New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

After letting Kary nap a bit more, Alex slowly shook her awake, murmuring in her ear.

"Alright, sleepy head. Even though night is soon falling, I would like for us to get a few things done. Otherwise, we'll have wasted an entire day being totally unproductive."

Kary groaned into his chest, wanting to stay like this, but Alex chuckled, as he rose from the bed, leaving her alone in a strange position under the covers.

"I'll go make coffee while you wake up. If you aren't down in five minutes, I'm coming back up and jumping on the bed until you get up," Alex threatened, laughing his way out of the room as he saw a flicker of flames above the bed.

He sauntered his way downstairs and started brewing a soothing coffee pot as he inhaled the pleasant smell of freshly brewed coffee.

Remembering the acidic comment Richard had made earlier that day, Alex frowned.

"My coffee smells nice… Who is he to judge it and call it garbage…" he grumbled, pulling out the card the man had left him.

He looked at the number, wondering if it was worth his time to call it, or if he should just throw the card away as the insult it was.

"…"

"Ah, what the hell. What do I have to lose aside from a bit of cash?" he muttered, putting his phone into his ear.

He looked at the card, and the number flashed in his thoughts, instantly dialling itself as the ring echoed in his mind.

"Hello, and thank you for calling Adrés Ground Paradise. This is Andrés himself speaking. How may I help you today?" a man with a heavy Columbian accent answered after a few rings.

"Hi, sir. An acquaintance of mine gave me your card, saying you had the best coffee in town. I was wondering if you were still open?" Alex asked, surprised to get an answer at all.

Given the later time of day, he had half expected to fall on voicemail and get the opening hours told to him by a machine.

"Unfortunately, sir, we are currently closed. But I always pick up the phone, regardless. Some of my clients are more the nightbird kind, and an excellent coffee has no clock attached to it, if you know what I mean.

"Is there anything I could do for you?" the man asked, sounding very happy.

"Uh… I guess. This acquaintance of mine said the coffee I keep is garbage. Could you recommend a blend that would be a bit higher in quality?" Alex said, unsure of what to ask.

He wasn't a coffee expert, so he had no idea what to ask for, after all.

"You called the right person. Here's what we can do. I'll give you the address to my shop, and you can meet me there in thirty minutes. If I can learn about your tastes, I'll be able to counsel you in person better. Is that okay with you?" the man asked.

Alex was astounded.

"Aren't you closed? I don't want to be an inconvenience…"

"Nonsense, sir. For a potential new client, no inconvenience in sight. It will be my pleasure to the world of high-quality coffee!" Adrés said, sounding proud.

Alex was taken aback.

'This is what you call premium service,' he thought.

"Alright then, I'll note your address down, and be there in thirty minutes," he replied, a smile creeping up his face.

The man happily told him the shop's address before he hung up.

Alex noted down the address on a post-it before shoving it into his pocket. Kary barely turned the corner of the staircase when she saw him stuff a piece of paper into his pockets, and walked up to him, grumbling.

"Who was that on the phone? Was it Richard again?" she asked, grabbing a cup in the cupboard.

"No, it was someone else. We are heading to meet them, so make your coffee to go," Alex replied with a wide smile.

"Meet them? At this time of day?" Kary asked, looking at the clock on the coffee machine.

It was quarter past seven.

"Who meets up at after dinner hours?" she asked, confused.

"You'll see once we are there. Now get dressed. We have to be there in thirty minutes," Alex mocked, heading upstairs to put on cleaner clothes.

Kary groaned in discontent, unhappy that she was being rushed around like this only minutes after getting to her feet. This was the opposite of how she imagined getting up that day.

But she still went and got dressed, pulling her messy hair into a ponytail, as she had no time to do anything else, and waited by the elevator doors with her to-go mug in hand.

Alex was actually slower than her, this time around, as he tried putting on clothes that looked a bit more upper-class than usual.

Kary growled when she saw him coming toward the elevator.

"If you'd told me we were meeting someone important, I would have told you to go alone. I'm not in a formal and presentable attire…"

Alex chuckled.

"Don't worry about it. I doubt the person we are about to meet will care. I'm just trying to look flashy, so he doesn't keep the door locked in my face," Alex explained.

"This has better be worth it…" Kary grumbled, sipping her coffee as the elevator doors dinged open.

Alex walked into the elevator, pressed the ground floor button, and mapped out their destination on his neurophone.

Luckily for them, it wasn't too far away, so they wouldn't need to call a cab. They could walk to it and make it with a few minutes to spare.

Kary was a bit disappointed that they would be walking given she was still tired as hell, but she kept her complaining to low growls and grunts.

Alex had to contain his laughter as he walked around with the basic equivalent of a cave woman, who was grunting her discontent next to him, at least until her coffee started kicking her brain into gear.

After walking for almost fifteen minutes, Alex stopped in front of a large shop window, with closed lights inside the shop. In the window, Kary could read 'Adrés Ground Paradise,' and she wondered what this was about.

"Did we walk over here to come to a closed coffee shop?" she asked, confused.

Alex chuckled as he grabbed her free hand.

"Don't worry, we didn't walk here for nothing. And, if I believe Richard's words, this man sells the best coffee grounds in town. Since he's from old money, I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't an exaggeration," Alex declared, kissing the top of her hand.

Kary looked at him, unconvinced, and took a sip of her coffee, drinking the last of it before sighing.

"This was far from enough caffeine…" she grumbled.

"Then it's a good thing you came with your husband!" a voice exclaimed behind her, with a heavy Colombian accent.

Kary almost jumped, as she hadn't been aware a man had walked in behind her like this.

But when she looked at the chubby man behind her, all she could feel was sweetness from his smile, which was covered by a ridiculously bushy mustache.

"I'm sorry, we aren't married. Just a couple," Kary corrected him.

"Huh… You could have fooled me. You youngsters ooze of love and care; I could have sworn you were married," the man said, smiling toothily.

Alex grinned at him, extending his hand toward the man.

"Andrés, I presume?"

"The one and only, at least within a twenty-mile radius, hah hah hah!" the short, chubby man exclaimed, firmly grabbing the hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. I'm Alexander Leduc, and this is my girlfriend, Kary Deveille. I was the one you spoke with on the phone," Alex introduced himself and Kary, giving the hand a firm shake back.

"Well, Mr. Leduc, you got here a bit sooner than I thought you would. If you can give me a moment so that I can light up the shop, I'll be right with you. In the meantime, let us not dawdle in the street. Come in, come in!" he exclaimed, unlocking the storefront and inviting them inside.

The second Alex and Kary stepped inside the shop, a wall of fragrances hit them, some strong, some soft, but all of which got their brains kicking into overdrive.

The smell of coffee was strong inside this shop, and it alone was almost enough to get Kary on her feet instantly.

"It smells heavenly in here!" Kary exclaimed, feeling reinvigorated.

"Christ, who knew coffee could smell this good…" Alex mumbled.

In the meantime, Andrés had gone to the back, where he turned on the power to the storefront, listening to their comments and smiling to himself.

Coffee was his pride and joy. His father and grandfather before him had all worked in the coffee business, all in some different way, and he intended to lead his son down the same industry.

His grandfather was a successful coffee bean farmer in Columbia when he was a young man, and when he passed down the farm to his sons, Adrés's father inherited the exportation part of the farm.

Moving out of Columbia to establish connections, Adrés's father moved to North America, and his son, Andrés himself, opened this shop back in the early 2000s.

All the beans in his shop came from their farm in South America, and he was very proud of this fact.

Walking back to the storefront, the man got his business face on.

"Very well! Let's sit down and learn about your preferences, so I can best recommend you!"