ice cream.

one.

Diana

She stood behind the counter, leaning forward to watch the rain pour right in front of the ice cream shop.

The likelihood of a customer at this season? Probably one or two. But that's about it.

Diana is obviously not liking the weather at all. Rainy days has always been an ice cream shop's enemy. It's not really so bad to eat ice cream during a cold weather, Diana have done it a lot. As a matter of fact, she thinks that cold days are the best time to eat ice cream.

In a few minutes, she saw a man in a suit walking casually underneath an umbrella he's holding. Diana had to fix her hair ponytail and her red-and-white striped apron before the man could enter the shop. "Yes... sa wakas," she mumbled to herself.

"Welcome po!" she greeted enthusiastically, moving over behind the showcase cooler, full of ice cream in various flavors.

The man closed his dripping wet umbrella and placed it inside a plastic bag. He, then, smiles to Diana as be approaches the counter. "Isang ice cream, please. Sa waffle-cone, pwede?" he ordered.

"Of course, sir!" she took a waffle cone out and placing it onto a rolled, cone-shaped paper. Diana curiously looked at him. She thought he was quite tall, and wow, did he look like a millionaire. Hopefully he's not here to buy her whole store.

"Sir, anong flavor po?"

He hummed, scanning the cooler full of ice cream. "Cappuccino, please," he answered eventually, pointing at the ice cream.

Diana took action immediately, scooping a big ball of ice cream and placed it on top of the waffle cone. As soon as it was done, she handed it over to him by the counter with a smile and walked to the cashier. The man followed.

"Ang total niyo po is... 15 pesos, sir. Cash or credit, sir?"

"Cash," he said, taking out a 20 pesos bill out from his pocket in which Diana took, and gave him the right change.

The man sat by a table, on a seat both very near to the counter and overlooking to the window that only showed nothing but the downpour.

There was an awkward silence for a while. All that was heard was the sound of the freezer and the sound of the rain. Diana just stood, leaning against the counter, watching the rain along with her customer.

Every once in a while, she would glance at him. What does he think of the ice cream? Masarap ba? Is it too quiet? Should I talk to him? It's been on her head for quite a while.

But the man finally broke the silence, "How's your business going dito?"

It was so sudden that Diana jolted a bit. "Ummm... it's okay naman po," she fiddled her fingers, "Hindi nga lang po gaano mabenta kapag umuulan."

The man chuckled. "Talaga?" He turned his seat to face Diana. "You're going to hate me for saying this, pero, I want to buy this shop."

Great.

The words Diana doesn't wanna hear. Of course he looks too rich to be here. And of course he looks too rich to buy the shop.

Diana glared at him and crossed her arms. "Sorry, sir. It's not for sale."

"Look, babayaran kita ng 1 million pesos. That's enough para secure ang future mo at ng pamilya mo. It's a great business and it's fun to work sometimes, but it's better to stay home and rest after all, right?"

She is suddenly fumed with anger. It's a cold day, but she's getting a bit heated from the man's responses. "Sorry, sir. Pero, I need you to leave right now."

The man stood up obediently, but walked to the counter first to give his business card before leaving the vicinity. "If you ever change your mind, you know who to call—" he squinted his eyes to see her name tag, "—Diana."

She looked down to see the business card, "Christian Carriedo, you can kiss my ass."