Chapter 8

"This is for you," said Kol, pushing a book across the counter. 

"For me?" I said, taking the book with surprise. "What have I done to merit this gift?" 

I analysed the book as he took his usual seat.

This book was the sequel of the one that I had finished yesterday, the same one that Kol had been so eager to get my views on. 

"Maybe made me some great coffee?" He smiled. "But more than that, this is a small token of a new friendship." 

My stomach tingled. Could we call our relationship a friendship? What name could be given to it? We shared a past together and related to each other on a deep level. Not to forget, I owed him for saving my life. 

I guess it was easier to just call it a friendship, or rather, the start of a new friendship. 

"Thanks," I said, smiling a little. 

Should I say something else? 

"You're welcome." He waved it off and opened his laptop to start his work for the day. 

I absentmindedly skimmed through the pages, thinking about how I had been planning on buying this book this week.

Wait. 

I turned back to the first page of the book. 

No way. 

"Goodness!" I shrieked, then immediately my hand flew up to my mouth when I realised that heads all around the cafe had looked up. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I said rapidly and repeatedly, my cheeks pink and flustered. 

Everybody got back to their tasks, except Kol. He grinned at me foolishly and knowingly. No doubt he had been waiting for this. 

"It's a signed copy," I whispered while making sure that he could still hear me.

He shrugged. "Personally signed." 

"A sign is always personal, dumbo," I said, hardly containing the excitement in my voice. 

"Dumbo? What are you, five?" He laughed. "And, no, you also get digitally signed copies. But I got this one personally signed from the author." 

"You've met him?" I asked, my eyes still lingering on the signature. 

"At a book event, yes," he said. 

I looked up at him. "How can I take this, though? It's yours." 

Kol shook his head. "I have my own copy. This is for you." 

The book did seem to be brand new.

I frowned, confused. "You got two copies signed?"

He let out a dramatic sigh and then smiled warily. "You worry too much, Zuri. Be happy with the book. Why are you losing your hair over useless details?"

I huffed. "Rude." 

"Truth hurts," he said, his eyes flashing with victory. 

"Whatever." I kept the book in my bag and got back to work.

Conversations with Kol could be very tiring sometimes.

A few minutes passed in silence and then I heard the soft tinker of the glass doors opening. 

I turned around to see two new customers. 

They seemed to be a couple, judging by their tightly entwined hands.

The girl stopped at the entrance, her eyes growing wide. She stumbled back, paling. 

What's going on? 

She spun around quickly and told something to the guy in hushed whispers. He nodded and then they both hurried out. 

Weird. 

The door opened again, and a delivery agent walked in. He held a bouquet of flowers in his hands.

"There's a delivery for Miss Ira Daryll," he said, coming towards the counter. 

"I'll call her. Give me a minute, please," I said and went into the kitchen to inform Ira.

She followed me out with a confused expression.

"Flowers? For me? Are you sure?" She asked.

"Honest." I nodded.

She went ahead and signed the recipient's slip and took the bouquet that was handed over to her.

"White lilies," she mused, tenderly stroking a flower. A soft smile made her lips curl up and she held the flowers close to her. "From Jace."

I smiled back at her, already knowing that fact all too well. Jace was the only person who sent white lilies to Ira. He knew she adored them. And I had learnt about this last month when there was some unpleasant tension between Jace and Ira. He had once left the flowers with me and had asked me to pass them on to Ira. 

I was glad that the issue had been resolved. Those few days that had passed had been agonisingly painful. Coffee Tales was at stake and Ira was just on the verge of losing its ownership. If that would have happened, then Coffee Tales would have shut down forever. But Jace had stepped in at the last minute and saved the cafe. 

Thereafter, Jace and Ira had become the joint owners of the cafe. And things had been bittersweet ever since then. The two of them had once been childhood best friends until about a few years ago when things had changed, and their bond had cracked deeply. With that past, they were trying to get along in the present. 

From what I had seen and understood, they were amazingly in sync with each other. Although the bickering and the taunts were there, love was still the basis of all their interactions. They did not even need to try, they got along well no matter what. They just didn't realise it yet.

Ira nodded at me and headed back into the kitchen, her eyes sparkling. 

I watched her retreating back and found myself wondering if I would ever get flowers from someone special one day. 

My eyes cast down and a tinge of sadness pricked my heart. 

Would I ever fall in love? 

My whole life had changed in a matter of a few days. My name, my identity—I had given up everything. I no longer knew what I wanted from life, what kind of a future I expected for myself. There was just a big blank question mark in my mind. 

If I wasn't even self-aware, then how did I expect another person to form personal connections with me? Would I even let anybody get that close to me? 

Whatever it was that my destiny had in store for me, I wanted to find love.