It had been pouring endlessly since days. Now you stood in the middle of the street, soaking wet with only a thin jacket on you. As soon as you had heard his voice call you, you had stopped walking as if someone had just pressed pause in your life. You clutched the handle of your backpack tight, your heart had reached a beating as deafening as a drum, the blood in your ears cancelling all noise. You couldn't just continue walking. Why would you anyway? Someone had just called you and besides, without your umbrella the way home through rain would feel like a shower. You had closed your eyes in desperation, just for one second before you decided to turn around.
The white-haired young barista stood in the rain with you, his white shirt already starting to soak while he held your transparent umbrella in his hand. You walked towards him as he already reached out the umbrella for you to grab. For a second, both of you just stood there, with nothing else except the soft sound of rain falling. Finally, you opened up your umbrella, its size enough for two people to fit easily under it. Embarrassment coloured your cheeks softly in a pink glow. You just could not look him any longer in the eye so you lowered your gaze. "Thank you…", you finally brought out the words in shame. This much, at least, you definitely owed him.
"You shouldn't be standing in the rain like this, you were getting all wet. You are going to catch a cold, girl.", he told you almost in a taunting voice while he pointed at your dripping jacket. It was ironically funny though, since he had been standing here outside together with you. The wet strains of his hair had already began to stick to his face as he turned around without expecting an answer from you. Your eyes followed him at first, as he got inside, shaking his wet hair and running his fingers through it. With this strange encounter you made your way back into your warm and dry home.
However all you could think about once you were home was this damned guy, standing in the rain for a clumsy, tired girl who had forgotten to take her umbrella with her and even if it had not been a particularly sweet moment like they portrayed in typical dramatic love tv series, it still made your heart beat faster. It had been the first time since you had arrived in this city that someone, even if it had been a small thing like this, had actually cared for you and only now you realized, how much you had longed to feel it all this time. Were you going mad? Were you making up things in your mind? After all, he had just been nice to you like he should have been to a customer, you probably shouldn't feel this special but deep inside, you did anyway. All you could think about was if he would still be there on your next visit. But even if–– what would that change for you? He was just working, he did not even know you or your name. Why would he care? Your head began to spin and you decided to let the matter rest for now.
A few days had passed before you payed your favoured coffee shop another visit. You had turned your at first highly staked hopes down a little bit, to avoid getting disappointed for no reason at all in the end. Your state of living like a hermit on your own, still remained unchanged when you could already see the giant windows of the shop and of course the first thing your eyes were searching for was the barista from your last visit. At first glance, you could not spot anyone at all. You entered, walking up to the counter while trying not to be too obvious in looking around. Finally, you heard some noises coming from one of the rooms in the back, which were reserved for the staff.
"A caffé latte for you?", you heard a voice behind you ask. Startled, you turned around, seeing one of the girls, who worked here since you had discovered this place. She had been somewhere behind you, now standing at the cash register, ready to type in your order. "Oh, hello– yes, please.", were the only words coming out of your mouth. Your eyes had been fixed so hard on that room in the back, you almost felt too embarrassed to even look in that direction anymore. You quickly picked up your cup and sat down at the same table, putting in your earphones and placing your phone on the table while selecting a playlist you could listen to while working on your assignment. Meanwhile you had ordered another cup of latte to your table while still being concentrated on your homework. As you noticed someone carefully placing your new cup on your table and taking the empty one, you noticed them standing next to you longer than they usually would. You turned your head– as if lightning had just shaken you– it was him. You lost all concentration, all memory of what you had actually been doing, the pen still in your hand. His eyes were fixed on your phone, which showed the current playing song, you were listening to, the album of a well-known rapper you had just recently started to really like.
The only reaction you could read on his face had been a light smile, a merely satisfied looking smirk, if your eyes had not been fooling you and he had not even been looking at you. But– that was it. He was turning back to his work without a word spoken, leaving you alone. You noticed that your hands had started shaking and no matter how much you tried to continue to write your assignment, not a single word landed on the paper this afternoon. It had become late night, you know they were about to close so you packed away your stuff and decided to return your empty cup to the counter, to not leave behind any more work for the staff. As it seemed, someone had already noticed you despite your effort of being as quiet as possible. The white-haired barista was about to pick up your cup but he hesitated. You were standing right on the other side, looking at him while he loosely put his arms on the counter, the cup between them. His eyes, straight forward, on you.