"Excuse me, miss?"

The sound of an unfamiliar male voice got Rita Mordio to come back to reality. An aproned employee was standing not too far from her table, waiting patiently.

"Yeah?" she responded.

"We're going to close up in 30 minutes. Can I get you anything before we start shutting down the machines?"

"Ah… no, thanks. I'll pack up,"

The employee nodded and bid her a good night before walking off to another patron a few tables away from her, presumably to ask them the same question. Rita stretched before putting her attention back on her stuff to collect it.

For the last week, Rita had stopped by Luluria Coffee as often as her work schedule allowed. Was it a decent place to work? Absolutely. She always completed more than she set out to do in the cozy little shop. But getting work done wasn't her main motivation this time. For the three to five hours Rita spent at the cafe each visit, a good portion of it was spent scanning the customer base in hopes of catching Yuri there again. Today was yet another day to add to her list of failures.

The door chime rang out and she froze, jerking her head up to face the door. Alas, it was just a last-minute female patron beelining to the counter. Rita went back to packing up her things and cringed at herself. Had she really fallen so low to condition herself like a dog to the sound of the door chimes? She was losing it now. All because someone had to be hot, distracting, and then never show his face again.

Now all completely packed up, she shrugged on her satchel and headed for the exit. The odds might have been stacked against her but she was stubborn and determined to keep trying to find him again.


Even though it had been half a week since her last failed recon mission, Rita was able to make it back to the cafe on pure muscle memory. Coming to Luluria Coffee was almost as ingrained in her as getting back to her own home at this point. She was so used to this trip by now that when the front doors refused to open, it was such a jarring differentiation from the norm that it stopped her brain from working for a moment. Rita blinked a couple of times before her eyes focused on the glass door in front of her. A handwritten note on plain paper was taped up above the handle.

Rita read the note aloud. "'Due to a family emergency, we will be closed for the time being. Thank you for your understanding and we hope to see you soon. -Management.' …Great."

She let her arm fall to the side with a sigh. There went her plans for the day. Rita turned away from the coffee shop and looked up and down the street. She really would rather not return home to continue to work. One of the houses on her street was getting work done on their siding and roof from quite possibly the loudest construction company she had ever heard. How was she supposed to concentrate with hammers, saws, constant truck noises, and people talking so damn loud? After a moment of deliberation on the best course of action, Rita resigned to return home. She wasn't going to get anything done standing on the sidewalk, after all. She decided to take a more scenic route to delay the inevitable. It was a nice day, and her work could wait a moment more. Who knows, maybe the construction crew would have gone home by the time she returned.

Rita had made it about halfway through the bustling downtown area when some bright lights caught her eye. A sign sat in the middle of the sidewalk with a couple of sparkling mylar balloons tied to the top. Brightly colored chalk on the sign announced a grand opening for a cafe called Deidon's Hold. The next thing that hit her was the rich smell of freshly brewed coffee and baked goods. It was a sudden reminder that she hadn't eaten since breakfast that morning.

"Excuse me!" The voice of a woman grabbed Rita's attention. She wore a light brown apron and held a stack of papers in one hand. She brandished one at Rita with a grin, "We have a special going on today for our grand opening! Here's a punch card and a coupon book! And today only, we're offering the first order totally free!"

"Uh, thanks," Rita said, taking the papers from the employee. She looked at them in her hand for a moment before turning her attention to the new cafe. It looked roomy enough inside from what she could see through the window. Busy, but with plenty of tables. Maybe she should get some work done here. It wouldn't hurt to try, right? Whatever chatter in this place would probably be quieter than circular saws and drills.

Rita entered the cafe and, after waiting a moment in line, claimed her free advertised order. The inside was roomier than it appeared. Even with a large number of people already inside, she estimated about 60 more people could comfortably fit at all the varied styles of tables available. But the most important thing that Rita noticed was a pair of outlets at every table, no matter where it was located. She made her way to a small rounded table near the back and got herself situated. She could hardly contain her excitement, humming a tune as she popped her charging cord into the socket. What a great impulse decision! It looked like she'd never have to fight for an outlet here. Taking a bite of the chocolate chip muffin she had received, Rita immediately got to work.

