Lin came into the shop a few minutes late; walking with the little gait that one gets when they are trying to rush but not full out run to get to where they needed to get to. She came bustling in glancing at the clock on the wall, ten minutes late.

The other girls didn’t seem to mind as the day was just beginning and I was the only customer in here and I was already taken care of.

I’ve known Lin for a while now, ever since she started to work here about two years ago as I have been coming here for the past seven years doing whatever it is that I do here. It would seem that ever weekend morning I would come into the shop and she’ll be right there behind the register ready to take my order. Now it had gotten to the point where she already had my drink ready to go before I get into the store.

I’m a regular and she remembered. She would give me a small discount also. It isn’t much, but it is the thought that counts.

It’s not just her thoughtfulness that had her burned into my mind. The fact that she’s cute helped also.

She speaks softly, a little shy as she’s insecure about her poor English, but it doesn’t bother me. I’d try and get a conversation started but it always fail and we’ll just end up saying our Hi’s and Goodbyes and just call it a day.

There’s not much I know about her. I think I saw her boyfriend a long time ago and I have no idea whether they are still an item are not. He was your typical Hong Kongnese or Taiwanese stylish hipster with the wild hair and wild attire.

That is something that I could never be for I am just too classical American to be so flashy.

Maybe I am just selling myself short and that there might something there. Maybe just a little inkling hence the small discount and the even shy interactions.

She worked behind the counter with a quiet disposition. Lin would take whatever orders and make whatever drinks that are ordered and did her best to be friendly given that some of these customers aren’t so friendly.

I wonder from time to time what her story might be. I try to piece together a backstory for her, trying to figure out what her motivation is, her drive, her ambitions but nothing comes to fruition. Anything that I would think of would only be just a fantasy of me trying to fit her into a nice tiny little box.

Maybe that is all I need to do, put her in a nice tiny little box.

* * *

The tiny box.

Young and innocent with the bright eyed naiveté of someone who wants to see the world. Everything is a wonder for her. Everything.

She grew up not with the privileges that many of us are accustomed to. Lin, like many who is working here grew up in a middle-class family from Taiwan. Her middle-class parents works hard in whatever it is that they do providing her Lin and her little sister and for the most part, growing up and for her parents that is enough. That is the lifestyle that many strive for and can never have, but she does, but like many others, Lin wanted more.

As she graduated the equivalent of High School in Taiwan she wanted a change, to break away from the mold that she’s so familiar with. She decided to study abroad. She applied for a student visa and came down to the culture shock that is sunny Los Angeles.

Here she’s going to the local small college and got the first job that she can get. Most of her paperwork is in order but not all, so her options are limited. She can only get this, paid under the table. She doesn’t mind.

The owner speaks Mandarin and so does she, so there’s that familiarity that she can deal with.

She’ll schedule her work schedule around her school schedule and often times picking up the late night shift just to make enough money to make ends meet. Working here she made a few friends with the other girls that work here, often times hanging out with them.

Soon she feels that she has a place here, going out with this new family that she’s made on her own and eventually meeting someone that can make her smile and laugh.

Eventually her heart flutters with the life that she made for herself here. School is going well, the job is going well and the relationship, maybe is going well. Lin doesn’t want to leave this new life whenever she graduates or when her visa expires, whichever first.

But Lin tries to make the best of it, trying to not let the stress take her down. But sometimes it gets too much and it drains her breaking it down.

Soon all she wants to do is to sleep off the stress, unmotivated to go out. Her boyfriend gets on her case about that, telling her to stop, slow down and maybe quit her job and let him take care of her.

Lin couldn’t do that. Her parents are her heroes, each showing their love by providing and working hard to provide for their family. She wants to do that, to be able to provide, to be independent and be able to take care of herself.

The relationship is strained. Fights went from civil to nasty and Lin just had enough. She needed and escape and soon it’s over.

All she has left now was school, her friends that she made, and whatever hobbies that she does to destress.

That’s all that she can manage to keep the nasty thoughts and stress out of her mind.

Throughout everything she lost her wide-eyed naiveté that she had and a little of her innocence too. The troubles had rubbed away some of her shine and she just needed something to buff out some of the dullness to make her shine again.

Maybe her usual customer that comes in on the weekend is just the answer to her issues, she hopes. If only she can figure out how to speak to him, to be able to get over her insecurities and shyness.