Coffee Beans || Sasuke Uchiha X Reader

.:Chapter Twenty-Eight:.

    It was the night before the wedding, and all the girls had gathered at the cafe for some pre-wedding relaxation. Manicures and facials was how you all spent the evening, and excitement was all that anyone felt. Except for you. While you were of course excited for the next day, you couldn't help but hold onto the sadness you felt knowing that Sasuke wouldn't be there.

You were angry when he told you he was busy on the wedding day, of course. But eventually you convinced yourself that you were in the wrong and forgave him. You pushed your feelings of betrayal and anger aside and tried to be supportive, but there was a lingering resentment that you felt whenever you thought about it. But more or less, you were over it, and you continued to hope that everything would be back to normal soon.

"I can't believe it's finally happening," Rin said excitedly. "You're getting married tomorrow!" she squealed.

"I know," Sora said, although her enthusiasm seemed to be a little forced. None of the other girls took notice of this, but you did, and you watched her questioningly.

"It's going to be a beautiful wedding," Emiko said reassuringly, trying to calm any nerves that Sora might've been feeling. "And don't worry, we'll take good care of the cafe while you're on your honeymoon."

"About that," Sora said, and stood up from the couch, getting everyone's full attention. You were thinking that she was going to give you a heart-warming speech about how excited she was for the wedding, or how happy she was that all of you were helping her. But when you saw her face, full of worry and sorrow with tears in her eyes, you were worried. "I have some bad news to tell you, about Espress," she said, and you could hear her voice cracking. Now you were really worried.

"What is it?" Miki asked and put a comforting hang on her back.

"Kou didn't want to tell you yet, but I thought it'd be best to tell you earlier, just so -"

"Sora, just tell us," Emiko said, firm but comforting.

Sora took a deep, shaky breath, then said, "We're closing down Espress."

Everyone went into a shocked silence for a second, before the weight of what she said really hit everyone, and you all shrieked, "What?!"

Sora nodded her head sadly and wiped her eye. "After the wedding, when Kou and I get back from our honeymoon, we're going to close Espress."

"Why?" you asked shakily.

"We just can't keep going like this. Business has been going down and we don't have enough money to keep Espress running before it gets better. We'll go bankrupt."

Your heart sank. For the girls who used their pay checks to pay for school, for the girls whose only income was from Espress, and for Sora and Kou, who dreamed about owning a restaurant together since they were sweethearts in high school.

"W-What are you going to do for work?" you asked.

"Kou has a few job offers from other restaurants and I'll find work somewhere," she said. "I'm so sorry I'm putting you all out of work," she sobbed and put her head in her hands.

"No, no, it's okay," you said and rushed to sit next to her. You wrapped your arms around her and put your head on your shoulder. "Don't worry about us."

"What's going to happen to the building?" Emiko asked.

"We'll sell it then find somewhere else to live," Sora said and wiped her tears. "It probably wasn't the best idea to tell you this before the wedding, but we wanted to give you a few weeks notice to find some other work."

Everyone sat in stunned silence. Everyone knew that things would change eventually, but no one expected this to happen. Sora then said, "I don't want this to ruin the wedding. I want all of you to enjoy yourselves, okay?" she asked.

"Okay," everyone repeated with tears in their eyes. Sora motioned for everyone to move in, and all the girls gathered round in a big group hug.

***

You waved goodbye as you left Espress and began your walk home. You put your hands in your pockets to avoid the chilly Spring air, and admired how the city streets looked at night. You heard footsteps rushing up to you from behind, and felt your body tense. You quickened your pace slightly and continued walking forward, until you heard Emiko's voice call out, "Wait!"

You turned and saw her rushing to catch you, and stopped on the sidewalk to let her catch up to you. She smiled sadly when she reached you, then you both continued walking together. You knew that one of you were going to bring up Espress closing, but you waited for her to say it first.

"I can't believe it," she said.

"I know," you said back.

"I really thought they would make it. Everything's been going so good for the past few years."

"I know," you repeated.

"Do you know what you're going to do after it closes?" she asked.

You shrugged your shoulders. "I don't know." With all the shock and disbelief you felt when Sora told you the bad news, you'd forgotten to worry about yourself. You'd be unemployed. You had no degree, and your only work experience was waitressing. You had no idea what you were going to do.

"I'm sure you'll figure something out," Emiko said reassuringly.

"Maybe," you muttered.

After a minute of walking in silence, Emiko cleared her throat, then asked, "So how's Sasuke doing?"

"Fine," you said, which was your reflex answer whenever someone asked about it. You hadn't told any of the girls that Sasuke made his own plans and wouldn't be attending the wedding. Even if you were still a little mad at him, you cared about him, and you didn't want the girls to think he was completely insensitive. When he was a no-show you would say he suddenly came down with the flu, or he had food poisoning. Anything except the truth, which was he completely forgot about the wedding and schedule a company meeting on the same day.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "I know there's something bothering you. Something besides Espress closing. You seem a lot more stressed out lately."

"Everything's fine," you assured her.

"Okay then," she said a bit doubtfully. "I don't believe you, but I'm not going to push you to talk about it if you're not ready."

You nodded once, then said, "Thank you."

"And even if I don't know what's going on with you and him," she went on, "I think that if he's causing you this much stress, maybe it's not worth being with him."

You blinked in surprise a few times and wondered where this was coming from. "What? Are you saying I should break up with him?" you asked bewilderedly.

"I'm not saying anything. I'm just giving you some perspective on things. I know you really like him, but from what I can see things are less than perfect."

"No relationship is perfect," you said.

"Maybe not, but they're at least supposed to be functioning," she said.

You stared at her, feeling confused, hurt, and angry. You were about to say something snarky back, like how she hadn't been with a guy since freshman year of college, but she suddenly looked at her watch and after squinting at the time said, "I've gotta go. I have a night class starting soon. I'll see you tomorrow," she said, then sprinted off in the opposite direction that you were heading.

You sighed, then arrived at your apartment a minute later. You opened the door, kicked off your shoes, tossed your purse to the side, slipped into pyjamas, then crawled into bed. It wasn't until you were cozy under the covers that the reality of your situation hit you. You'd have no job. You'd have nowhere to go. While everyone else moved on, you'd be stuck.

You fell asleep with a heavy heart, and in the morning you woke up to tear stains on your pillow.