The next morning, I woke up to a glaring sun and the moo of a cow outside.

And to the vibration of my phone on my nightstand.

Rubbing crusts off my eyes, I took the phone and checked the caller.

I frowned. "Devon?"

Why was he calling?

Right. My impromptu, unannounced leaving might have issued a summon from him.

Before I could swipe the phone to receive it, the vibration ceased, and a voicemail followed after a while. With a sigh, I clicked to listen.

"Where are you, Mieasol?" his sharp phony voice had me cringing. It was too early for this shit, "At least, you could've told me about this. Look, I get it the saleswoman job is unbefitting for you—"

"You have no idea," I murmured.

"But this sort of unprofessionalism is unexpected from you. You used to be the star employee. My right hand—"

"Which you chopped off without a second glance."

"What happened to you now? it might be a lot to think about considering what I told you about Sawyer. And I guess you have confusion whether it's true or not about Sawyer. But believe me, I'm the only person who knows how despicable that man is. You yourself had seen how disgustingly he treats you. Mirasol, I care for you. Please call me back and let us deal with this Sawyer Ronnes once and for all, okay? Please, let's consider what I said. Good morning."

So, he wanted me to play a double game, huh?

A thought sparked in my mind and my lips curled into a smirk at the latest caller list flashing before my eyes.

With that smile, I typed something on my phone, because I had no intention of making my morning sour hearing his voice.

'I'm fine. Just taking a detour out of the States for some showroom emergency for a couple of days. And I'm here with Sawyer.'

I sent it in after a moment of contemplating whether I should have named Sawyer here, but in the end, I caved in anyway and touched the send icon.

Devon responded almost immediately.

'What! Sawyer's with you?? That's great. Sawyer already told me about the material supply issue that could take a week or so to resolve in our Texas branch. Just didn't know he'd bring you there too. Why would he take you there?'

'He required assistance and apparently, I'm a newbie and better off learning stuff from close range than dealing with important stuff going on back in the showroom.'

Sorry, Sawyer. But I had to do this.

'Sleazy shit. Anyways.  Be with him as long as you need. Follow him. Learn if he's planning something, okay? I want a positive update when you come back and nothing else'

I scoffed and typed...

'Alright. I'll get you in the details when I come back.'

I tossed the phone on my bed afterward and slid down to the cold wooden floor with my mood soured after that exchange.

Seriously, what did I ever see in him? Never thought the voice that used to give me flutters now rang in my ears like an annoying siren. Way to ruin my morning!

My feet thumped as I walked to the window on my left, hoping some fresh air could cool my now-rising temper before I started the day.

Freddy and Sawyer's laughter snapped my attention almost instantly.

They were grinning and pulling a pair of white cows to pasture from their cattle keep afar.

After yesterday at the cafe, I hadn't seen Sawyer for the whole day. Freddy was back by evening. Laura and Lui didn't come back until eleven at night. Sawyer must have had arrived with them because that was the only time I heard their cars pull and the main door open from my room.

They had done something together, and I bet was something cafe related. But what? I needed to talk to Sawyer.

With one last glance, I looked at the honey-eyed man rocking the country life and turned around to walk inside the bathroom.

By the time I was stepping down the stairs, my fingers brushed the loose, knitted, white blouse. The pale pair of jeans I was sporting seemed a little tighter, must be my newly gained weight. My sneakers squeaked on the floor as I moved toward the kitchen.

Laura was already there with a steaming mug on the countertop. Her gaze looked out the window, seeing everything and maybe nothing.

"Good morning."

Laura jumped a little and turned around.

"Oh, hey. Good morning. I'm sorry about last night. I planned to sit with you but it was really late and thought you needed rest so..."

"It's okay," I smiled, setting up my coffee in the maker. "I didn't mind. I figured you'd be busy with cafe so no problem."

She frowned, offering a nod. "Yeah, about that... I don't know if Sawyer told you already or not but we went out of town to the food inspection office yesterday."

I tried not to widen my eyes and my very rising temper.

They went to the food office. And no one even bothered with me. Great.

I gulped my frustration with a forced smile. "Wow. That's great. What did they say?"

"We got an appointment for reinspection. A week later."

A week later...

"That means we have to move fast. Do we have a list of to-dos yet?"

