Luhan had never entered a Starbucks before. Since he had more money on him he decided to treat himself. A fancy, sweet drink sounded nice. A lot of times he saw many of his customers holding that damn brand drink in their hand and wondered what was so great about it. The green logo was driving him mad. After his finished his shift, Luhan decided to go get one. He was to finally try a taste of the famous Starbucks.

Entering, there was already a bustling environment. There were people typing furiously at their Mac laptops. Luhan resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Stupid pretentious people with their up-to-date technology. 

In the tech world, Luhan was lost. He didn’t know what was ‘in’ and what was the ‘it’ thing to have. The iPhone was up to what number? 4? 5? He didn’t know and he really didn’t care. Luhan was the proud owner of a black Nokia, the indestructible phone he reminded himself smugly. 

Stepping into line, he was greeted with a friendly cashier. Luhan liked his eyes. They were very dark and expressive. Following that train of thought, he thought ‘Zitao’, reading the name off the tag, should choose a drink for him. Luhan was clueless of this place. Plus, he was too lazy to read the drinks off the chalkboard (it was in small print too), hanging above Zitao’s head. 

“Surprise me.” Zitao looked at him funny, unsure of his unusual request. He reflected his expression when Zitao asked for his name. Weird, Luhan thought. It was nothing like his neighborhood, where the old ladies would hand him the drink and shoo him off when he payed.

There was another line to get their drinks. Luhan huffed. There were people who actually waited everyday for this place to get their drink. Couple of minutes later he heard his name being called. Finally, he thought. 

He was sad that it wasn’t Zitao who handed him his drink. Just as he was reaching the door to go out, some guy bumped into him, spilling his drink all over him. 

“What the actual , dude!”

“Sorry,” the guy mumbled and raced off. The nerve of that guy, Luhan mentally cursed him, hoping he got hit with a car or truck. 

People began to stare and Luhan about exploded. “Rather than looking at me like some freak, can one of you be kind enough to give me napkins or something?”

The front of his shirt and pants were drenched. Talk about embarrassment. Luhan felt humiliated under their watchful glares. 

“Excuse me?” He felt somebody touch him from behind. 

“What do you want?” Luhan snapped, turning around only to be faced with Zitao’s concerned face. 

--------

Rush hour was coming to an end and the line was lessening, thankfully. When I was about to serve my last customer, I hear a splat. A customer’s drink was spilled and the pitiful thing was standing there, drenched.

“Hey, Luna. Take my place for a sec.” Luna, my fellow barista, protests but I press on. “Please?” 

“Only cause you’re cute.” She playfully punches me on my arm. 

I give her a quick thanks and approach the site of where the mess was. I recognize the customer from earlier, Luhan. I reach out to touch his arm and he snaps. 

“What do you want?”

I brushed off his rude tone and tell him to come with me. I lead him to the back room. He stands there looking out of place and questioning. 

“Stay here. I’ll go get some towels.” I head to the bathroom and bring a hefty amount. He accepts it, giving me a nod of thanks, and wipes himself off. 

I notice that his shirt received much of the spill. Going around with a wet shirt was not ideal especially in the autumn weather. It was chilly outside too. He could get a cold or worse, pneumonia! Even if I gave him my sweater, he would still have the wet pants.

Making this less awkward and direct as possible I ask, “Excuse me Luhan, if you don’t mind me asking, how do you navigate yourself?”

Luhan looks up from his wiping and responds, “I take the bus and walk to get home. Why?”

“Well, in your state, it is not advisable to go out. I can offer you a ride to where you live. It’s not a problem for me. My shift ends in 20 minutes or so. In the meantime, you can stay back here and stay dry.”

“Nah man. It’s cool you’re doing this for me and everything, but it’s fine. Nothing I can’t handle. Ma is gonna worry if I arrive late..” Luhan trails off. “I better get going. Thanks a bunch though.” 

“Wait! I can call right now if you want! A chauffeur can come right now, speedy quick.” I reach for my phone in my pocket, ready to dial the number. 

