It was a dark and damp morning the next day. The roads were still wet, the clouds were still covering the sky, and the weather forecast was expecting another heavy rain. There was not a single soul in the streets. All schools and offices were closed for the day.

But still, Susan had to go to the cafe. There were already two men in the cafe when she got inside, discussing something seriously. Nobody else was around. She scanned the place for Oscar but there was no sign of him. 'Must've taken a day off,' she thought.

She went inside the kitchen and found an unfamiliar woman washing dishes. Susan found that odd—there was a dishwasher right beside her, and she still chose to wash by hand? Susan decided to ignore the woman and continue her work.

She tied her apron around her waist, took her notepad and pen, and went out of the kitchen to take the orders of the customers. When she looked carefully from a distance as she was walking towards the customers, she realized it was Michael and Joseph, his dad.

They both were leaning into the table, Joseph's elbows on the table, seeming to explain something serious in whispered tones while Michael nodded in understanding.

As soon as Susan reached their table, they straightened up, ending their discussion. "Good morning sirs! What would you like to have today?" asked Susan brightly. She turned to Joseph first. "Two cups of espresso would be fine, wouldn't it, Michael?" He turned to Michael, who was staring at Susan with furrowed eyebrows. "What is it, Michael?" Joseph asked him. Susan felt uneasy, 'Did I do something wrong? Why is he looking at me like that?'

"Nothing..." he finally replied, "yes, two espressos will be fine." He sat uncomfortably, still with furrowed eyebrows, and looked back at his dad. "Yes, two espressos." "Okay, sirs!" Susan jotted it down in her notepad quickly and left the table.

On the way back to the kitchen, she kept thinking, 'What were they talking about? Was it about me? Why was he looking at me like that? Didn't I do good enough?' When she entered the kitchen, she found the young woman still washing dishes. 'Should I tell her there's a dishwasher there? Where did she even get those dishes to wash? Didn't Oscar do it yesterday?'

She stood still for a moment and then went to the lady. "Umm... excuse me, you don't have to wash all those dishes there. The dishwasher is right here." She pointed at the dishwasher nearby. The lady stared at the dishwasher for a few seconds and then looked at her soapy hands.

She looked at Susan with her large black eyes and pursed lips. Susan smiled at her. She washed her hands and dried them. "You could've told me earlier, you know." She said, taking balls of cloth from her apron and squeezing them in her hands. "Yes, I'm sorry about that." Susan apologized smilingly. "By the way," the lady continued, "what's your name?"

"Oh, my name is Susan. What's your name?" Susan asked.

"Lily. I'm new here so I don't know anyone here." The lady replied. She bent down and tied her shoelaces. "I could guess. I'm the head waitress. Nice to meet you." "The head waitress!" Lily exclaimed, surprised. She stood up immediately and straightened her apron. "I'm sorry ma'am."

"For what?" Susan asked.

"I... I didn't... I didn't speak to you respectfully." Said Lily, looking down at her shoes. "It's okay. You don't have to be so formal with me. I was just like you once, 5 months ago actually." Susan said, letting out a laugh thinking about how funny it was, all of this.

Lily smiled back at her. "But where did you get these dishes from?" Susan asked. "That was just there so I decided to wash them because I didn't know what else to do." Lily replied. 'So he didn't wash them. He probably forgot,' Susan thought to herself. Lily began to take the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.

Susan went to make the espressos. She placed the cups into the espresso machine and turned it on. She watched as the cups filled up with coffee. Her gaze lingered on the delicate, white cups—their elegant curves and fragile appearance were admirable.

Crack. Clumsy girl.
Crack. Careless.
Crack. Are you really that stupid?!
Crack. AND I’m way better than you.
Crack. It’s okay. It’s human to make mistakes.
Crack. Don’t you dare touch me!!

"Papa."
"Yes, my dear."
"Why doesn’t anybody want to play with me in the park?"
"That’s because they don’t know what a good girl you are. Come here, sit on Papa’s lap."

Crack. Congratulations once again, Susan!
Crack. Everybody used to like him. He was pretty nice too.
Crack. Why are you crying, Suzy?
"Sniff... sniff... he hurt me."
"Don’t worry. Papa will catch that bad guy. There, that’s my strong girl. My Suzy is a strong girl, isn’t she? Mummy’s strong, beautiful girl you are. Mummy’s strong, beautiful girl."

