After the unpleasant conversation between Mr Carreiro and Ash, the older of the pair left Ash alone in the cafe as he decided that he wasn't welcome the moment he spoke out about Jen's situation. Ash, on the other hand, sat in the booth with a, now, cold coffee in front of him and his eyes, unwavering, staring off into space.
His thoughts raced in his head constantly, even though his face looked blank. He kept thinking about his mother and his sister, he thought about Amaya and Ms Vento. He even thought about his boss, even though he provoked him during that one conversation. It wasn't like Mr Carreiro, either, as he usually avoids that topic when he speaks with Ash, knowing it's a sensitive one and one he is never fond of. Ash blinked a few times and sighed, looking around at the, now half-empty, cafe and then at the large black clock that hung directly above the entrance. He had wasted away half of the day, thinking over useless things he ha
The next morning, Ash - surprisingly - woke up on time for work. He rolled out of bed with a loud sigh, remembering his crying from last night. The young man shook his head, discarding the unpleasant memory of his hot tears stinging his eyes before rolling down his cheeks and burning his skin. He quickly walked into the bathroom and shut the door. He looked at himself in the mirror and groaned loudly, staring at his hair for a while before clicking his tongue and hanging his head, looking down at the sink. He splashed some water on his face and wiped it on a spare towel before stumbling back out. Once he caught his balance, he walked into the kitchen as he stretched his arms above his head. He glanced briefly at his coffee machine before shaking his head, concluding that if he ingested any caffeine and was even more awake than he already was, it would be an invitation for his head to overthink all of his actions throughout the day. He grabbed an appl
Mr Carreiro's eyes went wide. His eyes fell down to the wooden desk, unwavering and blank. He didn't know the full situation but, simply from knowing Ash for years, he could rule out the idea of Ash getting kicked out due to bad behaviour towards the other residents. With a loud sigh, he looked back up at the young man, his eyes softening at Ash's distressed look on his face. "Is there are a reason?" Mr Carreiro asked nervously, clenching his fists and half expecting Ash to say something along the lines of 'I make too much noise'. Ash, however, only sighed out and turned to the side and stared at the wall. He shrugged and the older of the two furrowed his eyebrows down in slight annoyance with the younger's attitude. He was about to urge Ash to tell him why but the young man in front of him beat him to it. "The owner of the building is selling the building." Ash sighed loudly before looking up, plastering a soft smile
Ash hastily fumbled to answer the phone until he finally answered it. He cleared his throat into the phone and closed his eyes, sitting up straight on the bed and hanging his head. "Mum?" He called after a few seconds of awkward silence as he furrowed his eyebrows in concentration. The silence continued to envelop the two before a soft sigh was heard on the other side of his phone. "Ashley." His mother - Jen - began and his breathing hitched in his throat. This was the first time he had heard his mother's voice in four years. He gasped out suddenly and blinked his eyes open, widening them in shock at the woman's voice. He even ignored how she called him by his full name and tried to process just how different her voice sounded. "I-I didn't want to bother you but..." Ash's eyes widened at the statement almost instantly and he shook his head, despite knowing that she couldn't see him. "No! It's alright." Ash smiled sligh
After a night full of sleep, without waking up in the middle of the night even once, Ash woke up an hour early than he was supposed to. He hopped out of bed and quickly got dressed before leaving his messy room and walking into the kitchen, getting himself a cup of cold coffee. He flicked through his phone and read over the conversation he had with Mr Carreiro just last night as he drank his coffee and bit down on an apple. He sighed slightly and took the last sip of his coffee before throwing the apple's core into the bin and deciding to leave his apartment early in hopes of catching Ms Vento and tell her about his conversation with his mother. Ash hummed lowly as he slipped his shoes on and swung his bag over his shoulder. He made sure that he had a full lunch and his apron was neatly folded as well as pocketing his phone for the first time in months. He never took his phone to work but, since he needed to find a pla
Ash walked into his boss's office without knocking, his face still supporting the right smile he had plastered on his face the entire day. Mr Carreiro watched the younger with a raised eyebrow as he waltzed in and plopped himself on the chair in front of the desk. He was genuinely happy that Ash was in a good mood for the first time in a while, but it was an uncommon sight and, therefore, he was curious about what caused him to have a smile on his face the whole day. "Did you want to talk about something?" Ash questioned, biting into his food and looking at the older man through his eyelashes. Mr Carreiro hummed as an answer to the question and looked away, staring at the wall for a while before Ash spoke again, breaking him out of his daydream and back into reality. "What is it? Is it something serious?" He asked, eyebrows furrowing down ever so slightly in worry. His eyes, however, remained bright and wide. The older of the two looked o
