LIGHTNOVELWORLD 6.
6.
‘An angel is eating…’
Jian felt an urge to capture this moment on video. They say children grow up so fast. It was a sentimental thought for someone he’d met less than a day ago, but Jian found himself wishing the child would grow up as slowly as possible.
After swallowing the food in his mouth, the child opened his mouth wide and looked at Jian. Though his face was expressionless, the happiness the child felt was evident in his flushed cheeks.
The fried egg disappeared in an instant. The child occasionally gestured for Jian to eat too, making it vanish even faster.
Seeing the child licking his lips wistfully, Jian resolved to fill the refrigerator with delicious food today without fail.
After feeding the child all the eggs, quite some time had passed. Jian hurriedly rummaged through the delivery boxes to find clothes, underwear, socks, and sneakers suitable for the child to wear.
“You don’t want to take this off?”
Nod, nod.
Faced with this unexpected obstacle, Jian scratched the end of his eyebrow with his finger. The child’s tiny hands were clutching the cat-printed T-shirt so tightly that the bones on the back of his hand had turned white.
“Do you like the cat?”
Another nod.
The clothes Jian had chosen also had a cute dog printed on them, but it seemed the child preferred the cat.
Not wanting to force the child to change, Jian only put on the other items. Fortunately, the child only objected to taking off the cat T-shirt and didn’t resist the other clothes.
The process of trimming the child’s fingernails and toenails, which Jian had been worried about, also went smoothly. Although it might have been scary, the child remained calm even at the clicking sounds.
It was quite different from how sensitive he had been when his head was first touched.
“Why is time flying so fast? This is crazy.”
After spending time getting the child ready, it was already 10 minutes before the cafe’s opening time.
Although he had tidied up everything last night and didn’t have much to prepare, he still needed to wipe off the dust that had accumulated overnight and clean the filters once more. It seemed impossible to welcome customers in perfect condition today.
“I’ll change my clothes too. Just a moment.”
Jian went to the closet room, leaving the child behind, and quickly shed the shower robe he was wearing. He put on whatever clothes his hands touched first and came out. Feeling uneasy about leaving the child alone at home, he held the child’s hand and went to work at the cafe together.
As soon as he opened the front door, the child clung to one of his legs like a koala, so Jian carried him down the stairs. Fortunately, the commute took less than a minute.
“What’s that little runt?”
Despite it being before opening time, there was already a customer standing in front of the cafe. Jian stopped in his tracks and narrowed his eyes at the gruff voice. The customer’s face looked familiar.
‘It’s that guy from yesterday. The one who said the coffee tasted like sewage.’
He had made unreasonable complaints and caused trouble, lying through his teeth. Jian remembered how he had drunk the same coffee again and left saying he liked it, apparently pleased with the lip service.
Although curses bubbled up inside him, Jian’s face automatically smiled as he recognized the customer.
“You’ve come again today. Thank you so much. I’ll open the cafe right away. As our first customer, I’ll make sure to give you plenty of service.”
“Manager, I’m asking what that little runt is.”
Jian wanted to ask why he kept using informal speech, but the customer appeared to be at least in his mid-30s. In contrast, Jian was only twenty.
The age difference wasn’t enough to make the informal speech particularly offensive. Moreover, Jian had the ability to see difficult customers’ faces as money.
“He’s my younger brother. There’s no one to look after him, so from today he’ll be coming to the cafe with me.”
“Is that so?”
At the mention of “brother,” the child flinched in Jian’s arms. Unable to say he had picked up the child from the street, Jian had made up a plausible story.
Besides, Jian had decided to take responsibility for the child from the moment he extended his hand. He thought it would be good to introduce him to others as a much younger brother from now on.
“The kid’s too skinny. Look at those arms and legs, they’re like twigs.”
A vein popped on Jian’s forehead. ‘The kid’? He could tolerate rudeness towards himself, but the customer’s attitude towards the child, which was below common decency, really upset him.
“He’s not ‘the kid’, he’s…”
Come to think of it, we still haven’t introduced ourselves properly. I meant to do it but forgot while dealing with everything else. Jian was slightly shocked to realize that even he didn’t know the child’s name.
“Ahem. Anyway, please wait a moment.”
Instead of arguing with a difficult customer, it would be better to quickly take his order and get rid of him.