She was not sure exactly how much time had passed as she copied in her office notes, working and reworking the data in various ways to achieve the results she was looking for. Despite the noise and a rather loud stereo system playing the latest radio hits, she was able to focus on the task before her exceptionally well. She was to enter the lab at her next shift for further practical testing. The thought of being at her favorite place at work lifted her spirits and served to motivate her further.

And then she was interrupted with a jolt.

Suddenly, her laptop and her bag, which had been resting next to it, were pushed aside and almost completely into her lap. Rita had to scramble quickly to grab everything before it fell on the floor.

"What the hell!?" she exclaimed, pointing a glare up at whoever had the audacity to disturb her in such a rude manner.

Her rage quickly fell to surprise as an all too familiar smirk entered her vision.

"Oh, I'm sorry, were you sitting here?"

Hovering over her table was none other than the elusive man himself. As soon as her eyes landed on him, she could not help but let out a surprised "Yuri!" and immediately cringed over how relieved she sounded.

If he noticed, Yuri did not say anything to her about it. He delicately set down what looked like a shot glass made of paper in the center of the table before claiming the seat opposite her. After all this time, so many hours spent searching, he dared to show up now? Like this!? What a jerk!

'Where the hell were you!? I looked all over for you, you know.' …is what she wanted to say. Rita held her tongue. They just met again, there was no way she was going to scare him off by sounding like a desperate puppy. Still awkwardly holding her belongings, she forced herself to take her eyes off that tantalizing smirk and focused on the cup he had placed down.

"What's that?" she asked.

"See, I needed this table for all of my very important things," Yuri replied, gesturing to the singular smallest cup Rita had ever seen in a cafe, "which reminds me…"

He rustled in his pocket momentarily before pulling out a cell phone and cord. He got out of his seat enough to lean across the table towards her. Rita froze and her breath hitched in her throat as his face got just within a few inches of hers. It was like her whole brain froze and shut down. She squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't even dare breathe. She got enough courage to crack open one eye, just in time to see him plug a charging connector into the socket closest to her. And then just like that, he had settled back into his chair and connected his phone to the cord. It was still a minute before Rita remembered she needed to breathe, and she let out an exhale that hopefully he did not pick up on. She was able to pick up faint traces of the cologne he had on that lingered nearby which absolutely did not help her to calm down. Her face was still burning hot like he had held a flame to her cheeks, and Rita desperately needed to look at something other than Yuri right now. With an awkward clear of her throat, she tried putting her work stuff back in place with shaky arms.

"Did you really have to do all that?" she asked him, now safe behind her laptop screen.

Yuri nodded and said matter-of-factly, "There weren't any other plugs around. My very important phone needs to charge."

Rita rolled her eyes at his choice of words. Was it necessary for him to throw her own words back at her? So rude.

But then, a little sneaky voice in the back of her head spoke up. If he remembered their first interaction that well, it had to have meant she was on his mind as much as he was on hers. It was a simple thought, yet enough to temporarily re-incapacitate her mind. If that was true, could it be he was looking for her again too? She angled her head like she was working, but peeked up at him over the screen. There was so much she wanted to ask him and talk about. Where would she even begin? She decided that something simple would be best. Just a little 'hey, how have you been' as an icebreaker. Yeah, that sounded normal. Just as she was about to say it, Yuri had spoken first.

"So, are you still working on that wattrel thing?"

Rita tilted her head slightly at the strange word he used before it clicked a half second later. Her face fell as she turned back to her formulas. "The word is 'wattage' not 'wattrel'," she started. The mild irritation she had felt over the mispronunciation lasted only a moment. How could she stay mad when he even remembered her weird ramblings about her work? She continued, "and that didn't work out. It was so clean and perfect on paper. When I tested it out, however, I almost blew the lab and myself up. Gotta work out the kinks for the next test."

