"Stella! You came!" Leo grins as he gets up from his seat and pushes Hani aside. She gives him a piercing glare but composes herself quickly.
They are customers, calm down, Hani. They say customers are always right... But then again, can annoying leeches with zero knowledge of basic human behaviour be counted as human — let alone a customer?
Hani takes a deep breath. Calm down... Stella is here too, so you have to be nice, Hani. She talks herself down as she puts on a grand, welcoming, hospitable smile.
"Welcome to Cafe Neo, please take a seat!"
Stella sits down at the table opposite Leo and his friend.
"Hani, I did not know you worked here." Stella looks at her with wide eyes in surprise. She smiles and looks at Hani, who is wearing something other than a uniform and an apron. It's the first time she has seen Hani outside of school. "You look pretty in that outfit."
"T-Thank you! You look pretty today, too, Stella!" She blurts out, embarrassed, and tries hiding her face behind the small notepad.
Stella gives a small chuckle at this.
"We want to order," Leo says with a snarky tone. "The signature pancake and drinks." He turns to Stella, changing his demeanour, "You are going to love this, trust me."
What an ass, did not even ask what Stella wanted...
"Would you like the same items for your meal?" Hani asks Stella, trying to keep eye contact but failing miserably. Stealing glances as Stella looks at the menu, Leo decides to interrupt.
"I already made the order, so why are you asking?" He spits out, shooting a sharp look at Hani, and leans back onto his chair.
As Hani turns to face him, her face drops into a look full of disgust. "Well, people have different tastes. She could prefer something else." Hani rolls her eyes, "Maybe if you actually asked her." She mumbled under her breath.
Before Leo could make another remark, Stella chimes in, "I would like the Strawberry and Cream pancakes and the Blue Lotus drink, please."
As Hani turns towards Stella, she melts shyly with an aloof grin, contrasting how she acted towards Leo, which was hilarious to Ivory, who was watching this whole interaction from the counter.
Walking back to the counter to make the order, Ivory smirks at Hani. "Friends?"
"Ah... classmates," Hani says awkwardly as she scratches her head.
Ivory shows Hani how to make the pancakes. The signature pancakes are just a fat load of maple and chocolate sauce with frostberries, and the same is true with the drink. Ivory suggests that Hani make the Strawberry and cream pancake and the other set of the signature dishes on her own.
After the order has been made, Hani places down the pancake made by Ivory next to Leo's friend, Rowen, and the one she made next to Leo. As she turns to Hani and places down her order, it is blatantly evident that Hani had played favourites when making the order.
While Leo's pancakes were misshapen, small, and had just basic toppings, Stella's pancakes were full of strawberries and were all made big and fluffy.
"What the hell is this?" Leo says, stabbing his pancake aggressively.
"A pancake." Hani shoots back without missing a beat.
"No, look at mine and then at Stella's and Rowen's. Can't you see the difference?"
Hani shrugs, "No, it looks the same. I don't know what you are talking about."
"Their pancakes are bigger and better than mine!" Fuming, he bangs his fist on the table.
"Mr Customer, please do not damage the property or you will be charged for repairs." Raising an eyebrow at his temper tantrum, she avoids answering the question. Instead, she turns to Stella, and with a complete 180 in her attitude, her face softens with a shy gesture. She asks, "Is the food to your liking, Stella?"
"Yes, they are amazing. I should come here more often." Stella replies as she dwells in the subtle sweetness of the dessert. "And Leo, you should calm down. Not all pancakes are the same, but they should still be delicious!" She lets out a soft laugh as she continues to eat her meal.
Seeing the difference in food and also attitude, Leo's blood boils. Still, he is unable to do anything because it's not school, and Stella is in front of him.
Keep enjoying yourself, F-ranker. He thinks to himself
More customers come in as Hani serves them, and it is a relatively busy day. Hani quickly picked up the work, even though it was her first time doing something other than reading a book.
Many people saw the famous Stella from the Powell family in the cafe, hence others were curious and followed, making it quite packed. Ivory was quite happy about this as Hani ran around the cafe working her ass off.
After a while, Leo's table calls for the bill. Hani gets the card machine as she walks over to their table.
"I will pay for the meal today as my treat, guys!" Leo says as he slips out his card, casually holding it between two fingers and tapping it on the table.
After hearing this, Hani starts to get the gears moving in her head on ways to exploit him. "The bill is 1000 credits. Would you like to donate to charity since you seem very generous? Please help some kids in need." Hani puts on a pleading face as he watches Leo get grossed out and taken aback.
"Sure. I love helping people." He says, eyeing Stella for her reaction.
"I did not know you were such a charitable person, Leo! And thank you for the meal." Stella replies, tilting her head slightly, smiling as always and playing to Leo's act.
"That is amazing, thank you, dear customer. That is a 15% donation then." Hani says without asking how much he wanted to donate, and enters it into the machine. Leo looks with disbelief, but cannot take it back as he does not want to look cheap.
"What about a tip, dear customer?"
"Huh?" Leo replies in disbelief.
Stella, who seems to be sitting down silently, is assumed by the whole situation. Who knew Hani could be such an interesting person? I should get along with her more; she is so funny.
"I apologise, was the food and service not up to standard?" Hani gives a wide-eyed, confused face.
Leo looks at Stella, who returns a confused, unknowing face at Leo pretending she does not know the game Hani is playing. Reluctant, not to lose face, Leo throws the card at Hani as she catches it. "Yeah sure, I will tip."
"Thank you very much, dear customer. You are such a kind and generous person! The total is 1300 credits." The card was swiped lightning before Leo could react, and the receipt was returned.
Leo's eyes trembled in anger.
"Please come again soon!" Hani exclaims, proud of herself.
Without even being able to say a proper goodbye to Stella, Hani gets called to another table. Hani rushes towards the other table, taking the order as she sees Stella walk out with the guys. With no time to be disappointed at an opportunity missed, busy with work, noon comes along quite quickly.
"Good work today," Ivory says, turning the sign to on a break at the door. "You will have to do this alone in the mornings. Here are the keys, and I hope you can do the work as well as you did today. If anything comes up, text me. I will try to reply, but I normally care for other businesses."
"No problem, Miss Ivory!" Hani is full of energy from the day, and proud of herself. She tucks the keys into her bag and goes to get changed.
As she walks out of the cafe, Ivory is standing outside with a cigarette in her hand. Hani watches as her slender, pale fingers hold the cigarette, blowing out smoke. Even though it's supposed to be a hot and sunny day, the air around her remains cold, making the smoke look striking and engulfing the air around her. Looking absolutely majestic.
Leaning back on the glass, she tilts her head towards Hani. "Done staring, kid?" She grins at her.
Hani instantly covers her face with her hands, "Ah no! I mean, yes. Good day, Miss Ivory!" She says as she runs away.
That was embarrassing!!!!