Yo, author here. Finally uploaded a chapter for this.

Sorry about that, had promised (if you saw my discussion board) a chapter upload to this book a couple months ago. But ran into a slight problem with a how to start this chapter. Mainly because I didn't really know how to make coffee. Well, most of them, there are some I do know hot to make.

Also, chapters aren't meant to be long or anything like that, until we get to the more important parts of the story. For now, most of the chapters are going to be short, but sweet slice of life stuff. It will get serious every now and then, but only for when the story requires it. The idea behind this story is to mostly be a fluff, wholesome, slice of life story between an OC and Zhu Yuan. But if I strictly kept to that, I do know that it would end up getting boring further down the line because it will end up being repetitive and the same thing over and over again. I will just end up running the story dry and it will become stale as a result. I do love a good slice of life story, but got to spice things up and make it interesting, hence the ending of the prologue chapter.

Anyway, can't say much about my plans, so I can really only give you teases all throughout the chapters. But enough about that, hope you enjoy this one, folks.

Happy readings.

---

Coff Café. It was quite a famous branch of coffee café places all around New Eridu, first originating on Sixth Street. The owner, Tin Master, heralds the Sixth Street location more often than not, but he always did visit the other branches. It was very rare for him to leave others in charge of the other branches other than clones of himself or something like that.

No one really knows how he manages his different branches.

But even still, much to everyone's surprise, there was someone else that now ran the Lumina Square branch of Coff Café. Working at the Lumina Square branch for about five years now, it was his third year there that Tin Master entrusted him with running that branch whilst he continued to run the main shop on Sixth Street. Mùyáng was extremely honored and humbled by the decision. It was a nice change of pace from his previous work. One he wasn't necessarily proud of doing.

With this new work of managing the Lumina Square branch of Coff Café, he was able to take things much slower, which he liked a lot. It was a simple job, especially how most of the customers and regulars he's encountered at the coffee shop were generally kind and upbeat. Only few were outright rude and pure assholes, but those were rare, to be honest. After all, a lot of people considered Mùyáng's friendly nature to be his greatest asset when he's working behind the counter. It paired well with him giving great customer service that it led people to often coming back just to chat with him. It was this sense of helping and interacting with the community that gave him a small sense of purpose. He wouldn't trade it for the world, just as he wouldn't trade Zhu Yuan for anyone else.

He wanted nothing more than to keep this life.

Chapter 1 | Caffeinated Joys

Zhu Yuan was the first one out the door, giving her boyfriend a small peck on his lips and firm kiss on his cheek, she prattled on down the steps of the apartment complex and headed out onto the streets of New Eridu. Mùyáng watched her disappear from their apartment window, a small smile on his face before he returned back to the bedroom to get himself ready as well.

Slipping on some dark grey dress pants, plain white undershirt, topped with a grey dress shirt and a simple black tie, Mùyáng arranged himself in front of the mirror to finish up the final touches on his appearance to make himself the utmost presentable. A slight smile on his face, redjusting his collar and tie once more, he grabbed his things and made way to the door.

The keys in his hand jingled in a rhythmic motion as he locked the door behind him and went down the flight of stairs of the apartment complex. Reaching the ground floor, he began making his way down the street to head toward the subway station. Waving and passing by some of the nearby pedestrians that were doing their routine in their everyday life, Mùyáng walked into the subway station, down the steps below underground and flashing his ID at the terminal to allow him access to get through.

Settled down in one of the subway's train cars, he fished out his cellphone from his pocket and began to scroll through the local news articles of recent events that were happening. So far, nothing much was happening regarding the sector they were living in, Janus Quarter. Everything seemed genuinely normal, aside from the usual reports of ongoing investigations and the defending of people in the Hollows.

But of course, the thing that made his heart swell with joy as he read the headline from a story a couple days back. "Criminal Investigation Captain: Zhu Yuan Dives Head First Into The Hollows To Save Civilians From Crisis!"

She was always dedicated to the job; never rested when it came to whether the citizenry were safe or if the criminals behind the felonies were brought to justice. Zhu Yuan was—No, is—strong, determined, and compassionate. Always ready to help out those who are in need. Something so admirable to love about her. According to her colleagues, even in the heat of the moment or if the situation was rather dire, she was someone you could always count on to get the job done and ensure everyone was safe. Some might say that she's the embodiment of what a New Eridu Public Security Officer should be. And Mùyáng would have to agree with them. Zhu Yuan went by the books, but that didn't mean she was unreasonable. She truly is the perfect Public Security Officer in his eyes.