Laura hummed. "We're good with the cafe setting. Lui and Freddy will handle the kitchen. They are thinking about launching a new menu. I'm on staff and bills. You and Sawyer are on marketing and promoting duty. He has the paperwork of the drafts. You guys can add or remove things if you see fit. Just let us know before confirming anything, okay? Lui hates sudden surprises."

So, an extended job of sales workers. Nice.

"Done."

Laura smiled and turned to leave when a thought crossed my mind.

"Laura, wait."

She looked at me. "Yeah?"

I took a moment to ask, thinking whether it was a good idea or not. But went to shoot anyway.

"Um... Why did you take Sawyer's help after knowing he came to deceive you?"

Laura frowned. "Well, he never deceived us. He just came one day on our doors and proposed to buy our shares. We just moved on from there."

***

I met Sawyer straight at the cafe later that day. A waiter served us macarons and unlimited refills of caffeine as we buried our heads in papers, drafting marketing strategy. And so far, the results were all zero.

It was either I didn't like his dramatic suave poster method, or he was frowning at my social media promotions. Too generic and bland according to him. As though his flashy posters could shove rose-tinted glasses into people's eyes.

I rolled my eyes when he was babbling about offering a trial invitation to taste free treats while we crossed the sidewalk two days later.

"What! People love free treats, Doll."

I pursed my lips. "They do. But for how long Sawyer? One day or three. They'll poke heads in our store and after that when we'll think about upping our business they'll run for hills faster than Usain Bolt. Most people care less about free food. You know that. Once money is in the equation, they'll want better service and better service means—"

"Better reputation." Sawyer's shoulders slumped.

"Which they are lacking at the moment. And inspection isn't happening until five days. We need to keep the shop floating and after that. Who knows how they even check boxes for inspection? It could be bad for them to see lack of customers in our stores despite better food quality."

"That's why free food is the best solution. Let people come to our shop first. Let them decide whether it's worth the shot or not. At least until the inspection is done. We can pick up from there."

Sawyer had a point. But something still nudged my mind.

I hummed. "And that would leave us with only a few days to raise this cafe phoenix from the rubble. How do you think we'll manage to do that?"

Leaves rustled around us as we walked in silence. Occasional cars and bicycles swished past us in leisure. I looked up and embraced the warmth of sun rays peeking through the gaps of large trees over the building. Pure afternoon heaven.

"We'll figure something out." Sawyer tried to shrug off with a smirk.

But even his smirk lacked its usual luster today. He knew as well as I that it wasn't easy. What we had to do, we had to do in this one week. The rest of the days left for the contract would be for finishing touch-ups.

We were now crossing an alleyway when I heard a meowling cat fighting with another stray fellow.

My feet froze as my gaze froze on a ginger-whited mixed striped scratching a big, scary gray.

"What?" Sawyer stopped beside me, seeing the scene unfold with a frown.

A thought slowly formed in my mind and my lips slowly twitched up.

"I've found a way to save the cafe."

***

"What... the heck!"

Lui's green eyes bulged out as his gaze switched between Sawyer and me. Or more precisely, the gray and ginger from the alleyway in our arms.

"Cats?" Laura came from behind Lui, wiping her hands on a towel.

Freddy followed her just a few steps behind, crossing the display counter and sporting a curious gaze.

"Yes," I smiled and petted the soft bundle of ginger in my hands. "And they'll help us survive this mess."

"Yeah? And how? By prancing around and spreading germs around?" Lui crossed his arms, eyeing the furballs with disdain.

Sawyer and I shared a glance.

We knew we had to face these questions so we came prepared.

"They're safe." Sawyer jumped in with a smile. "We've just checked in with the vet. These two look like recent strays. Must have had a home before."

"Still, what are we going to do with them? Our home is not cat proof and our cafe—"

"We can shelter them here, Lui! The backyard has a small storage house. We can make bedding for them there, arrange cat food, and tell one of the staff to cat-sit them. Felines can be low maintenance. Strays are even more." I offered with as much enthusiasm as I could muster to convince him.

"Yeah..." Laura threw a wary glance toward her still frowning brother. "But how are they going to help our cafe?"

"You entertaining this ridiculous idea, sis?" Lui raised his brows.

I ignored that jab and put on my best saleswoman smile. "Oh, absolutely, Mr. Winters. They are a cute pair and keeping them around could save us from rat troubles."

