Back Then, Over A Full Cup of Coffee, We Met.

I've met Raphael long before I met Katya. But, at that time she's a waiter working for a café I often go to when visiting the City for vacation.

Well, we're somehow all in the same place at this beach resort far north of ******. I didn't even know how she got her or rather, why she was here in the first place.

There's a point in life where everything stops, right? Maybe this is when it stopped for me.

Half past 5, the sky is still a grayish blue to purple, the most mesmerising shade of sky, over clouds blocking off the sun, only leaving streaks of yellow amongst them. When last night's waves might've gotten high on their horses, it is a little calmer now. Yet strong winds prevail, hitting both the still dry sand or my hair to then pierce a part of my eye repeatedly, even under glasses.

I was alone in all this—leaving me to do whatever I want—and I did nothing. Nothing more capable of distracting me of such a magnificent view, of the clouds, sands, rocks, and suspiciously foamy seawater, all arranged in a neat horizontal line we all know as the horizon. People say the earth is flat never see how the horizon bends under the narrow view angles of their eyes.

Later into my... lonely hangout session, some other guests have opened their eyes to the same view I was blessed with just a moment ago. Then, some more, and some of them popped up under swimsuits, ready to swim on the beach, challenging the fierce waves even I won't bother swimming in. Lillith was here earlier, but then left in a hurry to the back.

Squirrels have also been following on my footsteps climbing the nearby coconut trees behind me. What was once blocked—I mean the sun—is back to being blindingly bright even under the tinted sunglasses I bought just two days ago from a street vendor. They're shaped like my usual, round sunglasses, but darker.

Katya is nowhere to be found, or rather be behind me at the time I'm writing this, but she'll never tell me, because that's who she has always been! As if that one time at school wasn't enough fun teasing me already... Oh well, I can't change a person especially one as fun as she was.

Hm.

"Well, what do we have here...?"

That voice... Katya!

I turned my head to the right and saw her peeking right to my earrings. They're moon-shaped, same colour as my hair and said,

"Oh—Hi.... Katya. I'm just... doing nothing."

"You're holding your sketchbook."

I was, yes. There was something I wanted to draw, but I've forgotten all about them. It might've been us, or just the beach by themselves, or the people playing on them—which there was—now nowhere to be seen, but I'll never know.

"I wanted to draw earlier... But I forgot."

"How about drawing u-" Her voice was cut off by someone else talking behind us.

"Hey guys. Can I be with you all?"

"I don't know what do, but I want... hear."

It's Raphael... Thank god. She couldn't speak proper English, partly because she's new to Kshtirawar, and she's also not a citizen here. Back at the café, we talked for a long while about how she's been longing to go out with me back when I was single, and how it feels to be here as a non-citizen, or how one of her dream is to make the best coffee I have ever tasted, despite knowing I never really liked coffee in the first place. Sadly, I never really took up on that offer and even now when I'm together with her.

"Parker... want coffee? I can make one now." She asked again.

"...Maybe not now, Raphael dear, okay?" I replied.

Then, Katya looked at me and said, "Wait, she can make coffee? How??"

Raphael stopped for a while, seemingly thinking of an answer to the question Katya asked.

She replied, "It's simple. My arm, not real. Like my leg. The arm, make coffee, also storage." Katya turned her head down, "Oh... I didn't know that... I'm sorry. But that's very cool, though..." "It's... fine. I don't know how I become this... arm... leg... less... person but I can make coffee now. It's all I want."

She's still firm with the 'I will make coffee for Parker' part after all this time. I admire her dedication, sure. Maybe I'll try it just once. They're bitter, utterly distasteful drinks. My dad once gave me one to try, and they're just black. Later, he found me coughing and trying to cuff out the one sip I took out of that and then it's off. I'll never try one again. About the café I frequent to, I never really ordered coffee, instead settling for tea whenever it's there or something else that's sweet, even when Raphael tried her best to convince me that sweet coffee do exist, as with what I remember,

---

"Parker, try this coffee...! You say, you want sweet, right? This is sweet, please try it. Tell me what you think." She pleaded to me, after the fourth time I was here. In her hand there was it, some coffee which if she didn't tell me anything about, I wouldn't have known. It was instead foamy and white, with a little art which I wanted to assume was leaves at first, but then realised it's more heart-shaped than it is leaf.

---

"Parker,"

"How's this one? Do you like it?” Katya asked me.

I answered, "It's calm, I love it so much."

"You don't sound too enthusiastic about it... Is it really okay?”

"I'm tired, Katya... You woke me up early today..."

"You say you want to see the sunrise, now you're complaining that's you're tired?”

"I-I'm sorry..."

"Haah..."

"I forgive you.”

"I have something bugging me for a while too."

"Coffee, Katya?"

"Hm...? Sure, I guess.”

"What type?"

"What do you have available?”

"I don't have much. Storage can't take lots."

"Maybe some espresso?"

"I have. Wait.”

While Raphael gets her armature coffee maker ready, Katya turned back to me and leans closer to my ear. I instinctively did the same to her. Our faces are now pretty close to each other, and I started to speak, rather softly.

"What things have been bothering you, my dearest, most beautiful darling?"

"It's about you, mostly."

"What's about me?"

"..."

Her arms suddenly wrapped around my waist, then up the chests and holding it tightly. Then, from the makeshift chair made of wooden scraps, she got to her knees on top, and wraps herself on my shoulder. She kissed me on the cheeks before I had the chance to say anything.

"Sorry, Parker. It's been a while since I did that~"