You lie in bed. At first you are asleep but the obnoxious alarm screams at you at 7:30 AM sharp. Instinctively, you attempt to play it off as a dream or an ambulance outside your window that will soon come to pass. However, not 10 seconds into your battle, you surrender. Stretching yourself across the bed you grope around until you finally find your phone and silence the beast. Groaning slightly you get up and wander into your bathroom. You are greeted with a large mirror and sign which a friend gave you for your 18th birthday. It reads: I woke up like this. You smile slightly at the comment and then proceed to perform the morning ritual.
The time is now 8:00 AM. You hurry downstairs to the familiar kitchen and bake the cakes, scones and biscuits with the batter and dough you prepared yesterday. As they sit in the oven, turning a nice colour and transforming into edible cakes, scones and biscuits you prepare the front room. Setting out chairs in a nice orderly but also comfortable fashion and emptying the dishwasher, revealing shining cups, mugs, cutlery and plates.
By 8:30 AM the majority of the food is baked and the front room is ready. You rotate the sign at the front of the glass door so that the side facing you says Teahouse of Wonders ~ Closed. You spend a little amount of time decorating the strawberry cakes and drizzling lemon icing across another confectionary before you hear the first ring of the bell. You make your way towards the front room as quickly as possible but trying to remain graceful in order to prevent anything from crashing.
"Hello there. How may I help you?" you chime in your usual work voice to the girl standing by the counter.
She replies by asking for a hot chocolate with whipped cream, she then pays and takes a seat. You smile as you hand the girl her beverage and seat yourself on the stool behind the counter. While waiting for your next request you admire your surroundings.
The teahouse belonged to your grandmother but she died five years ago. After that, your uncle took over but he barely opened it and never cleaned it. Once you had turned eighteen he gave it to you as a gift but you knew he just thought of it as getting rid of a burden.
You, however, never thought of it as a burden. You moved away from your parents and started living in the apartment above. As soon as you had moved in, you made sure to clean... A lot. You decorated the place with souvenirs from all over the globe. A lucky cat from Japan and a Route 66 number plate from Arizona. The room was full of little trinkets and gave it a charming and unique atmosphere. A shelf dominated the wall opposite to the entrance. It contained the most prized of your possessions. For your twelfth birthday your grandmother gave you a tea set. It was of the finest quality and had the most beautiful and intricate of designs coating each component of the set. At the time you had not understood the beauty of it but now you knew just how special it was. The tea set held the most of your grandmother's spirit in it that you could find now that she had passed away so you treasured it.
You were caught in a complete trance and did not notice as the bell rang and a man walked towards you. It startles you a little to see a black coat blocking your view of the tea set so you look up.
The man was tall. He wore a black coat which made him seem almost like a detective. His hair was also black and was slightly unkept. What really catches your attention is his eyes, which are a deep red colour, shining in the early morning light. He appears to be in his mid or late twenties and his features are very handsome and mature.
"Hello, how may I help you?" you force out the same routine sentence as earlier but you cannot help but notice it is slightly quieter and more timid than with the girl.
"I would like a cup of Earl Grey with no milk or sugar, if you don't mind," the man's voice is smooth and deep as his order rolls of his tongue.
You simply nod and the man walks over to sit in the most secluded corner. As you turn on he kettle you notice your hands trembling slightly and try your best to hide the shaking. You make your way over to the man's table and hand him his order, trying your best to prevent the shaking.
"Thank you very much," the man speaks politely but still leaves you slightly breathless. You can do nothing but nod and force a small smile before quickly turning around and hurrying back to your stool as usual.
Minutes pass and you watch as the man observes the room between sips of his tea. The girl thanks you and leaves. You walk over to the table which was previously occupied by the girl. Your fingers skim the empty mug of hot chocolate's rim slightly before grasping the handle and placing it on your tray. Once the table is cleared you bring the tray to the kitchen and place the objects in the dishwasher. Your actions are interrupted, however, by the ring of the bell. You stop what you are doing and bounce back into the cafe.
A young man who seems to be about your age stands by the door and is struggling for breath. He wears a a blue blazer and a pair of khakis. His hair is black but in the light it seems to shine a navy blue. His eyes - no - eye is the deep colour of the ocean reflected in the sunlight. However, his right eye is hidden and confined beneath a black eye patch. His body is a little slender but he seems a little taller than you. His cheeks are flushed and his hair is a little ruffled, most likely from running.
"Honestly! I order you to stop running off like that," the young man huffs at the handsome man sitting in the corner.
"Yes, my Lord," the handsome man says, his tone full of exaggerated sarcasm.
You watch their bickering with amusement. The man with the eye patch flops down in the seat opposite the mysterious, detective-like figure. You take this as your cue to join in.
"Umm, can I help you with anything by any chance?" you say with a voice full of worry for the man with flushed cheeks and uneven breathing.
"Sorry? Oh... Could I please have a... Strawberry cake," the man says between coughs. You cannot help but notice that his voice contains a hint of kindness, something that was not there when he ordered his friend.
You smile, "Of course."
As you add the final touches to your cake you smile at the thought of an adult ordering a childish cake like this. When you hand the plate to the young man he smiles a heartwarming smile at you, gaining a quizzical glance from his companion. You smile back and return to your seat. You have not had such good-looking customers as of late. It seems almost like a dream where one ends up eloping with a prince. You grin to yourself and stare off into space.
Your eyes land on the leaflet you had pasted in the window. You have been attempting to gather people to work for you. The job is just manageable but it does tend to put you under a lot of stress. You sigh a little and continue to day dream.
You barely have time to hear the bell before the door slams open and the sound of heels dominates the room. You snap out of your daze and your head flips towards the door.
"-And then I was all like: I'll gouge you eyes out if you dare say that to me again!" cackles a man who seems a little older than you. His hair is a light blonde colour and his eyes a light blue. He wears a coat in a shade purple which resembles berries or wine. The clacking sound comes from his boots which reach up to his knees and are tied up with purple laces.
A man you had not noticed earlier stands behind him and nods at the blonde's statement. He is tall and seems to be in his late twenties. His hair is black but appears almost purple and he wears glasses over a pair of yellow eyes. His face is completely void of expression and you cannot help but think that he must be one hell of a boring companion.
They take their seats and you hurry to take their orders.
"Hello, is there anything you would like?" you ask the two additions to your cafe of attractive princes.
The blonde hesitates as he surveys you. He makes no point to hide the fact that he is, in fact, checking you out before he catches a stray lock of your hair and whispers, "You."
You blush a little but ignore his order. The man in glasses gives a more sensible answer and you hurry off to prepare the requests. You make sure to avoid eye contact with the blonde as you set the lemon drizzle cake and lemon tea on the table.
Once you are back to your comfortable and familiar seat you observe the tea house. The four men in the room suddenly seem to have huge glowing auras. You imagine a glass wall in between you and the rest of the men. You feel your cheeks heat up and begin to feel almost as if you are suffocating. Drowning in a pit of fire.
