A man peeked at Christopher from behind, above his seat. “Chris, is that you?”

Chris turned around and said, “Hi, Jones, what are you doing here?”

“Chilling and eating, what brings you here? Jones asked, mildly surprised by Chris's presence.

Chris points towards me and says, “I am here with Michael, and he is from our college. We dropped by here for snacks.”

“Hi, Are you here by yourself?” I asked Jones.

“No, I am here with Richard."  he says, pointing towards a man sitting in front of him, stuffing some pastries. Richard looks at us for a second and waves his hand, then goes back to devouring his pastries.

"Anyways, Chris, when is the door repair guy coming?” Jones asked him.

He replied, “About that, I asked the landlord, and she said that she would send it for him, tomorrow in the late morning.” 

Richard chimed in, “From what I heard from Jones, Isn’t that landlord lady indifferent to the problems faced by her renters?”

“Yes, she indeed is, but this case was a security issue for her building, so she took some steps in this case.” Chris responded.

Wait, security issue? What does he mean by that? What happened at his place? I thought to myself.

Jones said, “The landlord lady extended her hand for help. She must have been shocked when the cops asked her about the intruder.”

Richard got up from his place and said, “Let’s go, Jones, or we will miss the game night today. Plus, Lyla told us there was no chance for latecomers, which is unfair if you ask me.”

Jones got up too and said, “Yes, unfair it is. Alright, Chris, I will be back tomorrow morning. See ya. Bye Michael.” He waved and went to the counter.

Chris waved him back. So did I.

"Could you please tell me about what happened back at your building?” I was a little concerned about the whole intruder thing.

“Well, someone entered the apartment Jones and I live in and tried to break into my room, but I escaped. The cops are still searching for the intruder.” He said it while seeming uncomfortable with the topic.

I was not going to make him uncomfortable. “I am sorry, I did not mean to pry too much into your issues.” I apologised. I did not want to mess up this da- noo I mean snack meeting. Wait, what was I thinking just now? Get a grip, Michael. Get a grip.

Is he alright, though? I asked him, “You were not hurt, right? What about Jones? Was he okay?”

“Jones was not at the apartment that time. It was just me and I am alright.” He replied.

Oh, thank goodness. I hope the intruder will be caught soon. I thought to myself.

He said, “Thanks for asking. But you don’t have to be so worried about it.”

Huh? Was he reading my mind? How did he know I was worried? I am being too obvious, I guess.

The waitress from before, whose name was Nowa or something, arrived with our order and said, “Here is the order of both of you.” I glanced at her name tag, Nora. Yeah, right, I had forgotten her name. 

I observed that it did not take long for Chris to begin eating his loaf cake. He seemed hungry. “Enjoy the food and the date too.” She winked, and off she went to the other table.

Chris nearly choked on cake, kudos to the waitress, Nowa for that.

“Are you alright? Let me help you with that.” I told him.

He motioned for me to stop and drank some water.

“I am fine.” He said it after some seconds.

First, I made my snack meeting guy uncomfortable, and now the waitress has graciously provided this table with those words. Those words have made the atmosphere of the café for both of us awkward, which, by the way, no one asked for.

Chris glanced at the counter. He was glaring at someone for a moment.

“Sorry about that, Mason and his staff friends are just teasing us. They do it all the time with their customer friends.” He said.

I waved my hands in the air, confused, “No, it’s alright.”

“Umm, okay.” He said.

Something clicked in my head, “Would you like to have some of the cinnamon rolls?” I asked to ease up the atmosphere.

“Ah, No I do-”

I immediately put one of my rolls on his plate and said, “It won’t hurt to try, Right?”

“Ok, we both can share our snacks.” He said while giving me some of his cake.

“Do you visit his café often?” I asked him.

The rolls were delicious. They were soft, and the filling felt buttery. Maybe I am giving this cinnamon roll too much credit, but being a sweet tooth does not make this easier. The loaf cake was delicious; it neither had a lot moist nor was it too spongy. A awesome loaf cake.

He replied, “No sometimes, mostly to meet up with Mason.”

