New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

The next half hour was spent discussing tastes, brewing minuscule amounts of coffee to trial-taste them, and narrowing down the options.

Kary was getting excited as the kinds of beans were narrowing down as time went by. She was not a coffee aficionado by any measure, but all this tasting was incredible.

The coffee's rich flavours, accompanied by their natural aromatic aftertastes of chocolate, toffee, nuts, and citrus, enveloped her senses. Each small sip was a journey to coffee paradise.

The shop held its name to a higher standard in her mind now.

Even Alex, who had grown up not to be a difficult person and eat or drink what he was served without complaining, enjoyed each flavour more than the next.

After narrowing down to three beans, the owner looked at them with a smile.

"I think we have narrowed this down enough in shop. How about I make three small bags, and you can trial-run them at home? This way, you'll know which one suits your tastes better. Does that sound acceptable?"

Alex looked at the beans, remembering their unique flavours, and thought it wasn't a bad plan. After all, he couldn't decide which of these three he preferred.

"I think that is an acceptable compromise. What about you, love?" Alex asked Kary.

She simply nodded her head, thinking about the next cup she would brew herself.

"I do have one question before I bag those beans up for you," Andrés said, looking at them with a critical eye.

"Hm?" Alex hummed.

"Do you have a slow brewer at home? Because putting these beans into a standard coffee machine would be a travesty to their quality. It would ruin their unique flavours."

"Uh…" Alex uttered, looking at him bewilderedly.

Andrés knew that look and laughed.

"Hah hah hah! Don't worry about it. We have some models available in store. I just want to be sure you don't ruin the taste of the bean by doing the disservice of treating it like regular coffee. These are premium beans from my home, after all," he said, dragging his feet over to a bead curtain.

"Please follow me next door, where we sell our slow brewers. These are made by my cousin's company, back in Bogotá. Since you are also buying coffee, I'll chip in a ten percent discount; how about it?" he said, proceeding across the bead curtain.

Alex wasn't sure how he could give a ten percent discount on a slow-brew coffee machine for just three bags of coffee beans, but he wouldn't spit on a discount.

They looked at all the models Andrés showed them, but in the end, they followed his top recommendation and bought a coffee machine for a hefty price of a little over two grand, even after the discount.

Alex wasn't that attached to his money now that he had enough to sustain a thousand of his old lifestyles. But this still pinched his heart a little.

And it only got worse when he finally heard the price for three hundred gram bags of coffee beans.

"Alright! The total for the beans comes to two-thousand, seven hundred and ninety-four dollars," Andrés said with a straight face plastered with a wide smile.

Alex almost coughed blood at the price.

There were no price tags in the shop, at least on the coffee beans' side, so he had no way of knowing how much they cost until he passed the register. But the staggering price caught him by surprise and stole the wind from his lungs.

Andrés looked at him with a sharkish grin.

"I know, I know. The price is steep. But these are three of my greatest bean varieties, and they go for a hefty premium anywhere on the globe. The fact that I have direct connections to the farm already cut out twenty percent off the price," he explained.

Alex didn't want to believe the words he was hearing. But he refused to look cheap at this point.

First, it would make him look stupid, now that he had already bought the coffee machine.

Second, it would be disrespectful to refuse to buy them now after the shop owner came here himself, after hours, to give him a degustation and personal recommendations.

Lastly, it would make him look like a fraud, after he had so meticulously dressed up to look like an upper-class guy, to suddenly skimp out on the coffee beans he had wasted the man's time on.

"I think it's a fair price," Kary said, knowing Alex was on the ropes.

But she had actually looked at the prices online for the beans they were picking while Alex was checking out the coffee makers. She knew what to expect, and, as Andrés said, they were cheaper here than if she ordered some online directly from the farm in Columbia.

Alex couldn't complain unless he wanted to look like a skimping cheapskate, so he presented his card, smiling at Andrés.

"I guess it is only a fair price to pay, given the quality of this coffee," he said, laughing reluctantly.

Andrés smiled wide, nodding his head.

"The best Columbian coffee on the East Coast, if I dare say so," the older man replied, scanning the card to get his payment.

As soon as the machine dinged in confirmation, he was more than happy to lead them to the door so that he could close the shop again. But on the way out, another man stepped in through the door.

"Carlos? What are you doing here at this hour? I thought you played your game at this hour usually?" the old man asked the young man stepping into the door, looking surprised to find the store lit.

"Abuelito? Why are you serving customers at eight at night? You know that I usually deal with night orders. You should be home resting," the young man replied, looking at Alex and Kary disapprovingly.

"Nonsense, Nieto. It was a new customer, and you know full well I deal with new customers. Answer my question, young man," Andrés said, looking at the young man severely.

"Abuelito… I told you the game was down days ago. Since I have time, I thought I'd contact Diego down at the farm before it's nighttime there, too."

The old man looked at his grandson disapprovingly.

"You know your brother didn't go to the farm. Why do you keep forcing yourself to believe his lies? We'll discuss this further after I walk the customers out," the old man said, his voice icy.

"You know, it's quite alright. We can see ourselves out. Thank you for the great service, sir. I will assuredly come again, next time during open hours, for more of this brown gold you sell," Alex said awkwardly, walking past the young man on his way out.

"Please, Mr. Leduc. Call me Andrés. If these beans aren't to your liking, I will gladly recommend other beans to you. The door will always be open for a loyal customer," the old man said, returning to a wide smile.

"Then, if I am to call you Andrés, feel free to call me Alex. It was a pleasure meeting you and your grandson. See you around," Alex replied, waving at them as they left the store.

As they passed next to the young man, Carlos, Alex and Kary heard the young man whisper to them, "I know what you are."

They ignored the comment, their faces going neutral, as they left the store and walked back toward their home.

But once they reached a few blocks away, Alex looked at Kary, and said, "You felt it too, right?"

Kary nodded.

"Yeah… He's one of us… But, that was not curiosity I felt from him. Or wariness, for that matter. He was outright hostile…"

Alex nodded his head, having felt the same thing.

But it didn't make sense. Why would he be hostile toward them if they hadn't met yet?

"For now, let's ignore him and see what happens next. We don't really have time to worry about him, anyway. The plane should have already landed in Montreal and been cleared for our use by Katherine," Alex said, brushing the bloodlust off as a simple warning.

Maybe the young man thought they were after him, and were passing through his grandfather to get to him. In any case, it was useless to worry about a single kid, who probably wasn't even strong enough to take on Violette on his own.

They had bigger fish to fry. But Alex sent a text to Mr. Gu, saying he had found another awakened in Montreal, in case they hadn't spotted him already.

It was a precaution, in case the kid was trying to stay hidden, and also doubled down as a potential ally, if he could stop being so hostile.

For now, they couldn't worry about this. They had to make sure they were mentally ready for their trip.

"I wonder how Jeju Island is around this time of year," Kary said, changing the subject.

"You know what? We should maybe do some research once we get home. I wouldn't want to get there with summer clothes and freeze my ass off. Or worse, get caught in constant rain…" Alex replied, smirking.

"Let's do that once we get home. It'll give us a reason to break in this new coffee machine," she said, tapping the box in Alex's hands.

Alex nodded, smiling at her.