Lost In Our Times || CloverNyx

Cafe au Lait

     · 2 cups of milk
     · 2 cups strong coffee        
     · 1 tablespoon sugar
     · 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
     · optional: cookies for dunking      

Chapter One

     The evening time was always Luhan's favorite time of the day. The rich golden glow, as strong as the scent of French Roast beans, and as comforting as cold hands clinging to a hot cup of cocoa. Evening was a time of old memories, thoughts, and relaxation. The real highlight of the day.
     The light was strong today; the sun was healthy and possessed a resonance of the heaviest brews. Sometimes the clouds were stubborn and refused to move to reveal the Sun's beauty, choking her, but no, she wasn't ill today.
     The sunlight filtered down through the clean, floor to ceiling windows in the Dream Bean Coffee Shop, and indeed it was a dream. Brown shades were drawn up; it was too cold to not invite the friendly sunshine in. The light beige countertops were polished, the wooden tables and silver chairs were cleaned and had fresh, new decorations of burlap and red gingham. The coffee bar, also dubbed the Electronic Bar, was void of any spilled drinks, save for a couple of teens who were pulling scraps together to finish their last words in their essays on their laptops and sucking up juice from the electrical outlets and into their phones to replenish their battery.
     Which Luhan found ironic since they didn't exactly sell juice. Unless you count coffee as the juice of coffee beans.
     The Dream Bean Coffee Shop wasn't a famous brand, it was just a regular get-together spot for people. Many saw it as another business, but Luhan viewed this place as a beautiful, motherly home. A second home to him. Of course he did stay at the college campus do, but he usually worked late nights in the coffee shops not out of necessity, but of the comfort the shop brought him.
     Luhan tore his eyes away from the golden scene and turned to go through a burlap flap, which lead him to the back kitchen. It wasn't really a full kitchen, just sort of a big hallway with a sink, backup fridge, which Luhan and the other workers used to store their lunch and snacks, racks for extra cups and plates, and other random items.
     "YiFan! Go watch the store. I'll clean the extra cups here." Luhan called. The tall man turned. He brushed away his dark hair with a pinky. He wiped his hands on a rough, white cloth, being careful not to wrinkle his black button down shirt. Luhan didn't really get it; they were here to work, not walk on a runway.
     "Luhan I don't want you to tire yourself out, okay? You have a big Bio test tomorrow. I can handle it." He said, flipping a look to check his reflection at the silver counter.
     Luhan laughed. "It's ok Kris. I'd rather be here to study than go home anyway. There's a lot to be done." He looked around. The cups needed scrubbing, the individual silver cabinets needed polishing. The fridge could do with a little cleaning..but of course he can always do it when the shop is officially closed and no one was here with him. Except Kris if he wanted to stay today. Hopefully he did. He could use a little company today.
     Kris' full name was Wu YiFan, but he claimed that it ruined his image of being a cool stunning city boy. Still, Luhan often called him by his real name from time to time.
     "If you want me to stay with you today, I will. But don't expect me to stay awake the whole time. I'm stuffed by all the work today. Plus Geo got me so slept." Kris smiled, ruffling Luhan's hair as he passed by him to the front of the shop. Luhan shook it out and started forward to clean the glasses, smiling at his class complaints.
     Looking at himself from a scholarly point of view, he supposed he was an okay student. Definitely not the top, but he was fine with mediocre since he did co-run a coffee shop. He was appointed by the owner, who taught Luhan how to make his first decent cup of Joe and how to properly swirl milk in a latte. He often didn't come to the shop anymore, he trusted Luhan and Kris enough to leave them be and not wreck the shop, but sometimes they did drop a box lunch or chocolate by his door.
     Kris was also an okay student, but not because of the work at the coffee shop. He usually was running around town catching up with people and socializing, but he still has a good heart and loyal nature. Although Luhan was older, Kris was more rough at the edges and shot anyone dirty glances when they talked bad about Luhan, and looked after him more than his own siblings and parents ever did. He still loved them, but their family always had a sort of independence that had never brought their family very close.
     Not that Luhan was an unpopular student. Quite the contrary, he was the school's pretty boy, along with Kris and a few other of his friends, but Luhan was more gentle-hearted and reserved in his own nature to ever care about social status. Though with great popularity also comes a bundle of discontent of others, but what could be done about it?
     No, Luhan mused as he produced white suds from a sponge, he was an okay student after all.

Author's Note: wowo after days of nerve-racking procrastination I finally did the first Chapter! Hopefully I'll get more on top of things and yea haha :) thanks for reading.