"And this is Veloria, your GF. Am I right?" Meera asked, giving a light smile while looking at Demon.
Himanshu quickly nodded his head.
"Yeah, you guessed it right."
"Hello," Meera said, giving Demon a sweet smile just like she gave Himanshu.
But Demon replied in her usual sharp and dry tone, with absolutely zero expression on her face.
"Hello."
The Demon’s ’hello’ didn’t sound like a hello from any angle. It sounded like someone was forcing her to say it at gunpoint.
Meera looked at her for a second and then let out a light laugh, as if she was used to talking to grumpy people like Demon every day. Working in the cafe had probably taught her how to read people’s nature and personalities really well.
Seeing this weird awkwardness, Himanshu forced a little laugh and tried to get Meera’s attention.
"Uh... your partner isn’t around?"
"Oh yeah." Meera quickly balanced the heavy plate of coffee in one hand and put a finger from her other hand on her cheek. "It’s just us here. Me and my BF, Gaurav."
Himanshu narrowed his eyes for a second.
Wait, what? Just the two of them handle all these people? Well, looking at their speed, it does seem like it... but still, this is way too much work. And do they own this cafe?
Before Himanshu could ask anything else, Meera read the expressions on his face.
She picked up some used cups from a nearby table and turned towards the cafe counter.
"Alright, come on, I’ll show you the cafe."
Meera started walking without stopping. Himanshu and Demon followed right behind her. Himanshu just kept watching Meera from behind. He couldn’t believe that such a young girl was actually handling the cafe. From her body language and confidence, she didn’t look that old; she looked barely 25 or 30.
Breaking Himanshu’s train of thought, Meera kept walking and talking.
"We opened this cafe just a few months ago. Everything was going fine in the start, but for the last few days, the crowd has grown way too much. Even though the two of us could handle it..."
And then, while walking, Meera turned back and looked at Demon and Himanshu with a very deep, ’couple-like’ gaze.
"But we weren’t able to give time to our relationship because of this cafe. That’s why we decided to hire some staff."
Keeping his nervous smile on, Himanshu started walking behind Meera again.
But one question was still bugging him. Working this fast at such a young age, and that too perfectly without a single mistake... especially when the cafe had only been open for a short time. This logic just wasn’t sitting right in his head.
"Uh... how are you guys so perfect in such a short time... I mean, how did you learn to work this fast?" Himanshu hesitated but asked anyway.
"Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you about our past," Meera replied with a laugh. "Actually, we’ve been working in a cafe since we were around your age. That’s why we have so much experience."
Saying this, Meera brought both of them behind the counter. She started telling them about every machine and item kept there. Himanshu had spent a lot of time in his home kitchen, but even he couldn’t understand some of these machines. But Demon just listened to Meera, occasionally looked at the machine Meera pointed at, and then went back to glaring at her. She had absolutely zero interest in these human machines.
Explaining everything, Meera went to the back part of the counter and pushed the kitchen door open.
Inside the door was a pretty big room. Several spices, pizza, and cake-making ingredients were kept on the tables. Right nearby were all the equipments used to prep the food, and there was a large sink on the side too.
And right then, Himanshu and Demon’s eyes fell on a guy making pizza in the room, rapidly slicing a pizza with a knife. He was wearing the same apron as Meera, the only difference was that his clothes had coffee and pizza sauce stains all over them.
Then the guy turned his face to the side. Himanshu gave him his usual nervous smile—the one he always gave when talking to someone new.
The guy’s body honestly looked like a bodybuilder’s. Looking at him, you wouldn’t even think he was Meera’s age. Himanshu was probably feeling all this because he himself was pretty skinny. Himanshu quietly stuffed his thin arms inside his pockets.
But guys usually look older than their age anyway. Himanshu gave himself a lame excuse to hide his own complex.
But the truth was, the guy’s face was good enough to attract anyone. As for his height, he was only slightly taller than Himanshu, but maybe even that was enough to make Himanshu jealous.
"Gaurav! Meet them, they are our new partners. I told you about them yesterday, right?"
Meera said all this with a laugh, as if the cafe hadn’t found new staff, but some long-lost treasure.
"Oh yeah, I remember!" Hearing this, a completely different, happy smile appeared on Gaurav’s face, exactly like the one Meera had. Himanshu just couldn’t understand why these two were getting so damn happy.
Are they planning to gulp down our paychecks? Because their smiles totally say so. Himanshu’s scared brain started overthinking.
Gaurav walked fast, closing the distance, and reached his hand out to shake Himanshu’s. But his hand was covered in coffee and pizza sauce.
Meera coughed, narrowed her eyebrows, and gestured toward Gaurav’s dirty hands with her eyes.
"Oh sorry... be right back!" Saying this, Gaurav instantly turned to the sink. Washing his hands, he wiped them on a cloth hanging nearby, came back, and held his hand out to Himanshu again.
"Hello!"
"I manage the kitchen here. And I guess I don’t need to tell you my name," Gaurav said with a wide smile.
"Yeah, Meera senior already told me,"
"Seriously, the moment I heard a couple was coming to work... I got really excited!" Gaurav said happily.
"Yeah, yeah... um... my... my hand," Himanshu said, wincing in pain.
Gaurav had shaken his hand in excitement, but he squeezed it so tight that he just wasn’t letting go.
"Oh, sorry!" Gaurav quickly let go. A second later, Himanshu tried to string some words together in his head.
"No problem." Himanshu rubbed the back of his hair, trying to hide his nervousness.
I was thinking too much. Seeing his kindness and happiness is just making me even more jealous. Himanshu muttered in his mind.
And right then, Gaurav looked at Demon and said really sweetly, "Hello!"
And the exact same reaction came back.
"Hello," Demon said in that same dry and scary voice.
Then Gaurav’s eyes went to Demon’s furrowed eyebrows and her angry face.
Gaurav looked at Demon for a second, and then at Himanshu. That same fear and nervousness were clearly showing on Himanshu’s face.
Gaurav quickly got close to Himanshu and whispered in his ear,
"Bro, did you drag her here by force or what?"
"Uh... she actually doesn’t mix well with new people..." Himanshu tried to dodge it with fumbling words.
"Oh, so that’s the deal." Gaurav nodded understandingly.
"What are you guys talking about?" Meera’s sharp voice came from behind.
Hearing Meera’s voice, the 6-foot-tall Gaurav stood up dead straight. Letting out a nervous laugh just like Himanshu, he said,
"Nothing... I was just telling him what to do in the cafe."
Meera looked at Gaurav suspiciously for a second.
And then, with that same smile, she turned her gaze back to Himanshu and Demon.
"Alright Himanshu, so... what kind of work are you gonna do?"
"Uh, I know kitchen work. I can make coffee, cake, pizza, stuff like that. But maybe I don’t make them good enough for a cafe..."
"That’s great! Don’t worry about that. Gaurav, you..." Just as Meera was about to give Gaurav an instruction, Gaurav cut her off.
"I’ll make you perfect at everything! Whether it’s cooking food... or cooling down your girlfriend’s anger... or even..."
Right then, a pained sound escaped Gaurav’s mouth. "Ouch!"
Down below, Meera had stomped hard on his foot with her shoes.
"Don’t you think you should go check on the customers outside?" Meera said, gritting her teeth but keeping the smile glued to her face.
"Yeah... yeah, you’re right."
Hobbling on his foot in pain, he walked outside. Himanshu and Demon just watched him go. Himanshu had pretty much understood who actually ran things in this cafe.
A few moments later, after Gaurav left, Meera gave another sweet smile and asked Demon,
"So, what kind of work are you going to do?"
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