"Captain, are you sure we can knock ourselves early today?"
"Yeah, knock yourself out!" Ron Samuel didn't even look in Calvin's direction as he continued, "Leave the coffee shop to us, don't tell that you don't expect us to handle the shop better than your wife and daughter?"
Calvin lightly chuckled, "It's not that I am underestimating you, Captain..." He rubbed the crown of Cecilia's head as he stated, "Our young lass here is just more capable and charismatic than all of you combined..."
A death glare imdiately ca his way; it ca from Ashlynn.
"Of course, Ashlynn is an exception." Calvin cleared his throat and corrected his words. The killing intent receded in an instant.
"I don't believe you," Jas Branzuela ca down the stairs and stood before the counter. He made a sidelong glance at the accounts behind the counter and said, "Today, the shop earned about a hundred pesos in just six hours. We'll surpass that hundred pesos in three hours."
A smirk spread on his face.
"Oh? Why do you look so confident, Vice-Captain? Do you have a secret weapon up your sleeves?" Calvin asked, intrigued.
"It's not that much of a secret weapon..." Jas Branzuela shrugged.
He swept his gaze across Ashlynn's and continued, "Your adorable daughter might've won the hearts of the custors due to how cute she is, but our strategy is different. We will win these custors with sex appeal!"
Jas declared with passion.
Calvin couldn't help but laugh, "Sex appeal? Co on, the shop only has two won and one of them is my wife! Do you really think that I am going to let my wife serve custors as a waitress? Well, it could work but this young lass here would definitely not allow it!"
"You're right..." Jas nodded, "Charlotte will not work since she will definitely be always on your side and Cecilia also wouldn't allow her mother to steal her job, so that is why..."
He stared greedily at Ashlynn, "It's your ti!"
Pointing a finger at the latter, he declared, "You will attract these custors with a honeytrap!"
"W-Why ?!"
Ashlynn jolted in shock, "No! You are not going to make wear those flimsy clothes!"
"Really?"
Jas Branzuela smirked, "What if I told you that if you do everything that I say I will give you twenty-percent more of your cut for today's earnings?"
"Do whatever you want to do with , and do it until you are satisfied!"
Ashlynn imdiately agreed in a heartbeat.
Gold coins seed to be sparkling in her eyes.
Calvin's lips twitched...
Girl, where is your dignity?!
Letting out a sigh, he heard Charlotte's laughter echoing from beside him.
"Ashlynn sure is an interesting person..." Charlotte comnted under her breath.
"Now that I think about it, dear... You seem to have beco quite close to Ashlynn,"
Calvin couldn't help but ask.
"Really?" For so reason, when Calvin ntioned AshlynnCharlotte's face abruptly reddened, "Yeah, I guess... I an, Ashlynn's the only other woman in the coffee shop and I don't really know how to socialize with others, so..."
"You don't know how to socialize with others? Then, how were you able to serve the custors as the cashier all this ti?"
Calvin furrowed his eyebrows. Charlotte's words didn't add up.
"I actually learned the trick on how to do it from Ashlynn, dear... When you were gone, I was having a hard ti acclimating myself to how the shop worked and she gave a hand..."
"When she noticed what was happening with , she told that I would be less embarrassed if I pretend that the custors are scarecrows..." Charlotte patiently explained.
"Scarecrows? Why such a strange selection?" Calvin's eyebrows scrunched up tighter, "I could understand it if you pretended that the custors are a bunch of cabbages, but why scarecrows?"
"Pfft!" Charlotte's figure trembled as she tried her best to suppress her laughter, "Cabbages? Why did I not think of that?"
"Hahaha, well I chose scarecrows because you knowhave you seen what scarecrows look like? They are very nacing at night or in the distance, but the way they are propped up with poles and the hasty and flimsy manner they are made makes them look hilarious to ..."
"This is why I am able to maintain my smiles throughout the day..."
Charlotte lightly chuckled, "But you just gave an idea, dear! Tomorrow, I will go ahead and pretend that the custors are cabbages."
"Will that really work?"
Calvin asked Charlotte, "Are cabbages as hilarious as scarecrows for you?"
"Well, not really..." Charlotte thought for a mont before she squeezed out another smile, "But do you know that every Saturday there would always be a huge sale of vegetables in the Southern Borough? I always make sure to never miss a day of that sale, since it often ans that I'll be able to buy a week's worth of groceries for just a few pesos..."
"Then, you see, the most popular vegetable in that wet market is the potato... While the most expensive one is the cabbage, and they rarely go on sale. But when they do go on sale... It always brings a smile to my face." Charlotte leaned her head on Calvin's shoulder.
