Back down in the plaza, as Curos 27 was once again sat on one of the benches beneath the old oak tree, he wasn't so sure if it really was nothing. He'd never let his guard down like that, and it was much easier to retain the veil than remove it.

He was sat on the bench that gave him a clear view of the café, Naomi's Café, and chuckled at how unoriginal the name was, but since Naomi wasn't one of the most common names around he figured it was enough to make the café name memorable in the area. Indeed, many people flocked to and from the café throughout the day.

He wasn't entirely sure when the café closed, and since the sign was right outside the store he couldn't just go up and check, just in case she was what Cupid called a 'lost human'. Besides, he wasn't quite ready to test it out yet. However, as he was just sat there watching the café from afar, he realised he was wasting valuable time.

Without a second thought, he jumped up from the bench and made his way over to the café – but this time he didn't walk in. He stood outside, looking in. As expected, no one noticed him. No one looked over with strange stares and quiet whispers as to how a random person was just staring into the café.

A few minutes passed, yet she didn't come into his view. He moved left and right, changing the location of the reflections which meant he couldn't see in certain areas, and he even moved closer to the glass.

"What are you doing back here again?" a voice asked from behind him.

Just like last time, he spun around in surprise to once again find the petite girl standing in front of him.

"I was... Well, I was hoping you could give me a job here." Curos 27 commended his quick thinking, but reprimanded himself for not having thought up a back-up plan.

"Then why did you run off before?" Naomi asked, placing her hands on her hips and shooting him a questioning glare.

"I..." Chris started. "You just surprised me."

Naomi raised her eyebrows. "I surprised you in my kitchen?" she asked dubiously.

He grimaced when he realised how stupid that did sound. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Yes..."

Naomi shook her head as she relaxed her stance. "Well, at least you're not the lying kind. I value honesty. But I'm not looking for an employee."

"Please." He was internally surprised for a moment; he could have just left it at that and left this place and never looked back. Why did that come out?

She judged him for a moment and looked him up and down. "If you're hoping that by working here that a girl will walk in and fall head over heels for you, you're not in luck. It's mainly only couples that come in here, so most girls are taken."

"And you're not uncomfortable having a café mainly catered towards couples?" he asked with interest, since she clearly didn't believe in love and relationships. She just stared at him.

"Thanks for stopping by," she said curtly and walked past him and back into the shop. As his eyes followed her, he noticed that the eyes of a lot of other people did too, and the whispers drifted over. Cursing under his breath, he realised the veil hadn't been lifted and she'd just been talking to herself. Cupid would have his head if he found out. Proceeding to lift the veil, he followed her inside.

To say it was odd having eyes on him would be an understatement. As soon as he entered the room, the few eyes that paid attention to him were already enough to get him hot under the collar, and the number only seemed to increase as he walked in further.

Without averting his eyes from the counter to which Naomi had wandered over to, and therefore avoiding all of the pairs of eyes that now seemed to be looking over at him, he walked straight through the room with more confidence in his stride than he felt.

He reached the till just as Naomi finished serving the customers she was tending to and he just stood there for a moment. Naomi ignored his presence until she realised he was just standing there and not saying anything; as soon as she looked up and made eye contact with him, he blurted out just loud enough for her to hear, "Why is everybody staring at me?"

For a few seconds, she just stared at him in disbelief, before she let out a small burst of laughter. It came as such a surprise to him that he took a step back. She shook her head at him in disbelief.

"So you mean to tell me that you don't know that you're incredibly attractive and therefore also incredibly arrogant as a result? That would be a world first."

Curos 27 approached her slowly once more now that she had calmed down, but this time his expression was curious. "But I don't know what would be seen as attractive. What do I have that's attractive to others?"

Naomi sent him a look which seemed to say that she didn't know whether to take him seriously or not. "Well, you know... It's different for everyone. Different people have different things that make them attractive to others and different people find different things attractive. There's no one right answer."

Curos 27 nodded in understanding as he took in this information. How very interesting the idea of attraction was. That there was something besides personality that attracted one person to another.

As Curos 27 was processing this new information, Naomi started to feel a bit awkward as to what she was meant to say next. To her relief, a call from a customer called for her attention. "I'll be right over!" she called in response and was about to grab her stuff and walk over when a woman made her way to the counter. "Just a moment, please!" she called to the customer waiting for his order to be taken.

"Hi, Naomi," greeted the girl as she took out her purse.

"Hi, Claire," Naomi greeted in return with a smile. "Is it your turn to pay today? Did you and Patrick enjoy the coffee?"

Claire nodded in response to both of her questions as she handed over the money. "Who's that guy? I haven't seen you laugh that hard in a while," she asked quietly, leaning in a little closer towards Naomi.

"Oh, he's no one," Naomi waved her hand dismissively as she sorted out the money. "I met him earlier and he wants a job here for some reason."

Claire raised her eyebrows in question as she accepted the change. "And why not take him? Your hands are full all the time; it'll make things easier."

"I handle things just fine," Naomi responded with a frown.

"Really? Because while you're here busy chatting with me and sorting out the payment, he's busy over there taking the order."

