It wasn't like me to be late, but I've suddenly found a lot of time on my hands, thanks to Lem and Chris.

   "I think we can push her to hire you."

   Hani raised a brow at Justin, as did I.

   "How?" Chris leaned in.

   Justin turned his head to watch the incoming crowd of individuals and couples ordering their drinks.

   "Look. Drinks are one thing, but say they all ordered food."

   Chris nodded, understanding exactly where Justin was getting at. I followed their gazes, landing on Vera who worked solo behind the counter.

   "Okay. So, we'll order then."

   Soon as Chris got up, the owner finished the orders without batting an eye.

   "She's used to that." Lem crossed his arms in thought. "During this time of the year, she always gets that many customers in. See there," this time he pointed to the 50 persons capacity sign, "she can keep up with that many coming in and they seldom order food."

   "Why?" Hani asked curiously.

   "Because they treat it like a library." Lem rummaged through his backpack. "We pack our own food. We buy the drinks just to keep the place going. Maybe one or two will buy but never the 50."

   "She's never struggled to keep up with the orders?"

   "Never."

   The bell on the door dinged.

   "Oh. It's Lav. Lav!" Lem shot to his feet and waved eagerly at a young girl.

   The owner seemed to know her too.

   "That's Lav. She plays the piano sometimes. Maybe we’ll be lucky enough to hear it today."

   "Back to the food thing," Justin changed back the topic. "Go order us all a sandwich. I'll order t-the... wanpaku."

   "BLT for me."

   "Wanpaku for Aust and egg drop for me."

   I raised a brow at Lem.

   "You work today, no? Gotta eat, bro."

   Chris got up again, "So I'm ordering then."

   "Thanks for the treat!" Justin grinned.

   Letting out my deepest sigh yet for the semester, I pushed open the chiming door into Uri Story Cafe.

   A smiling woman greeted me.

   "August, good timing."

   I winced. I could've sworn I told her I preferred my nickname.

   "Aust. I'd like to be called Aust." I repeated.

   "Aust." She smiled again. "You can call me Vera, just Vera."

   I nodded, "You told me that already."

   She smiled again at her mistake.

   "I have a few orders that came in early this morning, so I'll be by the back. You can man the cashier and take orders. Remember that for students you can scan their IDs and for non-students–"

   "Check if they have the membership and if not, offer it, and if they refuse, ask for their ID. Ah. And remind them that any damages to the books will be fined."

   "I've never had a part-timer." She said honestly for the sixth time since she's hired me. "So, I'm going to repeat myself a few more times until I can fully trust you. Is that alright?"

   She had a point, so I agreed.

   Just as Lem had told us, the cafe had its regulars coming in at the exact time. Though there were non-regulars, they followed suit by ordering only drinks as they came in and food after they'd had time to sit.

   "It's just how we do it here," an old man handed me the exact amount of cash. "Before Vera, it was Katherine and before Kat, it was my dear friend Melinda."

   So, it was inherited.

   "Vera's the first to successfully buy the place from the Daniels. I was surprised when they sold it. I really thought they'd be saving it up for one of their kids."

   So, not inherited.

   "But then again, Vera used to come here a lot as a child. Charles was a good friend of Vera's father."

   I really didn't know why he was telling me all this.

   "You're the very first part-timer outside of the family, you know."

   For the first time that morning, I noticed all the eyes focused on me.

   "We've been regulars for a very long time. Vera's like family. We protect our family."

   I opened my mouth and brushed my lips with my tongue instead of saying something.

   Inherited.

   To these people, I must look like such an eyesore, a complete outsider and invader in their home. I understood that.

   "You have nothing to worry about. I'm just here to work."

   "That's the problem." Lem wrapped his arms around the old man soon as he came in. "You can't just think of this place as your workplace."

   I didn't understand that.

   "Vera loves her books. And you're gonna have to organize them at some point."

   I hadn't taken that into consideration. It was a library after all and not a bookstore. People never brought the books outside of the cafe. Not that I'd seen since this morning.

   Would she fire me if she found out I wasn't much of a reader?

   "Don't worry!" Vera patted down her dress as she emerged from wherever she'd been this entire time. "You just have to know what these mean."

   She grabbed a nearby book and pointed at the sticker with a code.

   "I'll teach them to you later when it's not as busy."

   I cracked my neck from side to side. I guess I had no choice, not that I was complaining. Again, this job suddenly afforded me the time I didn't have before for sleep and study. The pay was exceptionally good too.

   For a hole-in-the-wall, I was quite surprised by the above minimum wage. She also figured, for any non-busy hour, I could spend on homework or whatever I chose. And since the place closes at 6 PM, I was able to pick up another job at night. If I could, I was also given the go to add to my hours as I needed. At max, I work 10 hours, 4 days a week at Uri Story.

   With a grant, and savings from the summer jobs I had, this and my night job just about pay for my tuition this semester. I figure, if I pick up more hours, I'll be able to provide for my family without losing sleep as I did before.

   "Thank you," I pressed my lips together and gave a nod to Vera.

   She smiled as she always does.