"Yeah, get it ready. I'll be there in 30. Make sure that we bag the deal....by hook or crook," I instruct my assistant while standing on the line to my regular café.

"I'm telling you, you could've took the day off. We've it all set here."

"I need to check the portfolio beforehand, so get the stuff ready before I get there."

I hear a sigh from the other side. "You're already working hard enough, Cris. So why push yourself?"

"I'm hanging up now." With that I hang up on him and look up at the old barista who's been working hard since last two years to provide enough for his sick wife's hospital bills.

"Ring me for one americano with extra whip and a breakfast wrap please," I order with a straight face as I take out my credit.

He's used to me being like this and casts me a mellow smile before swiping my card.

"Felicidades, señorita! That'd be your 1089th purchase, and we offer a special treat to our every customer on their 1089th pick-up. And eres afortunada, you are one of them," he informs me with a bright smile.

"Oh! That's pretty flattering. Hope, it's worthy of a shot."

"Mateo, me boy, get the special cup for la dama," he calls out in the cellar, before turning to me.

"Señorita, they say, it's a once in a lifetime. Créeme." He smiles.

"Apúrate! I gotta catch up with work in 20," I inform curtly before going inside. Seeing a window seat empty, I plop myself comfortably there.

I've been so caught up with everything that I didn't realize how August slipped away so swiftly. It's around the fall now and the wind is so hasty that it's better to stay at home than going out.

My phone beeps, showing a text from the chef I slept with a week ago:

Hola bonita! Free on Friday? Porfavor di que si, bebé! 😉

I sigh as I ignore the message. Last time, I clearly told him that I don't sleep with the same guy twice, but it seems like he couldn't get it at all.

"Here, señorita! Provecho!" the barista serves my order with a wide smile.

"Gracias!"

The special treat is a cappuccino served hot in a white porcelain cup. A leaf is drawn on the top of it, and it smells heavenly.

As soon as I sip on it, a delusional aroma surrounds me, it has this strange gravity which keeps pulling at me as if teleporting me to a different world. And in moments, everything blacks out.

When I open my eyes, I see the café totally empty and inside it's too dark to see anything properly.

Adrenaline pumps in and I start to panic.

Shakily I stand up from my seat and go out of the café, stumbling everywhere and groping at anything that comes handy.

When I come out of there, I get welcomed by a mute deserted city, only the rustling of dry leaves and fluttering of scattered papers reach out to me and nothing else.

It's lucid dark outside, but somehow I manage to see everything, so I start running to find anyone who's awake inside this dead-land besides me. But no matter however I search, I keep on hitting dead ends.

That's when I realize that the buildings on both sides are gradually moving towards each other, squeezing the road and everything in the process.

This time I really start to freak out and feel like crying. It's all so creepy.

"Hola Cris! Remember me?" A baby voice reaches out to me out of nowhere.

"Who are you...and why are you doing this to me? Show yourself," I screech.

"Uh-uh! Not so fast. You sound like you don't know me at all! So rude! First answer my question, then I'll show myself," the voice whines, and strangely enough, it feels like I've known this voice for ages.

"Okay, what is it?"

"Buena niña! Here we go:

Beguiled by monsters, scared for the world,
Her momma shut her behind tall-crazy walls;
But she's not a princess with long golden locks,
Yet dreams for an escape, that'll break them all-

So who is she?"

I start to think of any possible answer, but my mind goes blank. On the other hand, the passage between the building gets narrower, threatening to crush at any minute.

Then something comes to my mind and my eyes widen.

"Is it me?"

"Are you questioning me or answering?" The voice fusses.

"Ye-yes. It's...it's me. The answer is...me!"

"Good that you're not yet decayed beyond repair."

"What do you mean..."

Before I can finish, my eyes get bedazzled by a strong beam and then I find myself standing at one corner of a small room, once I've been so familiar with.

"That's my darling, Cristina!"

My eyes widen in terror.

"But momma, if I go outside, what will happen?"
The baby voice from the maze asks.

