Whenever Sebastian visited the Maison, he was always reminded of the lack of variety in their coffee. Out in the city, he relished in special recipes, but in the Maison, it was always black coffee. If anyone so wished to add anything else, there was sugar and cream.

Having been a residence of the Maison at 15, he found it a place he could always spruce up.

After his “recovery”, he would continue to visit the Maison adding a bit of himself to the place whenever he did.

At 18, he emptied an unused room and began to reform it into the piano room some nuns used to practice their singing for the sermon, but other than them, no one else frequented it. Therefore, it was Sebastian’s Piano Room.

At 19, he reformed the dorms so that they’d have new mattresses. Then at 20, he reconstructed the kitchen so that he could add an espresso machine despite everyone’s displeased opinions. In the end, they succumbed to his will as he often made use of it when there. The residents seemed to like the new addition to their meals though it made very little difference, if at all, for the sisters and fathers of the Maison.

To Sebastian, it was home.

The coffee he usually bought, he made at the Maison. There was something about making something himself that always made staying at the Maison that much more special.

Though he didn’t like that most residents felt forced to be there, he made sure to make it so that by the end of their stay. They’d be sad to leave as he had been at fifteen.

At 15, Sebastian was angry for having been sent by his grandmother for a stupid “indiscretion” such as cheating on his girlfriend. It was just childish antics to him meanwhile his family had seen it as a complete disgrace, tainting their family name. But as he grew older and having been cheated on himself, he realized just how bad his decisions had been.

And at 24, he returned to the Maison to heal his broken heart where he met the back of the new girl running away from him. Her bare feet, long hair, and the name Georgiana burned in his memory.

When Sebastian was 10, he started having dreams of a girl who would always look sadly at him. It was often unnerving. At 13, the dreams intensified and her dark eyes, he could see just by shutting his eyes. She was the only one who’d known about his cheating for a long time, and she always frowned. She always shook her head in disapproval, and he didn’t like her.

At 21, the dreams became unbearable. He would mistake dreams for reality.

At 22, a girl by the name Clarissa told him she was the girl in the dreams. She knew so much about him he never told her, and so he believed it, but as he thought originally, dreams are only ever going to be dreams.

A two-year relationship crumbled when the truth was revealed, and other unsightly things came to light.

He loved her. It broke him. He was thrown into a pit of darkness. He had introduced her to his family. He’d proposed. He’d given her everything including his heart, and that was new to him. Love. He’d never felt that before unless falling in love with a dream was similar.

To him, Clarissa could have been everything.

If he hadn’t known about the cheating, the stealing, and more cheating, he would have gladly lived in ignorance. He loved her blindly.

Alex, his best friend, snapped him back to reality though. He was reminded that dreams exist in their sleep and not in their waking moments.

So the Maison felt like the best place to run away to. And he ran. He thought he’d never get over her but he did in that one moment...

Sebastian didn’t think Georgiana was the girl in the dreams. He was just curious. He was allowed that much. Yet curiosity turned to interest to what he hopes to be a great friendship that would last like the other friendships he’d made being in the Maison.

Georgiana was a mystery.

Their friendship started rocky, having been an immovable rock the very first time they met, he was forgettable. Then he made the mistake of watching her cry in silence.

It wasn’t that he froze, though the truth would have been worse.

He found her beautiful.

Somehow, that made him feel unhinged even if only a little. She did look like the girl in the dream, felt like her, and resembled her in every way he’s come to know Georgiana. Yet, he was convinced that a dream would always be a dream.

Besides, Georgiana was a whole different world from him.

Alex once told him a bridge cannot be built between two worlds. It just wasn’t possible, and Sebastian tried hard to believe that, but Georgiana was coffee.

She was the sort of coffee that made places feel like home.