COMPLETED | "And under the moonlit café, along with the selcouth hymns, the outcast found a place to call home."
When her landlord managed to get rid of the troublesome pair she had as her neighbors, Ezra felt like she was ascending to a new world t...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
04 : yes, the café is open but maybe closed for you.
• • •
"Welcome to Winter Serenade Café!" Once again, Ezra poured all of her surviving energy in order to sound thrilled and enthusiastic.
Don't get her wrong, she loves her job and she also finds joy in entertaining their customers. However, recently, things had been bizarre and all over the place for Ezra. To be honest, she was still a bit petrified from the events that had occured few hours back, but it wasn't enough to keep her from working and going out late. Only this time, she was more prepared, carrying a pocket knife and pepper spray, and she had her phone ready.
"Ezra, I think you should take a quick break."
The said ginder begrudgingly whipped her head towards the direction of Serenity who just spoke, her eyes rolling and her arms crossing in front of her chest. Surprisingly enough, she seemed displeased with the idea of resting. With her voice laced with venom, she snarled, "You two already have enough work as it is. What break are you talking about?"
The Winter Serenade was a large two-story book café. A section of the first floor is decorated with a grand piano, guitar, and violin that Ezra and the workers are using to entertain the customers, and sometimes, they even let a few of them play freely. It is also where the kitchen was located. On the other hand, upstairs is where the books are found. The whole second floor was designed to look like a mini-library, the books are also free for customers to burrow.
Frankly speaking, an establishment that large was simply too much for only Ezra and Serenity to handle, resulting in their decision to hire another worker. That worker being Polaris Nirvana, a twenty-five year-old tourism graduate.
Ezra was usually in charge of guarding and serving the orders on the second floor, while Polaris was tasked to take orders from the counter, serve the first floor, and also keep an eye on the instruments. On the other hand, Serenity would mostly hide in the café's kitchen, making the orders. For the three of them, it was the perfect balance. Each of them had their fair share of labor.
And that is why Ezra found herself sulking. She wasn't keen on Serenity and Polaris's idea of her working behind the counter, only taking orders and greeting customers, while the other two were basically running up and down and around the establishments.
Serenity, who's supposed to be in seclusion behind the kitchen walls, was the one serving downstairs, and Polaris was the one doing Ezra's customary works while also occasionally helping Serenity.
This was one of the plethora of reasons why she refused to tell them about the midnight encounter she's had. If only the two failed to notice her agitation and unease, they wouldn't have changed their daily work assignments. But then again, they were observant enough to notice the said restlessness.
Ezra would have to face two consequences if she wanted to tell her co-workers about the assault: one, they'd worry about her too much, and two, Serenity would blame herself for what had happened. As expected, both scenarios did occur. The change in their work routine was the result of the first and Serenity apologizing profusely and sticking close to Ezra like a glue was the effect of the other.
