Chapter Text
Two weeks after Poppy moved to Narin City she found a gym that offered yoga classes. It was on the second floor of one of the big buildings downtown. Poppy was not expecting a gym to be this big, she was used to small studios in Moonbright, her hometown. Poppy was trying to locate where the class was held but couldn’t find it. She walked to the nearest guy she saw. Wearing a black tank top and grey sweatpants, he had his back to her. He was tan and tall with long black hair in a half messy bun, he looked buff even from behind, colorful tattoos displayed on both arms.
‘He might work here,’ she thought.
Poppy reached up and tapped him between his shoulder blades, “Excuse me, do you know where the yoga class is?” The dark guy turned around, removing his earbuds, looking at her. When their eyes met Poppy felt intense golden eyes staring back at her.
‘Oh crap, no name tag. He doesn’t work here!’ And was that a smirk she saw?
“I don’t know, sweetheart. I don’t work here,” Tora said with a half grin on his face. No one had ever interrupted his workout before. No one. And there she was, a short busty brown eyed girl with a sling yoga mat bag over her shoulder staring back at him.
“Oh I.. I’m sorry, I thought you worked here,” Poppy replied. She could feel the heat rushing to her cheeks either from embarrassment or from the gaze of this beautiful man, she couldn’t be sure.
“‘S’ okay, I can find out for ya though,” he said holding her stare, she was cute, he thought. Her brown hair was wrapped in a tight bun on top of her head, her pink tank top and black yoga pants showing all the curves where they should be.
Poppy was ready for a workout and didn’t want to waste her time talking to this guy. She didn’t want to be late for her first class as it would be rude to step in after it had started. “Never mind, I’ll find it on my own,” Poppy scurried away. Tora couldn’t stop watching her round butt swaying side to side.
After the Savasana, Poppy felt more relaxed and calmed, she just realized that she hadn’t thanked that mysterious man. It hit her then how rude she had been to him. She had to find him to thank him and apologize. Poppy looked around but did not see him, she ran towards the front of the building at the same time Tora pulled up in his red sports car with his windows rolled down, cigarette in his hand.
“Hey!” she yelled. Tora looked back at his rear view mirror seeing a cute shorty running to his car. He pulled over and grinned.
‘This little hamster interrupted my workout and now my driving? What is it that she wants this time?’
Poppy was panting as she walked to his car, “Umm, well. I-I wanted to apologize and thank you for offering to help me. That was rude of me back there.”
Tora looked at her, her neat bun became lose a little, a few strand of brown hair falling around her face, her cheeks were pink with beads of sweat down her neck and she looked sexy as hell.
“Welcome. I’ll forgive ya if ya give me yer number,” he said to her not breaking eye contact, handing her his phone. Poppy took it as if she’d fallen under a spell. Obeying the demand confusedly, she punched in her number as she was told, her cheeks bright red. She handed his phone back and felt her phone vibrate in her yoga mat bag. She took it out with a puzzled look.
“Gotta make sure ya gave me the right number kid,” Tora said smiling, flashing his dimples at her.
“I’m not a kid and my name is Poppy,” she said fiercely.
“OK, Bobby. I’m Tora,” he playfully uttered. “I’ll see ya later, sweetheart.” He said before taking a drag of his cigarette and driving off.
‘She looked like a goddamn angel!’
He wanted to know more about her, wanted to know everything about her even after a short encounter. He didn’t want to come off as a creep but knew Gyu would help him find her. His friend was an expert on computer shit anyway. Tora made himself a mental note that he would see her again, somewhere, somehow.
Poppy was left perplexed. She just gave her phone number to a complete stranger as if she was summoned by that devilish smile. ‘Is this how city folks ask for the digits? Maybe I was being naive or stupid; either way there shouldn’t be any harm on that. He was cute, hot, and his body... Ohmygod...There’s no way he’d call so no need to worry.’ Poppy assured herself.
*****
“Welcome to Narin Coffee Shop, what can I get you today?” Poppy greeted customers in front of her. It was her second day working at the coffee shop. Her best friend, Erdene vouched for her to Gil, the shop’s owner. She was hired on the spot and was stationed to work at the counter. Even though her shift started at 5:30 am, she was grateful she had landed a job so soon. Moving to the big city after graduating college was tough and stressful. She dreamed of becoming an editor one day but until then any job would do. Thank goodness for a good friend, a minimum wage job, and a mediocre apartment.
Gil gave her a couple of brown collared shirts with a giant goldfish embroiled on the left pocket. Poppy was thankful for the uniform she had to wear to work. Not only she saved money on work clothes but she also saved time to get ready in the morning since she had to be at the bus station by 4:45 am to catch the first bus.
It would be a few more days before she would be able to make beverages. For now, her job was to learn to take drink orders, run a cash register, and work on brewing machines. She was a fast learner with a bubbly personality. Erdene knew she would get along with other coworkers and customers would love her.
Looking up, she saw a tall, neatly styled blonde man in a salmon color shirt waving at Erdene who worked at the bar and Jacob who was tasked as a floater. “Good morning party people,” the blonde man said loudly.
