Chapter Text
Linkon City, nighttime. It was past dinner time, yet the streets were still filled with people walking in way too many directions to count. Red, neon lights shined bright over those same roads, creating a dreamy-like scenario that most of those passers-by of the night ignored anyway.
The clinking of glasses, the loud voices of customers raising toasts for god-knows what reason, casual conversations mixed between one and the other, creating a loud chaos in the night that somehow managed to be inexistent to everyone in that room.
Including Caleb.
Caleb’s grandma, Josephine, owned a restaurant in the city center, an area that was often quite busy with students and workers visiting for lunch during the day, only for them to come back at night, after a long and hard-working day.
While he was still a university student, he somehow managed to work there as a waiter as well. Josephine offered him the money he needed in exchange for help at work, alongside “attracting young girls” with his looks, according to her.
Nonetheless, Caleb was an excellent employee. He was known for being a perfectionist and for always putting a good amount of effort in every single thing he did, especially helping his loving grandma. Always so focused, had never broken a single glass, all customers seemed to love him. That was the same reason why the bustle of the main dining room didn’t bother him at all. He was used to the noise, even liked it to some extent.
“Caleb, dear, could you bring me another pair of chopsticks? I just dropped mine.” said an old lady, a usual customer, with a warm smile on her lips.
“Will do”, replied Caleb, not stopping his walk as he carried three different plates at the same time.
No matter how busy or tiring his shift could be, he enjoyed working there. Talking to customers, learning new cooking tricks from Josephine every now and then, or just observing.
“There you go”, said Caleb, handing the old lady a clean pair of chopsticks.
Observing was probably what he loved the most about his job. He was a rather social person, so of course he was familiar with different kinds of people. Yet, watching people from afar was completely unique. It allowed him to notice the small details about someone, the ones no one paid attention to.
How one of the customers started eating his food too soon and ended up always burning his tongue, or how another one only ate on her own and always seemed to be lost in thought.
The kitchen area let him have a look over the main dining one, and that was something he especially did while washing the dishes, towards the end of his shift. It made him realize how interesting people actually were, how there was much more beneath the surface.
And obviously, the same thing was bound to happen that night. The only difference was that it was going to be more intense than ever.
The end of his shift was approaching, it was around the time when they would accept the last customers for the night. The remaining ones were completing their meal with a bowl of fruit or with the exchange of small conversations between each other.
And right then, a young woman entered the restaurant. Before Caleb could show her her table, or even take a look at her, Josephine called for him from the kitchen.
“Caleb, the dishes!” He could distinguish Josephine’s voice from the other ones filling the room. Of course he could, it was all he heard while growing up.
“Coming”, he said, tilting his head and walking towards the kitchen, where piles of dirty dishes waited for him. He had noticed the young woman being shown to her table by one of his coworkers, so he didn’t pay attention to her anymore and instead focused on the task at hand — washing the dishes, making sure he didn't break any of them.
He focused on the chore with surgical precision, removing each stain and making sure every plate was polished. That was, until he raised his eyes, and those encountered the young woman from earlier in his gaze.
Elegance personified.
She sat at the table right in front of the kitchen, perfectly aligned with his view, slowly eating her food with an immaculate delicacy, even in the way she handled her chopsticks. Her clothes seemed to reflect her status or personality: they were impeccable, not even a single wrinkle showing on those fabrics. She was stunning, yet seemed so lonely.
Caleb took a first look at that woman, and his eyes felt as if they couldn’t look away. While it was true that he loved to notice small things about people, he had never been so captured by somebody else. There was something different about her, he was sure of it. He just needed to understand what it was.
The need to rush the task at hand, washing the dishes, was starting to become more and more present in Caleb’s mind. He wanted to be the one serving her, offering her his service, but it seemed like everything was preventing him from doing so.
In a few minutes, he had finished washing the dishes, and as he was approaching the bowl of soup on the counter, ready to serve it to the woman, he was once again interrupted. “Caleb, the big table at the end of the dining room has ordered six bowls of fruit. Could you handle it?” The words of his colleague almost made him sigh with frustration, but before he could give away how he was feeling, he put on his best smile.
“On it.” he replied, trying to look like his usual, calm self.
And just like that, he started peeling apples and slicing them, somehow managing not to cut himself while he kept his gaze towards her. But she was distracted, lost in thought, and didn’t pay attention to him at all.
He skillfully carried the bowls on both arms, opening the kitchen door with his shoulder and walking towards the table, using that opportunity to take another glance at her. He wanted to talk to her, to have some kind of interaction with her. Yet again, she was distracted, talking to the waiter.
It kept going exactly like he didn’t want it to, with him searching for opportunities to even exchange a single glance with her, and once he found them, they were stolen by him in a matter of seconds.
Then, it happened.
He had finally encountered her eyes. Those profound, dark eyes.
⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡✈︎⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆
No matter how much he tried, he really couldn’t remove the image of those eyes from his head. He had only taken a brief glance at them, but it had been enough to produce an internal turmoil he wasn’t used to handling. They shined under the red lanterns inside the restaurant, and had a slightly curved shape produced by the gentle, polite smile she had offered him. Undoubtedly beautiful, yet he had a feeling that they hid something. For all the time he had looked at her that night, she had looked incredibly… something. Either sad, lost, or something else. There was something more beneath the classy and expensive façade. He knew it.
