Chapter Three

A yawn escaped Hana and she tried her best to cover it with the back of her hand. She blinked the sleep out of her eyes as she walked down the empty sidewalk to Lucky Cat Café. Cass had asked her to come half an hour before the café opened so that Hana could have a brief crash course. At least there weren't many people on the streets at 6:30 in the morning.

"Good morning." Hana greeted with a smile when she pushed into the café. Cass was already moving about getting the pastries ready and the coffee brewing.

"Hey, good morning." Cass greeted back, holding a cookie pan with freshly baked cookies. Wow, that smelled delicious and she had to mentally yell at her stomach not to growl.

She walked behind the counter and followed Cass into the back where the kitchen was. She slipped her light jacket off and hooked it on one of the hooks with her small purse.

"Thanks for coming early." Her boss smiled as she placed the cookies neatly on top of a cute plate. "Just grab one of those aprons and wash your hands. I'm just going to plate these really quick."

Hana quickly washed her hands at the kitchen sink and slipped the cute apron on. There was a cat on the front of it, similar to the one on the café sign.

"There." Cass said with a smile, placing the cookie sheet on the huge kitchen counter. "Before I take this to the display case, I should probably tell you about the kitchen."

The short haired woman spent a few minutes explaining what goes on in the kitchen, what to do in there, and whatnot. Cass explained that she was usually in the back baking, but she did work at the front as well.

"And here we have the brewed coffee. Light, medium, and dark." Hana nodded eagerly, absorbing everything Cass was telling her. The drink portion was quite simple and not as complicated as those chain coffee shops. Thank god she didn't have to memorize all those complex recipes.

Hana listened carefully and mentally jotted notes down. It would take a while for her to get used to everything and get into the groove of things, but she would do her best. Plus, she was relatively familiar with a cash register and it was pretty straight forward. There were little stickers on the keys and small sticky notes on the actual machine with some important notes.

"So, any questions?" Cass asked once she got through all the basic, but important parts of the job.

"Not at the moment." Hana smiled sweetly, tucking the small notebook in the apron pocket.

"If you do, don't hesitate to ask me. And Angela will be there to help too."

Angela was one of the part timers that worked at the café and Hana hoped they'd get along. Apparently, they were close in age with Angela being a couple years older. And speak of the devil, there she was, bright smile on her face. The early morning didn't seem to bother the brunette at all and Hana found herself mirroring the smile.

"You girls take care of the front. I'm going to get some other things started in the kitchen before ordering some more supplies." Cass disappeared into the kitchen and Hana suddenly felt very awkward with her new co-worker.

"Hi, you must be the new co-worker. My name is Angela." The girl was much taller than Hana's five foot five and had auburn hair cascading down in loose waves. But despite that, Angela had a bright smile and seemed genuine about getting to know her.

"Yeah, I'm Hana."

"It's pretty early, huh? But it's totally worth it."

It only took about five minutes before they were engaged in conversation. Angela wasn't that bad at all; actually, she was incredibly nice. She was an English major at the local college and, like her, was making some pocket money. Not only was she really nice, she was also very patient with Hana when a customer ordered. The auburn haired girl was a good teacher and Hana found herself quickly getting the hang of the cash register. The drinks would take time, but she tried to watch Angela as much as she could.

Around eight o'clock, the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs reached Hana's ears. Stairs? That was strange, was there something upstairs?

As if reading her mind, Angela hooked her thumb behind her towards the kitchen. "The stairs are there. There's actually a living quarters above the café where Cass and her nephews live."

"Oh, wow. That's really neat." Hana smiled, cleaning off the counter for the second time. So, that's what the other floors and windows were. She had no idea Cass lived above the café, but that was pretty convenient when you thought about it.

Another thing she didn't expect were the nephews.

Oh god, that was the cute guy she saw yesterday when she was leaving the café.

Oh god, he was Cass's nephew?

Their eyes met when he emerged from the back and Hana's heart nearly stopped. He was gorgeous and when he smiled at her, she felt her cheeks heat up.

"Good morning. Aunt Cass told us she hired a new person. It's nice to meet you." The cute guy extended his hand out to her and she gently grasped it. "I'm Tadashi Hamada."

"I'm Hana Park. It's nice to meet you too." She blushed as he shook it gently. She noticed how warm his hand was and how his hand was big enough to engulf hers. For some reason, she really didn't want him to let go of her hand.

A few seconds passed by before she realized she had lost herself in his eyes and her cheeks flamed up again. Taking back her hand gently, she cleared her throat and smiled shyly.

"Would you like some coffee?"

Tadashi smiled kindly, not commenting on what had just happened. Thank god. "That would be great. May I have medium roast coffee, please?"

"Absolutely." Oh wow, he was cute and polite? God have mercy on her, he was perfect. She concentrated on the coffee that she was pouring and definitely not at how handsome he was, standing there with his hip leaning against the counter. Oh no, definitely not.

"Here you go." Hana smiled, handing Tadashi the fresh cup of coffee. When he took the to-go cup, their hands brushed and there was a pleasant jolt from the contact. What was that?

"Thanks." Tadashi smiled too, and she wondered if he had felt that jolt too. He took a sip and the smile widened even more. Before he could say anything else though, his eyes drifted to the clock and he straightened up.

"Sorry, I have to head to class now. But thank you again." He shouldered the messenger bag that she just noticed he had and slipped out from behind the counter. He gave her that heart melting, body warming smile before he left. "I hope you have a good first day."

Her day already got a hundred times better. She didn't voice that thought out loud and offered him a smile and a thanks, watching him head towards the door. Someone else zipped past the front and towards Tadashi, whom had the door opened for the…young boy? That must've been the other nephew.

"So…what was that?"

Hana dodged Angela's gaze and pretended to adjust some things on the counter. It wasn't working that well and Angela probably wasn't buying it. "What was what?"

"You know what I'm talking about."

"I really don't."

"Mhm, and elephants can fly." Angela crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow delicately, and Hana pouted a little. Childish move, but she couldn't help it.

Hana sighed and offered the girl a one shouldered shrug, trying to play it cool. "It was nothing. I thought he looked familiar, that's all. I saw him yesterday."

The other girl stayed silent for a second before speaking again. "Right. That was the oldest nephew and the one that flew past the front was the younger one, Hiro." She wasn't convinced, obviously, but Hana was glad she was letting it go for now.

The last thing she needed was for this to get out of hand; she had only just met the guy. She just thought Tadashi was really cute. Nothing more, nothing less.

Right?

Hello!

Sorry for the long wait! I was so swamped with school the past week, but now I'm here. Thank you so much to everyone who favourited, followed, read, and reviewed! It means so much to me! Your kind words and support really touched my heart :)

~Mari