“You are new here!” He said looking at Poppy. “My name is Quincey and I’d like a medium breve sugar free vanilla latte with an add shot of espresso, please…” His voice trailed off, his eyes squinting at the makeshift name tag, “Poppy! Oh your name matches your delicate doll face!” Quincey continued cheerfully.
Poppy was amazed at how energetic this blue eyed man was. She carefully wrote down the order on a coffee sleeve and didn’t pay attention to the stoic guy behind him until he moved to stand next to the perky man.
Turning to the man on his left, Quincey asked, “Honey, do you want your usual?” The other guy nodded, “medium black coffee, please... Bobby.”
Poppy averted her eyes to the sound of the other’s man’s husky voice. Tora had his long hair combed nicely in a half bun, wearing a white button up long sleeve shirt. She paused in disbelief and gasped.
Jacob scooted behind her and whispered “Le Greek God and Quincess have entered the quest to forage for their liquid gold.” Poppy pressed her lips together, trying not to let out a chuckle.
*Mumble Grunt* Tora gave Jacob a death stare as if he was meaning to say ‘Too close, asshole.’
Jacob shrieked, bolting back to his spot behind the pastry case. Poppy turned around, filled up a paper cup from the thermal carafe behind her and handed it to Tora. She spotted a black titanium ring on his middle finger and triple strand bracelet wrapped around his wrist. Their fingers grazed for a moment, she looked up at him, saw a smirk and felt heat crept up on her face.
He gave her $20 bill, telling her to keep the change. Both tall men walked toward the other side of the bar, waiting for the cuppa to be made. Tora sipped his coffee all the while keeping his eyes at the brown haired girl. He couldn’t comprehend how she managed to look so hot with just a basic brown collared shirt and a yellow apron.
“Ask her out already bro,” Quincey muttered. “Shut the fuck up,” Tora replied with an even low voice, prolonging the stare.
Erdene called out Quincey’s name, leaving his cup on top of the bar counter. Quincey grabbed his cup and leaned in to whisper to Erdene, “Thank you, dear. Looks like my brother found a snack he likes.”
“My friend is a three course meal, Quincey!” Erdene mumbled and they both laughed.
“Ciao, bellas!” Quincey shouted and waved his hand as the men left the shop. The three employees waved back, Tora held his coffee cup up, acknowledging Poppy’s gesture.
During her lunch break mid morning, Poppy was texting Julri to see if she could call to talk to him. He made her upset last night after yelling at her for no reason. She was always the one who initiated the conversation between them even after his outbursts. The past couple of weeks, phone calls and texts seemed to be shorter and shorter each passing day.
It was becoming the norm.
J: Not right now, bae. I’m busy tutoring. I’ll call you later
P: OK.
Poppy sat in the break room, continuing to eat her lunch silently. She hoped he would at least text her to say sorry for last night but he didn’t, like many times before.
After the line of customers had slowed down, Erdene helped Poppy dump out old coffee from the carafes. “The Balthuman boys,” she said to her friend. “They’re cute, aren’t they?”
“They are a cute couple,” Poppy said smiling.
“Oh, Pops. No, they’re not dating. They’re brothers!” Erdene tried not to laugh at her friend’s assumption.
“Oh... I thought...” Poppy let out a laugh.
“They work at Balthuman Academy down the street. I think one of them is interested in you, girl. I’ve never seen that man stare at anyone or anything that long. I thought you’d turn into stone.”
“Yah, right. A guy like him and a girl like me? No fudging way, ma’am, plus I already have a boyfriend,” Poppy declared.
“That liner needle dick? He would never measure up to 27 magnum Bugpin!” Erdene teased, referencing tattoo guns. She knew how bad Julri had been treating Poppy. She noticed Puppy’s puffy eyes this morning but didn’t mention it since she knew her friend had cried over her shitty boyfriend again.
Both girls giggled and continued to complete their tasks for the next shift to take over.
*****
Poppy went to yoga class after work, hoping to see Tora there but it was only 1 pm. He must have still been at work at the most prestigious school in Narin. How a tattoo man with a pair of black gauge earrings was employed at an expensive private school was beyond her, she would have to find out from Erdene.
When Poppy got home, she took a shower, heated up some leftover and caught up on one of the Netflix original series. Before going to bed, it was a habit to call her Granny every evening before calling Julri in case he made her cry again. He made her promise to call him every night but for the past weeks, it felt like a chore. A few nights he didn’t even answer the phone at all.
She called him the first night she moved in, stressed, tired, and hungry, all she wanted to hear was consoling words but he made her cry by saying monotonously that she made a bad decision to move away and it was her fault for having big dreams.
She was getting ready for bed when her phone pinged:
T: Nice seeing you today, Bobby
P: You too, Tora
T: See you tomorrow, sweetheart
P: Fresh brew coffee will be ready! I’m going to bed now. TTYL
Poppy didn’t know why a couple texts from Tora warmed her heart, more than texts that Julri sent her all day. Whatever it was, it felt kind of nice and she kind of liked it. With that thought, she drifted into sleep.