A few days had passed since that night, and she had never showed up again. As much as he didn’t want to lose hope, he was starting to believe that she might’ve never come back, thus used work as a distraction.
That night, he continued to engage in his work as he usually did. Being polite with customers, carrying more plates than normal all at once, washing the dishes, but now in hopes of finding her once again in his gaze, lost in thought.
It didn’t happen. Or so he thought.
It was past closing hour, and he was left alone to prepare the restaurant for the following working day. Josephine had left earlier, her old age starting to get to her strength, and the other employees had already ended their shift, leaving Caleb completely alone in the establishment.
Or so he thought.
He had finished cleaning and setting the place for the day after, and all he had left to do was eat the dinner he had prepared for himself. He sat at the usual table, which allowed him a view of a small, kind of hidden area of the dining room. It wasn’t visible from either the entrance nor the kitchen, yet he could see it from the corner of his eyes from the table he was sitting at.
And there it was. Someone.
Caleb saw a figure sitting at one of the tables from that secluded area. They were hiding their head between their arms, adopting what looked like a sleeping position. He was hesitant, wondering if that person was really sleeping or pretending to be, for some reason. However, that didn’t stop him from moving closer to said table, an attempt to identify the stranger. And he did. He was able to identify them. Her.
Those same eyes, now closed. And even when covered, they still looked as beautiful as he remembered them. It was the young woman from a few nights before, sleeping at the table for who knows what reason.
For the first time, Caleb had noticed a detail of her that didn’t suit her character at all. Sleeping on the table of a restaurant? Something a woman like her would never be caught doing. Yet, she did. It intrigued him even more than everything else about her.
What to do was unknown to him. Wake her up and possibly cause her to feel immediate embarrassment? No, he couldn’t do that, not with how peaceful she looked, as if she hadn’t gotten a proper sleep in days. Observing her sleep, until she eventually woke up? He couldn’t do that either, because it would’ve crept her out. Although, the temptation to do that was high. She was beautiful, after all. The most beautiful woman he had ever laid his eyes on, for sure. Nonetheless, he couldn’t close the restaurant, not with her asleep.
While he pondered that decision, he stayed there, in front of that table, his apron still on. It was a reflection of what he actually wanted to do, without thinking of any of the consequences his options would have. He wanted to stay there, watch her sleep, admire her beauty, maybe catch a glimpse of what he had still to notice about her. And he did give in to his desire, just by simply sitting there, across her.
The tiredness he felt after working all night didn’t matter at all to him, he was too occupied observing her, studying her.
About half an hour passed, and by that moment, it was around 1:30am. By then, he started to notice a slight shift in her behavior, and realized that she was about to wake up. He kept his silence, not wanting to startle her in any way, and looked at her as she slowly opened her eyes, revealing her confused state.
“What… where am I?” she murmured, before noticing him. Although the room was only lit by the dim, red lights of the restaurant, he swore he had seen her pupils dilate.
“Who… are you?”
It took Caleb about two seconds to form a gentle smile on his lips. The same one he offered to all the customers. Or at least, that’s what it looked like from the outside. Deep down, he knew those smiles were just a form of courtesy, and that this one was the only real one he had ever given someone.
“I think you fell asleep at the restaurant, and since this table is more secluded than the others, no one managed to notice before me. I’m Caleb, I work here. Actually, I’m the owner’s grandson.” he said, keeping the corners of his mouth up.
Her face went pale, and it only worsened when she checked the time on her phone.
“Oh… you must’ve been closed an hour ago! I’m deeply sorry for keeping you here. You could’ve woken me up! This is so embarrassing…”
”Don’t worry at all. I’m the only one left here and I was just finishing with the cleaning. You haven’t been a burden in any way.” he said, the tone in his voice gentle. He wanted her to calm down.
“Besides… have you actually eaten something before falling asleep?”
Silence. Probably embarrassment, or shyness.
“No, I don’t think so. I was so tired that I think I fell asleep even before ordering.” she admitted, almost as if she was confessing a crime. “But that’s not a problem, especially after the hassle I’ve caused you here.”
“That’s not good.” he chuckled. “I can’t let a customer out of the restaurant without eating their food and enjoying it so much that it leads them back here. Otherwise, grandma isn’t going to be so happy…” he joked.
He saw a small hint of a smile form on her lips, which warmed his heart more than it should’ve. He had been right about her, she was charming, pretty, and her manners were adorable to him.
“I’ve cooked some dinner for myself, we can share it. I’m actually a great cook, grandma has taught me many recipes, you know?”
A slight nervous laugh escaped her mouth. “You really don’t have to… actually, thank you for not making a fool out of me.” she said, the tone of her voice getting even quieter.
“I insist. Stay.” he continued, his tone a bit firmer yet still gentle, not wanting to scare her away. He could tell she was thinking about it by her pondering expression. She was probably analyzing her options, just like he had done earlier. Just by the look in her eyes, he could tell that something was stopping her from staying. Or at least, almost stopped her.
“Well… I suppose I don’t have much of a choice.” she replied, with the same shy smile, even though it seemed to hide something else. “I’ll stay.”
“Good.” Caleb smiled, then made his way to the kitchen to grab their dinner.
“Wait..! I didn’t even introduce myself properly. I’m MC/N.”
Caleb smiled warmly, carefully listening to the sound of her name when it escaped her own lips.
“Caleb.”
“Nice to meet you, Caleb.”