Chapter Four

Before Hana knew it, a week had flown by. Every day had been pleasant and exciting, thanks to her new job at the café. By the end of the week, the cash register was a piece of cake and the handcrafted espresso drinks were beginning to get easier. She got to know Angela and Cass a lot more too. Cass, her boss, was one of the kindest women she had ever met and tried to really get to know her. Same with Angela, who was really spunky and easy to talk to.

And then there was Tadashi. If perfection had a name, it would probably be Tadashi.

One thing she was extremely thankful for was her working hours. Cass had kept her on the early morning shift and every morning, she was able to see Tadashi before he left for school. It didn't hurt to say that she looked forward to seeing him every day.

"Hey, Hana."

Said girl nearly choked on the smoked ham wrap that she had stuffed into her mouth. Her head swiveled to the side and swallowed the food in her mouth. "Hi, Tadashi."

The young man stifled a yawn with one hand and rubbed his eye with the other. Despite how tired he seemed, it didn't stop him from smiling warmly. And her cheeks burned pink, like they constantly did when he was around.

"Are you on your break?"

She nodded and smiled. "Yeah. Just eating my lunch." Now that she thought about it, Tadashi hadn't come down early in the morning for his coffee. "You didn't go to school today?"

"It's Saturday today." Tadashi chuckled as he pulled out the chair adjacent to her and sat down.

"Oh!" Her eyes widened. Duh, Hana! It was the weekend. Way to be cool in front of the incredibly cute and smart guy. "I guess I lost track of time."

"I definitely know what you mean. I came home last night from school because I lost track of time."

"Lots of homework?"

He leaned back in his chair and ran a hand through his black hair. Ooh, she really liked how he did that. "Yeah, I had a project to finish up for one of my classes."

Homework and projects, huh? It had been months since she had last done something like that. Well, not since she graduated high school a few months ago. She wasn't sure if she missed that part of school.

"I can't say I miss homework and projects." Hana said, taking a bite of her wrap.

"You don't go to school?" It was really nice how he didn't sound judgemental at all, just genuinely curious. Like he wanted to get to know her more.

She shook her head in response and smiled sweetly. "Not yet. I'm taking a year off to earn some money. It's not easy coming to the big city to live independently."

"That's really brave of you, and admirable. What school were you thinking of applying to?"

"San Franskyoko Institute of Music and Fine Arts. I want to study to become a concert pianist. One of my favourite pianists graduated from there too." She couldn't help the excited edge in her voice as she told him. Piano had always been her passion and one of her life goals was to become a concert pianist like her role model. The only other person that knew about this was Angela, aside from her family back home. It was just so exciting to be able to tell someone else since she hadn't made any friends since coming to the big metropolis.

However, before she could blabber on, she stopped herself and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I was blabbing, huh?"

Tadashi shook his head and smiled softly. "Not at all. I think it's great that you want to be a concert pianist. And I think you can do it." The pure honesty and kindness that radiated from him really hit her and she felt her heart flutter. There was no exasperation or judgement or any other kind of negativity. Who would have thought that a little encouragement from him could make her feel like this?

"Thank y–"

"Tadashi!" A higher pitched, going-through-puberty voice called from upstairs, effectively cutting her off from whatever she was about to say next. What impeccable timing.

The older brother sighed and shook his head, good naturedly of course. Anyone could tell how much he loved his little brother, no matter how exasperated his sigh seemed. It was extremely sweet and heartwarming. "I'm really sorry, I have to go check on my brother."

Hana shook her head, some hair pieces that escaped her loose bun following the movement. "Hey, don't worry about it. There's nothing to apologize for. My break's almost done anyway."

Tadashi offered her a sheepish smile and ran his hand through his hair, something she noticed he did from time to time. "I'll talk to you later."

Once he disappeared towards the stairs that lead up to the house portion of the building, she turned on her heel to head back to work. Thankfully, the front of the café wasn't that busy and she found Angela rinsing off of the milk steaming pitchers. Hana sidled up to her and made herself useful by cleaning the counter.

"Did you talk with Tadashi?"

How did she know? "I did. How'd you guess?"

Angela shrugged and placed the small pitcher beside the espresso machine. "Maybe I'm psychic?" The older girl got a kick out of that when she saw Hana's amused expression before continuing on, "Kidding. I could just tell by your face."

"I have no idea what this look is." Hana rolled her eyes and pouted a little bit. She didn't want to know what Angela was talking about. Tadashi was just a great guy and really nice to talk to. It didn't mean anything more, right? Yes, that's right.

Yet, the more she told herself that, she became more skeptical of her own mantra.

Surprise! I couldn't help myself with another update even if it's only been a couple of days. I really enjoy writing this story a lot. I even already have a sequel in mind, but this time for Hiro! I think I'm on a roll? Haha!

Once again, I want to thank everyone who favourited, followed, read, and reviewed! You guys are all so amazing and I want to give you all hugs. Thank you so much for the support! I'll be back with more fluff real soon, so stay tuned for more!

~Mari