Parchment and Coffee

Ch. 7

The following Saturday, Elle found herself standing outside Parchment and Coffee.

She had a very long and tiring week at school. One of her students acted out and she called for the parents to talk to them. But unfortunately, the parents do not have the time to talk to her as they were both busy working.  She thought that as the parents' desire to provide all the material things that they think their child deserves, they forget that it is essential to give time and attention to their child, too. This, she thought, leads to the student acting out to get his parents' attention and time. This is not uncommon. This incident happens to some other students, too.

But she can't do anything about it. She tried to explain it to some parents, but they get offended and question her of what she knows of raising children. She feels hopeless at times on how she can help her students better. It is a burden all teachers carry.

She sighed and opened the doors of the coffee shop. She went to the counter to order, looked for the third book of the series she's been reading. It wasn't there.

Great. Another addition to my already disappointing week.

She grabbed a random book and went to her favorite table. She looked at the book and cringe a little when she saw that it's genre is horror. She easily gets scared and her imagination runs wild.

She put the book aside and wait for her order. It seems that her whole week keeps getting worse and she can't catch a break.

When her coffee and cake arrived, she just sat there, not having the energy to stand and get a new book. She stared moodily at the window and watched the people passing by.

"Hi, may I join you?"

She looked up at the voice. It's him.

"Sure," she answered simply and stared back at the window.

"Can I ask you something?" the same voice interrupted her reverie again.

She looked at him curiously, "Sure," she said again.

"Why aren't you reading the book? Don't you like it?"

"I actually grabbed this randomly. The book I want to read is not available. I didn't see that it's genre is horror. I don't read horror books. So that's that," she explained, though she didn't know why she bothered explaining it to him. It's not like they are friends or something. But it seems like he wants to start a conversation with her.

"Why don't you just get another book?"

She made a face, "I'm kind of not in the mood to stand up again."

He frowned and stood up abruptly.

She stared at him and saw him walk towards the bookshelves. He came back to their table with a book.

"Is this the book you're looking for?" he asked her, holding the book she was looking for earlier.

"How did you know? And how did you find it? It wasn't there earlier." She asked in surprise.

"Huh, maybe you just didn't see it earlier when you looked through the shelves."

"But how did you know that it's the book I was looking for?"

"Oh, that. Well, last time I know that you were reading the second book," he explained.

"But you weren't here last week. How did you know that I came here and that I had finished the second book?" she asked, a little perplexed.

"I kind of know that you're a regular here. I have noticed that you come here every Saturday to read books. And I have a hunch that you've finished the book last week."