17 Grapes?

With the sudden introduction, after a moment of confusion, Alan quickly stood up and extended a hand toward Jade. With a friendly smile, he said, "Nice to finally put a face to the name. Harry talks about you a lot, so I've been wondering what you look like."

Jade shook his hand and offered a polite smile back. "Likewise, and congratulations on the upcoming nuptials. I hope you two are very happy together."

"Thank you."

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Jade left the couple, but not before reminding Harry that she was supposed to be working.

Ting ding!

Not long after that, the lunchtime rush began, and the two waitresses did not have time to even talk among themselves, let alone boyfriends or fiancés or whatever. As usual, with the rush and lack of conversation outside of routine questions, Jade began thinking to herself.

'Hmm… I don't know what it is about that Alan, but something feels off about him. I have no reason to think this. He is a perfectly nice young man; he is attractive and polite. Harry says he is a landowner and is involved in agriculture, both of which can be lucrative lines of work.

'All in all, he seems like a fine lad, a good man to take away my Harry… But, despite knowing that, I still have this nagging feeling whenever I look at him…'

Jade glanced across the cafe at the subject of her thoughts as she prepared an order for two businessmen. She did not stare for long lest she caught his attention. Besides, the businessmen looked like they were in a rush, so she quickly returned her attention to her work.

"Here are your coffees, enjoy!"

"Thank you."

"Thanks…"

"Please, come again!" As those two men left, Jade turned to the next lady in line. "Hello, what can I get you?"

While the woman looked at the menu on the wall, Jade's attention wandered again. 'Hmm… I'm probably just being weird. He seems nice. Maybe I'm just jealous. I wonder, though, am I jealous of Harry having a boyfriend or of Alan taking away my Harry?'

While Jade amused herself with such nonsense, the lady before her decided. "I'll take some grapes to go, please."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Some grapes to go."

"Grapes? As in the fruit?"

"Yes."

"Um… it's not on our menu, but I can ask our chef if we have any."

The lady smiled. "Please do."

Jade swiftly disappeared into the kitchen, her previous line of thought disappearing just as quickly.

"Bern, there's a lady here asking for grape. Do we have any?"

"Grapes?" Bernie frowned. "Tell her to f*ck off!"

Jade chuckled and returned to the lady. "I'm terribly sorry, but it seems we don't have any in. The chef did check in the refrigerator."

"I see… Well, thank you for looking." And with that, the lady left.

Jade's jaw dropped. 'Eh? She didn't even want a coffee? Why the hell did she come here then?'