Heal // z.m

one | where it all began

Zayn

It took me a few more turns and swirls before the cappuccino was good to go. To top it off, I sprinkled some cacao powder over the heart- shaped foam- as the order wished. It had become one of my specialities, making creative figures out of the coffee foam. So they said.

Latte art was the only way for me to express the creativity that I had inside of me, as baking cakes at the cafe I worked at, surely wasn't for me. Unless someone craved black, burnt and hard as a rock scones and muffins. Too bad I hadn't ever heard someone ask.

Once I had placed everything on a tray, I quickly placed a biscuit near her cappuccino and walked over to the old, grey haired lady who came here a lot.

"So Daphne, here it is. Your heart shaped cappuccino with cacao powder and a blueberry muffin." I carefully placed the cup and muffin on the table in front of her and held the tray with one hand, passing her a smile.

She smiled at me, "Thank you, son. How comes I see you the whole week now and not just on Saturday?"

"Didn't you hear? The school closed because there were not enough pupils on it. They all moved to another school and they already had a music teacher." I sighed softly. It wasn't my intention to become a music teacher for the young kids, but once I got the job I had loved every single minute of it. Too bad the school had to close and therefore made me lose my job.

The old woman sighed. "Oh darling, I'm sorry to hear that. The kids loved you." She placed her warm hand over mine, rubbing circles over it with her old, shaky fingers.

"Nothing to do about it." I shrugged slowly and gave her a genuine smile.

I saw a small frown appearing on her face as she grabbed my wrist softly, quietly observing it for a while. "What happened to your arm?"

"To my arm?" I automatically frowned as well, mostly in confusion, and moved my attention to the place she was looking at. A rather dark blue spot had appeared on my skin near my hand. I thought about what could've been the reason for the bruise, but couldn't make up my mind. "I honestly don't know. I haven't noticed it before." I said honestly, inspecting it a bit more as I turned my wrist.

"Be careful, Zayn. We don't want you to hurt yourself now, do we?" The woman- who genuinely felt like my own grandmother- started stroking the bruise with her old, shaky finger. "Go back to work before you get your bum kicked, don't want to keep you up."

I laughed. "Alright, I'll see you later Daphne."

Walking back to the cafe counter, I kept glancing at the bruise on my arm. It hadn't been the first mysterious bruise so it made me really confused as why I kept getting bruises without noticing it.

"Did they ask you to do it?" My mum questioned, concern laced in her eyes as she glanced at me.

Sighing deeply, I dropped my pen onto the table and looked up at her, frowning. "No mum. I wanted to do the financials. I have nothing else to do in the evening so, it's fine."

She shook her head. "But Zayn, darling, you work six days a week.. don't you think that's enough already?"

"Mum, I offered it. I'm tired, yes. But it's the good tired. I can sleep well at night and I won't be tired in the morning anymore." I lied. I always felt tired, but I just loved working. Doing nothing at all made me feel useless, and when they needed someone to check the finances I hadn't hesitated to offer myself up for the task.

My mum stayed quiet and I continued calculating the bills and the revenue from this month in peace, actually happy that she didn't comment on it anymore. I hid my yawn and quickly rubbed my eyes while I looked up and saw my youngest- six years old- sister sitting on the opposite of me as she played with her toys.