“Ziyaa.”
Two days after what happened in the sports equipment room, Ziyaa definitely did not expect Terry to be looking for her. Ziyaa looked down at the smoothie in her hand, then at Mayleen and Penny who were walking beside her, on the way back to their class.
“Can I have a minute with you?” Terry asked politely. With a file in his hands, it did not seem to be about something personal at first glance.
Ziyaa pondered for a moment before nodding. To be honest, her heart almost stopped as she was afraid Terry might threaten her back for blackmailing him, although it did not seem to be the case.
“We’ll wait for you over there.” Mayleen and Penny said as they walked to the other side.
“Regarding what happened in the sports equipment room…” Terry started.
“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that.” Ziyaa motioned a zipping gesture over her lips. “I know nothing.” She reassured him.
Terry let out a soft, indistinct sigh of relief before he continued, “I know this is kind of sudden, but I hope that you can help me out with something.”
—-------
It was the day of the coffee convention. Mr. Mason was kind enough to pick Penny up from her house before they departed to the convention.
The convention was larger than Penny had expected. It was held in one of the large conference buildings in the city. It was when they arrived that Penny realized they needed to pay for the entry, which was also taken care of by Mr. Mason.
“Mr. Mason, please, let me pay for the ticket myself. You’ve been kind enough.” Penny said, trying not to take advantage of his riches because she didn’t want him to see her in a bad light.
“It’s fine. I want to thank you for accompanying me here instead. I don’t find a lot of coffee lovers around me.” Mr. Mason said. He insisted on doing it no matter what Penny said, so she only ended up feeling thankful for what he did.
Many new kinds of coffee beans and coffee machines were introduced at the convention. There was even a mini latte art competition held at the convention. Although Mr. Mason pushed her on to join, Penny was self-conscious and thought that she wasn’t skillful enough yet. Both of them ended up buying some special homemade aromatic coffee beans, while Mr. Mason seemed interested in one of the traditional coffee machines introduced in the convention.
There was one thing that stood out in the convention - there was an Arabic man who was doing coffee fortune telling. There was a long line waiting for it and Penny excitedly joined the queue. It wasn’t something common around here and it would be fun to try it out. But it saddened her when her fortune came out as a bad omen after a long wait. The fortune teller told her he saw a twisted fate, and she might lose people important to her. Mr. Mason just comforted her saying to not think too much about it.
The aromatic coffee smell wafting in the air made Penny feel at ease. She was tasting a black coffee sampling when she was faced with a familiar face. Oh, it was Vienna Kent, Mayleen’s mother.
“Ms. Kent.” Vienna Kent was also in the convention, and she also seemed pleasantly surprised to see Penny, but her eyes darkened a little when she saw Mr. Mason.
“This is quite a coincidence.” Vienna Kent stretched her thin lips into a smile.
“Yes, it seems this coffee convention does attract a lot of attention, huh?” Mr. Mason glanced at Vienna for a moment before he turned his focus to the other booths.
“Are you here alone, Ms. Kent?” Penny asked as she didn’t see Mayleen with her.
“A woman needs her alone time.” Vienna Kent grinned. “Did you come here with Mason?”
“Uh-huh…” Penny stammered a little for some reason. “We’re both coffee lovers so we thought we could see something interesting here.”
Vienna Kent just nodded and after a few seconds, she said, “He’s a good guy.”
Penny looked at her and was about to ask more when Vienna continued, “Well, do have fun in the convention. See you, Penny. Feel free to come over to my house when you have time.”
“Goodbye, Ms. Kent.” Penny said, then went to the direction where Mr. Mason headed off to. The interaction between Mason and Vienna felt a little strange, she wondered.
—--------
On the other hand, Ziyaa was at the coffee convention as well. She was carrying a handbag over her shoulder as she walked through the crowd, her eyes searching for someone.
Her mind flashed back to yesterday when Terry asked for her help.
“Can you help me run an errand? I am not around tomorrow, but I need to pass a package to a friend at the coffee convention.” Terry said.
Ziyaa lifted her eyebrow and was about to ask why she should help him, when he added, “I’ll pay you for helping me out, um, also as thank you for not exposing me.”
In the end, Ziyaa agreed to help him out since she thought she had nothing to lose for passing a package. Terry was also being generous with the money too, which made her happy. He must be very afraid that she would let the cat out of the bag, she thought.
It was relatively easy. She was supposed to go to one of the booths that Terry had told her, then gave it to the man in charge.
“Mr. Kidd?” A bulky, tall and bald man. He must be the one she was looking for.
“Terry sent you?” The man looked at her and put out his hand. Ziyaa nodded, then took out a small brown package from her handbag, placing it on his hands.
“Thank you, missy.” Mr. Kidd grinned, revealing a gold tooth on the upper front of his teeth. Ziyaa just muttered a ‘welcome’, then walked away.
He gave her the chills, Ziyaa thought.
—--------
A few days later.
“Kate!!” Mayleen was very excited to see Kate when they met up in the coffee shop. They talked about countless things until the evening like a couple of old friends who hadn’t seen each other for years.
Mayleen shared the story about how she slept with the homeroom teacher she had a crush on. Kate widened her eyes as she squealed at how Mayleen blushed when she teased her.
“Is he single?” Kate asked curiously.
This was where Mayleen let out a sigh. “No, he’s engaged, and he’s been avoiding me since.” It still hurt her when Mr. Dylan refused to give her extra tutoring lessons, and she hadn’t heard back from Ms. Melissa yet.
“Aw.” Kate empathized with her. “At least he’s making his stand clear and not giving you hope. Just think of it as a random hookup.”
Mayleen looked unsatisfied with her answer.
“There are still many fish in the ocean. One-sided crush is painful.” Kate added.
“I know, but I never had such an intense crush before. It’s… infatuating.” Mayleen said.
“Well, you can always try to pursue him, if that’s what you want. He’s engaged, not married. Even if he’s married, he can always get divorced.” Kate said matter-of-factly.
“Mm hm.” Mayleen nodded. “How about you and your boyfriend? You’re having plans on getting married?”
“We’re thinking of getting married after we graduate from university.” Kate smiled, looking very content with her current life now.
“Aren’t he lucky to have you.” Mayleen said. Mayleen knew Kate’s boyfriend, Danial. They had been together for years ever since in high school. He was the student leader in Etwass High School at that time.
“I hope so.” Kate said.
“Something happened?” Mayleen asked in concern.
“We haven’t been doing okay lately, our romantic passion has died out I guess. Before this, we spoke to each other once a day, but now we only see each other few times a week.” Kate said with a little sadness.
“You’re both busy with university work so you can’t help it.” Mayleen said.
Kate just smiled lightly.
