A Bitter Drink in the Rain

Short one-shot written by: Phoenix


The weather forecast didn't say anything about raining in Tuesday, but now the clear, blue sky is now covered by ash-colored thunderclouds. Showers of raindrops poured the streets and made the air feel chilly and slightly humid. Traffic became slower as rain continued to drop from the clouds, and birds were all frightened by the lightning flashing and thunder roaring and flew away to a more peaceful destination.

Running footsteps of a man and his dog made puddles splash everywhere, soaking their feet. The man held tightly onto the leash of his dog, while the dog is running right next to him, trying to find a good shelter for his master to hide from the rain with his nose. The dirty puddles from the concrete sidewalk changed the master's brand new white Nike sneakers to a pattern with brown spots everywhere like a leopard's skin.

"Come on, Matt, I see something we can hide under," he called out to his dog. The chilly wind slaps his face and made it difficult to open his eyes. The energetic golden retriever barked and ran faster to show him he's capable of himself so the man has no need to worry about him.

After three more minutes, the young man and his dog finally arrived in front of the door of a small cafe. He bent over and rested his hands on his knees while trying to catch his breath. His lips are now dried from the cold wind and from running too fast, so he licked them. Matt, his golden retriever, shook his head roughly, trying to shake the rainwater off of his face.

The young man looked like he is in his early 20's, but clearly is bonier than most males his age. His reddish brown hair looks a little messy, his bangs are a little slanted towards the right, and soaked wet from the rain. His eyes are also quite huge, the golden irises shimmer even when there's no sun out there. If it wasn't for the dark bags under his eyes from stress and his visible cheekbones from eating less than normal, he'd be a quite handsome young man. His black jacket are also wet from the showers, and the collar of his white shirt inside. The only thing that is not wet is his cream yellow sweater. His brown pants felt tight and uncomfortable around his legs after being soaked. The rain ruins everything.

He turned around and looked at a sign on the window that says, "Le Cafe de Mary" in big, bold, golden letters. "Well buddy, seems like no pets are allowed inside... Do you want something to eat in there? Some cakes? Brownies? Anything?" he turned to his dog and asked. Matt only licked his mouth and turned away. "Guess nothing... I'll be back in a few moments, 'kay? Don't run off. Though I think there's no need to worry about you......" The young man walked over tied the leach tightly onto the sign in the parking lot right in front of the cafe that says, "CUSTOMERS OF LE CAFE DE MARY ONLY" and patted Matt's head. Then he turned to the cafe and opened the door and stepped in after wiping his wet shoes on the small, black doormat. He was greeted by a warm and cheerful, "Welcome to Le Cafe de Mary~ How may I help you today, sir?" A pretty brunette with huge, round, blue eyes wearing a light green dress with white apron gave him a big smile and waited for his response. The young man sees a name tag that says "MARY" on it. She must be the owner.

"U-Uh, well, I'll just have a small cup of espresso, please..." he answered nervously. It's clear to Mary that he is an anti-social person.

"Alright, I'll have your order up right away~" Mary turned around began to find the coffee beans in the drawers.

He looked around for a quiet spot to sit in. In the corner to the left of the entrance was a small table of two. One seat has been occupied by a young woman around her 18's who's staring at the rain outside the window, her cappuccino cooling down from the air conditioner. She has shoulder-length pitch black hair that's tucked in her lavender scarf and she has green eyes that looked like emeralds. Her long-sleeved sweater is also black, which surprisingly fits her pale skin well, her blue jeans are the comfortable-loose ones, and she wore tall, brown boots that goes up three-fourths to her calves. Only the part from the ankles and down are visible, the rest are covered by her jeans. He wouldn't call her pretty, but at least not too ugly either. Probably in the average.

'A little company wouldn't hurt, right?' he thought to himself as he approaches the young woman.

"E-Excuse me?" he stuttered, trying to get her attention. She didn't respond. Seems like she's zoning out.

"Excuse me?" he asked again, a little louder than last time.

"Huh? Oh-!" she turned around and is surprised seeing someone in front of her. "S-Sorry, how long have you been standing here?"

"Not long," he replied, then asked carefully, "Well... i-is it okay if I sit here?"

The young woman didn't reply immediately. Instead, she looks as if she's taken aback and stared at him.

"Or... are you waiting for someone else?" he tried not to sound disappointed.

"Oh no, I was just... kind of surprised that someone will rather sit with me and not in the other empty spots. Sure thing, you can sit here," she answered sheepishly. He decided that she is just as anti-social as him. He picked up the chair and placed it farther away from the table so he can sit in it without making any screeching noises by just dragging it across the floor. He sat down and scratched the back of his head. "Um... how can I address you?" he asked. Knowing each other's name is better than just calling each other "miss" and "sir".

"Lyn. My name, I meant. Lyn Robelle." She picked up her cup of cappuccino and took a sip.

"Lyn Robelle? That is a very......" the man tried to think of a good word to describe it.

"Weird?" Lyn offered, "I get that a lot."

"N-No! I-I meant to say it's very... unique. Right, unique. The parents here don't really bother to give their child a good name. As long as they know how do they look like, it doesn't matter what to address them..." Just like the name "Mary" has been used by at least fifty students in his school.

Lyn laughed lightly, "Oh, really? Guess names don't really matter to the identities then. That's nice."

"Huh? How is it nice?" he laughed a little at this comment.

"Just like animals, the people here don't need names to know who they are. It must be really nice to know who they truly are... And it's not a waste of time to think of a good name."

The young man was taken aback by such a deep explanation. "Now that you mention it....."

