ALL THE STRINGS ATTACHED | COMPLETED

04.

THEODORE.

"Here, the weather isn't very forgiving lately. Hope you don't mind something cold."

He took the drink from my hands, gave it a stir with the straw and took a sip. I swear I felt electricity run through my fingers as our fingers brushes across each other. What in the world was that?

His face scrunched up as he looked at the contents in the plastic cup.

"Vanilla latte."

"Yeah," I scratched the back of my head. "I just bought whatever that came to my mind. You didn't exactly tell me what you wanted either."

He nodded his head as he took another sip before placing the drink down.

"So. Uhm," I tried my best to strike a conversation. "The name's Theodore. Theodore Wu, but people just call me Theo."

"I'm Daniel."

"Cool." Think of something to say, you dim-wit.

"You seem busy," he said as he looked at my table that had my laptop open.

"Oh no, no." I closed it instinctively. Didn't want him thinking that I wasn't genuine in wanting to talk to him. "It's just marking season."

"Marking season?"

"Yeah, I'm a university lecturer. Though a pretty stagnant one."

He let out a small chuckle that he was trying to hide by drinking his coffee. Didn't work very well.

"So what was a university lecturer doing at a club? Doesn't quite fit your profile."

I rolled my eyes. "My colleague was trying to get me to go out more," I stated, leaving out the part that he was trying to get me hooked.

"What about you?"

He pointed to himself. "Me? Like my job?"

"That, and why you were at the club."

I could see him gulp down in nervousness. Like he wasn't sure if he should be sharing anymore information than his name with me.

"Well, I kinda work here?"

"Here? Like in this coffee shop?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I usually work on weekdays. Covering someone's shift today, so that's why I'm here. And my shift starts in ten minutes."

"Oh." Fuck, I bought him coffee from the place that he was working at. That was so lame.

"Uhm, what time do you get off?" I asked without thinking through.

He raised his eyebrow at he, probably unsure if he should tell. "Why do you ask?"

"I know I sound crazy, but I want to get to know you." Even I thought I sounded like a crazy person at that confession, but fuck it. I'm going in head first. "What time do you get off?"

He clearly hesitated and I could see him bitting his lip. "...7pm."

"Great! We can have dinner together! There's this real good restaurant that sells Chinese food down the street." I suggested with a hopeful heart.

He paused, having a 99.99% chance of thinking about how to politely decline me. Heck, even I would decline if someone came on to me so strongly.