"No matter how prepared you are, there is still someone that will drive you to stutter, moreover spill a coffee to yourself"
Hot and Cold Water
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The morning after was another usual day of non-stop studying. I've gone to breakfast, chores, and another existential crisis before preparing myself for school. Atypically, I found myself to be faster using the bathroom. It took me less than an hour to get out of the damp—a world record.
After hopping along in my Dad's card, I arrived at school. The everyday nostalgia of the wind's breeze made me motivated to start a new academic week. The wide front yard of CUI is like a dream come through as before I wished that someday I'd get to study here, and here am I.
But things can change. It felt like the environment was getting boring because you'd already reached your dreams and things were getting monotonous in your eyes. It's just usual coming to school now.
"Good morning." Rijo's voice added an unusual feeling to the mood. I turned to him drawing up for a faint smile.
"Good morning~"
"It's hot, why are you wearing long sleeves under a v-neck?" He sounded soft and brash at the same time—or it might just be my ears that made it brash.
"Why do you care?" My thoughts bleated which was supposed to come out of my mouth but rather kept it to not sound rude, especially since it was morning.
"It's surprisingly...cold," I reasoned.
I was unsure of my next movement when I saw him in my peripheral placing a seizing gaze on me. I tried looking at him without moving my head for a better perspective. When our eyes met, I quickly roamed my eyes like I was admiring nature.
"Cold? But you're sweating." I looked at him with seamless wide eyes. My left hand covered the drop of sweat I felt on my neck.
"What? It's maybe because I didn't dry my hair," I lightly lied while watching him take out something in his pocket. It seemed like he didn't care about my reason. He was holding a black handkerchief the second after.
"Here, let me wipe it."
"Wipe what?" irritatingly.
"Even if it's not sweat you'll still get a cold. Just let me do it." I saw concern in his eyes as he sighted his handkerchief. He was like an older caring friend that I always see in some young-adult movies. This moment felt like I was recalling the feeling of older friends that takes care of the younger one.
It allayed my mind without realizing that I lowered my hand to make way for his concern. He started wiping my neck with a peck at every tap. I turned to my side to hide a bit of my smile. Looking back at him again seeing only his jade eyes filled with sincerity.
"Do you want to get coffee? Iced doppio?"
"Iced?" I questioned as if discovery hit me. "P'wede i-ice?"—can it be iced?
"Yeah, anything can be iced." He shrugged his shoulders, putting his handkerchief back to his pocket and burrowing both of his palms on both pockets.
"Y-yeah! Uhm, I was heading right at the library to study but I guess I'll go for a coffee first."
Rijo beamed. He took out his hand from one pocket and swayed it gently signaling to come. I walked with tiny hops but before following him, something came to mind: "Wait...this might be the perfect time!" A lightbulb lit on top of me as I shower this moment an opportunity.
"Why, Helio?" Rijo noticed my still feet.
"Would you mind if someone could join us?" I asked pairing a smile.
I saw his brows meet as he slightly tilted his head. It took him a few seconds to answer, "Yeah, that's fine," but in a hesitant tone.
"Great!" I beamed, taking out my phone from my bag. The zipper scrunched a sound after fixing my bag posthaste to my back. My eyes sunk to my phone before sending a message to someone above my contacts.
[ "Are you on your way to school now? Do you want to have coffee first? or like no bc you seem mad or idk," ] I sent to Sage.
He saw my message the moment I hit send as if he was loitering around his contacts for Earth knows how long. It took him a few seconds to start typing. I saw three dots of typing indicator that appeared and disappeared for about a minute-long. My eyes went bored as my patience slowly faded because of how long Sage is taking to reply.
As for Rijo, he stood with both hands burrowed in his pockets while his gaze roamed around the campus. He waited patiently, looking at me every minute to see if i'll give an answer.
[ "Yeah, I'll go straight to the cafe." ]
He finally gathered the courage to reply. Though, I raised a brow because of how much time he took to type a single short reply. Then I beamed facing Rijo to say, "Let's go!"
