Capítulo 8: Lemonade

Evelyn shook her head to recovered from her haze.

"Welcome Gentlemen" she greeted with her perfect bright smile.

The erstwhile hooded man was still staring at her, with a subtle amusement in his eyes which he is too well with his cold distant stare, there was a strange enigma in his eyes, which Evelyn felt strangely drawn towards. It was getting really annoying, “Can I help you with something? I hope you haven’t come here just to stare at my face?”

This time Evelyn spoke with a sharp edge in her voice, if they are here to dawdle then Evelyn was the last person they should bother, she was way too busy for that.

He raised an eyebrow and smirked at her sudden change of demeanor. Evelyn wondered what did she say to elate him so much?

Finally he opened his mouth to speak, and then she heard him say something which she had expected the least, it not only surprised Evelyn but also, the other person, as he uttered, "Lemonade."

“Le...Lemonade?"

Evelyn asked once again to confirm, if she had heard it right.

This was perhaps the last thing Evelyn had expected; she blinked a couple of times. The man seemed to be even more amused at her confusion.

Even Edmon was surprised as to how his obdurate friend gave in to his will of having lemonade at the middle of the night; on top of that he was the one who is ordering it.

"That's correct, do you serve lemonades?" Edmon hurried to confirm the order, lest Anastasio changes his mind.

The desperate urge for lemonades surprised Evelyn. A lemonade at the middle of the night, was rather an awry request, that too when the weather wasn't warm at all. The newcomers were not only weird, but their requests were also very singular.

Lemonade wasn't a regular menu at the 'Betrice ’. However, Evelyn had prepared a few bottles of fruit extracts which she occasionally used for making complementary drinks on weekends and holidays. She cleared her throat, and in the most professional manner she said, "Right away Sir, please have a seat"

And she got busy in preparing the lemonades, while random thoughts crossed her mind, two young men suddenly appearing at the cafe almost at midnight, and making such an odd request, curiosity was eating up Evelyn’s mind. Suddenly she jumped at an unanticipated thought.

A few days back at school, she had heard of a blood-chilling incident. A gang of notorious men were around the vicinity. This was the festival season; business was at its peak. The con men would target certain shops and visit them as customers at odd hours and then they would polish off everything, from a pen to money nothing remains. This incident took place in a nearby town which was having a harvest festival a few weeks back. Rumor has it, if the shopkeepers would try to stop them, they would knock them out and then while the shopkeeper would lie knock-cold, the men would shave off their head, and after making them bald, they pull out their teeth and finally would emboss the gang's tattoo on their forehead. Evelyn wasn't cowardice, but it was impossible for her to fight these two Hercules. She didn't want to end up into a toothless bald, she literally felt shivers going down her.

"Daddy, where are you?" She murmured under her breath and quickly eyed for something to defend herself, and managed to grab a pair of paper scissors which had already turned blunt because of over use, “This can’t even manage to cut papers. Oh! Evelyn, you poor thing!” She pitied herself now. Evelyn felt even more pathetic when she recalled that, she has behaved crassly with the man just a while ago; he already seems to be a screwy case, what if he was pissed at her already?

Evelyn peeked at the men, the one in crumpled formals had already passed out on the table, but the loon was still gaping at her with a playful smile.

A flash of Evelyn's bald, tooth bereft face appeared in her mind, "I hope he wouldn't attack me right now, if I can calm him down and distract him with a lot of complementary items; he might me. There isn’t much cash which they can take; Evelyn makes it a point never to keep a lot at the cash box. However, today they had made a good business, but, what was more important now was to save herself.”

The girl came up to him with a bright smile; she had dimples embedded on both cheeks, which dismayed Sio for a moment. She was holding on a tray with two glasses of lemonade on them.

"Here you go Sir, two portions of lemonade."

"I am afraid my lady." He glanced at his companion who was fast asleep with his head rested over a stretched arm, "the one who desperately needed it is drop dead now. It's quite a task to wakeup this log. Sorry to bother you Miss."

"No problem sir," Evelyn waved and forced laughter, "it is perfectly alright, you can wait here until he wakes up."

"That would be a trouble" Anastasio said with a grim face, "he wouldn't wake up until tomorrow. He can be quite a handful at times."

"Tomorrow?" Evelyn smiled even though her eyes said otherwise. Anastasio could sense her weariness. However, she recovered quickly. "No problem sir... You can wait here..."

"That's so kind of you young lady, but, that's not something which concerns me, I am not so tactless to trouble you for that long. But this" He held out a glass of lemonade "is what concerns me. I have a thing with wastage. It makes me mad, very mad." Anastasio made his face look dark. He had to admit he was enjoying this, what dismayed him even more was that he Anastasio de Faunoa was pulling this stunt; surely his long asleep devil had awakened. Just a bit longer he wanted to be carefree, just some more.

"Sir?" The girl called in a shaky voice brought him back from his notorious thoughts.

"Would you mind drinking this portion with me?" Anastasio offered calmly

"Me? Lemonade?" Lemonades disgusted Evelyn, "How can I have a drink with a valued customer? It's... It's “She was trying hard to come up with something, "against our rules you see." Her scared expression tickled the demagog in him.

"Since you mention rules now, my lady, just a while ago, you asked me if I was here to stare at your face..."

"Lemonades are my favorite sir." Evelyn almost pounced into his sentence, "It is so kind of you that you offered a humble person like me, to have this lemonade with you." Evelyn spoke in a dramatic manner, she picked up the glass with some hesitance, and the glass of lemonade was emptied in almost one gulp. Suppressing his laughter was becoming an uphill task for Anastasio.

Evelyn realised she should have learnt to make better lemonades. What if his temper goes worse after drinking this?

As he lifted his glass she stopped him, "Sir, why don't you try our cookies instead? They are the best. I will bring them to you right away. It's on the house today." Anastasio wondered how terrible was the lemonade that she was willing to compensate it with cookies for a glass of lemonade. She would definitely have to shut down her business if she continues being such a philantrophist; Sio chuckled inside, but kept a straight face. The girl started moving towards the aisle, oblivious that he was right at her back, "If you insist, My lady instead of cookies, I would like to have that" Sio pointed at the cake which Evelyn had been baking just before they arrived.

"That?" Another disaster, why was this man so attracted towards her blunders? Evelyn screamed inside her head. "I apologise sir. It’s not for sale or service."

"But, I can have only that or nothing else." He stepped closer towards her, a devious smile playing on his lips, Evelyn gasped.

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