Snow on Christmas

The first farewell

"Wow, she is truly beautiful. I can't wait to see her again", Ash thought to herself as she hurried toward the café, her pace quickening. "But first, I need to find her charm. It'll be perfect if I manage to return it to her."

Her excitement made her careless, and she didn't notice where she was stepping, splashing into puddles along the way. The rhythm of raindrops hitting the cobblestones mixed with the sound of her wet footsteps, sending a chill through her. Yet, the thought of Liora's smile warmed her from within, chasing away the cold.

"I wonder if she likes me, too." Ash continued daydreaming. "She was so nervous, every time I touched her, I bet she likes me, too!" With a dreamy smile on her lips and her footsteps being as light as walking on a cloud, she walked through the narrow streets of the old town.

Soon Ash reached the little café. A wooden sign with beautiful cursive writing hung in the window, reading Café Lumière d'Étoile, surrounded by small, glowing stars. The window and the door were framed with fairy lights and above the door hung a mistletoe.

The mistle toe immediately made her smile brightly, thinking of kissing Liora. It felt insane to think about kissing someone she just met, but at the same time it felt like destiny, meeting her in the little bookstore.

She entered the café, removing her hood. The bell above the door chimed with a high-pitched tone, welcoming the new customer. There were only a few other people inside: A middle-aged woman, working on her laptop, with a steaming cup of coffee next to her. A young man, reading the newspaper, in front of him a piece of cake and some tea in a glass cup, and in the corner three older people, laughing and chatting.

Behind the counter was a young barista in a black uniform. He smiled welcomingly at Ash, and she walked to him across the room.

"Excuse me, do you have a lost and found box here?", she asked friendly.

The barista looked confused for a moment before smiling again. "I've never seen you here before. How could you have lost something here?" he asked.

Ash faltered for a moment, as though caught. Then she remembered she had nothing to hide and didn't want to steal anything as well. "I'm looking for a friend's charm. She probably lost it when she was here earlier today", she explained calmly.

"Then you can probably tell me what this charm looks like?", the barista asked, taking his job very seriously.

Ash had a winning smile as she replied "Of course I can. It's a silver charm, showing a crescent moon. On it there's a cat and there's also some form of dangling star. And as far as I know it has glittery stones on it. Have you seen something like that?"

The barista thought about her words briefly, then turned around to a small box underneath the counter. He put it on the counter in front of Ash. "I think I saw it", he said, as he looked inside the box for the charm. "There it is!", he said as he suddenly pulled it out of the box. He held it up like it was a trophy. "But I only give it to you, if you give me your phone number." The barista smiled flirtatiously and then added with a mischievous wink "For verification purposes only, of course."

"Of course", Ash replied coolly, pretending not to notice his flirting. She decided to ignore it and just smiled. She gave him the number of her work phone, on which the voicemail message identified her as a police officer. The bad guys are usually scared off by this.

"Thank you and this is for you then", the barista said and gave her the charm. She nodded thankful as soon as she had the charm save in her hands. "Do you want anything else?", the barista added, with a charming smile.

Ash returned the smile and said "No, thank you. I have to bring this to my friend." So she turned around and with light steps she almost floated out of the café.