Serene.

Chap | 004

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        "You are on break right now?" 

        I nod. She smiles. What do I say? Do I say something?

        "So, we haven't really talked like this before. Tell me about yourself," she says before drinking a bit of her hot chocolate. 

        Oh. She wants me to talk about myself.

        "Well, you already know my name, I'm 27, and preparing orders here is my full-time job," I begin, and her eyes widen.

        "You're 27? You certainly don't look your age," she laughs, "I thought you had just entered your twenties," she says as she puts her mug down.

        I don't know what to say again, so I just ask, "how about you? How old are you?"

        "26."

        "Talk about not looking your age!" I exclaim, laughing. "But hey, we're only a year apart. That's nice." 

        She nods. "You work here full-time?" 

        "It's my father's shop, so yes. I prefer working here than working in an office if I'm being honest." I pause, sucking my teeth. "I know it might seem unmanly, I've heard that before, but I like working here. When my father asked me to look out for the shop here in Paris I didn't hesitate to answer him with a yes."

        "It does seem a lot nicer than working in an office, yes." She looks around at the shop. "The ambience is so appealing as well." She looks back at me. "Does your father have other shops, though? You said the shop here in Paris, are there other branches around France?" 

        I love how she speaks. Calmly and at a pace that isn't too fast or slow. I love how she actually is listening. She is listening to what I am saying, and she is asking me about it as if intrigued by what I have to say. 

        "Well, not cafés, but bakeries. This coffee shop started as a small bakery as well, but my father wasn't making much income from the bakery itself, so he turned it into a café since they were becoming popular. The pastries, cakes, and different types of biscuits we sell here all go back to father's bakery. He left the Paris coffee shop to me before going to Madrid, trying to make what used to be a small business spread out around Europe."

        I am talking too much about myself. I don't want to talk about myself. I want to talk about her. Serene, I want you to talk about yourself. 

        She nods with parted lips, and I want to ask her about herself, but she asks me a question again. 

        "What about your mother? Does she help with this business?"

        I shake my head no before I answer. "My mother lives in the south, with her sister. She's a nurse."

        "Oh! She's a working woman! That is delightful!"

        With a smile, I nod quickly before finally getting my chance to ask her about herself. 

        "What about you?"

        Her light eyebrows furrow. "What about me?"

        "Yes, tell me about yourself," I say, awaiting her answers. 

        She giggles as she looks down at the now-empty mug. "Well, I don't have a very eventful life. It is pretty ordinary. My father is a tailor, and my mother is a housewife. I love books, so that is something about me. It is actually my dream to...well it's quite silly, but I wish to become a writer in the future." 

        A writer. Isn't that so lovely? I imagine walking into a bookstore and picking up a book with her name written on the front cover.

        "It is not silly. It's lovely," I tell her, and I can see a warm pink tone appear on her cheeks. 

        "I wish my mother would say that. She does not like my writing hobby. My older brother as well. They aren't pleased with what I want to do."

        My eyes widen. "Why not?"

        She rolls her eyes and lets out a hard sigh. "I don't know. She tells me a woman must learn how to cook and clean and please her man instead of making up silly ideas in my head. She has been trying to make me marry ever since I turned 22." 

        She is unmarried. 

        She sighs again. "My brother supports her in that, which is why he and I aren't really on good terms. We don't see each other much, however, since he lives all the way in London with his wife. I understand that marriage is important, but I just don't think any of the men I've been with have been the right person if you know what I mean. Besides, I don't want to become a housewife like they want me to."

        Now I'm getting frustrated. Why can't she do what she likes?

        "Is your father like that, too?"

        She finally smiles. "No, no, my father is strongly against what they do. He is very sweet. He never forced me to do anything I wouldn't want to do. He is the only person who genuinely supports my dream of wanting to be a writer," she says before laughing and pursing her lips.

        I want to tell her that I support her. I want to tell her that I hope to see books marked with her name on the cover sometime in the future, but how? How do I tell her?

        She looks at me, and our eyes lock. And all of a sudden, I'm speaking. All of a sudden, I'm telling her that she can do it. All of a sudden, I'm pronouncing her name, Serene, and telling her that it'll be a big name. A name that people will know, as it belongs to a writer that has made it big with her books. I'm telling her all that as I watch her eyes twinkle and shine. I'm saying that to her as I watch her grow slightly more hopeful, more motivated. 

        And I don't say this, but seeing her happiness increase right then and there, in front of me, made me even happier than she was. And she was incredibly happy. 

        Serene, we've only met four times. Each one of those times, we talked, but today I got to actually know you. And I might not know you the most. I know that I barely know you actually, but I think you're wonderful. 

        You are a really wonderful person, Serene.

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[A/N]
I feel like the writing is getting progressively worse- I'm sorry :') This is also a longer chapter- I don't think upcoming chapters will be this long tho. I hope you still enjoyed reading hehe <3

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