Chapter 2

Evadne stared at the calendar app on her cellphone in one corner of her coffee shop.

It had been a week.

A week of her husband growing colder to her. Her heart felt even heavier as she thought about it. He kept coming home late from work, collapsing into bed immediately, and waking up the next morning. He would have a cup of coffee before rushing off to work.

She didn’t know how she could put up with him like that. Could their past happiness ever be restored?

Gradually, tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at the home screen wallpaper of her cellphone. It was their wedding picture with Orion, both of them smiling brightly. They were both so happy.

But now...

She took a deep breath and blinked back her tears.

She didn’t want to think that her husband might be seeing someone else. Surely, he wouldn’t turn to someone else just because she couldn’t give him the child he wanted.

She didn’t realize that she had stood up. As she turned, she accidentally bumped into a man holding a cup of coffee. She was too late to avoid the collision, and the coffee spilled onto the tall man’s clothes. He winced in pain from the hot coffee that had splashed onto his stomach.

“Oh, s**t!”

It was as if she had been jolted back to reality. “I-I’m sorry,” she quickly said, reaching for the tissue in the pocket of her pencil-cut skirt. She dabbed at his clothes. “S-sorry.” She was flustered as she tried to clean up the mess.

Out of nowhere, she felt awkward as the man she had spilled coffee on watched her with a grin, despite the awkward situation.

“Oh, that’s enough. It’s private property, Miss,” he interrupted as she was about to go lower, dangerously close to his pants.

She blinked when she almost wiped the cloth against the bulge in his pants. She quickly withdrew her hand and stepped back from the man. Only then did she look at his face.

He appeared to be a foreigner, but he spoke English fluently as he had earlier. She couldn’t deny the man’s striking handsomeness. Before she could drown in his good looks, she apologized again.

“I don’t need your sorry right now, Miss. I need to change my clothes,” he said instead.

Damn his eyes. He wasn’t trying to flirt, but why did his gaze feel that way to her?

“O-okay. I’ll find some clothes for you.”

“Ma’am, should I mop the floor?” one of her staff asked, holding a mop.

She nodded. “Please. Thank you,” she said before turning back to the customer who had been inconvenienced because of her. “Sir, please go to the office to change your clothes so you won’t get sticky. Again, I’m sorry,” she said, very apologetic.

“Sure,” he agreed, following her. “Won’t your manager be mad that you’re making a customer go to your office?”

“I’m the owner,” she told him.

“Oh, really? Well, I should have one year of free coffee from your shop,” he said with a grin.

As if what happened earlier was no big deal. Or perhaps he forgave easily? Or maybe he knew it was an accident that she spilled coffee on him. Nevertheless, she was grateful he didn’t make a fuss about the coffee incident.

“Okay, Sir,” she agreed to his request. Was one cup of coffee per day enough for him? “One cup of coffee per day for free, Sir.”

He laughed at her statement. “But I can have ten cups of coffee in a day.”

She gave him a formal look after opening the door to her office. “Ten?”

“Just kidding,” he said and entered her office.

“I’ll buy you a replacement outside. What size is your shirt, Sir?” she asked formally.

“Extra-large. Even a white—” He stopped mid-sentence when he noticed a side of her office with clothes displayed in plastic bags, bearing the logo of her coffee shop.

Evadne followed his gaze and approached it. 

“Do you have extra larges here?” he asked her.

She swallowed hard. “But, Sir, those clothes have our coffee shop’s logo on them.” They were souvenirs for their loyal customers and companies that ordered coffee from them. “They’re not like the one you’re wearing now.”

The clothes he was wearing had a high-end brand logo.

“I won’t mind,” he said instead.

It seemed he was serious, as he didn’t say anything and proceeded to remove his wet clothes. His well-built body was exposed before her eyes. She couldn’t help but stare as if it were a live show in front of her. She knew how to appreciate God’s blessings, but she was married, so that was off-limits.

She regained her composure and handed him the extra-large shirt he wanted. She kept her gaze away from his body as she handed it to him.

“Here you go, Sir.”

“Thank you,” he said, quickly putting on the offered shirt.

He adjusted it and stepped away from her. She felt like she could finally breathe. 

It seemed her apology had been accepted. She was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he walked towards her, his eyes smiling while his lips remained serious.

“Here’s my t-shirt. Since you caused the mess, you’ll have to do the laundry,” he said, taking her hand and placing the shirt in it. “And my coffee that spilled earlier, I’d like a replacement. Since you were the one who spilled it, you’ll make my coffee.”

He sounded demanding, but she knew it was her fault, so she couldn’t refuse him or even be rude. Or maybe she was just swayed by his extreme handsomeness?

“Okay, no problem,” she said, retracting her hand that he was still holding. “I’ll take care of your t-shirt. Just come back for it another day. I’m sorry for what happened earlier.”

“Apology accepted a while ago.”

She looked away and hung the shirt on the back of a chair before heading out of her office. He followed her. Her two crew members tried to conceal their excitement as they saw the man wearing the clothes they had on display.

“Ma’am, he’s perfect to be a great model for your coffee shop,” NoraLee whispered, unable to hide her delight, her eyes still following the man who had settled in the chair she had been sitting in earlier.

“Shh. He might hear you. It’s a good thing he’s nice; he chose to wear the clothes he found in my office,” she said before she had to usher her staff to prepare the coffee for their customer.

Once it was ready, she quickly brought it to him. “Here you go, Sir. Enjoy your coffee.”

“I will,” he said with a smile.

Before she could forget that she was married, she immediately excused herself. She couldn’t allow herself to be attracted to another man.

“He’s just really handsome, Evadne,” she told herself.