The café around her disappeared as Cinder met Kai's gaze. He was staring at her—really staring. And she was finally daring to stare back. Maybe it wasn't even bravery. He was just too captivating, the way his eyes were apologetic but full of conviction and a touch of smoldering fire. How could she not stare back? Kai had gotten her the presents. Kai had planned romantic surprises for her. Kai was here, in person, asking her forgiveness. And he was still staring at her.

A drawling, overly sappy voice made Cinder blink. "Awww, Kai-aiii," said Thorne.

His Italian accent normally made him sound somewhat sing-songy, but she knew that this time he was overdoing his intonation on purpose. She shot him a glare, but she was glad to have an excuse to look away from Kai. If she kept staring at him, she would probably seem desperate, rather than someone who had every reason to be distrustful of him. She tried to make her face look neutral. It was not easy.

"Kai, my man!" said Thorne. "I've been eating incredible desserts the whole shift. Is it you who I must thank, then?"

Kai looked away from Cinder for a brief second. "Hey, Thorne." His eye shifted back to hers. Then he was walking slowly, one hand still gripping the bear, and within a few strides was standing within arm's length of Cinder. She silently thanked the counter for its ability to separate the two of them.

"Hi Cinder."

Unwilling to become the flustering idiot that she normally turned into around him, Cinder took a deep breath and lifted her chin. "Kai."

"Can I take your order?" said Thorne, still standing next to Cinder and smiling far too widely for her liking.

"No," said Kai. "I'm requesting Cinder today."

Thorne cocked an eyebrow. "Oh, well then…he's all yours, Cinder." Thorne bowed and stepped back. To her dismay, he didn't move away much, though.

Cinder cleared her thoughts. It was Kai, and he had just showered her with gifts, but she was working, and he was just another customer. "White chocolate mocha?" she asked.

He set the bear on the counter. "No."

Cinder pressed her lips. "What will you have today?"

"That depends," he said. "I'm still trying to decide what I can afford."

She closed her eyes for a minute. This was just another customer. Just another customer. She pointed behind her. "Prices are all up on the board."

"How much is a conversation?"

"I—what?"

"Or if that's too expensive, how about just a one-way conversation?"

Cinder stared at him. "A…one-way conversation?"

"Yes," he said, sliding the bear across the counter until his hand was barely inches from her own. "If you're not up for talking to me, I'll understand, but at least give me the chance to talk to you. That night at the diner was"—his grip tightened on the bear—"horrible. I want to explain." When she hesitated, he withdrew his hand and stuffed it into his pocket instead. "Please."

"I'm working," she said.

"I think you're due for a break soon," said Thorne behind her.

They shared a conspiratorial look before Kai's features relaxed. "Great."

She folded her arms. "You're holding up the line."

"Ah." He glanced over his shoulder. "The white chocolate mochas she makes are great," he commented, his voice light. The customer behind him raised an eyebrow, and Kai turned back to Cinder. "Will I see you on your break?"

"Can you just say yes?" asked the person behind him.

"Thorne," she said pointedly, "could you please take care of this gentleman?" She shifted to the other register and beckoned the next customer to come forward. Luckily, Kai didn't protest and moved in front of Thorne's.

Concentrating on her work, Cinder let a hundred different thoughts crowd her already busy mind. A month or two ago, this was all she would have wanted from Kai. But things had changed. She was strong and independent and not a sucker for this type of stuff, and…who was she kidding? All she was doing was trying to eavesdrop on Thorne and Kai's conversation, though she could mostly only make out Thorne's familiar drawl. Bits of his half of the conversation included "twenty minutes" and "…conversation not a kiss?"

Kai ended up ordering something from Thorne after all, and soon he meandered over to an empty table. She was worried that he would stare at her and cause her to probably spill every order until her break, but he just took out his phone and began to scroll through it, sipping his drink every now and then. It was Thorne who began making little kissy faces at her every time she glanced at him, so Cinder decided to look down for the remainder of her time. She welcomed the monotony of her job at the moment and continued trying to sort out her thoughts.

When the time came to take a break, Cinder slid off her apron and hung it on the wall hook. She disappeared into the bathroom and looked at herself again. Nothing much had changed in her appearance since she'd first met him, but at least she didn't have any coffee grinds on her today. Her ponytail still in its usual scrunchie, Cinder considered letting her hair down. Aimery had said she looked better like that. But Aimery was the reason she was in this whole mess to start out with, so maybe she shouldn't be heeding his advice. Besides, she was just going on a break for twenty minutes.

Twenty minutes.

How long would it take Kai to explain? And what would he say? Would he just apologize for getting caught as a stalker? Would he make something up to appease her in order to save face? Would he even admit that he liked her? Did he like her? Her insecurities told her that no, he would never like her. But the thought that he had put into today's gifts coupled with the way he'd stared at her told her otherwise.

She left the bathroom and walked gingerly toward his table. He was still engrossed in his phone, so she slid hesitantly into the seat across from him.

Kai nearly dropped his phone. "Hey!" he said, the smile that made her melt lighting up his features.

"Hi," she said quietly.

Kai stashed his phone and ran a hand through his hair. "Hi," he said again. She noticed that his ears had turned a light shade of pink. "Thanks for agreeing to take your break with me."

