Chapter Text
Callis is a barista at the Gavaldon Coffee & Tea House. It's her favourite job in the world.
Her job isn't the reason she's happy everyday, really. She's just grown fond of the people she encounters at work, and has consequently grown fond of the work itself. Even the tedious parts.
The café’s still the same place: a tiny leasing space on a fairly busy street midtown with constantly fogged-up windows and leaky air conditioning and tacky peeling wallpaper that’s been developing a suspicious-looking stain in the far corner closest to the pantry. The regulars are still regulars, save for a few new faces that Callis has grown accustomed to seeing. That much hasn’t changed. It’s still home—to Callis, at least—in the truest sense of the word.
Of course, there are some things that have changed. Change is the way of life, after all. A while back, Callis’ boss decided to employ a new guy to take care of the brunt of the dishwashing and garbage disposal—a glorified Linguini, if you would. But Steve is nice (almost painfully so) and he’s good at following instructions and he lets her bum cigarettes off him during their lunch break, so she gets along with him just fine.
Her life is still pretty mundane. She enjoys it a lot more now, though.
Currently, she lives with August and Agatha in their two-bedroom apartment just a few blocks away from her old one. She moved in just a few months after she and August started dating, and for her, it was like coming home. Their unit’s got cold tile floors (but that’s okay because they all wear fluffy slippers around the house), not-so-leaky kitchen pipes, and walls that are of reasonable thickness when she and August want some alone time. The bathroom heater actually works, and there’s usually nothing that needs fixing around the house.
Callis also now has a lovely boyfriend, an adorable four year-old who’s all but begun to call her “Mum,” and a hairless cat that hates her. (Agatha says it’s nothing personal, Reaper just hates everyone.) She’s definitely not lonely anymore.
Every single day, Callis creeps out of bed and gets ready for work. Before she leaves, she kisses August and Agatha on the foreheads as gently as she can without waking them up. (It always fails: they always wake up to give her twice as many kisses as she managed to give them.) She takes the bus down to the café, and works her daily double shift. August and Agatha always drop by for lunch, and the three of them share whatever food Callis decided to make. Occasionally, Callis’ siblings will drop by to chat, or have a pastry, or just play with Agatha for a bit before heading back to school. When there aren’t many customers, Callis smokes a cigarette or two with Steve. After work, August and Agatha come to pick Callis up and they all take the bus back home. The apartment never feels empty when the three of them are together.
Callis still catalogues what her usual café day looks like. Her parents don’t ask, but she likes to remember it anyway.
- The architecture student Mistral twins still drop by at 9am on the dot. They still have wildly different orders, but they change it up more often now. The nice one—Rhian, he said—seems to have a soft spot for Callis’ iced caramel macchiato and bran muffins. His grumpy brother—Rafal, according to Rhian—has evidently grown fond of her (growing to be) famous BLT sandwich and hot latte with hazelnut syrup. She has yet to converse with Rafal, but Rhian always makes a point to compliment whatever new additions she has made to the display.
- Emma—who has now been promoted to a junior on the fashion design team—comes by a bit less often than she used to, but always during her lunch break. Whenever she does visit, it's usually to buy some of Callis’ fruit scones and banana bread and perhaps an iced mocha latte with extra cinnamon sugar. She eats more nowadays, and she seems to be more at home in her own skin than she used to be. Callis enjoys it when Emma makes a point to chat and show off some of her new designs, and some of the old ones that are finally coming to life.
- It's rare to see Honora nowadays. Callis heard from Evelyn that she got casted in a show that was going to tour cross-country, which would explain the exuberant actress’ absence. Callis probably shows her displeasure at the loss of interaction with Honora, so Vanessa comes by in her stead— usually with Evelyn—and fills Callis in on the new things going on with Honora. The two usually get matching americanos (iced if it's hot out) and chat with Callis about whatever they can think about. It's not what she's used to, but Callis welcomes the company.
- Dovey—Clarissa, now—and Still-No-First-Name Lesso still make a point to come visit after school hours. Clarissa, Callis finds, is always really sweet, chatting about the weather and complimenting Callis’ baking, and Lesso is … well, Lesso. The redhead still keeps to herself and stays quiet while Callis and Clarissa talk. Apparently, the two have been married for a while now—Clarissa says that it's not exactly a secret, but surprisingly, only a few people have so much as asked about it. Callis always gives them free samples of new pastries to try.