Jian opened the cafe door with fingerprint and iris recognition and hurried inside. Before he could even flip the ‘closed’ sign to ‘open’, the customer strode into the store.
The child’s eyes darkened as he looked at the customer. Although Jian couldn’t see it as the child had his chin rested on Jian’s shoulder, the customer faced the child’s unchildlike gaze head-on.
‘What an unpleasant brat.’
The customer frowned deeply and showed his fist, which was as big as a pot lid, but the child only snorted softly.
‘Well, look at that.’
The customer was used to children crying at the sight of his face, so the fearless response from this little one was unfamiliar.
Feeling inexplicably competitive, he was about to use a skill called ‘Intimidation’ when Jian turned around.
“Would you like to order?”
The corners of Jian’s mouth twitched when he saw the customer’s face. His smile almost crumbled for a moment.
The face already exuded a fierce aura, and with the deep frown, he looked more like a debt collector than a customer.
With a heap of unpleasant memories about debt collectors, cold sweat formed on the back of Jian’s neck. He massaged his nape to relieve the tension.
The man had made him recall memories he’d rather not remember. Noticing Jian’s discomfort, the child squirmed slightly.
“Should I put you down?”
As soon as he was set on the floor, the child went to a corner and curled up. The pitiful look he gave was just like a rain-soaked puppy.
Jian’s attention was entirely focused on the child’s sudden behavior. Thanks to this, the cold sweat gradually subsided.
Bang—!
“Aren’t you taking my order?”
While Jian was distracted, the customer suddenly slammed his fist on the counter. Startled, Jian met the customer’s eyes.
“Ah, I’m sorry. What would you like?”
No matter how awful or difficult, a customer was still a customer. As Jian regained his composure, he saw money floating above the customer’s face. With the fierce expression blurred, it became easier to deal with him.
“The same as yesterday.”
“Yes. I’ve received your order for an iced Americano with shots pulled from Colombian beans. With the Hunter discount, it’s 9,000 won. You’ll pay with your watch, right?”
“Yeah.”
The customer brought his wrist watch to the card reader. The embedded card appeared on the watch screen.
It was a Hunter-exclusive credit card that accumulated points usable at the Hunter Mall at a rate of 1 won per 1,000 won spent.
Most customers used the same card, so it was familiar to Jian’s eyes as well.
“Please wait a moment.”
Now that the payment was done, the only task left was to pull the shots as quickly as possible and get rid of the customer.
Even while making the coffee, Jian worriedly glanced at the child who had buried his face in his knees. He had brought him along because he couldn’t leave him alone at home, but who knew the first customer would be such a troublemaker.
An ordinary person should have melted at the sight of the child’s face, even breaking into a wide smile. But the customer in front of him seemed to have something wrong with his eyes.
“Here’s your iced Americano with shots pulled from Colombian beans.”
Jian emphasized “Colombian” especially. The customer put the straw to his lips and took a sip of the coffee, then nodded heavily.
“The coffee’s good. Manager, teach your brother some manners. The kid’s got a nasty look in his eyes.”
Ah, this bastard has been picking on our child from the start.
Although he didn’t know his name yet, the child was already “our child” to Jian. He fully sympathized with parents who could tolerate anything except someone messing with their child.
His hand gripping the dry cloth tightened. No matter if he was a customer, it would be better for business if such a customer didn’t come to the cafe anymore. He was sure to pick fights with other customers too.
“I’ll take care of my child myself, so please mind your own business. Now, would you kindly take your coffee and get out?”
“What?”
Seeing the face that scowled as if this was the first time he’d been treated this way, Jian’s fingertips trembled for a moment, but he had already crossed a river he couldn’t return from.
“Even if you’re older than me, it’s rude to speak informally out of nowhere. I could tolerate it if you were just rude to me, but from earlier, calling my brother ‘the kid’ and saying he lacks manners is going too far. I simply can’t stand it anymore. You’re the one lacking manners, not realizing you’re the rude one here. You’re the one who needs to be educated on proper behavior.”
“You little bastard, you’ve really done it now!”
As he saw the fist flying towards his face, strangely, Jian felt a sense of calm. He should have been afraid, but whether his mind had gone weird with anger or not, the fist seemed to move in slow motion.