When Ash realised that Ms Vento was in a rush and wanted to get this talk over with, for one reason or another, he walked over to a free booth and hastily plopped down on one side without taking his apron off and watched as Ms Vento did the same. The silence that followed between the two was uncomfortable and awkward for, seemingly, no reason. Ms Vento looked calm and, therefore, the younger of the two shouldn't feel this pressured and nervous. His anxiousness only soared once Ms Vento cleared her throat and folded her arms on the table. "It's about Amaya." She simply spoke, closing her eyes and sighing loudly. Ash leaned back further on the seat and hummed, encouraging the latter to continue. "I know it's none of your business, but I didn't know who else to turn to for help." She quickly explained before hanging her head in defeat. Ash scratched the back of his neck before sighing softly to himself and leaning forward
When Ash moved out from his family home four years ago, at the age of twenty, he had no idea how difficult adult life really was: having to keep track of finances and paying all the bills on time. However, the most difficult part of his life was heaving himself up in the mornings like this Friday morning. “God.” Ash sighed out, rolling on his bed and, eventually, getting into a seated position. He rubbed the sleep out of his brown eyes and stretching his arms above his head. “Not a wink of sleep. Again.” He huffed out at himself as he stood up and half-heartedly made his bed. He stretched once more with a loud groan and briefly glanced at the digital clock on his bedside table. Noticing the time, Ash’s eyes widened and he, almost, gasped aloud as he frantically ran around his apartment, gathering his clothes and his black satchel where he kept his wallet, a black apron and a change of clothes, just in case. He usually didn’t tak
As time passed and Ash continued to work at the front of the counter, exhausting his cheeks in an attempt to smile at every new customer that came in, the cafe became less and less busy. By the time that four in the afternoon rolled around, there were a mere number of three customers, which resulted in Ash daydreaming for another twenty minutes - until closing time. As he stood there, behind the cash register and glaring holes into the wall in front of him with his piercing gaze and chin perched on his hand, his mind drifted to the events of the morning: Him running down and into the reception, where he was greeted by - an always hardworking - Ms Vento, who handed him a letter from his mother. His mother. Ash's mother was a wonderful woman to be around. A pleasure to chat away the hours to. Her brown eyes always shimmered brightly once a topic that interested her was brought up and her shy gesture of tucking her shoulder-len
When Ash realised that Ms Vento was in a rush and wanted to get this talk over with, for one reason or another, he walked over to a free booth and hastily plopped down on one side without taking his apron off and watched as Ms Vento did the same. The silence that followed between the two was uncomfortable and awkward for, seemingly, no reason. Ms Vento looked calm and, therefore, the younger of the two shouldn't feel this pressured and nervous. His anxiousness only soared once Ms Vento cleared her throat and folded her arms on the table. "It's about Amaya." She simply spoke, closing her eyes and sighing loudly. Ash leaned back further on the seat and hummed, encouraging the latter to continue. "I know it's none of your business, but I didn't know who else to turn to for help." She quickly explained before hanging her head in defeat. Ash scratched the back of his neck before sighing softly to himself and leaning forward
Ash walked into his boss's office without knocking, his face still supporting the right smile he had plastered on his face the entire day. Mr Carreiro watched the younger with a raised eyebrow as he waltzed in and plopped himself on the chair in front of the desk. He was genuinely happy that Ash was in a good mood for the first time in a while, but it was an uncommon sight and, therefore, he was curious about what caused him to have a smile on his face the whole day. "Did you want to talk about something?" Ash questioned, biting into his food and looking at the older man through his eyelashes. Mr Carreiro hummed as an answer to the question and looked away, staring at the wall for a while before Ash spoke again, breaking him out of his daydream and back into reality. "What is it? Is it something serious?" He asked, eyebrows furrowing down ever so slightly in worry. His eyes, however, remained bright and wide. The older of the two looked o
After a night full of sleep, without waking up in the middle of the night even once, Ash woke up an hour early than he was supposed to. He hopped out of bed and quickly got dressed before leaving his messy room and walking into the kitchen, getting himself a cup of cold coffee. He flicked through his phone and read over the conversation he had with Mr Carreiro just last night as he drank his coffee and bit down on an apple. He sighed slightly and took the last sip of his coffee before throwing the apple's core into the bin and deciding to leave his apartment early in hopes of catching Ms Vento and tell her about his conversation with his mother. Ash hummed lowly as he slipped his shoes on and swung his bag over his shoulder. He made sure that he had a full lunch and his apron was neatly folded as well as pocketing his phone for the first time in months. He never took his phone to work but, since he needed to find a pla
