Work Text:
Ali entered a cafe.
The interior was a brown and beige mix, with the tables seemingly made of hard wood, the decorative being covered in fake autumn plants. Coffee machines whirr quietly as it grinds the coffee beans, giving off a strong coffee aroma.
As the cafe was new and was situated at quite a quiet area, it was quite empty with occasional customers strolling in to buy a cup of coffee, or some of them staying for a little while longer to take refuge from the scorching sun that was practically burning up the concrete ground.
Ali silently wandered to a table facing the window and placed his laptop down, before approaching the cashier.
“A cup of latte please.”
“Okay…any add-ons?” The cashier asked, her fringe covering her eyes slightly as she lowered her head to type in the order.
“Er…” Ali hesitated, looking at the menu above her. After a brief silence, he finally decided on a simple brownie.
The cashier nodded.
“That would be RM 26.” She said as Ali reached for his wallet and took out his credit card to pay. But when the cashier lifted her head for a brief moment, Ali instantly realized who she was.
“ALICIA?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!” He shrieked, staggering back slightly. Alicia’s eye twitched slightly as she groaned in dismay, face-palming as she made a poor effort to hide her face.
“And I was hoping I don’t bump into anyone I know on my first day…” She gritted her teeth as she spoke. “Plus why are you reacting like you saw a ghost?” She frowned, looking at Ali whose face was ghastly, his eyes seemingly going to pop out of his eyes, looking like he was going to bolt at the drop of a hat.
“Because…why aren’t you studying like the nerd you are?” Ali questioned, grabbing onto the edge of the counter trying to compose himself. He didn’t want to bump into anyone he knew today as well.
“Well, I am already done studying the whole course material for the year.” Alicia said monotonously. “And I needed some of my own money.”
“Well, why wouldn’t the genera—” Alicia gave him a death glare. “I mean uncle Rama give you money?” He asked.
“Well, I want to be independent, unlike someone who spends his time playing video games.”
“Hey! I rarely play video games nowadays!” Ali retorted.
“Says the one who stayed up every night to grind Detective Jebat every night during the holidays instead of studying ahead.” Alicia quipped.
“THIS IS WHY I DON’T TRUST YOU WITH MY PERSONAL LIFE!” Ali hollered, scowling in fury.
“Why are you here then?” She probed as she headed towards the coffee machine near her and finally started to make Ali’s order.
Ali paused for a moment, before finally relenting. “Well…uh…I’m here to…study…” He replied, gesturing to the laptop still on the table next to the window. Alicia looked up briefly before continuing to make the latte, adding the milk into the espresso.
After a short while, she was finally done.
“Here, your latte. And your brownie.” She passed the cup to Ali and went to get the brownie, placing it onto a small plate and passing it to him.
“Why aren’t you studying in your dorm room instead? Don’t you usually study with Viktor?” She took her phone that was on the counter and looked at the time before placing it back.
“Hai…that guy…he keeps asking me what I am doing for Valentine’s Day, saying he is going out with Mia…if I am going out with anyone…plus the wiggling of eyebrows.” He groaned as he swirled the latte around.
He can’t tell her.
“Huh…” She mumbled as she tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “Valentine’s Day…”
“Yeah, so I end up coming out just to avoid that guy and here I am.” Ali sighed.
“Your drink’s getting cold.”
“What?”
“I said it’s getting cold.” Alicia rolled her eyes, gesturing to the latte Ali was holding. Ali quickly took a sip and headed back towards the table, sat on the outer chair, opened his laptop and started working on his class project.
Now why did I agree to take over ayah’s position again…? Ali grimaced at the screen, internally contemplating why he had chosen the electronic engineering course.
He could do the practical part… well because of MATA, but he does not exactly have a grasp of theory…
After half-an-hour of being unable to think of anything, he was just about to type something when he saw someone sitting beside him in his peripheral vision. She had medium-length hair that reached her shoulders along with a green headband. She also wore a yellow and white striped shirt with a denim jacket tied around her waist.
He lifted his head slightly, and was surprised to see Alicia staring back at him, an eyebrow raised in confusion.
“Why are you staring at me? Go on, you don’t wanna fail your exams again do you?” Alicia lifted her chin slightly, pointing at his still empty project.
“Ah…right.” Ali chuckled nervously. He turned his head back at the laptop, trying to shake off that warm dark brown eyes that lingers at the back of his mind every time.
After typing a few sentences and a bunch of research, Ali was about to proceed to the next sentence when Alicia swatted his hand away from the keyboard.
“No…it’s PM 2.5 to PM 10…not PM 3.5…” She pinched her forehead in irritation as she circled the mistake with her other hand's finger.
Ali flinched slightly, wringing his hand from the sheer force as he looked towards Alicia.
“Okay…calm down I'll change it. But first of all, you are in the data science and analytics course, so how do you even know about this? And second, don't you have work to do?” Ali pointed at the counter and crossed his arms, leaning back against the chair.