The sweet smile on her face looked incredibly picturesque.
Cecilia also leaned on his other shoulder.
"I see..." Calvin also broke out into a smile, "If that's really how it is for you, then I don't see why you shouldn't do it. Try it out at least and see if it's really effective."
"Yeah, I'll try it tomorrow," Charlotte said, "By the way, why did sir Ron gave us a day off today?"
"Didn't I just tell you about it earlier? That we should go out and enjoy ourselves?"
Calvin dragged Charlotte out of the coffee shop.
"Eh? Are we going to bring Cecilia with us?" Charlotte glanced hesitantly at Cecilia and her cheeks blushed out of embarrassnt.
But only Charlotte herself knew what she was thinking...
Calvin looked at her in confusion as he teased, "Charlotte, what are you talking about?"
"Are you trying to not let this young lass have so fun with us?"
"Cecilia!"
"Look at what your Mommy is saying! She doesn't want you to join us in the fun!"
"EEEH?!" Cecilia exclaid. Puffing her cheeks, she glared at her mother, "Mommy, mommy... do you not want to join and have fun?"
"No, no, no..." Charlotte hurriedly waved her hand in sha, "That is not what I ant, Cecilia!"
Glaring in Calvin's direction, Charlotte appeased her daughter as a bright idea ca to her mind.
Calvin had shad her in front of her daughter, and now it was ti for him to be embarrassed in my stead!
She thought in her head.
"I was trying to bring your Daddy sowhere else, so we can get you a baby brother, but it seems that your Daddy doesn't want to give you a baby brother." Charlotte sneered as she stared right at Calvin.
"Wha?! You..." Calvin was dumbfounded by Charlotte's words.
But before he could even say anything...
Cecilia's glare descended upon him as she complained, "Daddy, why do you not want to have a baby brother?!"
"I want a baby brother!"
"If I have a baby brother, I can let him help with the custors. If I have a baby brother, he can also give so of his snacks! Hmmph! Daddy, you better give a baby brother, hmmph!"
Calvin awkwardly scratched his head.
A strange feeling welled up in his heart. After that eventful night back then, Charlotte seed to have beco bolder when it ca to intimate matters between a husband and wife.
Surreptitiously glancing at the latter, Calvin noticed a faint blush spreading on Charlotte's neck.
Calvin inwardly laughed. He instantly saw through what was going on.
It seed that she isn't as shaless as I have expected!
There's a chance for a counter-attack!
Wrapping his arms around Charlotte's waist, he whispered into her ears, "Wife, it seems that Cecilia wants a baby brother, badly. With her being so insistent, we have to try harder!"
He observed the minute changes in Charlotte's expression, but the change he wanted didn't appear. InsteadCharlotte even turned her head and whispered her reply into his ear, "I told you to finish inside... You dummy!"
"Fuck..."
Calvin was rendered speechless by her words that he stood frozen right there on the sidewalk.
"Hehehe... Shall we try again, tonight?" Charlotte even winked at him which made Calvin repeatedly cough in an effort to calm his nerves.
What in the Goddess's na happened when I was gone?!
How did Charlotte suddenly beco so fierce from an easily shy maiden?!
While Calvin was panicking in his heart, he didn't see Charlotte glancing in Ashlynn's direction.
Ashlynn raised a thumbs-up and Charlotte responded with a sweet smile and a nod.
anwhile, the young lass who thought that she had been sidelined by her Mommy and Daddy, complained.
"Daddy, I want to eat!" Cecilia's brain seed to have forgotten the request that she made earlier when she felt her stomach rumble.
"Ah, yeah. Let's go and eat sowhere. It's about high noon, so how about we go to the Hilton Borough?"
"If we go there, we can avoid the rush," Calvin suggested.
"The Hilton Borough?" Charlotte looked intimidated, "Isn't that place incredibly expensive?"
"It's fine," Calvin casually waved his hand as he pulled up a purple card out of his pocket and showed it to Charlotte, "Boss Ron just gave a bonus after that business trip, so I am pretty loaded." He bragged.
Yes, Calvin's journey to the Village of Tulog was disguised as a business trip so that Charlotte and Cecilia could understand it.
But Charlotte furrowed her eyebrows to the idea, "Dear, I'd rather take that money and save it for future ergencies... Do you know how expensive a dical ergency isin this city?"
"What's more, if we want to give Cecilia her baby brother, then we must prepare a lot of money..."