They stayed silent for a little. Mary then walked to them with a small plate that has a cup of espresso on it. "Here you go, sir, your small espresso~" She placed it nicely without making any loud noises in front of the young man on the glass table. The bitter smell of the fresh coffee along with the cool breeze from the air conditioner and the quiet music that's playing in a radio calmed every cell of his. He picked the cup up by its handle and took a sip of the coffee.

"Oh, by the way, what is your name? I forgot to ask," Lyn rested the side of her head on her palm that's supported by her elbow. The peaceful atmosphere in this cafe is making her feel a little sleepy.

The young man suddenly stopped drinking for a moment, then slowly sets the cup back onto the table on the small plate. "...George. George Nomed," he answered. His voice became lower when he said his full name. This surname is worshipped by everyone in this city, but he knew exactly the truth.

"Nomed, huh? The same name as this city..." Lyn picked up her cup and took another long sip. "Do you get a lot of attention at school?"

George looked down at the table and stared at his faded reflection on the glass table. He sighed, "Yeah... Whenever I step into the school building, I was greeted by cheerful good mornings. Everyone will stop what they were doing and will give me a smile. Even the principal will."

"Isn't that a good thing, though?"

"Haha... you must be new to this city, Lyn. I know that those smiles are fake. They... how should I put this? My ancestors founded this city centuries ago and named it after their last name, and there was a rumor that this city was haunted when founded. People acted like they were kind to me all because I am related to the founders of this place......"

"George..." Lyn's eyebrows narrowed as she listened to him.

George laughed a little and ran his fingers through his hair. "You might think that... I'm a very popular and loved person in this place, but deep inside... the people of Nomed feared me and detested me and were all looking forward to the day either I die or leave this place. All of their efforts were just to make me have positive opinions on them so I wouldn't curse them... Maybe that's why I'm scared to talk to anyone, moreover, tell them my full name."

"I wonder why you told me," said Lyn.

"Probably because you aren't from this city, I suppose," replied George. It surprised him that her tone didn't show any sympathy in it. Usually when most people hear such a depressing life story from a young man like him will always pity him helplessly, even when he knows they really don't care at all. Lyn is the first person he felt comfortable with telling her what he's been through.

Lyn chuckled and crossed her legs. "I am, in fact, born here. I just don't really care what is going on outside of my home, since the society's pretty much messed up already." George couldn't agree more.

"Haha.... I wish I could be as carefree as you," George shook his head helplessly, a thing that not many people his age does. "You certainly are... a unique person. Most people will just try and cheer me up by saying stuff like look outside of this world or things will change." He regretted a little when he asked that. It sounded like he wanted to be pitied or something.

Fortunately, she didn't question him anything and only answered honestly, "I never sympathize anyone. No matter how much you feel bad about someone, their fate still wouldn't be changed."

He laughed wholeheartedly for the first time in more than a decade. Then he picked up his cup of espresso and drank about half of it. "No sugar or half-and-half? Milk? Cream? Anything?" Lyn watched in amusement as he took in the bitter coffee without adding anything sweet into it. "Nah, I prefer fresh, black coffee. Bittersweet just doesn't suit me. And plus... I think I've gotten used to experiencing bitterness now. It'd be difficult for me to suddenly try something sweet."

"It takes a long time for someone to get used to having a bitter life, but for they'll never have enough sweetness added into the bitterness." Lyn merely stated.

George stared at her for a while to get used to someone younger than him saying something so accurate by comparing it to coffee. He laughed, "I admire you, Lyn. I learned so much from you today. It's been so long since I had a real conversation like this with someone."

Lyn glanced at the window for a moment then turned back to him, "That golden retriever out there...... is it yours?" Outside the window, Matt is already sleeping peacefully as the rain starts to stop and sunlight began to crawl out behind the gray clouds. George leaned towards the table to adjust himself so he can see him clearly. "You mean Matt? Yeah, he is my dog. He's the only one that's willing to listen to any of my problems, despite not understanding what I'm saying," he replied.  Lyn nodded and cleared her throat. It's getting late now, and a couple of customers already left. The cafe is even more quieter than before. She picked up her cup and finished the rest of her coffee in one gulp and wiped her mouth with the mint green napkin that's besides the plate. "Well then, I'll be leaving now. I really don't like going home at night. The traffic gets worse than ever and I have to wait forever for the red palm to turn into the white walking stick figure." Lyn stood up and head to the door.

George immediately stood up, "W-Wait! I-Is there by any chance that... we can meet again?"

She stopped and turned around. They stared at each other for a few seconds without any words spoken. George felt anxious for her answer; it's the first time he met someone that doesn't mind discussing his feelings with him and he isn't willing to let go of this one precious person. The bitter taste of the espresso on his tongue didn't help to calm him down. She only gave him a smile and said, "That is something that fate decides. Finish your coffee before you leave." Then she left without another word. George widened his eyes as he watched her leave through the window. And then, he smiled warmly. He sat back down and lifted his cup to drink the remaining espresso, but then stopped in mid-air. He reached out for a tiny half-and-half and a bag of sugar and poured them in his coffee. The sweet scent made him cringe at first, but eventually disappeared. He lifted the cup once again and gulped down the rest of the coffee. It took him a while to get used to having sweet coffee, but he did not hate it at all. "The coffee is still bitter..." he muttered to himself.

George stood up and left his payment on the table for Mary to pick up and walked out of the door. Warm, humid air greeted him as he closed the door behind him. Scenting a familiar smell, Matt immediately jumped up and barked loudly, feeling very happy to see his owner back. George chuckled and patted his head then went to untie the leash off of the sign. "Let's go, buddy. I'm going to see if Mom came home from work." Matt responded with another loud bark and licked his hand. They both turned away from the cafe and walked down the sidewalk, avoiding puddles along the way.

The bitter taste in his mouth slowly became sweet as sugar.