Crack.

“Uh… ma’am? The cups are about to overflow.”

“Oh yes. Sorry.”

She quickly took the cups along with their saucers and placed them on a tray. She left the kitchen and rang the bell. Nobody has shown up yet, she sighed. I have to serve it to them myself.

She closed her eyes tightly and tried to clear her mind. She tried to silence it—to shut off all those memories. She tried to forget yesterday and the day before and the day before that. She held her breath for a moment and then let it out. I’ve done this a thousand times before; why am I hesitating now? I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.

She opened her eyes, took the tray, and carried it towards the table where Michael and Joseph sat talking more comfortably than before. She served them their espressos and asked if they wanted anything else.

“I don’t want anything; what about you, Michael?” Joseph asked.

“No, nothing is needed,” Michael replied.

Susan gulped. She felt uneasy—whenever she looked at Michael, guilt consumed her. Why is he not looking at me? Did he listen to yesterday’s radio?

“Okay then sirs, enjoy your cups!” she said quickly and left. She returned to the kitchen, put the tray in its place, and sat on a chair, breathing heavily. She closed her eyes again and leaned her back against a cold wall, resting her head as well.

Suddenly, she remembered the days her mother took her to the beach—how they played together and collected seashells. She remembered sitting beside her mother at the end of the day, watching her blue eyes sparkle like the ocean in front of them. Her mother’s hair would fly along with the breeze that blew quietly onto their faces. Susan would hug her mother’s soft self and receive gentle kisses on the crown of her head in return. Then they would watch the ocean glittering under the sun as its waves sprayed salty water onto their faces.

Her heart ached as her mind reminded her of harsh words: I simply do not understand how in the world she got hired there; she’s terrible at her job. The manager did not have any sense when hiring her. To soothe herself, she tried recalling those happy memories from the beach.

“Susan?” A voice called out.

She opened her eyes to see Michael bent down towards her. “Were you sleeping? If you were then…” he began.

She stood up quickly. “No, no—I wasn’t sleeping.”

She straightened her uniform and brushed back her hair. “What is it?” she asked, forcing a smile.

“You don’t seem happy,” Michael replied with concern written all over his face. “Something seems to be disturbing you.”

“Disturbing? Nothing’s disturbing me—I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Susan said uneasily with a flustered laugh.

“Your face tells otherwise,” Michael replied firmly.

“It does? I guess you’re seeing it wrong—I’m completely happy and fine. Nothing is disturbing me,” Susan tried to convince him.

“Don’t lie to me, Susan,” Michael insisted gently but firmly. “It’s written all over your face. If you have a problem, you can tell me—I can help you. As your boss, it is my responsibility to make sure my employees are working happily and not in distress.”

Susan stared at him with pursed lips for a while before sighing deeply and beginning hesitantly: “It’s just that… whenever I look at you… I feel guilty.”

“Guilty? Why guilty?” Michael asked curiously.

She took a deep breath before continuing: “Yesterday night there was a talk show—an interview with that Hollywood actor I spilled tea on—playing on the radio.” Her heart sank as she spoke.

“And… he kept on… name-calling you and me—calling me clumsy, annoying, careless—and so on... And I’m fine with that—I deserve it; I really was like that—I agree.” Her voice faltered slightly as tears welled up in her eyes.

“But he called you senseless and stupid—and that is just not fair! You didn’t do anything wrong—it wasn’t your fault—but still… you’re being blamed for MY mistakes.” Fresh tears started rolling down her cheeks despite her efforts to fight them back.

“I am the one who spilled tea on him,” she continued tearfully. “I am the one who brought bad reputation to this cafe—and yet you’re being blamed for hiring me?”

She shook her head in despair and looked down at the floor as tears streamed freely down her face now.

“You’re being blamed for my mistakes—my clumsiness—and for hiring me…” Her voice broke as sobs overtook her words.

“Susan…” Michael started gently as he seated her back down in the chair beside him.

“You have no idea how important this job is to me,” Susan continued through sobs. “It’s not my part-time job or anything—my life depends on this! If I lose this job…I’ll go back to being… garbage-picker Susan.” Her voice cracked painfully as more tears escaped.