The subway soon arrived at Lumina Square station. The automated sliding doors let out a decompression hiss as it opened, the shifting of the gears and moving of pistons to slide the door, he stepped out. Heading up the stairs to head out into the square, going across crosswalks whilst giving out "hello" and "hi" to the ongoing passerbys, passing the HIA Club as well, he arrives at Coff Café, next to Dew Gardening Shop and right across from the physiotherapy studio run by a robot called Old Duyi. He greeted his fellow shop owners with a grin, arriving before the glass door of the café. The key to the shop jingled on his keychain, juggling with each movement as he turned his wrist and hand to unlock the door.

Pushing the door through, he swiftly made his way to the back and entered behind the counter. Going through a door that went into the kitchenette area, turning to his right that entered into the staff room, a couple of lockers that stored extra uniforms for the other employees. Mùyáng slipped on an apron, looping it over his head before tying the waistbands behind him, dusting the orange apron off that displayed the Coff Café logo. Once more re-adjusting his collar of his dress shirt, he went back out to tidy up the place before opening it up.

But first, he had to set the mood. Connecting his phone to the nearby radio, he quickly opened up the music app and just put on some random playlist.

Grabbing a broom, he began to clean up the place whilst singing to himself along with the song.

"Debbie just hit the wall, she never had it all
One Prozac a day, husband's a CPA
Her dreams went out the door when she turned twenty-four
Only been with one man, what happened to her plan?

She was gonna be an actress, she was gonna be a star
She was gonna shake her ass on the hood of Whitesnake's car
Her yellow SUV is now the enemy
Looks at her average life and nothin' has been alright

Since Bruce Springsteen, Madonna
Way before Nirvanna
There was U2 and Blondie
And music still on MTV
Her two kids in high school
They tell her she's uncool
'Cause she's still preoccupied
With 19, 19
1985

She's seen all the classics, she knows every line
Breakfast club, Pretty In Pink, even St. Elmo's Fire
She rocked out to Wham, not a big Limp Bizkit fan
Thought she'd get a hand on a member of Duran Duran

Where's the mini-skirt made of snakeskin?
And who's the other guy singin' in Van Halen?
When did reality become TV?
What ever happened to sitcoms, game shows?
(On the radio was)

Springsteen, Madonna
Way before Nirvana
There was U2 and Blondie
And music still on MTV
Her two kids in high school
They tell her she's uncool
'Cause she's still preoccupied
With 19, 19
1985

She hates time, make it stop
When did Motley Crue become classic rock? (Classic rock)
When did Ozzy become an actor?
Please make this stop, stop, stop

And bring back Springsteen, Madonna
Way before Nirvana
There was U2 and Blondie
And music still on MTV
Her two kids in high school
They tell her she's uncool
'Cause she's still preoccupied
1985 (woo-hoo-hoo)

Since Bringsteen, Madonna
Way before Nirvana
There was U2 and Blondie
And music still on MTV
Her two kids in high school
They tell her she's uncool
But she's still preoccupied
With 19, 19
1985."

During the mid-singing of the song, it was almost like he was dancing and prancing about around the store. An almost elegant and straightforward dance around the shop with a light flow, his movements weren't heavy and unkempt, rhythmic with the tempo and tone of the music, his vocals accompanying well with it. From that three minute and thirteen second song alone, he was able to get the whole floor of the shop spotless. A near and clear shine to the marbled checkered, black and white flooring.

He admired his work a little, wiping his brow of some slight sweat. From the moving of his arms and legs, along with swaying movements of some slight oomph and dancing mixed in, he worked up a bit of energy. Mùyáng heard some slight muffles coming from outside, seemingly having drawn a bit of a crowd. Ongoing pedestrians were waiting for the shop to open, most of these patrons being high school students. A fair amount of different people here and there, a majority of them being females, they clapped and whistled in excitement, cheering him on or something like that.

Mùyáng only flashed them a quick smile before resuming his work. The cleaning of the shop wouldn't do it themselves.

---

"Mùyáng!~ Another Matcha Latte please!" A patron called out. "Go heavy on the milk.~"

"You got it!" Mùyáng calls out from behind the counter. He swiftly got to work on the order he was given.

Though the process was simple, every Coff Café uses the same system to make and dispense coffee, there are some things Mùyáng does when it comes to special orders of customers. Using a simple dark roast blend, he sticks the simple cup containing the mix into the dispenser and he flipped the lever.

