Coffee tasting gone wrong

Lana lay on her bed crying her heart out. She regretted asking Santiago such a question and damnit, she had let herself be overwhelmed by a stupid emotion of an adult teenage mind. She even felt irritated thinking about the word Kiss. The word that most of the girls in her age were proud to use in a boast talk.

She couldn't help but cover her face in shame after seeing Santiago's reaction. She should have found a way to stop that prickly feeling thumping in her heart.

She should have found a way to seal it at least for now her sister was still nowhere to be found. After all, Santiago was way too old for her. But she couldn't help it. She had unknowingly developed some feelings for him.

It all started on a cold Saturday summer morning, when the flowers were just blooming in the dew, sending a mind-blowing scent to linger in the air. Just as Lana was enjoying this beauty of nature, Santiago drove in in his flashy Mercedes Benz sports car and parked in front of their house.

Through the window from her room, she saw him standing beside his car like he owned the morning dew which showered on him. The collar of his leather jacket was flipped to one side, his bang flopped over his forehead which made him look like one of those pop stars.

She smiled to herself from her cosy room, noticing how handsome this man her sister had rejected was.

Her eyes leisurely went down to his rosy lips to get herself enough pleasure in staring at an absolutely handsome dude, which she strayed in the process and subconsciously muttered... "Damn those red lips!"

Santiago suddenly looked up and caught her right on this point when her lips moved and eyes gauged him like a silly lost sheep. Lana looked away and blushed.

She hurriedly pushed her silly self out of her room to open the door for him.

"Hello, Lana,"

"Hi, Santa welcome" The sheepish smile was still glued on her face.

Santiago smiled at her, pulling her into his usual brotherly hug. Releasing her he backed out and asked, "Is Roselle home?"

Lana shook her head. "No, she's not, any problem?"

"Not really, we have a day off today, so I thought of catching up with her, you know." He shrugged.

"Oh, it's that's so? You should have let her know you were coming"

Santiago nodded."I wanted to surprise her, too bad she left. My plan failed."

"Oh, I see come in." Lana made way for him to step into the sitting room.

"Don't bother" He glanced at his wristwatch and said, "I will come back some other time."

"No Santiago, it's been a while since you visited, Mum has been asking about you. And besides, I learned a new recipe for preparing coffee tea from the internet today. Since my sister is not here to taste it for me, then you'll replace her."

Santiago laughed. "Okay, Lana, let's see your best recipe,"

"How is mum?" Santiago asked entering the sitting room.

"Recently, she had been experiencing an excruciating pain on her neck."

She kept her pace in front, leading Santiago to her mum's room.

"Roselle brought the doctor over last night to check on her. It seems she needs to undergo another surgery soon." She heaved a sigh.

Santiago felt the sadness in Lana's voice as he walked behind her into the room.

"Mother look, you have a visitor," Lana went over to her mother's bedside.

Lana's mother squinted her eyes to see who it was. "Oh Santiago, how are you? It's been a long while since I saw you."

"Aunt, how have you been?" Santiago moved over and kissed Evelyn on her cheek.

"I'm doing a little bit okay. You barely visit us now."

"Oh, aunt, I had so much work to do at the company."

"H...how… is... the company" Evelyn stuttered at every word she spoke. She was finding it had to speak in her paralyzed state.

"It's doing fine," Santiago sat at the edge of her bed.

"Here's the coffee tea, Santa," Lana offered quicker than he expected.

"Added a lot of... to it"

"Since Lana came completed high school last month and is back for the summer holidays, she had been busy trying out recipes upon recipes on how to make different types of coffee. Her sister does the tasting for her. Since Roselle is not around, she will feed you with coffee today until you'll go down on your knees to beg her to stop." Evelyn joked.

Santiago almost choked at Evelyn's joke while sipping his coffee.

"Mum," Lana furrowed her brows, she had the urge to facepalm, abashed at her mother's comment.

Santiago dungs his head and sipped on his coffee. The coffee was no sooner on his lips when he removed it from his mouth, swallowing hard the little he sipped.

"Anything wrong?" Lana asked.

"N...no, nothing, this is absolutely beautiful, I love the taste," Santiago said.

Lana's mouth spread in a wide smile. "Thank you, I'm happy you liked it." She exclaimed.

Santiago nodded at her and returned her smile. Meanwhile, in his mind, he couldn't help but wish she would leave the room a bit so he could take water to calm the blazing taste of too much sugar burning on his lips.

'Huff! What did I just taste?' Santiago screamed inwardly.

He made her believe her coffee tasted good so she won't bother bringing cups and cups of coffee in other to get the best coffee made. But he was disappointed when Lana said. "Hold on there's one more to taste, I added a different ingredient in this one, so you will tell me how it is."

'Oh, good lord! What have I gotten himself into by coming here at the wrong time!'

Lana sprang off to the kitchen.

There was nothing else he could do other than accept it. Santiago dungs his head into his palm.

"I told you Santa didn't I?" Evelyn chimed at the moment Lana's back disappeared from sight. The two were about to chuckle when Lana emerged with a bigger cup of happily filled coffee.

"Strawberry spiced coffee," Lana announced proudly.

'Good lord,' Santiago screamed inwardly again. The worst of it was that Lana urged him to finish it. In other to make her happy, Santiago gulped the whole content at a go to avoid him suffering to get each sip down his throat.

Santiago was in the middle of having a small talk with Evelyn when his stomach rumbled. He felt the urgent need to visit the toilet. A few minutes later he couldn't endure it anymore.

"Can I use the toilet?" He asked, making a sign at Evelyn.

Evelyn laughed inwardly. "I told you Santiago, I told you." She whispered to Santiago when Lana's attention was off them. "You shouldn't have let yourself be persuaded by her. Now look at what you…"

"Ahh! Mhm...Ahh!"

"Lana, show me to the toilet quickly... Ahh! UHM!" Santiago screamed.