“I am surprised, why only sometimes? This is one of the delicious baked goodies. The other baked goodies I have eaten are mostly made by my  mom. I told him.

“I had not much time, lately.” He said while looking away from me.

I noticed that he had eaten his cinnamon roll, and without thinking, I extended my hand, which was holding a fork with a cinnamon roll piece, towards him.

My phone rang, and I immediately moved my hand away and picked up the phone.

“Hello, who is this?” I asked, I did not even check who was calling me.

“Huh? You forgot about your grandpa, what kind of grandson are you?” said, my grandpa from the other line.

Chris looked at me, and I hoped he did not see what I was doing just now.

“No, absolutely not. I did not check who was calling me before picking it up.” I replied to Grandpa.

“What has gotten into you?” Grandpa

The boy sitting in front of me has gotten to me. I don’t understand how or why?

“Nothing, just here at the cafe eating baked goodies with my friend.” I replied.

Grandpa paused for a second; I could hear the sound of Brownie in the background. “Ok, but come straight home after that, Brownie has been in a low mood ever since his vet visit.”

“What happened?” I asked, feeling my head spiraling in nervousness.

“The vet said he is completely fine. He is always the gloomy after vet visit. He hates that place.” Grandpa replied.

"Oh, I see.”

“He will be fine in a day, just needs company now.”

"Still, haven’t gotten used to vets.”

Grandpa said, "Yes, still learning to adapt to vet. Anyways, come back soon okay? I cannot prepare dinner while this dog keeps distracting me.”

"Ok, I will see you later, Grandpa.” I told him.

“Yes.” And Grandpa hung up.

“It was Grandpa. He needs a little help with Brownie.” I told Chris.

Chris looked at me confused and asked, “Who is Brownie?”

I felt like my mind gleamed for a moment. “Brownie is our pet dog. He has been with us for 3 years.”

“That sounds nice. You said he needs some help, though?” He asked.

I replied, “He is fine, just gloomy after the vet visit.”

“Oh, I see.”

I began looking through my phone for my brown dog pictures, “Here, it is, this is from the time when we first got him. He was a pup at that time.” I showed him Brownie‘s photos.

Chris just stared at the pictures for a few moments and said, “He is adorable and is still adorable in his adult form.” He was in awe.

“Don’t be fooled by his looks, he is the most mischievous creature, I’ve ever seen so far.” I told him.

“He is a dog, Michael, not a toddler.” Chris told me.

“No, you don’t know him. Do not be fooled by these pictures.”

Chris took a sip of his coffee and raised his eyebrows.

“He brings random objects into the home. Sticks, random pipe, some kid’s lost ball, someone’s shoe, you name it.” I complained to him about the Brownie.

“Someone’s shoe, where did he find that?” he asked.

I shrugged, while sipping my drink.

“You did not give him any training about dos and don’ts of the house or something?” He asked me.

I sighed, “We did, but it feels like he does some things on purpose.”

“Really?”

“You should see it for yourself, Chris. Oh wait, how about I introduce my dog to you sometime?” I asked him.

He began fidgeting with the cup holder and said, “I don-”

“No, please do not deny my offer, Brownie is a friendly dog, he won’t harm you.” I interrupted him.

“No, that’s not the issue; it’s just that we are going to have a tight schedule in a month. So meeting him would be hard.” He said this while looking outside.

“No problem, I will introduce you to him after exams. You can bring along Mason too.” I said, before he brought up other reasons to deny my offer. Was he really denying my offer? My suspiciousness said yes.

“Ok. Well, now it’s time for me to go back, though.”

“Alright, let’s go together then.” I told him.

“I will take care of the bill.” He said to me.

I put my hand in front of him and said, “No, let me do that.”

He gave me a disapproving look, “I was the one who suggested this place, so let me do it.” He told me before moving towards the counter. He motioned for me to wait outside.

After he came, I told him, “Next time, I am the one paying the bill. Got it, Chris?”

“Got it.” He said it in a hurry, but after that, he almost froze. Did he not realize what I was telling him? He seemed to have spaced out.

I could not help but find it a little amusing. “Hey, you there, Chris?” I asked him for the second time.