special brew. | BrightWin

6.

B

I was pleasantly surprised to see Win coming in for the second time today. This time, his hair was a little messy and he seemed tired, compared to his neatly combed hair and cheerful disposition in the morning.

"Hey." I said to him as he approached his usual seat. It's as if that seat was specially reserved for him already at this point, without needing a formal reservation.

"Hello again." He laughed softly. "I hope you're not sick of seeing my face already."

"Of course not, I'm always happy to have you around. What would you like to have?"

"Hm..." He tapped his fingers on his chin and stared up at the menu like he always did. "A latte, please."

"I wouldn't recommend drinking coffee at this hour, it may affect your sleep." I said. "Do you want to try one of our smoothies? They're pretty good, and there's no caffeine."

"You're right. But I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight anyway." He smiled, but there was something bothering him. "I'll try the strawberry smoothie."

"Coming right up. You don't want any food to go with that?"

"It's alright, I'm not really hungry. Just needed something light."

I silently nodded and went to prepare his order. Today was Film's day off, so I was on my own. The restaurant across the street was having some kind of a promotion today, so the crowd here was a little smaller, which was better for me anyway. There weren't a lot customers at this hour, too.

"Your strawberry smoothie, and a tuna sandwich." I said as I set the plate and cup before him. He seemed a little surprised and said that he hadn't ordered the sandwich.

"It's not good to skip your meals." I said gently. "This sandwich is on the house, so please have it."

"Thank you." He replied, and took a sip of the smoothie. "Hey, this is really good. What did you put inside?"

"It's just the regular ingredients you'd find in a smoothie," I chuckled. "You like it?"

"I'm not kidding, this is probably the best strawberry smoothie I've ever tasted. The ones I've tried before are all either too sweet or too artificial. Yours is just perfect!" He beamed. His mood seemed to have lightened a lot, which made me happy. "You're sure you didn't add some secret ingredient inside? Or a secret recipe?"

"Not at all. Even if I did, I couldn't tell you." I said with a grin.

"Stingy fella." He made a pouty face. "But thank you for the sandwich though."

"You're welcome." I looked around, and it seemed that nobody was needing me just yet so I sat down beside him. "I wanted to ask whether you're alright?"

"I'm okay, just tired from work." He sighed, resting his head on his palm. "On top of that, I have to rethink of ideas for a campaign because I accidentally spilled water on the paper that I wrote my ideas on."

So that was what was bothering him. I decided to ask him if there was any way I could help. If it meant that I could ease some of his burden, I'd be willing.

He explained that his company was planning to organise a campaign on social media platforms to raise awareness for a charity that they were partnering with. He had come up with a few good ideas initially, but now he can't remember what he wrote.

"What does the charity do?" I asked.

"They raise funds for animal shelters that take in strays. They have an online store that sells various things, and all profits go towards helping the shelters." He said.

I was aware that people these days are encouraging adoption rather than buying pets, but I don't know much about other animals. The only thing I know well enough to speak on are cats, which I mentioned to him.

"Cats? You have one?" He asked.

"Yeah, and I love her a lot." I took my phone out to show him a picture of my cat wearing a tomato hat, which he immediately smiled at radiantly, his eyes curving into a cresent shape.

"She looks so cute wearing that tomato." He cooed. He looks like a little bunny when he smiles like that.

"She was so annoyed when I put it on her." I laughed. "I posted it on my Instagram too, and an animal memes page even messaged me to ask if they could repost it on their page."

When he heard that, it was as if a light bulb lit up above his head. He turned to look at me with wide eyes and a big grin on his face.

"I've got an idea! You're such a genius!" He exclaimed. He grabbed my shoulders and gave me a little shake.

"Wha-"

"Give me a minute, let me note it down before I forget it." He took his iPad out from his bag and started writing on it excitedly. I smiled to myself as I observed him scribbling away happily - seeing this side of him made me feel fuzzy inside. I told him that I had to attend to a customer who was calling for me, and that I would be back to him as soon as I could. He nodded and replied that I didn't have to rush as the customers should be my priority.

"Thank you, hope to see you again soon." I smiled and bowed slightly as I saw the last group of customers out. I hadn't realised that I'd been busy for quite some time until I realised that the sky had already turned dark. I decided to flip the sign to 'Closed' - it was a little early, but I figured that there wouldn't be a lot of people coming in anymore for today.

This meant that Win could use the space to do his work as well, which I didn't mind.

I quietly cleaned up the last of the tables and tried my best to not make any noise as he seemed very focused on his scribbling. When I was done, I gently sat back down on the seat next to him, eagerly waiting to hear what he had thought of.

[author's note: here's a little illustration that i did. (⁰▿⁰)]