A deep exhale from his nostrils, Mùyáng seemed to enjoy the smell of a good coffee being made. The way the brew tickled the neurons in his brain. Mùyáng himself always liked a good medium roast blend for his coffee, but a dark roast blend wasn't something he disliked at all. Besides, he was someone who much more preferred lattes and mochas over something bitter and bold. But they weren't necessarily bad.

Once the brew had finished being dispensed into the coffee, he moved on over to the kitchen range that was behind him. Some milk was in a steamer on the range and had been previously heated in order to create that frothy foam that was commonly associated with lattes. First, however, it required some matcha powder as it was a special request to go heavy on it. Mixing in the powder, he grabbed the steamer and placed the milk in some sort of pitcher, gently pouring the milk on top of the coffee, a distinct clack as he placed the tea cup on a small plate. Sliding it over the counter, he rang the bell to alert the customers that an order was finished.

"Matcha latte, heavy on the matcha ready!"

"Thank you!~" The patron chimed as they took the cup with them to their table.

"No problem! Next!" Mùyáng called out, soon hearing the bell door alarm as another customer had walked in. "Welcome to Coff Café, how may I—Oh, Officer Lowell! How may I serve you?"

"Uh, hey, Mùyáng," the cat Thiren officer greeted.

Seth Lowell, a rookie PubSec underling of his girlfriend, Zhu Yuan. From what she had told him, Seth had an older brother in Public Security that held a much higher position and is from a well-influenced family. According to this, he could very much have been placed in a higher position like his brother as soon as he graduated.

But the young cat Thiren was passionate and eager, wanting a more rigorous way of getting through the ranks—through his own means and the fruits of his own labor. Admirable and something to commend. Nothing wrong with going through the channels through the approach of honest work. It was how Mùyáng preferred to do things as well. However, Zhu Yuan has noted that Seth was still learning the ropes as to how the Criminal Response Team operated, and there were still things he required to do before he could handle things on his own.

Mùyáng smirked, "Let me guess, the usual?"

"Yes, please."

"Heh, you got it. Gimme fifteen minutes. Alright?"

"Uh, sure. No problem at all."

Mùyáng chuckled, "Hey, chin up, guy. You'll get off errand duty soon enough."

Seth, however, only chuckled. Due to him being a new recruit, he was always asked by his superiors (mostly a certain android) to go about fetching them some things. Almost every day, Seth would come into the shop and get some drinks and snacks for his co-workers.

And just as Mùyáng had said, fifteen minutes had gone by and he got the assorted order together. A box that held coffee in paper cups and some breakfast sandwiches.

"Here you are, Officer Lowell. One cup of hot water, a vanilla latte, a cold brew, three espressos, and a Caffè Macchiato just for you. Oh, and the breakfast sandwiches, of course."

"Oh, you didn't have to—"

"Hey, you drink that same bland jelly drink every day for your lunch and snacks. Your Captain has been telling me everyone's dietary in terms of the snacks you guys get. She's just worried about you, you know?"

"I see..." Seth's ear twitched and he looked puzzled, "Wait, Captain Zhu Yuan has been—"

"Mùyáng, can we get three breakfast platters and a couple of dark roasts!" A customer and his friends called as they walked in.

"On it! And don't be drinking too much coffee, old man, you hear?" The 'old man' was actually a man in his mid-forties, though he looked old enough to be considered in his fifties or sixties. The man simply chuckled and said a playful insult to keep up with the banter. Mùyáng turned his attention back to Seth, "Anyway, consider those on the house. Take it as payment for all you do for us in New Eridu."

Seth was taken aback, evident by how he choked on his spit. "I really can't accept this—"

"Nonsense! PubSec officers are constantly risking their lives every day. Even some of the mundane tasks can end up going in the wrong direction. It's the least I can do for all of your service."

"I see. Well, I appreciate it, Mùyáng. Take care."

Though the cat Thiren was unsure of accepting the gift, as it was policy for PubSec officers to never accept gifts while on duty, this was technically not a gift. It was an order placed that was already covered by Mùyáng, so there was a difference. Even still, Seth felt bad accepting such a thing.

Well, he couldn't do much but accept it as Mùyáng would just report this to Zhu Yuan as discrimination or something. He was obviously saying that as a joke, but Mùyáng made things very hard to say "no" when it came to offers and gifts like this. He also had no choice but to accept because he was running late to the precinct.

Seth Lowell bid his goodbyes to the coffee shop employee and took off. Mùyáng only let out a small smile as he shook his head at how Seth tried to deny taking it. But he did hope Zhu Yuan would like the message he included for her.

Snapping out of his slight stupor of peacefulness, he returned to work. Serving the customers certainly wasn't going to do it themselves.