Broccoli & Black Coffee (Love, Brewed#4)

Nicodemus Reyes doesn't like neighbors.

He works from home as a freelance graphic designer and prefers everything quiet, predictable, and clean. No vanilla scents. No onions. No small talk.
He lives by routines-same breakfast, same hoodie, same rewatched movies. Conversations are optional. Eye contact is exhausting. People are... complicated.

Until one midnight, after a long shift and an overstimulating day, Nico stepped out for air-only to end up in front of a 24-hour coffee shop.
There, on the pavement, was a green chick.

Small. Lost. Shivering.

He brought it home. Named it Broccoli.

And from that moment on, his carefully constructed world began to break-one chaotic visitor at a time.

First came Captain Javi, the seven-year-old next door with a cape, a Nerf gun, and a zombie apocalypse survival plan.
Then came Beatriz-the barista who smelled like vanilla, spoke in questions instead of sentences, and had no understanding of boundaries. She was brightness. Mess. Movement.
A walking contradiction to everything Nico believed kept him sane.

Bea is the chaos in his solitude. The noise in his silence. And for someone who doesn't do attachments, she's the most disruptive presence of all.

But sometimes, the things you avoid the most... are exactly the things you need to feel alive.

Because maybe, just maybe-
the little green chick wasn't the only one that needed saving that night.