Miraculous Turn of Events Re-write

Chapter Fourteen: Welcoming the Neighbours

A/N: I am 15 minutes late according to my time, but I'm still hoping it's in time for the Tuesday update😅 So, I made a mistake with Waktu's name and yes, I only realised it now, like 4 chapters after his introduction. His name is supposed to be Tarikan Waktu, but I think we will just stick with Waktu is best. Also, with all that happened in the story I forget what day it's on so I'm thinking still Wednesday ^^. Anyway, lemme not keep you longer, here is chapter 14❄💫

'Just go and introduce yourself, the worst that could happen is they scoff and close the door,' Athalya told herself as she finished parking her bike. She sighed and shook her head and checked on the pastries she bought from Tom and Sabine, "It will be fine," she told herself and walked up to the restaurant that had just been purchased. She lightly knocked on the door, 'Was that too soft? Would they hear me?' she wondered and was about to knock again more firmly, but the door opened suddenly.

"Oh, hello, I hope I'm not disturbing you, I just wanted to welcome you to the building," Athalya said with a kind smile. "Oh, you're not disturbing at all, please come in Madam?" the owner of the café replied warmly and invited her in. She noted the cultural fusion on display, there was a variety of eastern cultures from Indonesian to Korean, Indian to Chinese, even Japanese. It made her wonder if it related to her neighbour's heritage. His accent was clearly British, yet his features had hints of Asian lineage. He had pale skin and black hair; his eyes were a deep crimson. His clothes were black too, simple slim slacks and a black shirt, but when he turned to invite her in, she saw red embroidery on the back.

She tried to read it, but it was Chinese characters. "I'm your neighbour Athalya Simoné," she introduced herself, "I'm Seo-Taylor Wolf, you can call me Seo-Tay, or Seo or Tay, I don't mind really," he said gently. "Seo sounds Japanese, doesn't it mean tail, lower slope or younger sister," she thought aloud and quickly realised she did so, "Ah, I'm sorry," she apologised. He laughed, "It's okay, I'm impressed you realised," he said and gestured to the restaurant, "And I'm sure you're curious about the fusion as well," he said.

Athalya nodded, "Oh, uhm, first this is a welcome gift," she said and handed him the basket, "Thank you miss Athalya," he said in English. "Sorry, I just switched, I noticed your accent as well and couldn't help it," he said, "I don't mind, you can if you're more comfortable and you can call me Lya," she said with a smile.

"Great, my French is good enough, but I do prefer English, would you like some tea or anything?" he asked as he offered her a seat, "Oh, uhm are you sure it's, okay? I'm sure you must be busy getting everything ready," she said. "I'm free now and I was about to make some for myself, everything is basically ready I'm just waiting on the arrival of my partner, he's flying in from Egypt," he explained, "Egypt, that's amazing, and I'll have whatever you're having," she said, "Okay then," he said and went to fetch the tea,

"My partner has travelled to many places in the world, in fact we met in Indonesia," he explained from the kitchen, "That's incredible, what does he do?" she asked, "Oh he does a lot of social work while also dabbling in archaeology," he answered as he mixed their tea. "And what were you doing in Indonesia, archaeology or social work?" she asked, as he peaked up behind the counter. "Neither actually," he said with a grin making her look at him questioningly.

"I travelled a lot because I followed in my parent's footsteps, they are cultural anthropologists, now I decided to take a break, settle down and try something new," he explained. "Oh, that was unexpected, but really impressive," she said as he brough the tea over.

"A little more backstory to explain my lineage, my mom is from Korea and my dad is from England, she came to study back home and they fell in love and all that. They'd do a ton of fieldwork, flying to different countries and learning the languages there. We mostly stayed closer to the east," he explained as he handed her a cup of floral tea. "That sounds incredible, so in the field you must have picked up other languages, right?" she asked as she accepted the tea, "Oh it smells wonderful, what is it?" she asked before he could answer her previous question.