"I am already saving up for it since I started working in the coffee shop, but since the average delivery in a reputable private hospital here in Ashlion costs at least five hundred pesos... I'm still too far from there with my savings rate of five pesos a day..." Charlotte deliberated.
The woman who didn't know the concept of arithtic not too long ago was now adept in the art of multiplication, addition, subtraction, and division.
Calvin's lips repeatedly twitched. He wanted to argue, but he ultimately found it tiring. He just wanted to have a good al, so he decided to let Charlotte hold the purple card that contained all the money that he earned and he was earning at this mont.
"From now on, you will handle all of our finances!" Calvin revealed a proud smile as he patted Charlotte's shoulder, "You can do it!"
"All right!" Charlotte was pumped up and the three beca harmonious once more.
However, the three of them ended up not going to the Hilton Borough for a al.
Instead, they visited a random restaurant near the Center Borough. As expected, Cecilia stuffed herself as much as she could, while Charlottewho always ate her food properly was now radiating an intensified air of delicadeza around her.
Calvin had noticed it just now, but Charlotte inexplicably underwent a great change.
The way she was carrying herself even in front of the dinner table made everyone feel that she had a higher pedigree than others. Of course, Calvin didn't really mind this change.
Charlotte could be whatever she wanted. But it was obvious from her trembling shoulders and the beaded sweat on her face that she wasn't really used to what she was doing.
"Charlotte, why bother keeping pretenses in front of ?" Calvin pointed it out.
"Ah! Pretenses? What are you talking about? I'm not..." Charlotte imdiately panicked as she frantically waved her hand.
Calvin instantly saw through her flimsily covered lie as he chuckled, "Let guess. Soone told you to do whatever you are doing right now to beco a better woman, right?"
With her cover blown, Charlotte didn't dare to lie anymore as she sheepishly nodded her head, "Yes, it's Ashlynn... She told that ladies should always act like proper ladies, at least whenever their husbands are around."
"And why is that?" Calvin retorted with another question.
"Well, she told that since I'm older than you and that younger guys are prone to having affairs... I must act like... I must act like soone whose age is similar to you, so..."
Charlotte didn't know where to place her gaze as she looked around the surroundings, trying her best to avoid making eye contact with Calvin.
"Pfft..." Calvin slapped his thigh, "That's so silly! I have no idea if you are indeed older than , but that does really make a difference?"
"Wait, how old are you anyway?" Calvin asked in curiosity.
He had just noticed that he really hasn't asked for Charlotte's age.
"I should be about 27 years old by this year..." Charlotte replied in embarrassnt.
"What?!" Calvin almost stood up from his seat.
"See! I'm old, right? That's why I was trying to use Ashlynn's advice, and it seems to be working..."
"Working, my ass! You're younger than ! I'm 28 years old!"
"Eh?!" Charlotte was shell-shocked by what she heard that she couldn't speak for a while.
But the silence was interrupted by the young lass who hopped into the discussion.
"Daddy, Mommy! I'm six years old!"
The specks of rice and the ss that was painted on Cecilia's face as she said these words out loud elicited laughter from both Charlotte and Calvin.
"Pfft!"
"Yeah, you are six years old! That's right, our Cecilia here is still a young lass!"
"She's still so young, yet she's already working! Do you know? Our young lass here earned three Joselian Pesos in her first day at the job!"
Calvin was obviously bullshitting with the numbers, but he did all of these to praise the young lass.
"Really?" The custors around them heard what he had said and they couldn't help but turn to look at Cecilia.
"That little girl earned three pesos in her first day at a job? Where is she working?"
"Wait, she looks familiar!"
"Isn't that the cute and adorable little waitress of the Captivating Fragrance Coffee Shop?"
"Yeah, she's that young kid!"
An uproar quickly occurred in the restaurant as the custors walked over to Calvin's side and praised the young lass.
It wasn't uncommon to see children working in the factories of Ashlion, but it sure was uncommon for such an adorable young child such as Cecilia to be working as a waitress in a coffee shop that catered to the masses.
So kids who seed to be frequent custors of the shop due to the puffed pastries that the coffee shop was selling even approached Cecilia and the children talked and laughed among themselves.
Cecilia seed to be having a good ti.
Charlotte and Calvin stared at each other and smiles slowly broke on their faces.
"Having children around sure livens up the mood, eh?" Calvin comnted in jest.
Charlotte nodded in agreent, "That's right, would you like to give Cecilia what she wants?"
"What she wants?" Calvin retorted with a question.
"Yup!" Charlotte's smile turned sweeter, "A baby brother!"
"..."
kind of like an air of nobility or so shit
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