There were many people outside the cafe. Some looked curious, and some formed a line outside, waiting for the grand opening of the cafe.

Fidel glanced at the wall clock. There were still ten minutes remaining before the opening. "Should we open early, Ma?"

Mrs. Garcia pondered the idea, and after a few seconds, she looked at Tristan. "Is that fine with you, dear?"

Tristan suddenly felt nervous, but nod his head, "I-Y-Yes ma'am!"

Mrs. Garcia chuckled. "Sure, let's open early."

Fidel went on the cafe doors, flipped the sign from 'closed' to 'open', and opened the two doors wide.

"Welcome for attending the grand opening of our third Kofienrest Cafe branch! Come on in!" Fidel cheered, then gestured his arm to invite the customers inside.

The flock of customers entered. Some looked around, while others went straight to the counter. Tristan took a deep breath to calm his nerves, while Fidel quickly rushed behind the counter and joined Tristan.

"Welcome to Kofienrest Cafe! May I take your order?" they said simultaneously.

They began to take every customer’s orders as a line formed in their section, doing their best to show them their hospitality. And once the line was empty, they started making large batches of drinks.

Tristan felt a bit stressed out by the number of drinks he had to make at early Monday morning. Fidel quickly noticed his distress while extracting coffee on his corner, and did not hesitate to scoot immediately next to Tristan, then gave him light pats on the back to give reassurance. "Just hang in there! We will survive this day!"

And sure enough, Fidel's words came true as their work got hectic once the rush hour began. The line reached close to the doors, and all seats occupied, with some opted to stand instead.

With the situation in hand, Mr. And Mrs. Garcia had stepped in. They went behind the counter with hidden amusement in their face. "You two take and serve the orders, we'll take care of the drinks."

Tristan felt some relief as he could finally on a single task rather than juggling many. It helped the line to move faster as he and Fidel talked-non stop from taking customers' orders, serving them their drinks on their tables, and shouting their names for take outs.

To his amazement, Fidel maintained his friendly, energetic personality despite the hectic workload.

Wow, it's like he doesn't run out of energy.

At the same time, whenever he gets a chance to glance, he was awestruck by how swift and efficient Mr. and Mrs. Garcia are despite their age, especially when making large batches of drinks. Particularly Mrs. Garcia, who was humming like she was doing a normal chore instead.

I guess that's where Fidel got his skills from.

The grand opening rush continued, particularity around lunch hours. The Garcia family still had full energy to work while fatigued had already consumed Tristan. Arms, legs, and jaw are sore.

And after around twelve fifty PM, the rush hour slowed down, enough that all of them could finally release a sigh of relief. "Ma! Pa! Me and Tristan can handle the rest of the morning shift. You two should take a rest now."

Mr. Garcia bark out a laughter, "Thanks son, we missed this experience, been a while isn't it?" he said with a hint of smirk towards Mrs. Garcia.

Mrs. Garcia playfully shook her head, "Yes dear, but we’re getting old now so we won’t get to experience this again for quite some time again.”

Then Mrs. Garcia turned her attention to Fidel. “Me and your dad will take our lunch now inside Light Mall. Goodbye to you as well, Tristan. Have a good day."

Tristan blushed a little and nod his head politely, while Fidel kissed Mr. And Mrs. Garcia on the cheeks.

Once they were out of the cafe, Tristan leaned in on the counter and let out another sigh of relief. "Finally! My arms and legs are so sore…" he whispered.

Fidel stretched his back and let out a yawn. "Same, I thought that would never end!"

"There's still…" Tristan took a quick glance at the wall clock, "Forty minutes of work… We still have to fill out the coffee hoppers… and the display box… and clean the tablewares… and the restrooms too…” He let out an enormous sigh, “I wanna go home already…"

Fidel clicked his tongue in a teasing manner. "Complaining about your job already?"

Tristan's face exploded as he realized what he had said. "I-uh-no!"

His reaction made Fidel chuckle. "Kidding! Kidding!" he raised his arms up in mock surrender. Tristan looked away to hide his flustered face.

Curse his stupid smile!

Forty minutes later, the afternoon shift baristas arrived, whom Fidel briefly introduced them to Tristan. They waved a quick hello to him and Fidel before they headed to the storage room.

"I can finally rest…" Tristan mumbled to himself. Fidel scooted next to him, then pat him on the back. "Don't worry! You won't experience this again… excluding holidays." He let out a laugh.

Despite his heart beating wildly because of Fidel's proximity, Tristan felt awe seeing him so joyful.

Even when he's tired, he's still full of energy.

Later on, the afternoon baristas came back. Fidel told them a quick good luck before he and Tristan went inside the storage room. "By the way, do you want to eat lunch at Jollibee? My treat!" Fidel asked.

Tristan looked surprised. He got flustered once again. "Wait-Uh, really? S-Sure!"

After they removed their work uniforms and changed outfit, they left the storage room. Fidel turned around to look at Tristan with a bright look, causing Tristan to blush slightly again. "Let's go!" Fidel motioned with his hand.

They left the cafe together, then went to their right as they walked and entered the mall entrance.

Thank goodness Jollibee is so close to the entrance. I'm starving!

