Waiting in the Rain

Chapter 3

A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Billkin's POV

I was in the inner room of my father's twenty four hour cafe when the cashier alerted me that Copter had entered our coffee shop.

It had been some time since Copter had come to have some coffee here. He would usually come here either a little past midnight or in the wee hours of the morning when he couldn't sleep. That boy had serious sleep problems.

I had actually been wondering just the other night when he would make his appearance. I was wondering why he had not visited the coffee shop for almost a month now.

I remember watching him from the cashier's post as he engaged in animated conversation with his boyfriend Kimmon, each time that they came to the coffee shop.

I opened the door a little bit from inside my room and peeked through the small opening .

Wait what??? Who is that guy with him. That definitely is not Kimmon.

I decided to take a closer like at Copter's new companion, but to do that, I had to approach  their table and take their orders.

I asked our cashier if Copter had already given his usual order. The cashier said yes.

"What about his companion?" I asked.

"Mocha espresso and cinnamon bun," the cashier replied.

Hmm ... interesting ... Kimmon would order the exact same thing whenever he came here with Copter. Was it coincidence or did Copter suggest it to his companion? Very interesting indeed.

I went over to our one and only night staff and told him that I would take over with the preparation of the customers' orders.

I walked over to Copter's table and stole a glance at his new companion. Shit, he was very good looking and well built. Judging by his well toned body and impressive muscles, he spent a lot of time in the gym.

"Here's your usual, Copter," I said as I set down Copter's order of Irish coffee and Danish croissant in front of him.

"Thank you, Billkin," he said to me, giving me that smashing smile that always brought out those dimples that were my undoing right from the get go.

"BK," I corrected him but he didn't seem to hear me.

"And here's your order, sir," I said to his companion, studying his face.

Copter must have noticed my curious look because he quickly spoke up.

"Billkin," he said.

"BK," I corrected him once more.

"BK then," he gave in. "I would like you to meet my friend Joss. Joss this is Billkin, the owner of this coffee shop."

"I'm not the owner," I made the clarification. "My father is."

Joss held out his hand to me so I accepted it and we had a brief handshake.

"Pleased to meet you," I heard him say.

"Same here," I responded politely.

I really wanted to know why Kimmon was not with Copter as usual. Did they have a cooling off? Were they even in a relationship in the first place. If they had been together and had a breakup, this new guy certainly was not a good substitute for Kimmon. 'I could do better than that' I thought to myself, taking another glance at Joss.

"Kimmon is not available tonight?" I couldn't help asking. In my desire to satisfy my curiosity, I did not stop to think if the question might make Copter uncomfortable. He started to stammer.

"I ... I ... he..." Copter's face was growing red. I decided to get him out of his misery.

"I'm sorry, Copter," I said quickly. "It's not my place to ask."

"Enjoy your coffee and pastries," I added, before turning away.

There must be some way to find out if Copter and Kimmon had broken up with each other, but how. Maybe I could make him feel like he owes me a little by not making him pay for his and his companion's orders. Then when I asked him about Kimmon next time, he just might confide in me.

I quickly grabbed the coffee shop's mini stationery and started to write on the top page of the stationery pad.

"Copter, tonight's orders are on the house. Next time that Kimmon is not available, call me. I would make a better substitute than that current date of yours."

I quickly initialed the bottom part of the page and folded it. Then I went out and handed the note to the cashier.

"When Copter comes to pay for his orders, don't accept any payment. Give him this note instead," I instructed our cashier.

The cashier nodded and busied himself making adjustments to the cash register.

The inner room of our coffee shop had a small curtained window from which I could look out into the small parking lot.

I saw Copter and Joss talking beside Copter's car. I wondered where Joss parked his car, unless he came here together with Copter.

But then after they finished talking, they gave each other a buddy hug and Joss walked away from Copter's car.

I rushed out of my inner room and run outside the coffee towards Copter's car. He was already starting to get inside the driver's seat.

"Wait! Copter!"  I yelled at him.

He turned his head and when he saw me hurrying towards him, he got out of his car.

"What, have you changed your mind?" he asked with a teasing smile.

I stared blankly at him. I didn't know what he was talking about.

Then I saw him pull out his wallet from my pocket.

"Ohmygahd, no, Copter," I said, feeling slightly offended. "I did not run out here to ask you to pay for your orders. I wrote on the note that your orders are on the house and it still stands."

"What is it that you want then, Billkin?" he asked.

"BK, please, it's BK" I said, feeling more hurt than offended by the minute.

He did not respond but stood beside his car, waiting for me to say something more.

"Are you and Kimmon no longer seeing each other?" I blurted out the question that had been foremost in my mind the whole night.

Copter's stare turned icy cold.

"Why do you ask?" his voice was icier than his stare.

I started to get cold feet, but I remembered the admonition that the priest would say in every wedding ceremony before he declares a couple as man and wife: "Speak now or forever hold your peace."

I cleared my throat nervously.

"Copter, would you ..."

"Copter!"

Copter and I turned at the sound of his name being called. Shit, it was Joss. hurrying back towards Copter. He was holding two umbrellas and he held out one of them to Copter.

"I brought your umbrella with me when I took out our umbrellas from the umbrella holder inside the coffee shop," he said with a sheepish grin.

Then he turned to me with a curious look.

"Good night," I said, nodding slightly to both of them before walking away.

I tried not to feel sorry for myself for losing a golden opportunity to ask Copter to be my boyfriend.