- The calm of the late afternoon bustle’s aftermath is Callis’ favourite time of day. Depending on the number of people in the library on any given day, August and Agatha sometimes come to the coffee shop after August’s work day to help Callis bake the next day’s batch of pastries. Callis enjoys having them around to help on days they can come—even if she does end up doing the bulk of the work herself. On days that they're too busy at the library, she and Steve bake pastries, clean up shop, and smoke together on the curb before closing time.
After work, she does anything and everything Agatha might want to do. August is terribly indecisive, and so is Callis—thus, decision-making falls to Agatha. Sometimes it's a movie, sometimes it's playing with dolls, other times it's a communal silent reading session. It doesn't really matter what they're doing, really. Callis just loves not being alone anymore.
Meeting (and dating) August has proven to be one of the biggest—and most welcome—changes in her life.
As the eldest daughter, she was expected by tradition to be the first to get married and have children and help the family out when they needed her to. She'd been quick to shun tradition, taking a specialised science course on a scholarship and moving out—but still contributing to her parents’ rent. Callis was almost the perfect eldest Asian daughter. Except for one thing: her lack of a love life. Her parents used to call her every other night, pestering her to put herself out there and finally find a boyfriend. Her siblings were a bit less harsh about it, but they all used to give her pitying glances and gentle hugs when she came to visit. It was pitiful.
Once she and August made their relationship official, she brought him and Agatha to dinner with her family. Callis gave him a crash course in Filipino traditions beforehand. He took his shoes off at the door and pressed her parents’ hand to his forehead and introduced Agatha to all of Callis’ siblings. They all loved him instantly. (Callis knew this because her parents asked him when he planned to marry her. She'd pretended to be embarrassed, but the idea of marrying August made her smile. Not that she planned to tell him. Yet.)
On Friday nights, Callis and August do their washing at the coin laundry just a block from their apartment. It's a tedious task, but they always make an effort to do it. Agatha usually helps load the clothes, then sits in a corner and reads quietly. Callis is good at folding, and August is good at, well … carrying the clothes back to their apartment. After dropping off their clothes, they all go get ice cream together.
On Saturdays, the three have breakfast at home, then go off in different directions. August shuttles Agatha off to her art lessons, and then works a half-day shift at the library. Callis still drops by her parents’ house and helps them with whatever needs to be done. (Their most recent dilemma: Ley and Sammy were invited to an interstate training camp, but their parents don't want them to go without a chaperone.)
On Sundays, Callis goes with her family to church. August and Agatha join them for brunch afterward. Sometimes, Callis’ siblings drag Agatha out to the playground at the park so that she and August can go on a date. It's usually by the afternoon that the three of them then go home, and take an afternoon nap before doing whatever Agatha fancies doing. It's easily Callis’ favourite day of the week.
These days, Callis likes to take time and appreciate how much there really is to be grateful for.
She goes to pick up her siblings from school at least once a week, and buys them their favourite candy when they ace their tests. She hugs her parents a lot more, too. It never really occurred to her how infrequently that used to happen until she paid attention.
Thanks to that, it's much easier to see how much love is really in her life.
Callis loves her almost-perfect boyfriend, his adorable daughter, and their lovely apartment filled with books and half-finished embroideries and the smell of freshly baked cookies.
Callis loves her family—a lovely mess of people with such wild interests—and her childhood home, with its persistent smell of efficascent oil and laundry detergent. Callis especially loves her siblings, each and every one of them, with their dry humour and crooked smiles and scraped knees covered in Band-Aids.
Callis even loves her workmates: overly bubbly Steve the dishwasher and his shaky hands that smell of cigarettes, polite John the supplier who comes once a week and orders an iced fruit tea with honey with a smile, and grumpy Manley the manager who rarely says two words to Callis but trusts her enough with the shop keys.
Now, there are still two truths at the core of it all, they're just a bit different than they used to be.
There is much love in Callis’ life. But she's not lonely anymore.