Chapter 7: No.7: A Creamy Way to Say Sorry
Earlier...
Standing behind the counter of an average dessert café, the staff appeared bored as she sighed in frustration, as there hadn’t been a single customer all day.
Deciding to take her mind off things a bit, she glanced out through the café’s glass doors, only to nearly scream as she sighted an ogre-like man sitting underneath their umbrella while intently staring at a spot where a woman had dropped something and was now looking for it, resulting in her ’assets’ facing directly at the chubby giant.
To which, he stared intently at them like a predator, seemingly lost in thought.
"No wonder we don’t have any customers. That beast is scaring them all away."
Muttering to herself, the staff hesitated to go out, as the man was extremely tall despite his obese size, giving him an intimidating presence.
Recalling she had a younger colleague who was still fairly new here, she decided to call her instead, whispering as she did.
"Psst..! Summer. Get over here."
Listening to her senior, Summer stopped cleaning the tables she’d been instructed to clean, despite them already being clean to begin with.
"Hey, Newbie. I got something else for you to do instead." Pointing towards the giant of a man sitting outside, she instructed. "Find a way to get rid of that! It’s scaring away all our customers, and we won’t be able to get paid if it keeps doing that."
Glancing towards the point her senior colleague was directing her to, she saw a young man sitting on a chair, visibly lost in thought as he stared into the distance.
Unsure how someone sitting in a spot designated for such in the first place was supposedly scaring away customers, especially considering it was a Sunday when business was often slow, Summer failed to see what the problem was exactly.
However, as she’d learned not to talk back to her senior or she might end up getting an earful, she decided to comply.
Upon getting outside, she was about to politely ask the man to leave until she eventually got a closer look at his figure.
Causing her to realize he was actually someone she knew, as she subconsciously muttered a name.
"Bruce?"
The figure froze for a fraction of a second, as though suddenly processing something, before a reply came soon after as he slowly turned to look at her.
"Summer?"
Staring at Bruce’s figure, Summer briefly brightened up, as they hadn’t seen each other in about a month now.
However, she soon dimmed on recalling the reason why they had distanced themselves to begin with.
Looking at him, she noticed his cheek was injured.
Instinctively, she was about to raise her arm to ask what happened, then she hesitated. Her hand freezing mid-raise before returning back down.
’It’s not my place to ask anymore. I’m sure he’s okay.’
A bit crestfallen by the thought, the duo simply stared at each other for a while.
The quiet stretched into a long awkward silence, as neither became able to say the first word, simply staring at one another instead.
Realizing that he had probably come here by mistake and didn’t plan on seeing her here, she became a bit saddened as she turned to return to her post behind the counter, when...
"Uhh...! How’ve you been?"
Turning back, she felt it was a weird way to start a conversation, considering they were currently still in the middle of a fight.
Though, upon seeing the somewhat cringed expression at his own choice of words, she couldn’t help but smile inwardly, recalling that he tended to be like that at times.
Always spending an unhealthy amount of time processing what to say in order to come up with the perfect response, only for it to come out awkward or out of context at times, resulting in him cringing in barely concealed embarrassment.
The sight always reminded her of a video she’d once watched as a kid about an ancient creature that was once known for being one of the cutest of their time.
The majestic Panda.
As his round and soft features had always reminded her of the adorable creature since they were young.
Deciding to tease him a bit, she replied.
"Is that all you have to say after so long? No sorry?" She said, feigning annoyance as she crossed her arms underneath her chest.
Noticing how he began analysing what he could come up with as a reasonable reply while occasionally glancing at her head, she couldn’t help but wonder.
’Is there something in my hair?’
Either way, she didn’t dwell on the thought for too long, as she secretly enjoyed watching his reaction.
Though she was still a bit upset that he had misunderstood her intentions before and didn’t give her time to explain herself before storming out, she still missed the times they spent together.
As he was the only one she could just talk to without having to worry about what she said or filtering her words, but could instead just be herself.
And though she had a few female friends as well, most tended to harbour secret envy and jealousy over her looks, while the guys mostly approached her with barely concealed lust.
Considering Bruce could also be a bit perverse at times before, she concluded that he was simply a guy and couldn’t help it.
Having made up his mind, Bruce eventually said.
"How about I make up for it by buying you a drink instead?"
Hearing this, she hesitated a bit, recalling how he’d often say this before, only for her to end up paying the bills, as he usually didn’t have enough to cover them. But this time, she couldn’t afford to.
Not now.
Understanding her hesitation, a reply followed soon after as he added.
"Don’t worry about the tab. I’ll actually pay this time." Then, noticing she was still hesitant, he added again. "I recently got a part-time job and am getting paid a bit. So, you don’t have to worry."
Only upon hearing this did she sigh in relief.
Meanwhile, Bruce had a different string of thoughts running through his mind as he recalled how the former Bruce would leave the bills for the lady to pay.
’Damn! Bro sure knows how to treat a lady,’ he thought sarcastically before adding.
’One minute you’re a plus-sized giga chad, and the next you’re a deflated wimp. Just pick one and stick to it for crying out loud.’
With that, Bruce stood up and pulled out a chair for Summer before asking the lady inside to kindly attend to them.
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