"You…sort of forced me," she said.

His ears turned a darker shade. "You're probably afraid of me, aren't you?" She stayed silent. He nodded. "Understandable. Well I'll try to make this as painless as possible for you."

He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Thorne, who stood over the two of them with a wicked smirk. "Can I get either of you a refill?"

"Go away, Thorne."

Kai laughed. "I have to agree with Cinder."

"I'll be able to hear everything anyway," he muttered as he shuffled away.

Cinder turned back to Kai, who was staring at her intently. "I like you, Cinder."

Cinder, speechless at how direct he was being, slid a hand onto her pant leg and pinched her thigh.

"Aimery wasn't wrong about everything," he continued. "I've liked you pretty much since I walked into the Lunar Café a few months ago." He paused. "Please don't think I'm shallow for this, because I know—I know that we barely know each other, but I was just caught off guard by how pretty you were the first time I saw you. I don't know if you ever just get that feeling about someone, but I had it about you. I wanted to know more about you from the moment I laid eyes on you."

She was sure she was blushing now too.

"I came in a few days and realized that you were always here at 5:45 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and it was perfect because it was right during an hour long break so I had time to come here before going to my night class. Well, I guess I don't have class on Fridays, but I still knew you'd be here, so I came anyway." He looked down at his hands, inspecting his nails. "I'm sorry if that's creepy." He continued looking down. "I know it might seem that way, especially after everything that Aimery said."

"It was innocent though, I promise. I just wanted to come to the café on days that you were here and hope to maybe build up the courage to talk to you more than I normally did, and maybe even ask you out sometime."

Cinder bit her lip. "You…wanted to ask me out?"

"Yes!" he said. "Very much so. I just didn't think you'd ever say yes, because I did think it was kind of creepy to hit on you after only having met you, and I figured you already get a lot of suitors that come in here and do the same thing."

It was the most false statement about her life that he could have said, but Cinder didn't do anything to correct it. He didn't need to know that barely anyone had ever shown an interest in her.

"But what about…everything else that Aimery said?" she asked.

"Ah, the pictures." He smiled bitterly. "And everything else. What you should know is that Aimery and I have a history. We were roommates freshman year, but it ended badly because I ratted him out for doing some illegal things and he nearly got expelled. Since then, he's been on a vendetta to ruin my life. I promise, what he said wasn't true. You can—you can ask around, Cinder. Ask anyone. I don't care. I can give you a list of everyone I know or—or you can just find people on your own that know about me. I'm a pretty well-known guy. Many of them have been in my room too."

Cinder tried to imagine herself interviewing people about Kai, but the thought was bizarre to her. So was the entire conversation. "But Aimery—if you're not friends, how would he even know about me?"

Kai nodded briskly. "It was a mistake. I was leaving the café one day, and I…" he trailed off, shaking his head. "Stars, talk about embarrassing. Well, I was smiling like an idiot, if you must know." Cinder tried to suppress a grin, remembering all the times she'd smiled like a fool after Kai had left. He caught the beginning of her smile, though, and seemed slightly relieved. "Anyway," he rushed on, "Aimery saw me leaving and smiling, and since we were roommates at first, well, he knows my tastes in women and unfortunately also my reactions to them. I saw him go into the café and knew he'd figure it out."

His face became grim. "I came back the next Monday and he was there waiting for me, outside the café. You probably didn't even notice but I stopped coming for a while, thinking that he'd be thrown off if I didn't have a pattern or didn't make it seem like I went there frequently. But I guess he figured out that I liked you anyway. Torin told me last week that he'd asked you out and I knew he was just doing it to spite me." Kai's eyes suddenly widened and he held up his hands. "Wait—I don't mean that you're not worthy of being asked out. Please don't misunderstand me. I just know Aimery, and I know firsthand that where he goes he causes destruction. And in this case, it wasn't just me that he was out to destroy, but also you. So he…so he could get to me."

"He didn't destroy me," said Cinder.

"Good," said Kai. "That's a relief."

"I was…confused, though. And worried. And maybe a little hurt," she added.

"Makes sense," he said. "If I had just told you about my feelings we probably could have avoided all of this. And now you're not sure who to listen to or what to believe."

"Um," said Cinder.

"I have one more thing to give you," he said. A wisp of his black hair fell in front of his eyes as he leaned closer to her. "It's not as interesting as the other presents, but I hope that you'll take it anyway." He handled her a folded piece of paper. "This is my number." Cinder took it, and the electricity that went through her arm as her fingers brushed his for just a second took her by force. "I'd ask for yours," he said, "but I don't want to be presumptuous after everything's that happened. I'd love to get to know you better. Think about what I said and feel free to talk to other people about what I'm like. I promise I'm a good guy. If you…decide that you'd like to get to know me better too…well, let's just say I'll be waiting by my phone."

He nodded, looked down at his hands again, and then pushed himself away from the table. She wanted to say something to him but heart was tangled with her throat, her mind processing and whirring like a computer. His eyes were almost fearful as he looked at her one last time. "I'm sincerely sorry for any pain or confusion I may have caused you. Have—have a great night, Cinder."

Then he walked out, the piece of paper with his number practically burning a hole in Cinder's fist.