“Well first, this is basic physics. Second, I'm off my shift.” Alicia clicked her tongue in irritation as she propped both her legs up the chair, before leaning her head towards Ali's shoulder.
“I'm tired, do you mind?” Alicia lifted her head slightly to look at Ali's face. He appeared slightly shocked, and his ears appeared to be slightly tinged red… ?
“Er…no, so long as you don't use my arm as a bolster.”
Ali turned his attention back to the computer screen and corrected the mistake she pointed out. One hour later, he had finished essay, he wanted to pack up due to boredom of being in an almost empty cafe and head back to his dorm but was stopped when realised that Alicia’s head was still on his shoulder, dozing away.
“…”
Ali wanted to just take his sore arms away from this position, but that would just wake Alicia up, and a tired and angry Alicia isn’t someone worth messing with.
Plus she looked at peace, something she never showed even in supposedly calm moments.
He wanted to protect this peace.
Just then, the sun decided to shine towards their direction, and Alicia’s face seemed to be illuminated by its brightness, the sunlight tracing her cheekbones and nose, making her look even more at peace.
Huh. Ali thought, feeling rather embarrassed why he thought of his best friend this way since secondary school. How ethereal.
He then reached out and gently stroked her hair.
But this peace was abruptly interrupted by the creaking of a door.
“Why isn’t the next shift employee here yet, they need to open up the store…oh.” They stopped abruptly, eyeing Ali and Alicia up and down. “Uh…the blue jacket guy…” Ali used his available hand to point at himself, before instinctively returning his hand to its initial position. “Yes you, do you work here?” They queried, walking towards Ali with their arms akimbo. The person wore a simple blue collared t-shirt with long-baggy pants, and the name tag said: ‘manager’.
“Uh…I kinda got carried away with work and didn’t notice the cafe was closed for lunch…” Ali scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.
“The previous person in the shift didn’t tell you—oh my goodness.” The person sighed.
“So it seemed that Miss Kheng had forgotten her duty to accommodate someone… ” The manager smirked slightly as her eyes darted between Ali and Alicia. “Well, where are you two planning to go today?”
Alicia shot up instantly.
“MissElizabethIassureyouwearenotdating!” She said in one breath while Ali also replied, “Uh…out?” His hand was still on top of Alicia’s head.
“Now why would you assume that when I didn’t even say anything close to it?” The manager’s smirk grew wider as she watched Alicia’s face turn beet root red. “Well since today is Valentine’s Day, you two should go out and enjoy your day, friends or more, instead of being cooped up in this cafe.” They said as they gently knocked on the wooden table and gestured towards the door. They then murmured about wanting to kill the employee that was apparently late for 15 minutes.
Ali stood up and packed his things before dragging the frozen Alicia out of the cafe while thanking the manager for whatever reason.
When they got out, Alicia smacked her head against the wall.
“Oh my gosh, that was so embarrassing…” She groaned. She then turned around, proceeding to try and explain.
“Okay so it’s not what you think it is, I didn’t even know, it was like something just took over me…” She smacked her hands against her face.
“I actually want you to be my valentine.” Ali blurted out, his face portraying full seriousness as he stared at Alicia.
“What.”
“I…ugh forget it, I still have to revise for tomorrow.” Ali said as he turned around and proceeded to leave when he felt a hand tightly gripping his hand.
When he turned around, he saw a fist flying towards his direction. Without thinking, he proceeded to do the handshake they had done together since they were 12.
Ali let go of Alicia’s tight grip and stepped backwards, one of his eyebrows raised.
“You want me to be your valentine? Did I hear wrong or did you just lose your sense to think straight because of Viktor?” She placed one of her hands on her hips, seemingly waiting for an answer.
The silence after that was deafening. After a long while, Ali finally spoke.
“I…no, I didn’t. I had always loved you but I was scared that you would reject me because you don’t reciprocate, and we will stop being friends entirely…” He said, eyes darting away from Alicia’s face of surprise.
“What if I say yes?” She arched her head slightly to the left, looking at the boy she remembered to be way shorter than her but was now able to see her eye to eye (kind of like the height way) . She remembered the times where she had watched him slowly but steadily improve himself, and a small smile spread across her face.
“That isn’t a possibility at all—wait, are you being legit? How do I know this is not a prank?” His eyes darted back towards Alicia, whose smile was although small, was able to brighten his entire day.
“Welp suit yourself then.” Alicia shrugged before she turned around and prepared to walk away, but Ali quickly asked her to stop.
“So…do you want to be my…valentine?” He looked her straight in the eyes, determination shining through them.
“Yeah, of course.” She smirked, before walking back towards his position and pulling him into a hug.
“Of course…what makes you think I would say no?”
Perhaps Viktor’s teasing did help after all.