21 The First Cappuccino

Alan cleared his throat again, trying to recover from the shock the system gave him. "I'm afraid we only serve cappuccino in the afternoon. Would a regular coffee be acceptable?"

The woman was stumped. On the one hand, he had just refused her which she was unaccustomed to. On the other hand, he offered her the less expensive of the two options. If he was a scammer, he would go with the more expensive of the two. Still, she was displeased at his refusal.

"It better be a good cup of coffee. I'll take it to go." She said coldly.

Alan wanted to cry. He further explained that they did not offer coffee to go, making the same excuse he did with Tom.

The woman looked ready to walk away in anger at this point. Instead, she just told him to hurry up.

Alan did so. He brought out a cup of coffee and placed it in front of her. Unlike Tom, the woman did not particularly want to interact with Alan, finding him unpleasant after his refusals. She took the coffee to one of the armchairs, sat and blew on it, trying to cool the coffee down.

Alan watched from the bar in anticipation as she took her first sip.

Her face remained calm throughout, and he couldn't tell what she thinking.

Over the course of the next 20 minutes, she leisurely drank her coffee while reading the documents she'd brought with her.

Finally, she finished. She walked up to him and returned the cup.

He nodded. "Thank you for your patronage."

She looked at him and then opened her mouth to speak. "I thought you were scamming me at first and then I just thought you were an idiot. But your coffee was good. I'll come again. My name is Claire." With that she nodded at him and left.

Alan celebrated inside. However, it wasn't because a beautiful woman had just complimented him. It was because he had managed to find his first new customer. That was progress.

He took the cup back to the dishwasher and then wiped the bar with a rag even though it already looked clean.

Things were looking up.

The day proceeded slowly without anyone else coming in until around 3:00 PM. At that point, the bell rang as the door swung open and Tom stepped inside.

"Good afternoon," Alan greeted as he saw him.

Tom smiled. "It is indeed!"

"What are you so happy about?" Alan asked curiously.

Tom's grin grew wider as he explained. "Thanks to your coffee I managed to have the most productive day I've had in over a week. I even managed to come up with a solution to a title dispute over a piece of property I've been trying to purchase for months now."

Alan nodded. "Well, congratulations to that. What can I get for you?"

Tom looked at the board above the bar again curiously, noting some changes on it.

"You added your rules to the board?" He asked.

Alan nodded. "I get tired of explaining them everytime. This way I can just point to the board."

Tom looked bemused as he read the rules.

"Each customer can only have one coffee every 6 hours. Takeaway coffee is not offered at this time. Cappuccino is only served in the afternoon." He read them aloud. "In that case, I better take advantage of this opportunity to order a cappuccino."

"One cappuccino, coming right up." Alan confirmed his order, accepted his payment, and went to make him the cappuccino.

He went with the classic leaf again for the froth art. He'd need to practice different images. He hoped to be able to change it daily eventually.

He served the cappuccino to Tom, who chose to sit at the same seat at the bartop.

Tom admired the leaf drawn artfully in the froth. "Did you really make this yourself?" He asked in disbelief.

Alan smiled smugly. "I'm a man of many talents. The woman who marries me will be very lucky to have such a talented husband."

Tom snorted before sipping on the cappuccino.

It was Alan's first time getting to observe the effects of the cappuccino up close. Interestingly, he could actually see Tom's body relaxing, his perpetual frown from stress receding.

He may complain about the system and its rules, but there was no arguing that the effects of its drinks were truly unparalleled.

Tom took his time drinking the cappuccino, unlike the coffee in the morning. As he did, he and Alan chatted.

"I'm telling you, there's no way you can rely on your 'froth art' to get a date." Tom argued. "What matters most are looks and money. That's why I get offers all the time."

Alan shook his head, smirking. "Well, you definitely at least have money. As for looks, how could you compare to this glorious specimen before you."

Tom looked at him. "You killed my appetite, thanks. I'm just saying, if you want to date someone you should focus on growing your business, expanding. You need money to treat a woman properly."

"The ideal woman, in my mind, is one who prefers a good bargain to an expensive dinner. That's why our first date will be fast food." Alan said. Tom looked at him to see if he was kidding before realizing he actually had such a warped image of the perfect woman.

"In any case," Alan changed the topic. "In order to pay off the bank loan I need to make money, but to do that I need to get more customers."

Tom thought about it. "You could always take out some sort of advertisement."

"With what money?" Alan asked sarcastically.

Tom shook his head. "It'll have to be through word of mouth then. I'll tell some people I know about this place, but the number of people I know who can afford your place and would still take the time to sit here and drink coffee is few. Even if I try to explain how good it is, they'll just think I'm exaggerating, or lying to help out a friend."

Alan nodded. "I appreciate it either way. The business will take off once it starts building up momentum. I just have to stay afloat until then." He paused, then continued. "That's just another reason why the perfect woman will be just as cost conscious as me."

Tom and Alan continued arguing about their own versions of the ideal woman right up until Tom left.

Alan flipped the sign on the window to closed and locked the door. Then he went upstairs, got ready for bed, and went to sleep.