Chapter 2 - I will call the manager! (E)

"... your steps keep me awake" - The alarm blaring the tune of Let Me Down Slowly by Alec Benjamin woke her up.

Wiping off the tears from the corner of her eyes, Kai Xin murmured ruefully as she turned the alarm off, "Damn, I need to listen to happier songs."

She then looked at her watch and realized that it was almost 11 a.m. After she washed off the mask and threw on a simple skater dress, she texted Jane.

[ I'm going to Cafe X, u knw, the one w the cute barista.]

As she was putting on her shoes, Jane texted her back.

[ You mean the guy you undress with your eyes every day? *rolleyes* Got it, perv. C u.]

Kai Xin chuckled as she read Jane's text. She then checked all the appliances to make sure that everything was off before leaving the house.

As she strolled down the streets, she listened to her favorite tunes on Spotify.

Every now and then she would nod at the neighbors that she barely knew and gave them her signature half-smile.

Within 15 minutes, she arrived at the cafe. The moment she went in, she greeted the barista loudly.

"Hey, James!"

When he saw who it was, he gave her a "what-the-fuck-it's-you" look.

"Oh no, not you again," James complained as he made a cross with his fingers.

Glaring at her, he continued, "I told you before that I have a girlfriend, and I'm not interested in older women. Don't make me call the manager on you again."

Kai Xin smiled and waved her hand nonchalantly as she said, "Relax, I'm not in the mood to harass you terribly today. Just give me the usual."

She leaned forward on the counter and in a seductive tone, she asked, "You do remember, right? Should this big sister teach you again?"

"Americano with a side of milk and 3 cubes of sugar that you will just leave behind? Got it." James rolled his eyes as he took her money.

They chatted for another minute before Kai Xin went to her usual spot with her tray of coffee, milk, and sugar cubes.

Like Sheldon Cooper, she had a favorite spot.

It was a corner seat where she was partially hidden from the outside yet still able to receive the warmth from the indirect sunlight coming in from the floor-to-ceiling windows.

She loved this seat because it gave her a bird's eye view of the entire cafe.

She was just thinking about work when she heard someone said, "Zhen Kai Xin, what perverted thoughts are you thinking right now?"

Kai Xin turned her head and saw Jane standing in front of her with a huge smile. With a grin, Kai Xin replied, "Oh nothing, just wondering what you would look like naked."

Jane immediately crossed her arms in front of her chest and said, "I don't swing that way, sista!"

"Sit down, you fool. Have you ordered your drink?"

"Nope. I don't feel like coffee. I want to eat Korean today. Let's go to the Korean restaurant at Mall K."

"Sure. After I finished this," Kai Xin said and took a sip of her Americano.

Jane frowned slightly as she watched her best friend drank her cup of Americano. "I still don't understand how you can stomach that vile drink."

Kai Xin thought to herself, "Because to me, it serves as a constant reminder of how bitter life can be."

Without replying to Jane, she took a small sip of the milk.

After a while, Jane asked, "So, how was it?"

"How was what?" Kai Xin knew what the question was but she preferred to act dumb.

"Don't play coy with me now. The guy! How was he? Was he any good?" Jane glanced around before adding on with a whisper, "Was he big?"

"Jane Chu! Is that how proper girl behaves?" Kai Xin mocked, jokingly.

"I'm hanging out with you now. Screw proper! Momma wants the story!"

Kai Xin blushed as she thought of her night exercise with the stranger. "He was fine, I suppose. Nothing to brag about."

"Was he cute?"

Kai Xin thought about it. She barely remembered what he looks like, but for the sake of her ego, she nodded after a moment of hesitation.

"Like James?" Jane giggled. 

They both glanced at James who shivered suddenly despite the temperature being at a constant degree. As if he knew who was talking about him, he quickly looked up before he saw the two women looking at him with weird expressions.

Annoyed, he immediately glared at them and mouthed, "I WILL call the manager."

Jane laughed as they turned back to face each other. "That kid is so sensitive. So, was he like James?"

"Yeah, roughly I guess. He's a little shorter though," said Kai Xin. After some thinking, she added with a chuckle, "It's a good thing that he was able to compensate for what he lacked in height."

"Kai Xin!" Jane laughed. "That was mean!"

Kai Xin smirked and raised a brow at her best friend. "As if you are with Mo Shaoyun for his beautiful skin."

Hearing the name of her boyfriend coming out of Kai Xin's mouth, Jane immediately leaned forward and put her hands over her best friend's mouth, nearly smothering her in the process. "Do not talk about my Shaoyun like that!"

Kai Xin was able to breathe again after she peeled Jane's hands away. She growled playfully before saying, "Trying to kill me over a guy? What a great friend."

With an innocent look, Jane folded her arms and leaned back against the chair. "Shaoyun and I are in a pure relationship."

