Jellal cut the strawberry into two and placed half of it, carefully and tenderly with his long and skillful fingers, on top of the strawberry mille-feuille. Once the red fruit landed safely on the puff pastry covered by pink sugar icing, he grinned and spent a few moments in appreciating the new addition he made for the dessert menu of Crime Sorciere.
And, well, for Erza too.
It had been two weeks since Erza last visited the cafe when she declared to him that one day she would catch the masked thief, that was him. Now that she had realized his true identity behind the cover-up of the owner of a cafe, Jellal wasn't surprised that she decided to distance herself from him in her capacity as a police officer.
But Jellal found that he had started to feel an emptiness which he had not experienced before gradually growing in his heart after not seeing Erza for two weeks straight. He had already gotten used to her regular presence in his cafe in the past two years. It always warmed his heart, and brought him such delight, to see Erza's joyful smile when he served her her favorite dessert. Her hair color was the most beautiful shade of red he had ever seen. She was serious at work but at the same time, could be a lot of fun to chat with when she took a break from her duties.
He missed Erza. And he could blame no one but himself for her disappearance from his cafe, for having carelessly exposed his identity to her in his last mission.
Jellal heaved a deep sigh, before picking up his phone from the table. He opened the instagram app and scrolled, and found that Erza hadn't posted anything new on her account today. He supposed she was pretty occupied at work today and hoped that everything went well with her.
He had been relying on the app to see Erza and keep himself updated about her latest status since she stopped visiting the cafe. Jellal felt lucky that Erza hadn't blocked either his personal account or Crime Sorciere's and was still a follower of the cafe's after the confrontation they had. It made him believe that there was still a chance for them to keep their friendly relationship.
Jellal looked at the time on the phone. Thirty more minutes Erza would be off from work. He took a few photos of the cake and posted them on the cafe's instagram.
"New addition to Crime Sorciere's famous dessert menu - Strawberry Mille-feuille! Time-limited offer for 3 days only! It is a perfect combination of flaky and crispy puff pastry, silky and smooth custard cream and fresh and sweet strawberries. You can't miss this if you are a dessert lover, more so if you are a fan of our signature strawberry cake series! We look forward to your visit to have a taste of this new heaven."
After changing into her casual wear, Erza gathered her belongings from the locker and checked her phone. Kagura had sent her message, asking if she would be free for kendo exercise on coming Sunday. She would love to, but she would need to check if anyone could swap their shift with hers on Sunday first. After giving Kagure her answer, she opened the instagram app.
The first thing that came into her sight was an absolutely delicious looking strawberry mille-feuille. Erza swallowed hard, feeling more hungry than she should be suddenly, and read the description of the photos. Seeing that the post was by Crime Sorciere, she couldn't help the imagination of Jellal whispering every words into her ear, as if the post was a personal invitation he sent her, asking her to visit his cafe again with the new cake as an incentive.
Erza heaved a sigh. She closed the app and put her phone back in her bag before leaving the police station finally.
Since the opening of cafe Crime Sorciere, the time she spent there had become one of those she enjoyed the most. It was not simply because she could taste one of the best strawberry desserts in town from the cafe. More importantly, she found it relaxing and delightful to be around Jellal. He was not only caring like many of her friends, but he also treated her with a gentleness which she didn't often feel from her other friends, probably because she always acted strong and tough before them. And Jellal was witty, smart and knowledgeable, that chatting with him was always a lot of fun and filled with surprises. She really didn't want to distance herself from Jellal. She had even wished before that their relationship would grow deeper one day.
But now she was almost certain that Jellal was the masked thief despite the lack of solid evidence, and even made clear to him that she would arrest him one day in their last meeting, Erza felt that it wasn't that appropriate for her to frequent his cafe like before. But it made her sad to think about not seeing Jellal again. And her friends had been really surprised when she declined to go to the cafe with them and she had a hard time in finding an excuse.
Erza got on her motorcycle to ride back to her home. After leaving the car park, she turned right, and the light from Jellal's cafe caught her attention. It had already passed ten and normally his cafe should have been closed already at this hour. She thought of the photos of the strawberry mille-feuille Crime Sorciere posted on instagram not long ago, and slowed down her motorcycle until it stopped a few shops away from the cafe.
Erza walked to the cafe with quick steps, feeling half curious and half nervous, and glanced at its inside through the window.
Jellal's fingers moved quickly on the keyboard as he answered the queries and messages people left on the cafe's facebook page. He had already done the same tonight on their home page and instagram. Such job could be quite time consuming and boring, and one that he enjoyed much less than working in the kitchen and at the bar. But it was also a good one for killing time when he didn't really have other thing to do except for waiting for his luck to come.
Jellal took a sip of his tea after he cleared all the questions he received on facebook, and stretched his back. It was at this moment, when he lifted his eyes off the screen, that he noticed there was something red - no, scarlet - outside the cafe's window. He couldn't help the grin appear on his face as his gaze crossed Erza's through the glass, and got up to walk to the entrance.
"Hey, Erza. Good evening." Jella greeted Erza after pushing the front door open.
"Hey." Erza smiled a little bit embarrassed. "Good evening, Jellal."
"Wanna come in?"
Erza hesitated to answer for a moment but finally nodded. "Yeah."
Erza took at seat at the bar table. Jellal placed an empty cup in front of her and pulled some camomile tea into it from the teapot he was using.
"Thanks." Erza held the cup between her hands and took a sip of the drink. "You are still working so late at night?"
"Just checking our account on different social media platforms to attend to the queries we received. And I've just made a new cake for our dessert menu, so need to promote it too."
"The strawberry mille-feuille, right? I just saw it on instagram. It looks delicious." Erza felt like her mouth was already watering as she thought of the image of the cake.
The expectant look on Erza's face made Jellal chuckle. And he felt glad that Erza saw the post like how he had hoped and even better, showed up in his cafe right after she finished her work even it was late at night.
"It doesn't just look delicious." He replied confidently. "May I treat you one?"
"Well…I-I would love to have a taste of the new cake, but I'll pay for it."
"You don't need to. Our business hour is already over today. Just accept this as a treat from a friend, okay? And I would love to hear what you think about the cake, like if there's still room for improvement."
"Are we still friends?" Erza blurted.
Jellal stared at Erza for a brief moment. "Is there anything which prevents us from being friends?" He put on his best innocent face as he answered Erza with another question.
Erza simply stayed silent. After another moment, Jellal spoke again.
"I don't know what makes you think that we can't be friends anymore, Erza, or stop coming for two weeks. But there's no reason for me to stop befriending you and welcoming your visit to the cafe."
"Even if we need to confront each other one day?"
"Why would we?" Jellal laughed, before smiling gently at Erza when she pouted and glared at him. "I don't know what would happen to us if we need to confront each other one day, Erza. But I know I will never feel regret to have befriended you. You are one of the nicest and kindest people I have ever met. I like you, Erza, more than simply being a regular customer of the cafe." Jellal paused, while a blush rapidly spread across Erza's face. "And I live in the present. So I will just try to cherish the relationship we have in this very moment, instead of worrying about what if I lose it one day."
"Is that so." Erza smiled timidly, and picked up the cup to drink some tea while she tried to digest Jellal's words and formulate a response. "I think you are a good person too, Jellal. And I really enjoy my time spent here in this cafe, with the cake, and you. I hope that I can come more often again, after I solve the complicated case I'm handling now."
"You will be always welcomed here, Erza." Jellal told Erza with a satisfied grin. "Let me get you the strawberry mille-feuille now. Just a moment."
Cherish the relationship we have in this very moment. Erza repeated those words in her heart as she watched Jellal retreating into the kitchen.