Rijo raised his hand again for a sway signaling me to come. I felt like being treated like a child but it seemed somewhat okay with me. When I synced steps with Rijo, I sensed his hand slid my back to his side without touching after making it looked like he was about to hold my shoulder.
I saw the wide space between us that made the mood less awkward. It's just me, but having people to almost shove their faces on mine makes me shift to the the left drastically that would force me to walk in the tall grass. It was always awkward when people I was not even close to do that. Good thing that Rijo wasn't touchy like Sage as I expected him to be.
I didn't realized that I broke of our synced steps and half-consciously decided to walk in front of Rijo—which I do every time. Thinking of it, I also do it when I'm with Sage but he intensely insisted to walk by my side every time. The uneasy feeling was always there every time Sage went unnecessarily closer, but I tried being used to it. And still I'm not yet.
The Cafe was right outside the University, if you looked at it very vaguely, it would seem to be located inside the campus, but actually it's not. I saw the small but not shabby looking cafe that praised my eyes with the aesthetic. I always go here but still can't stop admiring the feeling every time I enter.
The name of the shop was Coffleya. This is where I always bought my coffees I drink before going to class or during the trainings. Maybe because I'm too lazy to go further to find other shops.
Thinking of it, this was the first time I went inside this coffee shop with another person beside Sage. And thinking of another thing, this coffee shop is my favorite amongst all. Aside from it's spiffing near and the mesmerizing feeling, the coffees were always out of this world. Even though I only order two things no matter when: doppio and matcha.
It always reminded me of something. Something nostalgic, but everything I thought of it only an unknown feeling came. Forcefully visualizing it would make my head ache. Not to mention, the ache was always true. But, I only treated it as a false deja vu.
I pushed the door, slightly having a hard time with my strength. I saw Rijo stood waiting for me to open the door with an expression that spoke out 'do you need help?' His hands were about to reach helping but relaxed when the door finally gaped. He placed a smile on his face giving an emphasis to his jade eyes. Like magnetized, I stared at them for a moment half-conscious, then quickly went it once I snapped out of my senses.
I insisted ordering. I was in the counter when I saw Rijo leaning forward with his arms rested on the table, momentarily looking outside, studying the menu, and looking at this way. He once leaned to his back with his arms crossed, then gazed directly at me. I turned around thinking he didn't see me looking at him when I felt that I was staring too much. Maybe because of how he looked good against the sunny weather barging in outside.
The light dimmed when I saw a familiar black Mercedes Benz parking in the street and blocking the view. My head tilted when I saw Sage threw himself out of the car like he owns a penthouse. Surprise took me upon seeing him with a car. He does have a car, he told me several times, but he doesn't seem to use it. When I went to Auntie's during Denshi's birthday, the first thing I saw was a black car parked outside, looking like it hasn't been used for ages.
And now he did use it for some reason.
Sage immediately saw me from the see-through door I once pushed defeatedly. He held out a locking gaze before raising his hand for a 'hi.' His car keys hung on his ring finger, it swung when he waved looking like it made jingling sounds. He smiled.
He tossed the door open and made a loud sound. The barista called my name so I quickly panned my head to them receiving the tray of three cups. I happily thanked the barista who just pronounced my name wrong, but only gave it a laugh.
As soon as I turned around, an intense atmosphere greeted me both hi and hello. I raised both my brows while eyeing both of them. Sage who I saw staring at Rijo with burning arrows and flaming quills, and Rijo who returned the stare with freezing icicles looking unbothered of the heat, at the same time he seemed surprised. I wasn't able to tell him that Sage was the person I invited to have coffee with us.
I tip-toed my feet walking toward them while holding the tray of coffee. Thinking they wouldn't notice me even though I have to interact with them.
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Siasai here, hope you're enjoying RFMIL so far!
I will really try to do the best for this novel, so read and relax!
Author's Curiosty: Will Helio's decision to invite Sage for a coffee together with Rijo come out fine?
