12. Coffee Shop 喫茶店

It was hard for you to hold a job. You overthink things and stress out too easily, and none of your bosses from your many part-time jobs wanted to deal with you. It was quite a surprise you were able to graduate college with flying colors ― even your father had a tough time hiding his own amazement when you showed him your dean’s letter ― but after college was a different matter.

You tried to apply for jobs, but every time you opened an application form, you froze. It only confirmed your belief that there was something wrong with you because, no matter how hard you tried, your mind became blank and stayed like that until you gave up and closed the application forms.

You didn’t know how you’d tackle your future, and that uncertainty stressed you much worse than it scared you. You supposed some online anonymous job would have to do until you got over your application paralysis, and you resigned yourself to such a fate. But something changed after your sister came under your care.

Suddenly, your uncertain future no longer was a problem because, more than anything, you wanted to provide for your younger sister. You wanted the best for her, and your pride wouldn’t let you live it down if you had to rely on the allowance your father still gives you. And so, a week after your sister became a permanent resident in your home and after a few days of prep talk, you mustered up all your courage and applied for a job at the small coffee shop across the street from your apartment building.

Perhaps you had frightened yourself unnecessarily ― or maybe it was because the old lady running the shop had been a well-known psychiatrist in her youth ― but the shop owner had hired you on the spot. And she even gave you your own special hazelnut roast to brew whenever things got too hectic for you.

You don’t realize this, but you only needed to brew that roast twice in the weeks you started working there. And just after those weeks, you’ve started to relax and allow yourself to think that perhaps the future isn’t as stressful as you imagined it to be.

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