Chapter 2

   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-length jet black hair behind her ear when she was complimented on anything. Ash sighed at the thought of the woman who brought him up. He missed her. He might never show it to people he was close with, of which there was only a handful, but he wished he could pack his bag and move back to his family home. But he couldn't and the thought had been eating away at his gut for years. 

   "Ash?" The man in question shook his head slightly to discard his thoughts and turned around, meeting the soft eyes of his boss. "Are you alright? I've called your name about ten times now." Mr Carreiro stared at the younger man, worry laced his eyes as he crossed his arms across his torso and leaned on the side counter, waiting for a reply. 

   "I was just thinking." Ash quickly reassured, hoping to ease the tension between him and his boss. "Nothing to worry about." He waved his hand in a dismissive manner to emphasise his point before painting a fake, small toothed grin and walking off into the staff changing rooms to get his bag. When he walked in, all the other employees turned to stare at him as he trudged his way to his peg, his face sullen once again with his head hanging low. 

   Mr Carreiro was the only person to ever talk to Ash whilst he was at work. All the other members of staff hated his guts for reasons unknown. It never really bothered the young man but, since he was an introvert and struggled with any form of social interaction under any circumstances, having twenty people stare at him was unnerving and clearly uncomfortable. Working at a popular coffee shop wasn't ideal either, but Mr Carreiro offered him the job and he simply couldn't refuse.

   It's quite obvious that he didn't stick around. He grabbed his bag off the hook and walked back out, looking over at his boss who was still stood in the same place after about five minutes. Naturally, Ash simply shrugged it off and left the small coffee shop. 

   "See you next week, Mr Carreiro!" He called as he walked out the double doors and began his tiring walk back to his apartment complex. The walk from the cafe and back to his home lasted twenty minutes. It may not seem too long but after a whole day of having to talk to people and pretend to love life as it is, was exhausting for the young man and he only wanted his bed. 

   Eventually, Ash arrived at the large double glass doors of his apartment complex. He pushed the doors open with a loud groan and almost stumbled into the reception, but managed to catch himself and continued his way over to Ms Vento's desk. He crossed his arms over it and smiled at the older woman. There was only a handful of people Ash felt comfortable around and Ms Vento just happened to be one of them, as he knew her since he was a little kid. 

   "Hey, Ms Vento." He called happily. The woman smiled from under her large-framed glasses and nodded in acknowledgement before looking up from the paperwork she was signing and filling in. "Had a nice today, I hope?" Ash grinned at the woman as he asked, tapping the desk a little at each word. Ms Vento nodded and stood up from her swivel desk chair, walking around the table to stand next to the young man that she was, obviously, very fond of.

   "I had a lovely day." Ms Vento sighed out, leaning her back on the desk and folding her arms across her chest as she grinned up at nothing in particular. Ash hummed happily and also turned around, getting into the same position as the woman. "What about you? Did you have a nice day at work?" The woman questioned, her eyes not sparing Ash a glance. The man pursed his lips at the question and shrugged, more to himself than to the woman next to him, before replying. 

   "It was alright." He sighed into the air with a small smile playing on his lips. A genuine smile from Ash wasn't necessarily a common sight to see as he usually faked a grin to satisfy the people around him, but when he did truly smile, it was something worth waiting for. "It was like any other day, I guess." His face fell slightly as the thoughts of his mother he had at the shop circled back to him. He bit his lip before turning to the woman beside him fully. 

   "What is it?" Ms Vento questioned, glancing at the young man out of the corner of her eye after feeling his intense stare from the spot next to her. Ash shook his head as an answer but muttered a few words under his breath, out of Ms Vento's line of hearing. The older of the pair frowned and turned her body to face the younger man. "What's been bothering you?" She tried again, leaning her hand on the desk behind her. This time, Ash closed his eyes and sighed out in defeat before nodding to himself and speaking again.

   "I've just been thinking about mum more lately." Ash looked at the ground, afraid that if he so much as glanced up at Ms Vento's face, he'd break down into ugly tears. She reminded him of his mother more than anyone else he knew. "I miss her and I wish I could go back but I can't and it's honestly killing me." Ash began to rant and, against his better judgement, glanced up to see Ms Vento's reaction. The moment his eyes locked with hers, his eyes welled up with tears and he hung his head again, sobbing lowly under his breath. 

   Ms Vento sighed at the crying man and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, making him look up again as he sobbed. She flashed a small smile and nodded her head over to her tiny office behind her desk. "Come on." She pulled the young man towards the room as he attempted to wipe his tears away and stop crying but his tears continued to fall down his cheeks despite his numerous attempts to get rid of them. "Let me make you some tea and then we'll talk, but you need to stop crying. Alright?" She spoke softly as she sat the man down in a spare seat and wiped his tears off his cheeks gently, ruffling his hair and turning to make two hot mugs of tea to calm the young man down, hoping that this will help Ash calm down enough for them to be able to talk. 

   "Here you go." She smiled, placing one of the mugs full of hot green tea in front of Ash and seating herself opposite the man, sipping on her own cup of tea, made with two sugars and a dash of milk. The pair sat in silence for a while before Ash spoke up first. 

   "Do you think my mum would let me move back in?"