"Yumiko! You're back!" Yumiko's colleague exclaimed in japanese from behind the counter. 

"I'm home now." Yumiko said placidly. 

She got behind the counter and hugged her colleague. It had been six months since she had seen her. The first three months, her colleague had gone to a remote village in Africa with her doctor husband for a medical camp. The next three months Yumiko took time off from her job to recuperate from her wound, which she told her boss she got it while skateboarding. She didn't know how to skateboard.

"Don't you think you should take more rest?" her colleague said worriedly peering at her leg. 

"I'm fine, Aiko. I can walk well now, it doesn't hurt at all." Yumiko said flexing and swinging her wounded leg. "Besides if I skip work another day, bossman will give the job to someone else. It's a miracle he hasn't fired us both yet."

Aiko laughed putting her hands on Yumiko's shoulders.

"I'm really glad you're back. Work was so boring without you." Aiko said delightfully and hugged her again for a brief moment. 

"Me too." Yumiko really was happy to be back at work.

Aiko's gaze fell to Yumiko's shoes. "By the way, what is that on your shoe? Is that custom made?" she said scrutinizing the weird big smiley on her shoe. 

"Oh, yeah I made it. And you know what? It's human skin." Yumiko whispered. 

A long chain of ews and yucks started. 

"It's not funny. Seriously that looks ghastly. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that." she said disgusted. 

Yumiko laughed. She had missed fooling around with Aiko. 'I hope I catch you dead' she thought to herself.

"Anyways don't move I'll go get your apron. Avoid moving as much as possible." she ordered her and ran to the backroom. 

Yumiko stayed put and glanced around nostalgically. She had missed the aroma of coffee and freshly baked pastries. It was so much better than the decaying stink in her house.

The door opened letting in a gust of air that knocked down the paper napkin holder from the counter. She rushed to the front to catch all the fluttering napkins from the air.

The person who caused it came to assist her. They both gathered all the napkins and put them back in the holder.

Yumiko turned to the kind stranger to thank them for helping her. 

A tall fit man with fair skin and blonde haired smiled at her. Her heart fluttered just like the napkins. His was just her type. She smiled back.

"Hi"