Indeed, as Naomi's eyes wandered over to the customer that called for her attention before, he was standing next to them with her block of paper and pen that he must have slyly picked up before he walked over. Judging from his confused expression and the couples' agitated ones, things weren't going well.

Naomi turned back to Claire. "Thanks, Claire. Have a good day and I'll hopefully see you soon."

She didn't give Claire time to respond as she almost stalked her way over to Curos 27 and grabbed the pen and paper from his hand, shooting him a warning glare before she turned to her customers with a smile on her face. "Please accept my apology for that. What is it that you would like?"

"One Caffé Macchiato and one Café Latte," the man repeated, though seemingly less agitated now that he had an actual person capable of taking his order taking it.

"Of course," Naomi responded, and looked down at her top sheet to write it. She internally cringed when she spotted the scribbled down Café Makiato, but wrote the correct spelling underneath. "I'll be right back with your order."

As she turned away from the table, she shot Curos 27 a look and indicated that he should come with her, in none too friendly a manner. Curos 27 grimaced and bowed slightly in apology to the customers before following her back into the kitchen.

Once they were in the kitchen, Naomi placed down her notepad and got to making the coffee, ignoring Curos 27 as she did so, leaving him standing there awkwardly. He cleared his throat, but she still said nothing for a few moments.

"What's your name?" she asked, her back still turned towards him.

"Um..." Good question, Curos 27 thought. "Um... Co-rus?"

"Chris?" If that's what she made out of his bad attempt at a name, he'd go with it.

"Yeah. That's it. Chris."

She turned to face him, once more with a frown and disapproving look on her face. She observed him for a moment. "Is there anything about yourself that you can actually say with a degree of certainty?"

"Yes," Chris responded without hesitation. When he didn't continue, she raised her eyebrows. "I want a job here," he said after a few seconds.

She let out a huff of air and once again turned around to continue working on the coffee order. There was once again a few moments of silence as Naomi finished the order, and the next time she turned around she had both coffees in her hands. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I don't need anyone working with me."

She was about to walk out with the coffees when he put his hands out. "Please, let me."

She eyed him suspiciously. "You don't intend to taste-test these too, do you?"

If Chris had been aware that blushing also occurred when one felt embarrassed, he would realise that he was blushing right at that moment. "No, I'm going to bring them to the customers and apologise."

"Alright, fine," Naomi said, thrusting the coffees towards him; she had finally realised that arguing with him over such trivial matters would lead nowhere. "But that's it. Walk there. Back. And then I'll let you out of the back door."

Chris was perplexed as he took the coffees from her. "Why do I have to leave through the back door?"

She smiled tightly at him as she pushed him towards the room where the customers were sat. "Because my friend won't let me live it down if she sees me letting go of you."

"Then don't," Chris responded, looking over his shoulder at her, but she dismissed his words with a wave of her hand indicating to go and bring the customers the coffee; she went ahead and took some other orders. Chris noticed one of the female customers winking at Naomi, to which she responded to with an eye roll.

One might have expected him to also mess this up somehow, but he made his way rather elegantly over to the table and placed the cups down gently in front of the customers.

After apologising properly this time, he could swear that the staring of everyone around him was more intense than before and he quickly rushed into the back where the only eyes that would land on him would be Naomi's.

Naomi had made her way into the back before Chris without him realising and she appeared visibly anxious upon his return but her worried face immediately relaxed as he crossed the threshold into the kitchen without any problems arising.

"At least you can deliver a coffee without incident," she said as she took the tray from him.

Chris smiled upon hearing the kind words, but his expression visibly saddened upon hearing Naomi's next ones. "You do know, even a kid could do that."

Naomi hadn't meant for her words to sound so harsh, but she felt rather bad upon seeing Chris's sad expression. "Have you ever worked in a coffee shop before?" she asked him then after a momentary pause.

Chris shook his head. "No. Is that obvious?"

Naomi almost bit her tongue to keep from retorting. She smiled tightly. "Have you worked at all before?" Again, Chris shook his head; Naomi thought for a moment.

"Well, I don't take my coffee shop lightly. But if that's really the case you might have a fresh mind which would benefit me in the long run. Are you prepared to learn for the job? You won't get paid until you're good enough," Naomi finally relented after her internal debate.

Chris beamed. "That's fine by me. I don't need the money."

Naomi's eyebrows disappeared into her hair. "You don't?"

"I-I mean..." he started, as he realised how odd that sounded coming from a supposed human. "I'm in no rush to get money. I have enough to get by for now."

Naomi nodded slowly; she couldn't quite get to grips with this stranger. "Alright... Well, the quicker you learn all of these things, the quicker you can get started."

Chris beamed at her again. "I promise that you won't regret it!" he said ecstatically as he grabbed the notebook and went back out front.

"Ah—Wait!" Naomi shouted as she ran out after him to prevent further disaster.

__________________________________________

Oof... Will she catch up to him on time? I guess we shall see!

If you've managed to make it to the second chapter, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving this book a shot :D Remember to give it a vote (you'd really make my day then!) if you're going to jump into the third chapter! Thank you~