The woman stands up from the bed of her little girl and pats her head with a forced smile.

"You'll die, mi niña!" She smiles down at her sickly. "Stop asking stupid questions that only give momma headache. And you know what happens then, verdad?"

"You scary, momma," the girl replies meekly, fear prominent on her face.

And I realize that I'm looking into my dark past and the voice from the maze, belongs to none other than my young-self. And this woman is my own biological mother who made my childhood miserable.

"Good girl! Momma loves you." With that she smiles at her girl creepily and kisses her cheeks before leaving the room.

"Momma loves Cristenna! Cristenna make momma happy," she talks to herself. "And Prince Chammin' will make Cristenna happy!"

She smiles before she falls asleep.

I fall onto my knees, remembering how naive I used to be to believe in fairy tales and true loves. But there is no such thing. It's all fake, all lies.

At once, the scene dissolves in front of my eyes and reappears in a moment. This time I find myself inside my high school.

A girl in her uniform runs happily past me and I delay not to realize who she possibly is.

I stand up to follow her and see that she gets stopped by a boy.

"Woah chica! Where you off to? And what's with the running fit?"

"Silencio, Pérez! You're blocking my way," she fusses and tries to walk around him, but he's quick to stop her again.

"Is that bout the douchebag boyfriend, who flirts with you, but doesn't give a fuck about you?"

"Ugh! Cállate! It's nothing like that. Now go away, I'm already late."

"No way. Don't tell me you already fell for him!"

"Yes, alright? And I can't help it," she replies shyly. "I also want a love that lasts and I know he is the one."

"Don't," I scream from where I stand, but she can't hear me at all.

"You're too gullible, Cris," the boy sighs and I realize he is no other guy but my assistant, Nicholas Pérez.

"Don't worry, Nick. I've given it much thought and I know he has a thing for me too, so I'm doing this," she assures him and then runs off to where she was heading to.

Before following her, I look back at Nick's face and get taken aback to see tears in his eyes. It's unnerving and relieving at the same time. But I don't understand this feeling at all.

I follow her to the end of a corridor and then see the same thing that changed me 10 years ago.

I watch her seeing her first love with some other girl. They are making out so intensely that they fail to realize that someone else is watching them from afar.

She gets speechless and the woolen scarf from her hand falls on the cold floor. She had spent her entire winter break on preparing that for him so that she gets an excuse to confess to him finally.

She starts to step backward, unable to believe what's happening in front of her, and was about to cry when her back collides with Nick's firm chest.

She turns towards him and that's when she chooses the easiest way possible to escape the reality and to cover up the heartbreak she has just started to deny.

She drags him with her to another corridor and without any warning, she smashes her lips on his and as if catching on her notes, he accepts her and kisses her back passionately.

My whole body gets numb as I realize how I've used Nick so selfishly all this while as a substitute to erase the pain, without caring for how much I must've hurt him.

I feel so low and trashy, and unknowingly a tear skips past my cheek. In moments, the scene gets dissolved.

The next scene evokes one evening in a field where I can see a few guys resting on a bench nearby. I get closer to hear them clearly.

"Oye dude, isn't that the whore from our major, what's her name, yeah Cris, who gave you the best fuck ever?"

One of them points out to a girl who happens to cross the bridge above the field.

"Fuck yeah! That's her. I'm telling you man, she has the biggest tits ever, I can't even get that outta my head for a whole week," another one chuckles.

"Fuck! I'm gonna take that bitch home tonight."

As he was about to go for her, a jerking punch lands on his face, making him fall on the ground.

"What the fuck, man?" He shouts at his assailant.

"Don't you fucking talk about her like she's a thing!"

This time I get to see the face of the assailant and he turns out to be Nick. I watch him fighting off those other guys in the group, and cutting his lip and face in the process.

The scene rapidly changes to another one where I see the girl and Nick talking to each other.

"Gosh, Nick! How did you get those?" She fusses angrily.

"Ugh! Some dogs were barking pointlessly, so I just put them on leash."

