Coffee On Us Chapter 3: The New Client... Friend or Foe?
***Author Note: Eek, I am so excited for this fic and I am hoping you all like it *squeals* Also this is pretty much unedited so if you see anything crazy, please let me know? (nicely preferably haha)
Also Cloud9 is a rival group that my friends and I made up one day. We have discussed many ideas for fics and characters. One day we wanted to come up with a rival group for a story line with the Stray Kids because we did not want to use one of the many groups we love as the antagonists.
I'm sure you will meet this mysterious character again in one of our fics, we do not like Don. Don is a terrible human being lol***
After Chan walked her home, Anise hopped onto her laptop. Originally, she was going to ask if she could have a later morning today, but she had an email from her new client.
From: Tang, Dongbaek
To: Michaels, Anise
Subject: Meeting
Good Morning Anise,
My name is Tang Dongbaek, but you may call me Don. I wanted to reach out and introduce myself. I am excited to meet our Marketing Manager as soon as possible. Would you be able to meet for brunch, 11:00am at the Gardens? I will see you then.
Looking Forward to Meeting you,
Don
After reading the email, Anise sighed as she sees the read receipt notification pop up. He really didn’t give me much of a choice, did he? She thought to herself. Looking at her watch, there was no point in taking a nap since she would barely get any additional sleep anyways. She decided to take a shower and get ready for the meeting, planning on stopping by Oddinary on her way to the restaurant. She would be able to get some work done and enjoy some coffee. Maybe get to know the guys a bit more?
Around 9 am, Anise heads out to Oddinary. When she gets there, there’s no one else there and now there’s a table with a comfy chair in the corner. She stops and looks at the corner, do they just constantly change their furniture? She shakes her head and walks up to the counter.
Changbin sees her and smiles, “Good Morning Anise, are we feeling a bit better?” he asks.
“A little bit, didn’t really get to nap when I got home, got an email from a client that I have to meet up with here in a little while. Do you mind if I set up shop in the corner?” Anise asks.
“Of course you can, Want me to make you an espresso?” Changbin asks.
“Yes please! Are Felix and Chan here?” Anise asks.
“They had to go for a supply run and will be back shortly.” Changbin smiles.
“Ahh, I wanted to thank them for this morning. I was pretty out of it I guess…” Anise says nervously.
“Yeah, it happens. You shouldn’t work yourself so hard.” Changbin says with a reassuring smile.
“Question though, if you don’t mind me asking?” Anise looks at Changbin.
“Maybe answer?” Changbin says.
“When I first came in here last week, there was a normal chair in that corner. Last night it was recliner, today it’s a comfy office chair?” Anise looks at the corner while asking.
“Oh...” Changbin rubs the back of his neck nervously, “Chan likes to change things whenever he feels like something is gonna be needed. I think he wanted to possibly work out here today instead of the back office.” He says.
“So, I shouldn’t sit there? I was hoping to work a little bit before I head to my meeting.” Anise says.
Changbin looks like he’s going to be in trouble. “You can! Chan will more than likely just work out here later. It is open for you!” Changbin says at a slightly higher note than normal.
Anise giggles, “Thank you Changbin.”
“You can call me Binnie,” Changbin says.
“Thank you, Binnie.” Anise says with a smile. Anise walks over to the table and pulls out her laptop. She sits down and puts headphones on. Changbin brings over her drink and she thanks him but doesn’t look up. He shakes his head as this reminds him of his boss when he gets into one of his moods.
Felix and Chan come back to the café after a while, but Anise doesn’t seem to notice. They both see that she is busy typing up something and so they leave her be, walking over to Changbin instead.
“Everything okay Binnie?” Chan asks.
“Yeah…” Changbin says as he double checks Anise is too busy to listen in. “She noticed the café adapting though.”
Chan looks wide eyed at Changbin, “She did!? What did you say?”
“I blamed you of course. Hashtag Always Chan’s Fault. I just said you were planning on working out here today instead of the back.” Changbin shrugs at Chan.
Felix laughs, “That works!”
“She has a meeting soon though; I don’t know the time. You might want to take over your spot here soon so she’s not late.” Changbin says using his fingers his fingers as air quotes.
“I’ll go say hello!” Felix says and is off before any protests can be held. Felix rushes over to Anise’s side and sits down. Felix watches Anise for a few seconds before he gently touches her arm.
