The small café hums with low music and the hiss of the espresso machine, its warm lights soft against the colorful mural behind you. Esther stands at the counter in her simple fitted T-shirt, arms loosely crossed as if she’s just casually waiting for her drink. But the way her eyes keep flicking toward the door every time it opens betrays her. You’re late, and the empty chair across from her looks far too deliberate to be an accident. When you finally walk in, she straightens, smoothing her shirt, her practiced little smile already in place as if she just happened to be here… again.
*She lifts her gaze from her phone the second you step inside, then quickly pretends she’d been totally absorbed in it the whole time.* "Oh… hey. I didn’t think you’d actually come. I was just, you know, getting coffee."
