Chapter 4: A Slice of Cake

John smiled from where he was sitting, the little man was truly proud and he was too. At his young age, you hardly ever see a child who understands the harshness of life at the same time brave enough to face it. He was going to miss all of this. He didn’t expect to meet all these people when he started this café.

It was unfortunate that by next week he wouldn’t see the familiar faces anymore. The café was going downhill since the establishment of a competing café just around the corner and he was hardly able to keep it afloat for the past couple of months. He decided to close down for good to cut on expenses and salvage the assets he could still use.

“I suggest that you close down to liquidate your assets and cut on your expenses. The way things are going you are not going to make it and operating expenses will just acquire you more loss,” the bank consultant stated looking over the financial statement of Café Real.

“Can I still keep it for this week? Just until the end of this week so I can give notice to my customers,” John asked.

“Friday at the latest. So the buyers can see the café before you close it down.”

“Is there really nothing I can do?” He asks.

“If you insist on continuing you will add up to your loan and you are already highly leveraged. No bank is going to lend you any more money.”

He watched as the two friends caught up with each other. He rejoiced as Mr. Santos celebrated his recovery and gained back his life and he admired the strength of both mother and son. This was only a day’s story of the lives of the people who visited his café. He had seen more through the years that he wanted to share but it had to end.

He had delayed posting up the ‘Closing for good’ sign at the window to let his customer enjoy their stay however the prospective buyers were already coming that Friday and he had to inform them. He waited until the eight customers inside the shop walked out of the café before hoisting the sign over the glass window.

Mr. Santos had noticed the sign and inquired, “You’re closing?”

“Yes, business hasn’t been doing well lately,” John replied. “Good thing you don’t have to visit anymore.”

Christian and Christine had also seen the sign and stayed. Christian had walked up to John and handed him the bag of toy robots, “Here, you can have them back so they can keep you company.”

John touched by the child’s words, patted his head as he received the gift. “They will be my guards.”

Tony looked reminiscently at the face of the café he had grown to love. The beautiful wall of sunflowers would be gone. “When will you close down?”

“This Friday,” John replied.

“I can’t believe you’re already closing down. I wanted to bring my mother here too,” added Leslie who had also seen the sign.

“I don’t have enough funds to continue running the place and no bank will lend me money. It’s been a good run though.”

Tony grieved for another lost before realizing that it was an opportunity. He was no longer sick and he wanted to live life to the fullest now. “How do you feel about getting a silent business partner? We can split the cost and expand. Get more employees and have stronger marketing to compete with the other café?”

“Are you offering to run this with me?” John asks in disbelief.

“No, I’ll fund you for the expansion but you have to find a manager and some more employees to help you run the café,” Tony replied.

“Are you sure you want to do this? The business is slow. Too slow,” John replied, not wanting to involve Mr. Santos into his problem.

“As long as we break even I’m fine with it,” Tony replied. “I’ve grown attached to it already.”

“Mr. Cruz, our company is looking for local café’s to distribute our coffee beans. If you’re interested I can personally handle your account and get you a discount,” Leslie added.

“If you’re still looking for workers I would like to apply. My son is always here and this is better than my current work.”

“Can I also apply?” Jane asked.

THE END