"Thank you Jasmine!" Gunther thought to himself on his way to work. Finally he had the information he needed to break up Ross and Rachel and get his chance with his dream girl. He hoped at least.
It will be hard for him to see Rachel's delicate tears when he tells her the news, but the trail from Chloe to Rachel couldn't have been any better had he planned it himself.
He opens the door to the coffee house and as he does so, coincidentally holds the door for the very person he is looking for. "Hhh... hi Rachel..." he says nervously. Rachel doesn't seem to notice, she just smiles as she walks through the door, gently brushing Gunther's arm as she passes. Gunther walks behind the counter and alerts the other barista there that he is taking over the shift now. As he grabs the white linen cloth and begins to wipe down the counter after the barista's half-assed cleaning job, he stares at Rachel from across the room.
Her eyes are a little puffy today as if she'd been crying, but she is still radiant as ever. Another waitress approaches her and Rachel tilts her head as she orders a cappuccino, displaying the intense shine in her silky hair as the light hits it. Rachel sighs as the waitress walks away and sinks deeper into her seat.
She glances at Gunther and catches him staring, but he looks away quickly, and bends down to throw the cloth underneath the counter onto an old shelf.
"Do it now Gunther, do it before Ross comes and brainwashes her," he chants to himself. He takes a deep breath and another moment to gain enough courage, then grabs the cappuccino and walks toward Rachel. She smiles as he places the cappuccino on her table and asks if he could talk to her for a minute. She nods and he begins, "I don't know if you and Ross were having some trouble lately, but -" he points to the cappuccino, "- this is on the house". Rachel looks concerned as he continues on, "I think Ross... cheated on you last night, I heard from my roommate's brother who works with this girl at the Xerox place..."
Her hand is now on her chest, holding her heart as her face twists into a frown trying to hold back tears.
Gunther begins to continue on, but she stops him before she says anymore. She melts into a pile of tears, sobbing incessantly. All he wants to do is to hold her right now and looking into her sad eyes, he can see she wants to be held just as much. "I always thought he was someone who would never, ever, hurt me..." she whispers. She looks up at Gunther and suddenly sees someone who has always been there for her, though she never realized it. When she first came to this city, searching anywhere for a job, he immediately hired her despite having no experience. She still hated the job but he at least tried to make waitressing a little easier on her. He may not be a handsome guy, she thought, or even charming, but there was something about him that was admirable. Rachel's world has just came crumbling down, yet for those few minutes before Gunther is called back to work by the waitress, Rachel and Gunther exist in a world of their own.
He wraps her coat around her and goes back to work. About 3 customers later, Ross abruptly comes through the door and runs to Gunther as he is wiping the counter.
"Gunther! Gunther. Gunther please tell me you did not say anything to Rachel about me and the girl from the Xerox place."
"I'm sorry, was I not supposed to?" Gunther says with a smirk. Even before Ross and Rachel got together, Gunther never liked Ross. Always trying to show off how smart he is and on more than one occasion showing Gunther up. He always thought he wasn't good enough for Rachel, though it gave him hope that perhaps Rachel could like a loser like him too. But seeing now how he hurt Rachel, his hate for Ross reached a new level. Ross turns around in disappointment to see Rachel sitting by the window, glaring at him.