CHAPTER 2

"Ladies and gentlemen, American Airlines welcomes you to the city of California. We will be landing off shortly."

Jihoon's ears carefully listened to the mechanical voice announcement while he was reading a magazine.

He was so excited as only few minutes left for him to see his dream country.

He smiled when he recalled what his friends advised him before departing from his homeland.

"Jihoon, don't forget to spend time for yourself and have fun although you are on a business trip."

It would have been better, if they were with me, Jihoon thought.

Jihoon's work is to stay in CA and visit some famous places in America to make a report of it. This task seems like a piece of cake but he felt little bit nervous thinking about the new surroundings. But still, he determined himself to cope up with the new environment, that is, the American environment.

******

Jihoon walked out through the bustling airport terminal and let out a deep breath.

His heart overflowed with happiness as he finally set his feet on his dream land. He walked from there to find a cab to reach his pre-arranged apartment.

After waiting for a while, he found a cab and hopped into it. After a good twenty minutes of ride, he reached the apartment safe and sound.

As he travelled for more than fourteen hours, he was jet lagged. It was already 11:17 am in California. He opened the door of the apartment and to his wonder the room was massive. So massive that it made him mumble a 'woah'.

He placed all his luggage in a corner and decided to take a refreshing shower.

After he finished with showering, Jihoon realized that he had not eaten anything since morning. He took out a pack of instant noodles which he brought with himself from his luggage and got ready to cook it.

There's nothing that tastes better than the delicacies from home country, right?

After the hunger-satisfying meal, he decided to rest for a while. He made himself comfortable in the bed and let out a sigh, staring the white ceiling. He has so much work to do but for now a good rest is all that he needed. With these thoughts, he drifted into a deep slumber.

*****

Anna's day in cafeteria was not any better. It was one of those days, without much customers and it was boring as hell.

A day cannot be anymore boring than this, she thought.

As usual, Katie was hanging out with her boyfriend, virtually.

Same thing...again and again.

Can't she focus on her work atleast in the work time?

Anna's voice rang in her head filled with frustration.

While she was on her thoughts, the doorbell of the café rang indicating the presence of a customer. There was not one but a gang five men who are in their twenties.

"Welcome, what do you wish to have?", Anna asked with a pleasant smile.

"Can we have three Latté and two Risotto, please?", one of the guys asked.

"Sure, please wait for a while", Anna replied and was getting ready to assemble the items for the order.

Finally, Katie got up from her seat to prepare Latté while Anna prepared Risotto.

"Hey guys, she looks beautiful, right? Shall I ask her out?", Anna heard one of them talking behind her.

"I won't give you a chance"

"Hey, Anna, they are hinting on you!", Katie whispered smirking at Anna.

"Look, she's so beautiful from back."

That's it.

Anna could not hold it back anymore and slammed the cups on the table.

Anna looked Katie with blank expression on her face. She did not utter any word and continued to prepare the order.

"Hey, you can't treat the customers in an unpleasant way, okay? Continue to behave like this, if you wanna get fired", Katie whispered again.

Anna disgusted the words of Katie more than the words of those perverted guys.

Did she suffer a recent blow in her head? What's wrong with Katie? She can't differentiate what's hinting and what's cat calling?!

Anna extended the coffee tray to those perverts who were giggling among themselves, mumbling a small 'have a nice day' with no expression on her face.

Sometimes, some customers like these guys always get on her nerve and on top of that Katie. Anna always tries to maintain a cool composure but...she can't help sometimes.

******

Anna stepped out of her workplace as it was evening already.

As Anna was a super-introvert, today's happening at the cafeteria made her uncomfortable even more.

Why can't some men be normal?

She sighed and continued to walk along the street.

The evening image of California always gave her so much joy. The dusky sky with few twinkling stars, the bright glowing street lamps, people walking with their beloveds or their kids to spend their evenings... all these sights made her feel over the moon.

Anna had a habit that she follows every evening en route to her home. She spends some time in a park by sitting all by herself in the bench. It always gave her relaxation watching the kids play or when the cool breeze hits her face taking all her worries away.

It's true that sometimes we need to be alone to see the beautiful things happening around us.

Anna went to the park as she always does to relax herself. But to her surprise, she found out that the bench was already occupied by someone before her arrival.

Who's that?