one more chance (zhongchi)

chapter 2

"Good morning Mr. Zhongli!" Greeted Collie and Amber as Zhongli stepped into his classroom.

"Good morning girls." He replied.

It was a Monday morning and Zhongli had just arrived at the university that he was teaching at.

He sat down at his desk and started reading the history textbook while waiting for class to start as students came pouring into the classroom. Class soon started and everything went smoothly.
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Classes had finally ended for the day and as Zhongli started to leave, he had a sudden craving for tarts and decided to stop by Tartagalicious Bakery for a quick afternoon snack.

As he was walking there, he couldn't help but think about the ginger he saw yesterday. The ginger seemed very familiar yet he couldn't put his finger on it.

Zhongli entered the bakery and was greeted by a cheerful voice as always.

"Hi Zhongli! How are you today?" Said Lia as she popped out from behind the counter.

"Good, how are you?" Zhongli replied.

"I'm good too, would you like to order anything?"

"Yes, a black coffee and your signature strawberry tart sounds nice."

"Alright, that will be $7.50."

Zhongli pays and goes to sit down at a table near a window as he waits for his order.

A few minutes later, a tall male ginger approaches his table and serves his coffee and tart.

"Ah, hello there." Zhongli smiles.

Zhongli's warm smile melted Childe's heart as he forgot all forms of communication.

"I-I um, hello. Uh, h-here's your order."

Zhongli gives a little chuckle at Childe's nervousness.

"What's your name again?" Zhongli asks.

"I'm Tar- I mean C-Childe.." Childe blushes.

He sets down Zhonglis food and hurries away in embarrassment to avoid letting Zhongli see his flustered face.

'Childe... What a familiar name..?' Zhongli mused to himself.
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Weeks go by and Zhongli becomes a regular customer at Tartagalicious Bakery. He would go there after school ended almost every day and grade papers there while talking to Lia who also happens to be very interested in history.

Childe, who noticed that Zhongli and Lia were growing close, would lean on the counter everyday and stare at them with envious eyes because he wanted to be the one who was hanging out and laughing with Zhongli.
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One Friday afternoon, Zhongli walks into the bakery and notices that no one was there.

"Hello?" He calls out.

There was no reply for a few minutes but a ginger popped his head out from behind a wall confused.

"Oh, Z-Zhongli!" Childe waves.

"Good afternoon Childe, where is Lia?" Zhongli replies.

This made the ginger slightly scrunch his face and grow jealous that all Zhongli cares about is ask where Lia is and nothing else.

"Ah, s-she's um, sick today. I must have forgot to lock the door b-but it said 'closed' on the sign o-outside so I was a little confused when you e-entered." He said instead.

"Is she okay? What happened?" Zhongli asks with worry.

"She's fine. Just a cold. I can't manage the bakery by myself so I just closed the store for the day."

Zhongli noticed coldness and bitterness in the ginger's voice and decided maybe it was best if he left.

"Oh, alright then. Sorry for barging in I'll be on my way-"

"NO WAIT PLEASE STAY" Childe unexpectedly shouted out.

"What?"

Zhongli turned around and saw the embarrassed ginger covering his face behind the counter.

"S-sorry, never mind, never mind. Have a nice day." Childe blushed

"Haha, if you were so lonely you could have said so. I have nothing else to do so I can stay if you wish."

Childe's face brightens up as if a golden retriever had just seen a tennis ball and invites Zhongli to go upstairs with him.

The upstairs of the bakery had a completely different atmosphere. It was a small apartment-like place with 2 bedrooms, a open living space, kitchen, and bathroom.

Childe runs to the kitchen and comes back with 2 cups of coffee and invited Zhongli to sit down.

"This is your home, I suppose?" Zhongli gives a warm smile.

The gingers heart melts at his smile once again and Childe freezes in place. Just then, a mini version of Childe peeks out from one of the rooms.

"Ah, Teucer!" Childe regains his consciousness and smiles at the small child.

"Big brother!" The little kid runs to Childe and hugs him. "Who is this?"

"This is Mr. Zhongli, one of our regular customers." Childe explains.

"Aw, how cute. Teucer, was it? Nice to meet you little guy." Zhongli smiles.

"Thank you! Nice to meet you too."

Coughing was heard from the other room of the place. Teucer immediately runs to a cabinet and gets out what looks like pills and a glass of water and runs into the room.

"That's Lia, she caught a cold from staying out in the rain for too long yesterday and refused to come inside when I asked her." Childe sighed, "Now we won't be able to open the bakery for this weekend since she isn't well."

"Why don't you hire staff?" Zhongli asks.

"Well, this bakery has always been a family bakery run by only me, Lia, and our parents. They passed away 3 years ago from a deadly disease so it's been just me and Lia. We don't want to hire staff because it's always just been us plus we are quite short on money with paying for rent and the supplies." Childe puts his head on the table, looking sad.

"Well, I'm sorry I asked about such a sensitive topic but on the bright side, I'm free all weekend and I could probably help out?" Zhongli smiles at him in an attempt to cheer the ginger up.

"You would? That's great! Thanks for all your support Zhongli." The ginger shared a light smile and they enjoyed their afternoon together drinking coffee and chatting.