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#1: Scan fingerprint to start.

I tutted and huffed as I slid away the notification on my iPhone screen. These notifications would be the death of me.

"Morning, Ayla. The usual?"

"Please. Thank you, Gina." I smiled at the kind lady whom I burdened with my presence every morning. The air was thick with the scent of coffee beans, accompanied by the whirring of the coffee machine and conversations of passers-by.

Gina brewed the best cappuccino in Libyrn from her coffee truck. I watched, mesmerised, as she tampered the fresh ground coffee beans to brew the perfect, rich espresso. While the espresso dripped into the takeaway cup, she grabbed the frothing pitcher and filled it with milk, ready for the steam wand.

"So, have you thought about a store opening?" I asked as I scrolled through my Facebook feed. Nothing interesting, as usual.

She chuckled. "No. You ask me the same thing every week. You should know by now, your verbal business proposals just don't work on me."

I pouted, lifting my head from my phone screen as she pulled a blue cloth out of her apron pocket, wiping the steam wand clean of any milk residue. "Why not? My company could get your coffee store ready in like, a week. Interior design, exterior design. Just think of all the new equipment you could afford with the startup capital."

"If they're interested in little old me."

"Have you tasted your coffee? They would pounce on your proposal."

Gina smiled as she added the steamed milk into the cup. "I'm flattered, Ayla. But I quite like my truck, and so do my customers."

"But, as a regular customer, I would love if you had a store." I wiggled my eyebrows, but sighed as Gina shook her head, still uninterested. "Look, I know I'm basically just the office lady who does the work Ethan is too 'man' to do. But, that makes me the person who passes good proposals on to the directors. Not that I'm allowed to pick favourites, but I'd make sure yours is top of the pile."

"As I said," Gina started as she sprinkled the extra chocolate on top of my cappuccino. She fastened the lid and pushed it towards me with a soft smile. "I'm flattered."

Defeated, I rolled my eyes as I reached forward and took my cappuccino, handing her the two pounds it cost. "Think about it," I said, squinting my eyes and pointing a finger at her.

"Sure," she giggled. We bid our farewells before I continued my commute to work.

The coolness of early morning was always deceptive. The sun had barely risen. Thus, I got into the habit of checking the weather forecast on my phone when I woke. It predicted clear skies, potentially reaching a high of twenty-eight degrees celsius. Unfortunately, I would be stuck in my office until the best of the day's weather was over.

Ping!

The notification interrupted the video of my mother's dog rolling around her new carpet. Was it terrible of me to miss Snowflake more than my own mother? Even if he shed so bad that I would find his fur in my coffee every morning.

#1: Scan fingerprint to start.

Without hesitation, I slid the notification away for the third time this hour. However, before I could continue watching the video, another notification came through. The app must be spam. It didn't have a name, it wouldn't delete, it just sent these stupid 'scan fingerprint' messages. Scan fingerprint to start what, exactly?

Ping!

A wide smile spread across my cheeks as her name flashed across the top of my screen. Finally, a notification I wanted to receive.