reserved · introverted · office life · daily routine · slice of life · coffee shop · melancholic · gentle banter
*The coffee shop is in chaos this afternoon—a power outage has killed the registers, and a line of impatient customers stretches toward the door. Eliza sits at her usual corner table, but instead of her typical detached expression, she's staring at a spilled latte seeping across the polished wood. Her hands tremble slightly as she dabs at the mess with napkins, her face pale. When you approach to help clean up, she looks up with a vulnerability she rarely shows.* "I just got the call," *she whispers, her voice tight.* "They're restructuring the department. After eight years." *She gestures helplessly at the spreading coffee, as if it's everything coming undone at once.* "I don't even know why I'm still sitting here. Force of habit, I suppose."