Coffee Maker

“No, I’m good,” I replied.

I was about to plug my earphones back in when he suddenly held my wrist to stop me, which made me frown in surprise.

“Uh, sorry. I didn’t mean to,” he quickly apologized. “I was just thinking that you’d be the only one staying here. Wouldn’t that be awkward with the workers?” he asked jokingly before letting out a small giggle.

He actually had a point.

I looked out the window and started thinking twice about whether I should go outside or not. In the middle of my decision-making, he interrupted my thoughts once again.

“Okay, it’s up to you then. I just think it would be a pity if you wasted your time staying inside the train instead of appreciating the beautiful scenery outside,” he said before pausing. “Alright, I’ll get going then.”

After bidding goodbye, he flashed me a smile and stepped outside.

I wasn’t really planning to stand up from my seat, but the signal suddenly disappeared, so I had no choice but to go outside and find a place with signal.

Lucky me. There really wasn’t any signal anywhere.

I sighed in disbelief. Why do things like this have to happen at the worst possible time, especially when I’m in a rush? How unfortunate can I be?

I couldn’t help but look at the sky since I felt like my tears could fall at any moment.

“Kenji,” I whispered while staring at the sky.

I couldn’t do anything but let out a heavy sigh.

Since I had nothing else to do, I decided to take a look around the area. Everything looked peaceful, refreshing, and free. How come I never noticed this before? Not even once.

My eyes wandered toward the people taking pictures, but the guy from earlier suddenly caught my attention.

He was sitting alone on a bench, trying to figure something out.

Out of curiosity, I approached him and realized he was struggling to understand how the manual coffee maker works.

He had already poured way too much coffee grounds into the filter and was about to pour boiling water all at once.

“Wait, let me help you,” I said, trying to stop him from making an even bigger mess.

He looked at me with surprise. “Huh? Did I do something wrong?”

“You shouldn’t pour all the water at once,” I explained while taking the kettle from his hand. “And that’s too much coffee grounds. The taste will become too bitter if you put in that much.”

“Oh…” he muttered awkwardly while scratching the back of his neck. “So that explains why the last one tasted terrible.”

I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

“You have to pour the water slowly,” I continued. “Little by little, so the flavor comes out properly. That’s how manual coffee works.”

He stared at me quietly before smiling. “You really know a lot about this, huh?”

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