"Sounds intense. Glad you made it out in one piece," Yuri commented.

Rita could start to feel a blush coming on, so she grabbed her drink and took a large swig, doing her best to ignore the hot liquid burning her throat. She cleared her throat and stared pointedly at her work. "Y-yeah, of course. I'm not stupid, I wear all the necessary PPE." She swiftly entered a few more numbers before taking a deep breath. Now that they were talking, this should go much easier. Hoping she would not sound awkward, Rita slowly asked, "...So, what about you? How, uhh… how have you been?"

"Surviving," Yuri answered bluntly, "it's been difficult getting away from work lately. The boss is nice but he really likes to load me up with things to do."

Rita could not help but let out a small laugh. "Tell me about it. It feels like I'm the only competent one in the whole building sometimes,"

Whatever Yuri was about to say next was drowned out by a particularly loud band of customers who had picked a table a few feet away to rest at. Rita shot a quick glare at the party which went completely unnoticed by all of them. She was trying to hold a conversation here! She put her attention back on Yuri, who had leaned back in his chair.

"Got loud, huh?" he asked with a smile "Hey, how about we get out of here to a quieter place and grab some real food? I can only have so many muffins and bagels in a day."

"Huh?"

Rita blinked a couple of times as she tried to process the new shift in conversation. Did she actually hear him right? Was the scenario of one of her many daydreams actually playing out in front of her right now? Heart pounding, Rita was unable to speak though she truly wanted to. Inwardly she cursed herself. It was just one word! It was not like she was going to profess her love or anything, all she had to say was 'yes'.

She managed to nod slightly and just as she opened her mouth to agree to the change in scenery, the conversation was interrupted by a loud instrumental ringtone. Yuri flipped over his phone and frowned at the screen. He gave it a quick tap and the tune was cut off in an instant. He grumbled something under his breath before removing the charging cord and pocketing his phone. "Cancel that, something came up," he said with a sigh. He seemed to hesitate for a moment before leaning over to grab the charging port from the outlet.

"W-wait, let me get it," Rita said quickly, reaching for the plug. There was no way she would be able to survive another close encounter like before. Her fingers brushed his skin when she handed it back over which sent pleasant tingles up her arm.

"Anyway, thanks for the talk," he said as he shoved the rest of his stuff into his other jeans pocket, "I wouldn't have wanted to kill time any other way. Try not to blow yourself up at work, It would suck to not bump into you again,"

Rita clenched and unclenched her fists as she watched his back walk away once again. There was no way she was going to mess up this time. She had to get some form of contact from him!

"Wait!" she called, shooting to her feet. The loud protest of her chair scraping against the floor from the sudden movement went unnoticed by Rita. That was not important. Nothing was important except for her current goal. Yuri stopped and turned halfway back, raising an eyebrow questioningly. Rita could feel herself locking up but managed to push through the anxiety and take a step forward. "I want… L-lemme have your number!"

Her face burning, Rita held her breath as she watched Yuri for his reaction. He watched her with both eyebrows raised for a few seconds before he relaxed into a smile. "Sure, give me your phone."

Rita dove into her satchel, almost dropping it twice as she scrambled to get her phone out. Each mishap on top of the embarrassment of being so bold served to only fluster her further. Finally, she grasped the elusive device, unlocked it, and closed the distance between them with a few stiff steps forward. Her hand shaking slightly as her heart thrummed heavily, she held it out to Yuri and hoped her attempt to mask her nervousness was working. Yuri was the perfect opposite of her, calmly taking her phone and punching in his information. She wondered how he was able to stay so composed.

He handed the phone back to her. "Talk to you later," he said before leaving with a quick wave of his hand. Rita watched him go, a myriad of emotions swirling around in her heart and chest. Only a couple of moments after he was gone did she find the ability to look at her screen. As soon as she did, she couldn't help but smile.

"Yuri Lowell… talk to you later," she said to herself.