Bittersweet Love // #KaoEarth AU

32

Earth sauntered towards the cafe in silence. He sometimes can be seen mumbling along to the song he was listening to, the song called At My Worst on the earphone he wears. He only turned off the music when he arrived at the doorstep of the cafe.

"I need somebody who can love me...." He trailed off his mumbling of singing along at the lyric of the song at the same time as he opened the door. Earth sighed, thinking back to the music and his own situation with a particular guy. Ironic, truly.

"You came, Earth."

Earth smiled in greeting when Boun called him out. "Hello to you too, Phi," he was about to head to the backroom when Boun's hand on his shoulder. He turned and arched an eyebrow as if to ask the reason he was held back.

"Someone bought you the chocolate cake we have on sale today," Boun pointed towards the display case near the cashier with his thumb.

Earth frowned. "Do you know who, Phi?" His face clearly showed that he had no clue, but then a spark of hope filled him, and he looked at Boun. "Was it...?"

Boun knew who the younger one was talking about even though Earth didn't mention any name. He smiled softly but shook his head. "Sammy was the one who received the order. She said it was a little girl who bought it and told her to give it to someone who was in the picture she brought. It was your picture."

At the mention of the word picture, Earth narrowed his eyes. The beating of his heart suddenly started to accelerate. He was reminded about something he had forgotten about—pictures of him inside a box he received this morning.

"The little girl left the picture of you here," Boun turned back towards the cashier and fished out a sheet of photo paper on the drawer under the cash register. He walked back towards where Earth had stood frozen in place. "Here you go," he gave the picture to the younger one.

Earth's eyes widen at what he saw. It looked similar to the one that his stalker had bravely sent him in the box this morning.

"S..hit." 

Earth weakly swore.

Boun arched an eyebrow to the younger ones, "You just cursed. Care to tell me why?"

Earth grimaced but was lightly laughing a second later, earning a more confused look from his older co-worker. "Nothing, Phi! I was just surprised that whoever bought me the cake knew my guilty pleasure of chocolate."

Boun still wasn't convinced.

"Okay, Phi, I better change my clothes to our uniform," with that said, Earth left Boun's calculating gaze, which followed his back until he had entered the door to the backroom.

Unknown to others, Earth leaned his back to the door right after he had closed it. His heart started to race, the feeling of anxiousness came back gradually. He can't help but be cautious of his surrounding now. He closed his eyes and started to count numbers inside his head until he reached a hundred.

Earth opened his eyes, and he could feel his heart feeling slightly lighter. He nodded to himself and went to change his clothes as his first intention. He was sure that nothing would happen, but he was proven wrong once again.

"I ordered a venti-sized of Java chip frappuccino, not the grande size. Surely, I paid more than grande," a customer drawled his complaint angrily.

Earth's eyes went big when he realized that, indeed, the customer ordered the venti-sized. "I'm sorry, ma'am, I will make a new one. I'm so sorry," he looked apologetic to his customer.

"Were your mind elsewhere?! I can't believe how the employee treat their customer here," the woman grumbled her complaints, making other people's attention went to Earth, who was looking down in shame.

At that time, Boun sauntered to Earth's size, right when the woman was about to open her mouth to utter a ridiculous comment about Earth's mistakes probably. "We're sorry, ma'am. Here's your order," he gave out the venti-sized Java chip frappuccino that he had made when he heard the complaint. He smiled apologetically, "We're sorry to waste your time, enjoy the rest of your day, ma'am."

The customer left while still grumbling under her breath.

Boun placed his hand on Earth's shoulder and squeezed it softly. "You can take a breather for the rest of your shift, Earth," he whispered. "I will take over the cashier here. You've been quite out of it, and that was the third mistakes today."

"I'm so sorry, Phi," Earth looked down, feeling embarrassed of his mistakes.

"Shush, I also have one of those days, so I get it. You take some rest at the backroom," Boun smiled gently and ushered the younger one to where the door was.

"Thank you, Phi Boun," Earth manages to mumble softly and went to the backroom as Boun ordered.

When Earth was alone in the backroom was the only time Earth can feel his shoulder sagged in relax. He felt rather sluggish at the couch he sat on. His mind was too fixated on the stalker that he was out of focus this afternoon, especially after that damn stalker bought him a cake, where he works at!

"I can't keep being haunted by anxiousness like this..."

to be continue

a/n:
I tweeted that I can't update yesterday due to the need to make some revisions for this chapter. I have the time to do it an hour ago, so there you go, lol.

Updated on the 7th of May 2021,

junijunipers.