The Devil's Favourite Obsession

The next morning, once again, Warm Land Cafe was already teeming with activity by seven o’clock.

What was happening was beyond Amanda, the manager, and the staff’s understanding.

Warm Land never advertised itself as others did, nor was it famous for offering something special as other cafes were, and yet, for the last two days, customers had been flocking there like birds to a feeder.

And many passersby were watching the long line outside the Cafe, growing curious and deciding to join it to try the Cafe.

Behind the counter, Cixi stood near the warmer, sliding a sandwich onto a plate before tucking it inside to heat.

Beside her, Lily angled a steel jug under the steam wand, listening to the milk hissing while her eyes kept straying towards the same corner of the Cafe where Zoyar was.

He had arrived exactly at seven.

He had taken the very same seat he had occupied the day before, as if he had purchased the table. Since yesterday, he had remained there until Lily’s work schedule was over. He looked like a man who did not care whether he lounged lazily, smiled needlessly at women, or laughed with Amanda just to pass the time.

Every now and then, he would lean back, speak on the phone, or simply watch the room with a bored expression, like a man who had nowhere he urgently needed to be.

And yet, through all of it, his eyes kept finding Lily in between.

Cixi shut the warmer door and lowered her voice. ”Why was he here again?”

Lily tipped the milk slightly, watching the foam rise. ”What do you want me to say? Perhaps he woke up and decided the café lacked beauty without me in it.”

Cixi turned to her. ”I am serious. He could be dangerous.”

”So am I.” Lily moved the jug away, gave it two quick taps against the counter, then poured the milk into the espresso with practised hands. ”Look at him. He is sitting there like an unemployed person.”

Cixi glanced over despite herself. Zoyar looked bored, unbothered, and entirely too comfortable. ”Do you think he was there to keep an eye on you—or on us on Binge’s command?”

Lily’s mouth twisted. ”On us?” She slid the cup onto a saucer. ”If that man was watching anyone, it was me; he had not looked your way even by mistake... I am assuming he loved his head. And frankly speaking, he should have been grateful I had not charged him for the privilege of watching me.”

That almost made Cixi laugh.

Cixi and Lily placed the sandwich plate and a cup of coffee on a tray for the server to take to the customer.

Cixi reached for another sandwich and slipped it into the heat again. ”You were not worried?”

”I was offended,” Lily corrected, already reaching for the next cup.

”You know what I mean.”

”Yes, I do.” Lily cast another glance Zoyar’s way. ”When I get the time, I will ask him whether he plans to keep haunting this place like a badly dressed spirit or trying to impress me by looking unemployed.”

Cixi snorted softly and turned the sandwich over with the tongs. ”He was not badly dressed.”

Lily gave her a flat look while spooning espresso into a fresh cup. ”Do not start.”

Cixi bit back a smile and reached for a paper bag for the sandwich just as the door opened again.

This time, three men walked in, and the air around them felt wrong before anything else did. They were not loud, yet something about them made the room feel tense.

Their faces were hard, and they looked like men who never truly entered any place unless they intended to take something from it.

Cixi wrapped the sandwich in paper and gave it to the customer who was waiting for takeaway. For the next order, her hands slowed as she prepared the dessert plate for another takeaway.

Those three hard-looking men scanned the Cafe once, then headed straight towards Zoyar’s table.

Lily noticed too. The milk she had just set to steam hissed a little too long before she turned the knob off.

”Who were those?” Lily muttered under her breath.

Cixi arranged the slice of cake into its box, though her attention stayed pinned to the corner. ”One of them may be.”

The three men sat with Zoyar, shaking hands with him, and then one of them leaned in, and one could tell he was speaking in a low voice.

After a few minutes, Zoyar rose from his chair and made his way towards the counter.

Lily saw him coming and straightened before he even reached them.

”You do not need to come here, Sir,” she told him, her fingers already moving over the till screen. ”Someone would have taken your order.”

Zoyar slipped one hand into his coat pocket. ”I am trying to stretch my legs. A few metres’ walk is nothing.”

Lily did not even look up properly. ”Then perhaps you should stop wasting your time sitting in cafes and find a real job instead of being useless in public.”

Cixi nearly dropped a sandwich.

Zoyar, however, laughed, not feeling the slightest bit offended. ”My work is usually done through calls,” he said, glancing around the Cafe as though it had personally pleased him. ”Or meetings with people.” Then his gaze drifted back to Lily. ”I like the atmosphere here. It suits mine.”

Lily scoffed so openly that one of the customers nearby looked over.

He ignored the insult with enviable ease. ”So yes,” he went on, dismissing her reaction, ”that is why I am here. However, I have started to notice some problems in the Cafe. Some employees need to undergo training to learn an important aspect—how to treat a customer, and most importantly, how to do so with a smile.”

Cixi kept her head bowed over the sandwich, carefully sealing the box, while every word landed in her ears with clarity.

Lily finally looked up at him, unimpressed, and smiled, showing her perfect teeth. ”Order—Sir.”