"Besides, people love these lil' champs," Sawyer hoisted up his gray friend in the air for emphasis, earning a squeaky meow. "Once they see what gold we got, they'll come rushing in to our cafe. Hunters won't stand a damn chance!"

The last line sparked something in Lui's eyes and I hid a smirk.

Doing one up to the Hunters seemed to appeal more to Lui than these cute furballs. Well, as long as he and the rest agreed...

"And not to mention, these feline divas will help give this cafe some furry actions. We can even upgrade this place to a cat cafe if the success rate turns high. It's good for business!"

"Even better if we let people interact with them..." The gray was giving Sawyer a cold stare that made his smirk drop a good notch. "Err... maybe if they feel like it?"

"We gotta build their trust in us first." I eyed my ginger.

Lui grumbled. "Fine. We'll keep them."

Sawyer and I let out breaths in disguise of grins.

"But."

That one word had our spine straightening faster.

Lui gave us a cold stare and glanced at Laura who offered a soft nod. "They'll be on trial. Let's see how public responds to them and we'll see if we can make it permanent."

"Fair enough." Sawyer shrugged.

"And make sure they're on their best behaviors. One wrong scratch and wounded customers and they're out."

The look Sawyer's gray was giving Lui was equivalent to planning a cold-blooded murder. Welp. I guess, Lui needed to watch his back.

Laura rolled her eyes. "Bro, don't be so rude. Look at them. They are such cuties! Are they females?"

"All males." I brushed my silent ginger who was dozing off in my arms.

Freddy raised an arm from the back and we all turned the see him waving his phone.

Laura took it and read the screen.

"Can I... Take care of them?" Laura looked back with a smile. "You want to?"

Freddy gave us an eager nod and took back his phone to type something. After a while, he gave it back to Laura.

Laura read. "I love furballs like this. Used to take care of my sister black Diamond. It was a stray."

"That's nice. We don't even have to look for their nanny then. Our Freddy got this."

Freddy grinned wider at Sawyer's smirk.

Good. All was good. Now, we just had one thing to tackle before we started.

"So!" I clapped. "What are we gonna call these guys?"

***

Machu and Pichu settled well in Cafe De La Winters after that.

Freddy bathed them, fed them, played with them, and put them to bed on the clock. And for the rest of the busy hours, he buried his head in the kitchen counters, kneading doughs or mixing ingredients, right beside Lui.

Laura was stuck often in the office room at the far back of the cafe, sorting through piles of bills and papers.

Sawyer and I ran around the streets. Our mornings and afternoons were spent serving leaflets with big headshots of Machu and Pichu on the front and the cafe in the back with pink and white swirls for the borders.

These were the best times for grabbing cafe seeking people's attention or so Sawyer had said. Although, I had some initial doubts but kids loved the leaflets so that counted as a success. Right?

Anyways, the rest of the days, we built newsletters and social media posts offering a free taste of our bestseller coffee cookies and cats. There were views. People clicked on the interested icons. And our hopes rose higher and higher with each ping of notifications on our phones.

But the doormat of our upgraded cafe never met another footstep other than the Winters siblings, Freddy, and us, and we were already four days down. The only people I'd spotted these days were window shoppers and regular strollers peeking inside our empty cafe through the windows.

Lui got more and more grumpy with each day slipping through our fingers. Laura had grown dark circles and a permanent sad frown on her face. Freddy moved around with a forced smile, trying to ease the ever-hovering tension in the cafe. Sawyer and I didn't even have anything to talk about other than stats and possible endless strategies.

But deep down, I could sense the heavy curl of fear twisting our guts. Winters, counting down days till the official notice of bankruptcy. We, worrying about the soon approaching deadline of our contract. Ever Machu and Pichu didn't jump on each other anymore, always huddled together in a corner of the cafe.

One afternoon they were creeping under the tables. Gray Machu was leading and ginger Pichu was following his friend just a little behind. They must have noticed the swarm of butterflies out in the backyard and were getting ready to pounce.

Just then Lui was hurrying out of the kitchen calling out Freddy's name.

I watched the next scene happen within a span of few seconds.

Machu was about to cross the threshold of the back door. Lui was heading straight to that. His big form and frantic gaze must have missed the silent ninjas. So, the second his white Adidas collided with the yelping Machu, I gasped as Lui tumbled forward and grabbed the archdoor just in time to stop an ugly fall.

The felines scurried away faster and didn't stop even when crossing a hurrying Freddy.

