Café de Regalis

The wind was strong. Leone had to get the umbrella lower and closer to her chest as she advances. She quickened her steps and blindly walked under the rain, failing to notice a figure about to collide with her.

The two bumped into each other and Leone was thrown back due to the impact. She held the umbrella tightly to stop this from being blown away and used her head to cover the bouquet from the rain.

When she was able to retrieve the umbrella to its normal state, she transferred the bouquet in her left hand to the right, under the umbrella's shade.

She then saw the person who bumped into her, throwing up on the road.

She extended her arm and shared the umbrella. The drenched young man looked up at her. He looked pale, his body shivering from the cold, his hazelnut eyes lost and hazy.

"Excuse me. Are you al--"

"Ni... Nikki"

Leone caught his extended hand, the cold traveled to her body and made her tremble as her palms hit his cheeks. She could feel his erratic heartbeat slowing down.

"Nikki. Don't leave me." She heard him mumble before losing consciousness, his head resting in her palms, breathing steadily.

Leone shook the latter awake to no avail and looked around for help. The flower shop could no longer be seen, instead, the café is nearer to where they are.

Leone has to give up the umbrella and bouquet as she picked up the unconscious boy, flinging one of its arms over her shoulders, and slowly advanced towards the café.

Mrs. Amelia was waiting by the shop's entrance to greet their guests when she noticed the two hazy figures slowly walking under the heavy rain.

She did not hesitate to open the shop's door to call out for the two to take shelter in her café. To her surprise, it was Leone, though she looked quite different.

"Goodness! What happened?"

"Sorry for the trouble, Ma'am."

"It's not trouble at all. Come on in."

Leone entered the shop as Mrs. Amelia held the door open.

"Daisy, please prepare a pail of warm water and a towel. Mary, look after the shop while we're away."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Mrs. Amelia showed Leone to a fully furnished and maintained room above the café. She laid the unconscious boy on the bed and accepted the towel handed to him by the waitress, Daisy.

She was made to change her clothes as well, wondering where they came from as they look fancy, not the typical clothes for common classes.

She came back to the room and found the boy fully tended already. Mrs. Amelia and Daisy were not around either, probably back at the shop.

She sat on the chair next to the bed where the unconscious boy was and dried her hair.

She was able to scan the room. There was a desk, a couple of shelves, a closet, a bed, and a bedside table. It was clean and Leone got the feeling it was unused.

Then her attention shifted when the door opened.

Mrs. Amelia looked at her with delight and nodded. "Would you like to join us?"

"I would love to but I guess I'll stay behind and look after this young man." She replied and smiled sadly. "I'm sorry I have to leave the flowers behind."

"It's fine. The thought is good enough."

"I see. Congratulations on your anniversary once again, Mrs. Amelia. I'd drop by often in the future."

"We're happy to hear that. And I shall expect to see you every morning." The old woman said with a small laugh. "Would you like something to drink? The usual one?"

"Yes, please. Thank you."

Leone found a tabloid. This paper is more interesting as the contents are vulgar and direct. The writers are hidden in mystery, trying to expose the dark side of the society that had been hidden in sugar-coated articles from the official newspapers.

On the front page is an article that spoke of the increasing crime rate. Sited in it was a phrase taken from a newspaper claiming that the suspects are people from the slums, and to abolish the old downtown area that had turned into a den of criminals.

Attacking this particular phrase, the author criticized and called the former writer shameless for prostituting his talent by writing baseless articles, commenting on how much he received from the capitalist, to commercialize and push the abolishment of the old downtown area.

He noted that they failed to look into what increased the crime rate. The crimes may be instigated by the people of the slums but they failed to notice in the first place that the population in this area has increased just as well.

The crime rate would have not escalated if the ministry properly responded to the needs of the people from Raawi if they have not crawled into the town due to the place being abandoned like a ghost town after a terrorist attack.

The old downtown area provided them with most of the shelter they needed. If they expect to lessen the crime rate then provide these people the home they lost, that is to say, give them the fund they had been allocated, which obviously had been corrupted.

The old downtown area does not need to be abolished. The people that originally stayed here were those that were laid off as their business establishment closed down due to the opening of the new business center.

Thus, it is privately owned by several merchants and the ministry should approve their rights to open back their businesses and stop accepting bribes from the capitalists who are hindering the smaller merchants.

Leone raised her head when the door opened and Mrs. Amelia came in with a tray in hand. The woman placed the tray at the bedside table.

"Do you like to read?"

"I do."

"My son also does. It is through him I grew interested in reading papers like this and came to collect them."

"Where is he now?"

"Traveling the kingdom, writing. I wasn't surprised anymore when he asked for permission to pursue this career."