22 Why Night Cafe?

That evening, after some thought Jade came up with a solution to appease Bernie.

"Bernie, Patrick will need to come in before he starts to hand in the contract, so you can speak to him then. If you don't like him, we don't have to hire him."

Bernie smiled briefly before quickly hiding it. He pouted and said, "It's not like I particularly want to do this; it's only because you're asking me to."

'Oh my god! Why did I not notice this about him before?' Jade smiled awkwardly and decided to humor him. "Yes, well… I'll let you know when he's coming in."

After saying that, she hurriedly escaped the kitchen, her mind in turmoil at this new side to Bernie. 'I've known him for so long. How come I never noticed before?

'And more to the point, why is he like that? In cartoons and web novels, it's normally little girls who act like that, not old men!'

Ting ding!

Interrupting her thoughts, the door opened, and the bell chimed. She turned around to see the handsome young businessman.

"Welcome back, Liam. What can I get you—"

Her greeting was interrupted by the young man himself. "Liam? How do you know my name? I'm pretty sure I've never introduced myself…"

Realizing her social faux pas, Jade became flustered, and her cheeks became bright red. He had never introduced himself to her, and she had never asked. She only knew his name because she had eavesdropped on his phone call!

"I… er… the phone call… while I served…"

'I've never seen her flustered like this… It's kind of cute.' The frown on Liam's face finally let up, and he chuckled, seeing her like that. "I'm sorry, Jade, I was messing with you. Actually, I was speaking loudly on that phone call because I was pretty sure you didn't know my name."

Jade pouted at him now and said with mock annoyance. "Please don't tease me like that."

"Ha ha. I'm sorry, sorry," Liam said. "But it's nice to finally be on a first name basis after a few months."

Jade did not say anything back and just smiled politely. 'Humph! Who would want to be on a first name basis with you? … oh no! Bernie's tsundere attitude is rubbing off on me!'

Seeing Jade's lack of reaction, Liam quickly changed the topic, wanting to talk to her a little long. "By the way, I've been wanting to ask this for a while—why's it called Night Cafe? It's not like you're exclusively open at night."

Recovering her composure, Jade politely responded, "The old owner, don't ask me why, ran this as a 24/7 cafe. So, he called it All Night Cafe. When the business was struggling Bernie and I bought him out. By that point, some of the facilities were in a state of disrepair, including the sign out front—the two Ls had fallen off. Most people had already come to know the place as Night Cafe, so we took down the A and officially renamed it."

There was a twinkle in her eye as she spoke about the cafe.

'This place really is her passion,' Liam thought.

He was about to say something else when Jade shook her head and said, "I'm sorry, but I really should get back to work."

Liam glanced around. Other than himself and an old man, there was no one else in the cafe. 'What work?'