Anise looks up, takes her headphones off, and looks at Felix. “Felix! Hello! Thank goodness you are here, I wanted to thank you for this morning!” She says smiling.
“Aww you don’t have to do that! I am always happy to be of service!” Felix says. “What are you working on? Binnie says you have a meeting this morning and didn’t get to take a nap?”
“Unfortunately, no, I made the mistake of checking my email and apparently the client had read receipts on so I couldn’t pretend I didn’t see it. We have a meeting at the Gardens? I think that’s a restaurant or something about 10 minutes from here.” Anise says.
“Ahh yes, The Gardens is a small intimate café a few blocks away. Would you like a ride? I believe Chan has to head up that way here soon for a meeting as well.” Felix asks.
“Oh no I don’t want to impose! I would feel terrible since he already walked me home this morning!” Anise shakes her head.
“It’s not a problem, I promise,” Felix says as he waves Chan to come over. “Hey Boss, so Anise has a meeting at the gardens at…” He turns and looks at Anise.
“11 am” she says softly.
“At 11 am! Think you could give her a ride?” Felix asks with a look of insistence in his eyes.
At first Chan seems annoyed with this request which causes Anise to tense up. “I told him I was okay to walk it Chan, my apologies. Don’t worry about it, really, I am fine.” She says.
Chan sees Anise tense up and immediately changes his demeanor, “It’s okay, sorry! I do have a meeting up that way around 11 am as well and would be more than happy to drop you off.” He says with a charming smile.
Felix turns and looks at Anise, “See, told you that he would be able to give you a ride!” he smiles.
“Only if you are sure Chan, I don’t want to cause any issues.” She says.
“No issues I promise. Leave in about fifteen minutes?” Chan asks.
Anise nods, “That would be perfect. It would give me time to finish this memo and get my stuff packed up.”
“Ok, I gotta deal with something in the back with Felix here so I will be out in a few.” He smiles and grabs Felix by the ear and takes him into the back of the shop. Felix continues to smile the whole way and when they get into the back office, Chan pushes him into the extra chair.
“What the hell did I tell you about pushing Felix?” Chan says sternly.
“That wasn’t a push, it was a slight nudge…” Felix says with a smirk.
“Not okay Felix, it’s supposed to be a natural thing.” Chan says.
“I was only trying to help, she seemed stress about this meeting, and I figured you giving her a ride would be a ‘2 birds, 1 stone’ type of thing.” Felix says looking at the ground.
“I get it Lix but you gotta be careful. Free will is a big deal and if we manipulate her into this, then it won’t be a true match with us. Please think things through.” Chan says pleadingly.
“I'm sorry. I will try my best to do better.” Felix says.
“Thank you, now if she asks you what this was about, inventory.” Chan says.
Felix nods and wipes his eyes quickly. Chan notices but doesn’t acknowledge the tears because he knows it would only cause Felix to cry a bit more. Chan stands up and pats Felix on the shoulder, grabs his keys and heads out to the front to meet Anise. Anise is packed up and ready to go when Chan makes it to the front of the shop.
“Ready to go?” Chan asks.
Anise nods and follows him out the door. Chan leads her behind the shop to his blacked out SUV that’s parked in the owner spot.
“Thank you again Chan, I really appreciate it.” Anise says as she gets into the front seat.
“No problem, Anise, I’m just happy to help.” Chan smiles and winks at her.
Within a couple of minutes, Chan is pulling up outside of The Gardens. He parks, gets out and opens the door for Anise. “Thank you” Anise says as Chan nods.
“Good luck in your meeting, here's my cell. Text me when you are done with your meeting and I'll swing by and drive ya back.” Chan says as he hands here a post-it note with his number. He then gets into his vehicle and heads off. Anise turns around and looks at the café in front of her, checks the time on her phone, takes a deep breath and goes inside.
Unbeknownst to Anise, there is a man watching everything from his table in the corner. At the sight of Chan opening the car door for Anise and her smiling at him, the man smirks with a hint of annoyance. He looks at his watch and sees that she arrives at 10:55 am. He deems that this is not acceptable, and he plans on making his displeasure known. He watches her as she takes a deep breath before walking inside and then stands up.