Ash hastily fumbled to answer the phone until he finally answered it. He cleared his throat into the phone and closed his eyes, sitting up straight on the bed and hanging his head. "Mum?" He called after a few seconds of awkward silence as he furrowed his eyebrows in concentration. The silence continued to envelop the two before a soft sigh was heard on the other side of his phone. "Ashley." His mother - Jen - began and his breathing hitched in his throat. This was the first time he had heard his mother's voice in four years. He gasped out suddenly and blinked his eyes open, widening them in shock at the woman's voice. He even ignored how she called him by his full name and tried to process just how different her voice sounded. "I-I didn't want to bother you but..." Ash's eyes widened at the statement almost instantly and he shook his head, despite knowing that she couldn't see him. "No! It's alright." Ash smiled sligh
Mr Carreiro's eyes went wide. His eyes fell down to the wooden desk, unwavering and blank. He didn't know the full situation but, simply from knowing Ash for years, he could rule out the idea of Ash getting kicked out due to bad behaviour towards the other residents. With a loud sigh, he looked back up at the young man, his eyes softening at Ash's distressed look on his face. "Is there are a reason?" Mr Carreiro asked nervously, clenching his fists and half expecting Ash to say something along the lines of 'I make too much noise'. Ash, however, only sighed out and turned to the side and stared at the wall. He shrugged and the older of the two furrowed his eyebrows down in slight annoyance with the younger's attitude. He was about to urge Ash to tell him why but the young man in front of him beat him to it. "The owner of the building is selling the building." Ash sighed loudly before looking up, plastering a soft smile
The next morning, Ash - surprisingly - woke up on time for work. He rolled out of bed with a loud sigh, remembering his crying from last night. The young man shook his head, discarding the unpleasant memory of his hot tears stinging his eyes before rolling down his cheeks and burning his skin. He quickly walked into the bathroom and shut the door. He looked at himself in the mirror and groaned loudly, staring at his hair for a while before clicking his tongue and hanging his head, looking down at the sink. He splashed some water on his face and wiped it on a spare towel before stumbling back out. Once he caught his balance, he walked into the kitchen as he stretched his arms above his head. He glanced briefly at his coffee machine before shaking his head, concluding that if he ingested any caffeine and was even more awake than he already was, it would be an invitation for his head to overthink all of his actions throughout the day. He grabbed an appl
After the unpleasant conversation between Mr Carreiro and Ash, the older of the pair left Ash alone in the cafe as he decided that he wasn't welcome the moment he spoke out about Jen's situation. Ash, on the other hand, sat in the booth with a, now, cold coffee in front of him and his eyes, unwavering, staring off into space. His thoughts raced in his head constantly, even though his face looked blank. He kept thinking about his mother and his sister, he thought about Amaya and Ms Vento. He even thought about his boss, even though he provoked him during that one conversation. It wasn't like Mr Carreiro, either, as he usually avoids that topic when he speaks with Ash, knowing it's a sensitive one and one he is never fond of. Ash blinked a few times and sighed, looking around at the, now half-empty, cafe and then at the large black clock that hung directly above the entrance. He had wasted away half of the day, thinking over useless things he ha
With a loud sigh, the young man walked into the cafe and looked around for a second before noting the twenty, or so, customers sitting and chatting away or working on laptops. He walked over to an isolated booth and slid in, looking around briefly before looking over at the staff and smiling at one of the male servers, quietly signalling that he just came in and wanted to get a menu. The server nodded at Ash and quickly walked over, handing him a menu, after exchanging greetings, and resumed his cleaning of the free tables. Ash flicked through the menu, his eyes unfocused and spaced out, He was staring at the entrance just as the door opened, revealing Mr Carreiro. Not wanting any unnecessary social interactions, the young man sunk down in his seat and hung his head. At first, his tactic seemed to have worked. However, not for very long as the older man was soon seated in front of Ash with a soft smile plastered on his face.
After Ms Vento left his apartment, Ash couldn't focus on anything he had to do around the house. He sat on the couch in his living room, the TV playing loudly in the background, with wide eyes - spaced-out. He had planned to clean the house a little later in the day and cook dinners that would last him for three days time. Now, however, all his plans went out of the window as his mind was too occupied still trying to process the new information he received from Ms Vento. With a loud sigh, Ash finally heaved himself up from the comfort of his couch and looked at the time, cursing at himself for sitting without doing anything productive for over three hours. He groaned and ran one of his hands through his hair before yawning and walking into his bedroom. He picked up his covers from the floor and began to fold them slowly as he continued to let his thoughts race around his mind. Of course, he knew it was absurd for anyone to plot absolutely anyth