Three Means Coffee

1

Pac! The tall man named Makary looked down, wondering why he felt a sudden blow to his leg. It turned out that a four-year-old boy had run into him, and now the child looked at him in fear, staring at the stain he had left on an adult's pants. Pretty expensive pants, as the boy assumed, so he would definitely avoid the consequences of his inattention.

The child had a dirty hand because he had eaten ice cream before, and from the other hand, he would not let go of his beloved mascot. Thus, the pace of consuming the strawberry delicacy, combined with the missing experience of eating them, caused a large part of the treat to dissolve. The boy wanted to prove how independent he is and wanted to deal with the dirt himself by going to the bathroom. However, he did not think that he would get lost in the mall and bump into someone looking around to get a little orientation in space.

The man, although he was quite good with the children, considering he had five nephews, got scared when the stranger kid made a face as if he was about to cry. He was about to say something and try to calm him down, but he didn't have time to open his mouth.

"Tymek, Tymek, you are here!" shouted another man, who ran over to the child and picked it up quickly, checking that youngster was okay at the same time. "You can't disappear like this! I turned around for a second and you were gone."

The one who became an obstacle in the implementation of the children's plan wondered to what extent the two he was looking at were related to each other. The reason for thinking this was that, as he assumed that the man was little Tymek's father, he looked quite young, even too young to fulfill such a role.

"But uncle, I wanted to do it myself... " the toddler began to speak through tears.

"Tymek, I know." The young man sighed heavily. "But this is a big mall, it's not like home here, you're lost, what if I didn't find you so soon?"

"I don't know." The child tried to wipe his tears with his shirt sleeve. "But I won't be anymore."

Only then did the adult men's eyes meet. Makary, whom Tymek ran into, thought: So it's not his father, but his uncle. He looked a little at the newcomer, he was a bit well-padded, but his focus was on his polite-looking face. Dark brown eyes with long lashes were an ornament for it, it also contrasted with the very light shade of the same color in the boy's hair.

The eye contact between the two lasted only a moment, as Błażej quickly looked around and tried not to suggest to Makary that he wanted to hurt the boy. He knew he shouldn't be too hastily about the situation, especially since the well-dressed, handsome gentleman seemed to be of high society. There was a stain on his pants that looked like the ice cream that started it all.

"Is this Tymon's doing?" Błażej asked, pointing to a child crime scene.

"Yes, but don't worry," replied Makary, a bit amused at how seriously they were taking the situation. "It's just a stain that will probably wash off easily."

"In any case, I apologize for him and thank you for your understanding" replied Tymek's uncle with a delicate smile, which disappeared after a moment. "I'm really sorry," he added.

"No problem, don't worry," Makary emphasized again and watched as the younger boy looked after the baby again with concern and headed for the bathroom.

Błażej muttered under his nose that they must hide the evidence of the ice cream crime from the boy's mother. Makary noticed that Tymek, being lifted by his uncle, had released the mascot and had not noticed it yet. He picked up the toy and was going to get their attention somehow and render the loss, but something distracted him and instead, he unintentionally tucked it into his coat pocket.