“My quality of life has improved because of this job—and now I’m messing it up…” She covered her face with both hands as shame overwhelmed her completely.

Michael knelt beside her quietly but compassionately; he held one of her hands gently while wiping away tears from her cheeks with his other hand—a comforting expression softening his features as he looked at Susan tenderly.

“Susan, it’s ok for me. I think you should stop thinking about what other people say about you or me. These people, they will say many things, many true and many not true, but whatever they say it doesn’t matter. All that matters is what you think about yourself. And don’t keep tugging onto your past, it is done and dusted, there’s nothing you can change now. But from those mistakes you can learn, and you can grow. It’s ok to make mistakes, Susan, all that I want you to do is to learn from them.” 

He held both of Susan’s hands tightly and told her, “it is people like you who I need, people who work diligently and put their hearts and souls into their work, if we have more people like that, we’ll definitely overcome the bad reputation and be successful, together.” A charming smile ran across his face. Susan’s heart fluttered and a pink color appeared on her cheeks. 

He stood up and said, “since we both are having stressful lives why don’t we go for a picnic, to you know, relax and cool down. Will that be fine with you?”

 Susan wiped her wet cheeks, “picnic?” She thought for a moment , “ok, good idea.” She stood up too. A hand was still holding onto hers, she looked down at it. That's when he too noticed his hand entwined with hers.

 He quickly took it away, “uh, I’ve got paperworks to do. I’ve got to renew the contract with the plumbing company. So,umm…. See you then, yes, see you soon.” He laughed nervously and went. She too laughed with him, “yeah, hehe, see you.” 

As soon as he left, a silence washed over the whole kitchen. The words he said were still echoing in her mind. …we go for a picnic… and then it hit her, ‘MY BOSS IS ASKING ME TO GO FOR A PICNIC, WITH HIM!!’ She screamed inside herself. No way, no way, no way!!!' She tried to calm down. 'But when are we gonna go? Where? H-how?' Her mind kept on racing. 

'My boss is asking me to go out with him, hang out with him, and I said yes? What was I even thinking?' She scolded herself. 

'My boss is asking me to go out with him, that’s so awesome, I’m probably his favorite. I should keep this up.' She appreciated herself. 

'My boss is asking me to hang out with him, WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?!!' She got nervous all by herself. She sat down, tired of the emotional roller coaster she experienced today. 

She thought about it again, ‘my boss is asking me to go for a picnic with him.’ A smile creeped in unknowingly on her face. ‘Awesome.’ 

Moments later, Lily came into the kitchen, “ma’am, new order for a vanilla latte and croissant, can you do that? There are more customers waiting there.” Susan got snapped out of her fantasies, “yeah sure, but didn’t anybody else come yet? Is it just the two of us?” 

“I guess.” Lily replied, looking behind her. After that Lily went to take the other orders. Susan made the latte quickly with her practiced hands and looked into the pantry, only one croissant left, she thought. She took the telephone nearby and phoned for the bakery while she busily heated the croissant with the microwave. 

She served the latte and the croissant to the customer, a young, good looking lady, staring out the window. She had long black hair with purple dyed tips and gray eyes.

 ‘Melody!’ Susan was happy to see her. Susan had always found Melody a funny sort, though a singer by profession, Melody could’ve been a stand up comedian or perhaps a critic. She had an enchanting way of telling stories, and she always had stories in her pockets. She has traveled to many countries and encountered different types of people, singers, politicians, dancers, actors and other world famous people. Melody always had a cheerful personality, and also acted as a philosophical psychologist when around a troubled Susan.

 “Here you go! Anything else, miss?” Susan asked overjoyed at meeting Melody. “Please don’t call me miss, it annoys me so much when people call me miss, ugh. Why don’t you just call me by my name, that sounds much better.”

 “Okay then, Melody, do you want anything else?” Susan asked again, chuckling at how disgusted Melody looked when she called her miss. Another thing that Susan loved to do was to annoy Melody. Melody’s facial expressions are so comical, Susan found them better than any other television show she had ever laughed at. “You look very cheerful today. What’s up?” 

“Oh yes! That is…” Susan sat down in the chair opposite to Melody, and said in low tones, “my boss asked me if I would be able to go for a picnic with him, and I said yes!”