Kai900Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRngnUaXIml
900Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMufBrSfYjw
Kai bustled around, following his mother's instructions on the orders they were getting as well as being attentive to the growing customers coming by the cake display with questions about them. He held back an irritated sigh and cast an impatient look at the door. Where is his brother when they need him now?
He looked at his wrist watch and noted that it was already three past ten in the afternoon. Granted, although both of them weren't too fond of sports, they made that up in the club department and other societies, despite being in a different institution. His little brother had informed him that he'd be a little late due to some stuff at school but an hour had come and gone. He was sure that didn't define what 'a little' was anymore.
Kai was brought out of his worry when an elderly lady with a walking stick sought his attention.
"Excuse me, young man. Do you happen to have that vanilla frosting ready? My granddaughter ordered it yesterday." She said kindly, a wrinkled though warm smile etched across her lips.
Kai was bemused. Yesterday? He had been on duty for the past three days but he hadn't had anyone making orders.
He put on a warm smile for the elderly and said with a hint of apology, "I'm sorry ma'am, but we didn't get any orders yesterday."
The elderly woman looked crestfallen before her facial expression turned skeptical. "Are you certain? I did asked my granddaughter to make that…"
The tinkering sound of the bell notified Kai that another customer had come in. On impulse, he started to glance up to give a quick greeting, but he heard one of the co-workers beat him to it.
"Grandma!" yelled a feminine voice. Although the yell wasn't loud considering how busy the bakery was with people walking about, chattering mindlessly while the background was accompanied by a not so loud music playing, it did attract some attention.
Kai looked up then, and so did the elderly lady.
A flushed looking girl around his age made her way towards him, her long honey coloured hair that fell into a loose curl cascaded down to her elbow.
And then he caught her eyes, and Kai felt a bit taken aback by them. He couldn't distinguish whether it was light brown or light grey; maybe a mix of both – but they looked sharp, as if she had just seen through his entire being or something. He felt the fine hair on his arms rise a little at that newfound realization.
Perplexed and a bit uncomfortable, Kai blinked and cleared his throat quietly to shake himself from his thoughts.
"Lavender, dear!" The elderly woman's eyes lit as she beamed. "Did you order the cake yesterday?"
The girl, Lavender, hugged the woman before saying sheepishly, "Sorry, grandma. I forgot about it. But I plan to do it now. Let's sit over there, shall we? I'm so sorry for forgetting it and now you had to come all the…" The conversation between Lavender and her grandmother drifted away as she steered them to a table seating by the big glass windows.
It hadn't been five minutes since she left when she was suddenly right in front of him again. As she looked at Kai, he had to remind himself to hold onto the countertop so his knees wouldn't give away.
"I, ah, was supposed to make an order yesterday but I was so busy that I forgot." She shook her head then, as if wondering why she was explaining the reason to the employee, a stranger nonetheless. Clearing her throat, she smiled at him and said, "Um, I'd like to make an order of a plain vanilla frosting cake, please."
Kai swallowed inaudibly and mentally kicked himself for being lame. She was just a girl, yet he found himself acting weird as though he was going on a first date or something. Kai nodded casually and began to write down her specific info and the order, also asking if she wanted anything else done on the cake.
After rattling off some of the specifics, he said with a friendly smile, "Alright. You might wanna wait for a bit. I'll have to check with the bakers to see how long it'll take to get the order done."
At her nod, he walked away to the kitchen, stopping by to consult something with his mother before seeking the bakers and cake artistes working diligently inside.
Not a few minutes later, Kai emerged from the back and approached Lavender at the seating area. She was talking to her grandmother animatedly, by the vigorous nod occasionally and the wild hand gestures. If he hadn't notice the way her eyes lit up as well as the wide smile on her face, he would have thought she was ranting on a bad day. His lips curled a little at that.
Lavender noticed Kai approaching at the corner of her eyes and ceased her chatter, smiling at him in polite interest.
He smiled at them both before going straight on the matter. "Your cake will take about two days to get it done. We'll give you a call once it's ready for pick up."
Kai should have stopped there. He thought he did but the words that came out of his mouth didn't register until he took note of Lavender's surprised and what he thought was a grateful smile.
"But, uh, we could also make the delivery if you want us to."
His eyes went wide when he realized what he just said and he winced inwardly at himself. Why the hell did I have to go and say that? We don't even do deliveries!
Kai felt his cheeks coloured a little but managed to keep a steady gaze at her. She looked at him, her eyes seemed hopeful but also guarded, worried that it would be a problem.
"Would that be okay? It's just that I have a test that day and I'm not sure if I could pick it up myself." She looked at him sheepishly as she chuckled in embarrassment.
No backing out now, he thought to himself before saying with a little too enthusiastic nod, "Yeah, it's no problem. And it would definitely save your grandmother a whole lot of hassle coming here." He said in a teasing manner, glancing to the elderly lady. She had been watching them both with a curious eye but had not said a word.
Kai was surprised because he did not do teasing with any of the customers. Never. He always had a friendly smile on and he would nod and respond as polite as he could with everyone, but he had never gone out of his way to crack jokes, let alone tease them.
And then it hit him full force that he had just pretty much flirted with a girl in front of her grandmother. He felt shameless and rude. If his mother saw and heard what he said, he was done and there goes with his allowances. He prayed she was too busy to even notice him conversing – ahem, flirting with the pretty customer.
"Cool. Thanks a lot," She said softly before glancing at his nametag, "Kai."
With that she helped her grandmother up and started to walk away, but not before casting a bright smile to a seemingly star struck Kai.
As he stood there like an absent-minded person, another voice piped in, effectively breaking the trance he was in.
"Huh. Since when do we do deliveries, Kai?"
Kai snapped his head to his right and saw none other than his little brother. Bewildered and a little disgruntled, he grumbled in disbelief, "When the hell did you get here?"
ns 15.158.61.20da2
