The light breeze and the soft, deep, mellow cello music encompassed the tea house with moments from the spring as people started filing into the house looking to enjoy the scenic view of the mountains and the sun rising. On the day of the tea house opening, I looked around, curiously looking if there were any sweet treats available, and proceeded to grab a raspberry croissant and a mini tiramisu in a cup. From the day that my sixth birthday happened, I’d become fascinated with the small delicacies, like sweets, that filled people up with so much joy and, well, sweetness in their life. Maybe that was a reason why I’d decided to open this tea house with one of my closest friends, Alice, who shared the same passions that I had: reading, writing, instrumental music, and sweet treats. ~~
The tea house still hadn’t changed since our opening a week ago. It had been constantly filled with people, looking to enjoy their books and having a peaceful spot to write whatever they’re passionate about, since the opening of the mountain tea house. Alice was walking around, offering people sweets, when we started feeling the slight shaking of an earthquake.
“Everybody!” Alice yelled, hoping to catch the attention of the tea house patrons. “Find somewhere to duck and cover!” The shaking lasted for a few minutes longer, and when it stopped, Alice started glancing over the damage that the earthquake had caused to see if it was extensive and would require a lot of money in repairs. Thankfully, there wasn’t, and I hurriedly texted my parents to let them know that I was safe, to reassure that nothing too horrible had happened.
~~
A day later. The earthquake had only caused minor damage to the trees that surrounded the tea house and the lights that had been put up as decorations during the long winter nights of Washington. People were kind enough to help Alice and me out with fixing the decorations.
“Thanks,” I said, to the people around me when I noticed that they were helping out. “Alice and I appreciate it.” Alice nodded her agreement to this, and whispered to me that she wanted to talk in the back of the tea house, where our personal chef created all of the small delicacies.
“What do you want, Alice?” I asked, pretty frustrated, as we approached the front door of the kitchen. “If you don’t want to help out anymore, you’re free to go and explore your own passions.”
“This isn’t what I wanted to talk about, Sakura,” she replied. I hopelessly shrugged, and she looked at me, before continuing. “I think that we should try to open our tea house in a bigger space. Recently, there’s been an increase in the number of people coming to this tea house and I doubt that we would have enough space for more people to join.”
~~
I honestly didn’t expect that Alice would ask me about this. I was thinking about it for quite a long time, but never in my wildest dreams would I imagine that Alice would also want this to happen. Perhaps that was when creativity sparks started to form when Alice and I started discussing future plans for the tea house.
“Wouldn’t it be really cool if we had terrarium plants located around the tea house?” asked Alice, who was flipping through a stack of poetry. “Like on the window ledge?”
“Yeah, actually, that’ll be neat,” I responded, half mindedly. “I gotta go though, we’ll talk more about this tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” said Alice.
~~
The next morning, Alice and I started the day off with a cup of steaming hot coffee and a few sweet goods, discussing the future plans that we had in mind for the tea house.
“For example,” said Alice, while we were walking around the tea house and the neighboring surroundings, “we could add more tables where people could sit, rather than cramming everyone into a small space that we currently have.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said, and as an afterthought added, “I definitely think that we could gain more customers if we open more space, as in the past, we’ve had to waitlist people. An easier solution would be to just change our location and move to a larger area.”
The tea house still hadn’t changed since our opening a week ago. It had been constantly filled with people, looking to enjoy their books and having a peaceful spot to write whatever they’re passionate about, since the opening of the mountain tea house. Alice was walking around, offering people sweets, when we started feeling the slight shaking of an earthquake.
“Everybody!” Alice yelled, hoping to catch the attention of the tea house patrons. “Find somewhere to duck and cover!” The shaking lasted for a few minutes longer, and when it stopped, Alice started glancing over the damage that the earthquake had caused to see if it was extensive and would require a lot of money in repairs. Thankfully, there wasn’t, and I hurriedly texted my parents to let them know that I was safe, to reassure that nothing too horrible had happened.
~~
A day later. The earthquake had only caused minor damage to the trees that surrounded the tea house and the lights that had been put up as decorations during the long winter nights of Washington. People were kind enough to help Alice and me out with fixing the decorations.
“Thanks,” I said, to the people around me when I noticed that they were helping out. “Alice and I appreciate it.” Alice nodded her agreement to this, and whispered to me that she wanted to talk in the back of the tea house, where our personal chef created all of the small delicacies.
“What do you want, Alice?” I asked, pretty frustrated, as we approached the front door of the kitchen. “If you don’t want to help out anymore, you’re free to go and explore your own passions.”
“This isn’t what I wanted to talk about, Sakura,” she replied. I hopelessly shrugged, and she looked at me, before continuing. “I think that we should try to open our tea house in a bigger space. Recently, there’s been an increase in the number of people coming to this tea house and I doubt that we would have enough space for more people to join.”
~~
I honestly didn’t expect that Alice would ask me about this. I was thinking about it for quite a long time, but never in my wildest dreams would I imagine that Alice would also want this to happen. Perhaps that was when creativity sparks started to form when Alice and I started discussing future plans for the tea house.
“Wouldn’t it be really cool if we had terrarium plants located around the tea house?” asked Alice, who was flipping through a stack of poetry. “Like on the window ledge?”
“Yeah, actually, that’ll be neat,” I responded, half mindedly. “I gotta go though, we’ll talk more about this tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” said Alice.
~~
The next morning, Alice and I started the day off with a cup of steaming hot coffee and a few sweet goods, discussing the future plans that we had in mind for the tea house.
“For example,” said Alice, while we were walking around the tea house and the neighboring surroundings, “we could add more tables where people could sit, rather than cramming everyone into a small space that we currently have.”
“That’s a good idea,” I said, and as an afterthought added, “I definitely think that we could gain more customers if we open more space, as in the past, we’ve had to waitlist people. An easier solution would be to just change our location and move to a larger area.”