Upon arriving, however, they stumbled upon the long line on the counter. "Oh, yeah right, lunch hour." Fidel mumbled.

They entered the crowded establishment and looked around to find an unoccupied table. To their luck, they found one in the furthest corner of the establishment.

However, it was a solo table.

Fidel shrugged. "Oh well, guess that will do. What do you want to order?"

Tristan took his seat. "Chicken with rice, and spaghetti. I'll pay for the spaghetti! I'm feeling extra hungry right now."

"Don't worry, my treat!" Fidel smiled brightly before he left to join the long line. Once he was out of sight, Tristan rested his forehead on the table, heart beating fast and smoke coming out of his flustered cheeks.

Why did I have to develop my first crush on my co-worker, of all people! How can I even confess to him in the first place?

Tristan let out a frustrated huff as he debated his own mind.

Maybe I just really like Fidel as a friend and I'm jumping to conclusions? Or my crush will disappear in a few months? Heck, I'm probably confusing romantic feelings for platonic feelings?

That last thought made him pause.

No, I won’t react like this if I didn't like him…

Ten minutes later, Tristan heard a plastic plate being placed on the table, interrupting the battle against his mind. He looked up and saw Fidel placed their meal on the table from a tray. "Hope I didn't make you wait!"

Fidel noticed Tristan's face. His smile dropped a little. "Woah! Are you ok? Your face is red again…"

Tristan quickly shook his head. "No! It's nothing! Sorry, it’s… probably fatigue…" his eyes darted away from that small pang of guilt.

"Same, but at least we can eat now!" Fidel handed the tray to a staff that passed by, then took his seat.

They began to eat their meal in silence, utensils hitting the plastic plates. Tristan tried to calm his nerves again by focusing on the visually interesting part of his fried chicken.

But being face-to-face with Fidel while eating lunch together? It did wonders on his heart and the ache in his mind.

But after a few minutes of complete silence, it was getting awkward for Tristan. His eyes darted around, looking for anything to break the silence, and that's when his eyes caught the attention of Fidel's t-shirt. It was a simple black shirt with a yellow logo and a large silhouette of a woman posing for a peace hand sigh.

"Uh… cool shirt."

Tristan cringed.

That's the best thing you can say?

To his complete surprise, however, Fidel's expression brightened. "It's a limited edition merch from my favorite vtuber! It took four months for this shirt to arrive, but the wait was so worth it!"

Despite Fidel's enthusiastic explanation, Tristan understood half of his sentence instead. "A-What? Vtuber?"

Fidel was about to say something, but stopped himself. "Actually, let me show you instead!"

He reached for his pocket, pulled out his phone, typed something on the screen, and turned the screen around to Tristan.

Tristan leaned closer and squinted his eyes. It was a video of-

"An anime girl talking while playing video games?"

He watched the video further, now with mild curiosity. After a minute, something clicked in his mind. "Oh! I think I've seen those clips floating around facebook and twitter! They're japanese streamers that use anime avatars, right?"

Fidel's joyous expression grew bigger. "Vtubers started in japan, but they recently grew in popularity worldwide! Especially on the western side!"

He looked at his phone, selected another video, then flipped it back to Tristan. "Here! This is my favorite vtuber, Cocoa! She is so entertaining! She has this mature voice and look, but what makes her great is how absolutely crazy and unique her ideas are!"

Tristan watched the video in silence while Fidel watched his reaction, waiting for the funny moments to hit him. Tristan still felt a bit confused by the concepts of vtubers, but he let out a few chuckles during some funny moments in the video.

"I was so lucky I could buy this! Her merch sold out literally after a minute of announcement!"

His gleeful laugh boomed loud enough that some customers glanced at him, but neither he nor Tristan noticed. "It's hard to explain the appeal of vtubers unless you are a fan yourself. But one thing for sure is the entertainment factor.”

“It applies to both vtubers and regular streamers alike. But in the end, vtubers are still streamers, just with a virtual avatar instead of a face cam. It's their personalities that what makes them entertaining."

Fidel took a sip of his soda, then bite his food, practically glowing from being able to share his passion for vtubers.

Meanwhile, Tristan stared at him in awe, speechless.

Wow… He's like a kid explaining to his parents why dinosaurs were the best thing, so cute!

Fidel pressed something on his phone. "Here! Check this favorite skit of Cocoa!" he handed the phone to Tristan.

Tristan watched the entire video. It took a few minutes, but his mind slowly understood the appeal of vtubers as he switched his mindset of watching them as entertainers instead of solely focusing on the anime aspect.

Seeing Tristan’s reactions amused Fidel. It was making his joy expand further.

After Tristan finished watching, he handed Fidel's phone back to him. "What do you think?" Fidel asked with a big smirk.

Tristan hummed. “Her crazy medicinal skits with others were pretty hilarious, and the way others bounced to her added to the humor."

"Right!” Fidel clapped his hands. “If you want more suggestions, I'll message you my favorite clips later! I am quite the connoisseur of Cocoa clips!" he twirled an imaginary mustache then let out a chuckle.

They resumed to eat their almost forgotten lunch, smiles on their face for different reasons.