As he wiped his soaked hands on his brown apron, he hated the fact that his clumsiness was not leaving him alone, even in his working place. It was also very frustrating when there was a line of customers waiting for their order to be taken when he was busy wallowing in his misery.

But now was not the time to drown in his embarrassed thoughts. He needed to clean up the mess he had made on the floor in front of him.

"Just one second!" he yelled loudly in the sweetest voice he could muster. All he could do was hope that his customers were patient enough to forgive him for their delay.

The young adult quickly grabbed a mop from the supply closet and hastily began to wipe the spilled coffee from the floor. He nearly cussed out loud when he stepped into the brown puddle with his newly bought shoes, and instead decided to ignore that for now. He could hate himself for that later.

When he was done, he rushed back to the supply closet and threw the dirty mop inside before running back to the counter.

He made eye contact with an elderly woman who was wearing a gentle smile on her face.

"Good morning, ma'am. What would you like to order?" he asked politely, his voice a little raspy due to the fast cleaning session he just had.

"Are you alright, young man? Your voice sounds a little in need for some water," the woman asked him.

Nodding at her, he gave her a warm smile. Having sweet and understanding customers like her was a rarer occurrence nowadays. "I'm fine, thank you. Now, is there anything you'd like?"

She nodded. "A medium-sized cappuccino with three sugar cubes and two pieces of strawberry-cheesecake, please."

After typing the price of the order into the cash register, he turned to the woman who was already holding her wallet in her hand, ready to pay for her order.

"That would be $5,47. Would you like to pay with cash or a credit card?"

"Cash," she answered before looking into her purse. Then she pulled out a tenner and put it into his hand.

After giving her the change, he quickly put her order together and gave her the cake and coffee after only three minutes.

Many hours then passed, with him serving countless amounts of people with a variety of orders.

He was pretty exhausted, but he knew he had to wait only ten more minutes until his shift ended. His coworker, who was also his best friend, had called in sick for the day which ended up with him being the only person serving everyone and putting everyone's orders together in the small coffee shop in the outskirts of Ninjago City.

That place was usually packed with customers, making him question why his boss was not willing to employ any other people.

Surely two employees weren't enough, even if the café was small.

As he watched the clock on the other side of the room, he smiled when he realized he only had a handful of minutes left.

And no one else was in the café which made everything even better for him. He lazily walked over to the back to get his bag and jacket before walking back to the front.

Once he pulled out the key (which the owner of the café had given him and his coworker so that they could lock and unlock the place), he stepped out of the cozy building and turned around to lock the door.

Just before he inserted the key into the lock, he realized he was still wearing his apron, so he walked back inside and to the back where he discarded his apron.

When he walked back to the front, the ringing of the bell disturbed his entire peace, silence and enthusiasm.

He hated people who thought it was okay to come after closing hours, especially when they were unwilling to lea-

His heart stopped for a millisecond when he laid his eyes on the person.

The person was slowly opening the door while looking around in the empty coffee shop. After stepping a foot inside, the barista could see that it was a young woman with black hair that was in a high ponytail with bangs decorating her forehead and a few strands hanging in front of her ears.

She was wearing a black leather jacket with a white, skintight shirt underneath it and a pair of dark blue jeans. She was also wearing black sneakers. A beige-colored tote bag was hanging down from her right shoulder.

When she turned to him and their eyes locked, his legs suddenly felt like jelly.

Her eyes were brown with long, black lashes. Her nose was like a button, fitting perfectly in the middle of her round face. Her lips were plump and nude, and her cheeks were slightly red. Probably due to the colder weather there was that day.

"I'm sorry, am I late? Are you closing?"

Oh, her voice. It was angelic. Now he was left wondering if she could sing like an angel, too. It would probably sound like a harmonic tune, like a siren, like sent straight from heaven.

"Excuse me?"

He quickly snapped out of whatever he was in and focused on the girl that was standing on the other side of the counter now.

"Oh!" He inwardly cringed at how squeaky that came out. "It's fine, you're just in time!" he assured her, his heart pounding heavily in his ears.

"Are you sure?" she asked almost worriedly. "It's four past eight, and I think it closes at eight here."

When she gave him that worried, sad look, he just couldn't send her back outside without what she had come there for.

So, he smiled warmly at her and nodded. "It does. But don't worry, just tell me what you want to order and I'll get it for you."

When her eyes lit up, he knew he made the right decision.

"Just a small black coffee, please," she said politely.

"That'll be $1,99," he said, and after exchanging the money, he quickly prepared her order.

When the coffee was done and in its to-go cup, he grabbed a black marker and turned to her.

"The name?"

The girl then looked confused. "But I am the only one here. There's no need for my name."

He chuckled, knowing she was right. Yet he still insisted on getting her name. "I know, but we have a strict policy we have to follow when it comes to treating our customers here," he reasoned.

It wasn't completely wrong, he did have a policy to follow, but it wasn't as strict about their customers' names as he made it seem.

The girl smiled with a puff of air leaving her mouth. She knew what he was up to, yet she couldn't find it in herself to tell him off.

"It's Nya."

The boy's smile grew as he repeated her name quietly to himself while writing the three letters onto the cup.

Then he handed her the disposable paper cup which was decorated with his messy handwriting.

"Thanks." She grabbed the cup, their fingers brushing against one another's for a second. Then she took a sip from the small opening, her eyes holding his. She gave him a nod of approval. "This is pretty good. Anyways, I should get going again," she said before heading over to the door. Before she walked out, she gave him a last smile. "And thanks for letting me waste your time. Bye!"

With that, she was gone.

He watched her walk away from the glass windows until he couldn't see her anymore.

The smile on his face didn't seem to come off, even if he was standing there for several minutes and replaying the past few moments in his head while staring at nothing.

Letting out a sigh, he turned around to grab his things. Before he could touch his bag, his eyes landed on a white napkin that was sitting right next to the coffee machine.

It was the same napkin he wanted to give her.

The same napkin that had his number on it.

Groaning, he crumpled it up (even though it quickly formed back into its normal shape) before throwing it into the trash can and leaving the coffee shop with a frustrated sigh.

A/N: This has been sitting in my drafts for a while but I got tired of it not being out, so I decided to post it here as a preview for one of my drafted book ideas. If I decide to actually turn it into a book, I don't know when I would have the time to write more chapters (tho chapter two is almost done) so don't expect to see the book all too soon! But I still want this to have its own book. So if you are reading this, know that even though the book is not out yet, you're the first to know it even exists 😉