I rushed to him. "You okay?"

"Those lil ' pieces of shits!" Lui grunted, glaring daggers at the way our troublemakers had gone.

Freddy jogged to us faster and began typing on his phone.

I sighed. "They're just cats."

"Just cats?" Lui snapped his head toward me, venom dripping thick through his voice. "More like a sick waste of time!"

Freddy stopped typing. His worried face turned blank.

"Mr. Winters, calm down. Take a seat."

"What happened?" Laura's worried voice floated behind us.

I closed my eyes.

Just great.

"Your cats happened!" Lui snarled, making Laura flinch.

She rested a hand on his stiff shoulder. "Bro..."

"I want them out."

I forgot to breathe.

"Mr. Winters—"

"Now, Laura!"

"Bro, listen. Let's see one more day—"

"Not a single second more!" Lui shrugged off her hand with a jerk and moved to walk back inside.

Laura sighed. Freddy gulped. I had my gut twisting hard.

Failed. We failed. Our last attempt had failed. Miserably. What would I tell Sawyer when he came back after his leaflet hour? We had no time to plan something new. And that too with the inspection tomorrow. God... What we were going to do?

I rubbed my suddenly throbbing head and sat back down on my chair. My gaze blurred on the draft of a Facebook post—a photo of Machu sneaking up on Pichu from behind and a cheery caption.

'Machu wants Pichu's choco cookies. You want some too? Grab a bite at Cafe De...'

I couldn't. I just couldn't do it. Not right now. I needed a break.

The chair screeched as I stood up. Just as I turned to the main door, Sawyer walked in with a smile.

And he wasn't alone.

An old woman in a skirt and sweater held his hand in a trembling grip as they walked. A little boy of around five bounced beside them. A giddy grin was plastered on his face and they widened more the second he saw sweet delicacies on display.

He left Sawyer and the old lady's side and rushed to the display counter, plastering his body against the glass.

"Look, Grammy. So, delius!"

"That's delicious, Aidan," the lady spoke with a trembling voice.

A serene smile crossed her face as Sawyer rested her on a chair.

"Anything our granma needs?" Sawyer asked with a soft smile.

Lui was already out hearing the crowd. He smiled and began talking with the boy, helping him with the options. The sweet enthusiasm in his deep voice was a stark contrast to the grumbling just minutes ago.

I shook my head.

"I'm good. Just water will be fine. Oh, and a strawberry milkshake for my grandson if that's okay."

"Water and strawberry milkshake coming right up!"

Sawyer walked toward the counter, passed a moving Lui plating choco chip cookies, and disappeared behind the kitchen door.

Laura went back to her office with a relieved smile.

Freddy wasn't there, though, must have run back into the kitchen then.

With that thought I sat down. I was just putting the finishing touches to the caption when Freddy's thudding steps echoed around. My brows raised the second I spotted Machu and Pichu in his both arms.

My heart jumped. Was he really throwing these little guys out?

Freddy's solemn face told me that he wasn't enjoying this for even a second. Machu Pichu had sort of become his family. Those mute companions were the only ones who could truly understand his silence. They were his spiritual friends, a connection to his Incan fascination, or so he had claimed one day. He was the one to name them after Machu Picchu, after all.

And now, he had to say goodbye to them. I can not even imagine what Freddy must have been going through inside, right now.

"Wow! Kitties!"

Freddy stopped and stared at Aidan rushing toward him at a break-neck speed.

The boy thumped against Freddy's jeans face first and grinned up at the feline curiosity with a soul-warming giddy smile.

"Can I play with them? Please. Please. Pleaaaaase!"

Freddy looked conflicted as he looked up at Lui.

Lui stared at the cats with a cold look and offered Freddy a curt nod.

Freddy immediately pulled the cats down and typed something on his phone before showing it to Aidan.

Aidan stared at the screen for a few seconds and smiled.

"Okay! I'll be nice nice."

Then he trotted back to his grandma and sat opposite her.

"Look, Grammy. Aren't they cute!"

"Yes, honey, they are. Now, put them down and finish your food. You can always play with them afterward."

The boy pouted. "Alright, Grammy."

With that Aidan gently dropped Machu, and Pichu on the floor and watched them while his Grammy slid the plate before her grandson.

I smiled and went back to my work.

Well, this was a start. Thanks to Sawyer and the fur balls.