A Cup of Coffee

It was another normal Monday. Sibley got into her car and drove to her local coffee shop. She worked there as a baker for about a year now. When she got there, there weren't any parking spaces left. She circled the block multiple times and 30 minutes passed by. She didn’t even realize it but she was going to late for work. However, out of all times she circled around and around, there was one parking space. But, it could only be used after 1. 

She looked over at the dashboard clock and saw that it was only 7 am. She decided that she would just park there until after her lunch break and move it to a different place when another spot opened up. 

After hours of baking in the back, it was finally time for her lunch. She walked out the coffee shop and walked towards her car. She saw a strange striped man standing next to her car. He made odd motions and didn’t speak. When she approached her car, the mime turned towards her and his jaw dropped. He couldn’t believe his eyes. “I love you…” he mumbled. 

“What did you say?” she spoke in broken english. After he snapped back to reality, he acted out pen and paper. She stared at him but got it after a few minutes and took some out for him. He quickly scribbled on it and handed it back while smirking at her. She grabbed the note with a confused look and folded it into her pocket. 

She got into her car and drove off looking for a new spot. When she got back to the coffee shop, she called over her friend that worked with her. In the back, they sat on the floor and talked to each other. 

In tagalog Sibley said “Hey do you know what this says? A guy gave it to me just a minute ago. He looked kind of strange.” She took it out of her pocket and gave it to her friend. She looked up and laughed at Sibley. Sibley could only speak and understand Tagalog. However she was taking classes for english and only knew a little bit. 

“Sibley! He’s hitting on you!” she said. She handed the note back. “It says are you a parking ticket? Because you’ve gotten fine written all over you.” 

Sibley spit out her coffee and both of them laughed. The whole day Sibley thought about it all day. She smiled each time she thought about it. It was kind of weird to her but she still found it cute. Towards the end of the day, she took over for her friend and was in the coffee shop alone. She was in the back, baking the last of the doughs. 

Suddenly, the bell chimed as someone walked through the door. A black and white striped man walks in and waved hello with a big smile. She poked her head out from the back and quickly hid when she noticed him. She fixed her hair and made sure she still looked good before she went out. 

The mime still didn’t talk and pointed at things he wanted. His total was $105.79. She was shocked by how much he spent for himself. What was he going to do with all of that coffee and pastries? The mime pulled out of his wallet and slowly counted his money. He handed her $55.28. 

She looked at him confused and he sat down at the table. “Hey! This isn’t enough money for your order!” she yelled at him. 

“Oh really? I thought I actually gave you some extra.” He looked back confused. He came back over to the counter and she helped him to count his money. She soon came out with large bags in both hands and gave his order to him. He waved goodbye and walked out. 

The store was soon closing and she went about cleaning and packing everything up. She saved his table for last. When she walked over she grabbed a napkin he left and walked over to the trash can. Right before she threw it away, she noticed black ink writing on it. She unfolded the corner and noticed that he wrote his number on it. She stuffed it into her pocket and went on with cleaning. 

She locked the doors to the shop and she punched his number into her phone. “Fine” is what she put as his contact name. 

When she walked out she noticed the mime from a distance with the bags. He walked up to the homeless people across the street and handed the bags to him. He gave all of them hugs and walked off. He made her day. What a kind act. 

After she got home, she shot him a text and they began to talk all night. With each text she slowly wanted to get to know him more and more. The one problem was that she had to use a translator because she didn’t understand what he was talking to her about. She didn’t mind it though. Since there was the language barrier, they couldn’t talk much in real life or over call so they texted everything to each other. She would often have to carry a translator with her wherever she went so it wasn’t anything new to her. 

“Hey why don’t you want to talk?” he asked her when they were out together. She didn’t talk at all and was quiet. She would just point at these things and didn’t say a single word. 



“Can’t speak English.” she tried to connect words to form a sentence. He realized that was the reason why she always looked confused when he spoke to her. 

They soon began to date despite not being able to speak well to each other. After a few months, she became better and better at English and they began to have normal conversations with each other. He even took the effort to try and learn Tagalog but could only get down a few basic words. At home, when they both came home from work, he taught her english and she taught him math. He was terrible at it and was so close to failing math this semester. She kind of figured after he tried to pay for the order that one day. 

When they were laying outside in the grass one chilly evening, they cuddled as they stargazed. The stars that night shined bright and twinkled as they danced across the black sky. They talked about their future and had a long deep conversation with each other. “Mahal kita.” she quietly whispered into his ear. His heart thumped louder and faster after hearing that and he hugged her tightly. They laid there all night and watched the sunrise with each other.