“Hold up. You have a personal chauffeur?! What, you rich or something?” Luhan has such an incredulous expression, his jaw ready to reach the floor.

I shake my head quickly, “No no, nothing like that. He is not exactly personal. My family only asks for him when we really need him.” Luhan stares at me unbelievingly. “But today is an emergency. I just don’t want you to go out like that. The weather has been getting chilly lately and I thought maybe it would be ok.” I blurt out quickly. 

Luhan thinks about it for a moment. After a minute of consideration, he gives a nod. “Since you insist ever so sweetly, I’ll go.” He gives me a cheeky smile. 

“Great! Stay here while I handle some late customers. I’ll be back in a jiffy.” 

--------

Luhan was grateful that they were still kind and thoughtful people like Zitao in the world unlike a certain person who ran off and never came back. 

His shirt and pants were still wet. Luhan was sad the drink Zitao chose for him went to waste. He didn’t know what the drink was called but it smelled nice, like raspberries and chocolate. 

He sat down in one of the chairs the back room offered and continued to wipe in vain. His stomach grumbled. Luhan groaned. All he wanted was a sweet drink and he got wet clothes in return. Now he’s hungry and thirsty. The sweet aroma of coffee and pastries wafting from the outside were not helping his cause. “Shut up stomach, I don’t need your sass.”

Since he had 20 minutes to kill, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Just for a moment he told himself.

“Luhan.” Someone was calling him. Ma was probably waking him up for breakfast. “Wait 4 minutes, ma.” He feels someone gently shaking his shoulder. “Ma, please.”

“Luhan, your ride is here.” He opened his eyes slowly, reality finally dawning on him. “Zitao? Oh right. The ride.” He gets up and stretched. It was a pleasant power nap. 

Zitao stood next to the doorway holding up two drinks and a paper bag. “I shall accompany you on your way. I need to get home soon too.” Both of them walk to the exit and Zitao waves bye to Luna. 

Outside, Luhan sees a sleek black car, already waiting for them. The chauffeur gets out and personally opens the door for him. If he could get service like this everyday, he would be one happy man. Zitao gets in on the other side. 

“Where to sir?”

Luhan tells the chauffeur the address and sits back. Some people had it all but some like Zitao, didn’t use their privileges, they saw it as something to not to take advantage of. People like Zitao wanted to work hard and earn their title. He was a shining diamond amongst all gems.

They rode in silence but it was a pleasant type of silence. Once Luhan got to his destination, Zitao stopped him. 

“I’m sorry your drink went to waste so I gave myself the liberty to make you two drinks. One for you and your mother.” He hands him the drinks. “A Double Chocolaty Chip Crème Frappuccino and a Green Tea Crème Frappuccino with whip cream!” Luhan had no words. This kid was the nicest person he has met and he wasn’t even anything to him. 

“Oh and I chose some cheese and raspberry danishes and chocolate chip cookies to go along with the drinks. They are in this paper bag.” Zitao hands him the bag. “Hope you and your mother enjoy them!” 

Luhan was lying to himself if he said he didn’t feel some heat prickling the back of his eyes. Free food and a free ride? Blessed day he had. All due to a humble, well-raised angel. 

“I, uh, don’t trust myself to speak. But I-” Ah crap his throat was closing up. “I’m probably not going to see you again...but I hope life treats you well and yeah. I’m gonna go in now or else I think I might cry.” Luhan bids him a teary farewell. 

Zitao’s face heats up hearing his sweet words. He waves good-bye. It felt nice to help someone. Going back inside the car, he goes home with a light heart. Today was good day he decides. Luhan was a strange but a very interesting individual. 

Hopefully life treats you well too.

A/N: This is mostly a filler chapter, I guess. I wanted to expand on their relationship a bit more. This is going to be important for later. Way, way later in the story. And no, there will be no taohan. Their relationship will tie back to Yifan. 

Also, I do not think people with macs are pretentious. As a Mac owner, I sometimes find it hard to use this laptop and I had it for two years -_-* Plus its kinda slow and I get frustrated and in retaliation, I hit it. (ง •̀_•́)ง