"Ha!" Kai Xin barked out before continuing, "Pure my ass. I saw you ogling his junk the other day."

Knowing that she was caught redhanded, Jane blushed. She then cleared her throat before saying, "I was checking out his new pants."

"Pants... righttt." Kai Xin mocked her. They both knew the truth.

To everyone else, Jane was a good and innocent girl. Only Kai Xin knew how perverted this little lolita was.

Jane sighed as she took a sip of Kai Xin's Americano before she made a disgusted expression. Putting the drink back on the table, she said, "Shaoyun is so beautiful that I really don't want to taint him. Besides... he has never shown any inclination for that kind of stuff."

With a sad expression, she played with the fringe on her dress as she murmured, "I don't want to take the first step. What if he thinks badly of me?"

Kai Xin rolled her eyes at her best friend's comment. "Don't be stupid. He's 23. That's probably like the only thing on his mind."

"My Shaoyun is not like other boys. He's so pure that he probably doesn't even masturbate." At the thought of her boyfriend who had never initiated anything, Jane sighed sadly.

When she finally looked up at Kai Xin, she had a depressed expression as she asked in a soft voice, "What if he secretly thinks less of me because I am not a virgin?"

"Then I will beat the shit out of him." Kai Xin smiled evilly as she comforted Jane.

Patting her on the shoulder, Kai Xin continued, "If your virginity is the only reason he is with you, I would rather you break up with him. He's not worth your time."

"I'm not you, Kai Xin. I don't have the confidence that I would find someone else like him."

"Is this confidence?" Kai Xin thought to herself as she thought about her past. Only she knew that it was not confident that she had. It was fear and that she did it because it was her way of coping with her past. 

She quickly shook her head and patted Jane on the head as she comforted the woman.

"If he truly loves you, he would not care so much about it. A man should love you for your soul. Would you love him less if he was not a virgin?"

Jane shook her head immediately, "Of course not. But he is a guy. The rules are different."

"F*ck the rules!" Kai Xin cursed. "We are in the 21st century. You listen to me, Jane Chu. If he cares about the things that happened before you guys got together, then he is an idiot who is not worthy of you, and honestly, I would rather you dump his a*s now before I kill him myself."

Kai Xin did not add on and merely kept thought the next part to herself, "Besides, I have seen how he looks at you when he thinks no one is watching. That kid wants you big time."

After she quickly downed the rest of her coffee, she stood up and said, "Let's go for lunch now and drown our sorrows with beautiful Korean oppas."

They waved goodbye to James - after Jane teased him a little on his "growth" - before heading to Mall K.

When they went into the Korean restaurant that they frequented, they bumped into some of Jane's college friends who then invited them to dine together.

As a self-proclaimed antisocial person, Kai Xin would have preferred not to, but Jane had already accepted their invitation.

In order not to make a fuss, Kai Xin agreed to dine with them.

However, she barely said anything throughout the lunch. After all, Jane had enough words for both of them.

"So, Kai Xin. How's your manhunt lately?" asked one of the girls, Alyssa Min.

Kai Xin looked at her. Alyssa Min and Kai Xin used to be good friends when they were kids. That was back when Kai Xin was still living with her father. After she moved to another city with her mother, she and Alyssa Min lost contact with each other.

When they met again a few years later, it was as if they were both different from the person they knew before.

Another reason for the tense relationship was due to the fact that Kai Xin slept with one of her on-off boyfriends.

To be fair, she only slept with the guy after they broke up and it was only that one time. Thus, she could not understand Alyssa's hatred towards her.

With a disinterested tone, Kai Xin replied, "It was fine."

Looking at Kai Xin, Alyssa Min scoffed. "I heard that you got pregnant recently. Have you not been careful while having fun? Do you even know who the father is?"

Kai Xin raised an eyebrow as she thought to herself, "So you wanna play, huh?".

She pretended to clear her throat and rolled her eyes as she said coyly, "Yeah, I was so ooobbbbviously pregnant. I think you know who the father is. After all, I heard that you went down on him in a public toilet as you begged him to take you back. Are you guys still together? Come to think of it, do you still give head to guys who don't really want you?"

Alyssa's friends looked at her in shock.

"Bitch, Andy was just playing with you back then," Alyssa hissed at her.

Kai Xin smirked. "I think you and I both know who played who here. By the way, please tell Andy that I am not interested in him. Ask him to stop texting me. It's getting really annoying."

She then took out a wad of cash and put it on the table. "This is to cover our meals. It should be enough."

Before they left the restaurant, Kai Xin added, "By the way, I bumped into your ex-sugar daddy, and he said that his new baby has a tighter vagina than you."

With an arrogant grin, Kai Xin then turned and walked out of the restaurant with Jane following behind her. Meanwhile, Alyssa was left sputtering with anger while her friends tried to control their laughter.