"That's so lame," she snaps as she cleans his wounds.

He smiles at her goofily.

The scene again changes to another one where I see Nick collecting buckwheat flowers in a field, far away from his dorm, and then when he goes to give them to the same girl, he sees her already carrying two bags of gifts with her. He leaves those flowers behind and takes her bags instead.

The scene changes again and now I see Nick standing in front of the girl who's sleeping peacefully resting her head on the table in library and he is preventing the sun-rays from poking her eyes. He smiles as he looks down at her.

The next few scenes shows how Nick has cared for the girl from afar and protected her beyond her knowledge.

And the girl is no one else but me.

Every little things, every small glimpses of our past together, make me realize how much I've wounded him...deeply and slowly.

The next scene focuses the day when I got drunk on New Year Eve's night on a party. I can't remember what mess I created after I got wasted on three tequila shots.

"Let's all fuck tonight," the drunk me shouts at the top of her lungs, as she tries to get on a table. "Cause I'm feeling so fucking amazing!"

"Yay!" The crowd cheers in unison.

Then someone drags her down from there and takes her out, carrying her on his shoulder.

"Why did you drink so much when you can't even handle it?"

It's Nick and he sounds really pissed.

"Why did you sleep with that fucking bitch? I told you to stay the fuck away from her!"

Nick drops her suddenly on the grass in the backyard of the party-house.

"It's none of your business," he snaps.

"Hell yeah, it is! She's a fucking gold-digger, and I don't want my assistant to get fucking robbed overnight," she slurs, smiling to her stupidly.

Nick chuckles angrily. "Is that so? You only see me as a PA and nothing more, huh?"

She thinks to herself deeply before replying. "You are my friend, my assistant, my advisor and my first ever fuck-buddy!" She grins. "That's a hell lotta package!"

He scoffs and his face drops at once. He lowers him to her level and grabs her face in his hand.

"When are you gonna see me more than just that?"

"And...and you make...Cristina happy," she slurs, smiling widely and that makes him smile as well.

That very moment, the scene whisks away and everything blacks out in a heartbeat.

When I open my eyes, I find myself back at the café from where it all started, and everything is back to normal and it's still day outside.

Instinctively, my eyes move to my wrist and I freak out realizing that the meeting is already over.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!"

I was about to stand up from my seat when a hand stops me. I look up to see that it's Nick who's throwing me a wary smile.

"I knew, I'd find you here. Just sit and eat some more. You need that," he says, making me sit on my seat again, and settles himself across me.

I look at him in the eyes, trying to read them intently.

"See the bane of pushing yourself restlessly! Now try to often listen to others and cut yourself some slacks too," he literally barks at me.

"Yeah alright," I retort, smiling foolishly.

"Which part seems funny to you?" He groans.

I laugh before replying. "How did the meeting go?"

"I handled it just fine....But don't change the subject and we're not going anywhere unless I'm done talking!"

As he goes on taking it all out on me, I take note of how his lips move, how neatly he has parted his hair and how gorgeously handsome he is looking right now. I wonder how I missed on all these things for all these years.

I feel this urge to know more and more about him; those every little things that I've never noticed.

Without giving him a choice to protest, I leave my seat and kiss him lightly on his lips while grabbing his face firmly. And that shuts him up.

"What was that for," he asks as I leave him.

"Pick me up on Friday night. Let's go watch a movie at your place. I'll let you choose. Let's have tuna and smashed potatoes for dinner. Your favorites. Sounds good?"

He seems to have lost his senses for a moment as he doesn't speak for a while.

"And it's a date!"

*****

A/N:
Felicidades-congratulations
Señorita-miss
Eres afortunada- lucky you
La dama-this lady
Créeme-trust me
Apúrate-hurry up
Hola-hey
Bonita-beautiful
Porfavor di que si-please say yes
Bebé-baby
Provecho-enjoy
Gracias-thank you
Buena niña- good girl
Mi niña-my girl
Silencio-shut it
Cállate-shut uppp

These are some Spanish words and phrases which I used in the story.