you dim-wit.

"You seem busy," he said as he looked at my table that had my laptop open.

"Oh no, no." I closed it instinctively. Didn't want him thinking that I wasn't genuine in wanting to talk to him. "It's just marking season."

"Marking season?"

"Yeah, I'm a university lecturer. Though a pretty stagnant one."

He let out a small chuckle that he was trying to hide by drinking his coffee. Didn't work very well.

"So what was a university lecturer doing at a club? Doesn't quite fit your profile."

I rolled my eyes. "My colleague was trying to get me to go out more," I stated, leaving out the part that he was trying to get me hooked.

"What about you?"

He pointed to himself. "Me? Like my job?"

"That, and why you were at the club."

I could see him gulp down in nervousness. Like he wasn't sure if he should be sharing anymore information than his name with me.

"Well, I kinda work here?"

"Here? Like in this coffee shop?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I usually work on weekdays. Covering someone's shift today, so that's why I'm here. And my shift starts in ten minutes."

"Oh." Fuck, I bought him coffee from the place that he was working at. That was so lame.

"Uhm, what time do you get off?" I asked without thinking through.

He raised his eyebrow at he, probably unsure if he should tell. "Why do you ask?"

"I know I sound crazy, but I want to get to know you." Even I thought I sounded like a crazy person at that confession, but fuck it. I'm going in head first. "What time do you get off?"

He clearly hesitated and I could see him bitting his lip. "...7pm."

"Great! We can have dinner together! There's this real good restaurant that sells Chinese food down the street." I suggested with a hopeful heart.

He paused, having a 99.99% chance of thinking about how to politely decline me. Heck, even I would decline if someone came on to me so strongly.

He pinched his nose bridge and led out a huff.

"Okay, sure. Whatever." He stood up from his seat. "I'll see you later then." He turned around and walked towards the store.

He accepted my offer? I managed to score at the 0.01%!

If you can't already tell, my face was beaming with happiness that he accepted my offer. That itself, threw me off guard.

I have never been this excited to see someone again, much less eat dinner with a person.

I scrambled to clear my things and made my way home, slightly skipping in my steps. Needed to make sure I was dressed to impress.

God, I just sounded like a girl who just hit puberty. All my hairs stood upright at the amount of cringe in that last thought.

————————

Evening came around. The wind was slightly cool and welcoming, something that's not common on a hot summer's day. People were out and about, walking at the sidewalk. Either going home or heading out to eat.

I was leaning against one of the lamp posts that stood tall outside the coffee shop, waiting for Daniel to end his shift.

The door swung open just as I was scrolling through my phone, the person that I was waiting for stepped out of the shop.

"Hey, sorry. Got a little caught up back there."

"No problem." I pushed myself up from the lamp post and turned towards the junction. "Shall we?"

"Yeah, sure."

We made our way down towards the restaurant in silence, because your man here really has no fucking clue what to say or ask.

I know, very cool.

Upon reaching, we were seated somewhere towards the inside of the restaurant. We ordered our food and drinks. Then, we stayed quiet.

Think of something to say, Theodore. You're the one who wants to know the guy.

"So, what do you do at the coffee shop?" Probably not the beat of questions. I internally slapped myself for that.

He took a sip of the glass of water in front him. "Well, I'm a barista, so I make coffee. We also make our cakes and salads in-house, so there's that."

"I see." Continue talking to him.

"You really don't have to force yourself to make a conversation, you know?"

I scratched my head out of nervousness. "You could tell?"

"Well, yeah. Doesn't take a genius to figure that out," he stated. "Look, just relax."

Relax? That word made me straighten my back more than before. "I'll try."

"I started being a barista part-time back when I was only 20," he said. "I've always loved coffee. Making my passion for caffeine into my full time job after graduating did get me an earful from my parents though."

"Why so?"

"Society associate baristas to be people who have no education, someone that has no where to go, or a student who wants to earn a quick buck. Mum and dad are more-," he paused to let the waiter put our food on the table. "Traditional thinking, if I could put it nicely."

"But baristas are great?" And I was not staying that because I wanted to keep a good impression. I meant it. "Not everyone can brew a good cup of joe. To me, it takes skill and years of practice."

"Maybe, not everyone sees it that way." He picked up his chopsticks and started to dig into his noodles.

I took a sip of my water and picked up my utensils too. Digging into my fried rice-

"I love coffee, Theo. The smell of it brewing is so aromatic! It makes a person wake up in the morning, and can be made into many different drinks and dessert."

"You're right, coffee is amazing."

"One day, I'll make you a drink with my own hands."

"I'll be waiting for that day."

"Theo."

"Theodore!"

I blinked my eyes as my vision focused back to the person who was calling my name. "Yeah?"

"Caught you zoning out there. You alright?"

"I'm fine. Let's eat shall we?" I took a scoop of my food and started to eat too.

What was that? I saw myself talking to the same person that I was seeing in my dreams, but I'm not dreaming. I'm fully awake.

Was I seeing things now?

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A/N: Hello everyone!

Hopefully the pacing of the story is okay so far!

Theodore is just straight up trying to chase this man that he hardly knows, while Daniel is still being a little weirded out. What are you thoughts on the interaction between these two?

Comment away and let me know what you think about the story!

See you all in the next part!

Stay safe everyone! 💕