A/N: Chapter two! It's kinda short but it's sort of a history chapter. Alexandra Daddario as Alex Fabrae. :)

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(Alex)

Travel time by car from the cafe to Imperfect takes about 20 minutes, 15 if you liked defying speed limits. With heavy traffic, it could easily become half an hour or more. Unfortunately for me, the rush hour was at its peak. The cab dropped me off in front of the building's main entrance. The smell of freshly brewed coffee hit my nose as soon as I stepped on the curb. The chatter of customers was getting louder and more distinguishable with every step I took.

I'm home, I thought to myself. I couldn't help but smile. My haven.

I looked up at the brick building that's been my second home for the past few years, reminiscing on how I came upon owning the place.

My granddad was a young solicitor fresh out of law school when he met my grandmum in Brooklyn. I remember her telling me the story once. She was the ER doctor on the floor when he stumbled in drunk, holding his equally inebriated buddy up. Apparently, the friend had drunk so much that he toed the line of alcohol poisoning. Everything fell into place then. His parents were very much against the pair at first, seeing as they were part of New York's elite and she was a young Asian doctor with no name for herself. But in the end, love prevailed. How cheesy is that, right?

They had two girls – Joanne and Amanda. Joanne, my mom, was the elder of the two sisters. She took up business and had established herself by investing in bars. She started in New York and then to Miami. She'd just opened her third bar in Vancouver when she met Dad, Alexander Fabrae. He was a vacationing in Canada after a successful business deal. They'd married and settled in Dad's home city of Galewind, Washington. Aunt Amanda, on the other hand, took after grandmum and became a surgeon. She married a British surgeon and moved to London. I only see my cousins about every five years. Brett, the eldest, became a lawyer while Brooklyn was well on her way to becoming a doctor as well. As for the three of us – Kyle became a chef, I was the one who took up Medicine, and Pheonyx is currently taking up Forensic Arts in Montreal.

'Family looks out for each other', my granddad always said. It was no wonder why he put up a trust fund for his grandkids, accessible at the age of 21. He also believed in sound investments. Unfortunately, he passed just as Kyle got his inheritance. Since Kyle was training to be a chef and wanted to run his own restaurant, he bought out mom's bar in Galewind and turned it into a resto-bar. When I "came of age" myself, he convinced me to partner with him. I was fresh out on Uni then and was taking a year off before I went into Med school so I saw no harm in trying.

The first year was a bit rough, the employees and customers being used to it being just a bar. But we managed. Five years later, Kyle had gone off to Italy to hone his skills as a chef and I went on to become a surgeon. We employed a capable managing staff to look after the restaurant for us.

A horn blared somewhere in the vicinity, bringing me back to present.

Thanks to the relatively warm weather, all the tables outside were occupied. Regulars smiled at me as I walked by. Through the large windows, I could see that the place was nearing full capacity. And to think that the dinner rush hasn't even started yet. The kitchen's gonna have its hands full tonight.

My mood was lifted for time being. There will be time to mourn my failed relationship later. But not tonight. Tonight I needed Imperfect. And by the looks of it, Imperfect needed me.

"Hey, Alex!" Sophie waved at me from behind the bar.

I waved back and walked towards her, nodding at familiar patrons as I passed their tables.

"I'd offer to make you a cup but I see you've gone and supported the enemy," Sophie teased.

"Bittersweet's hardly the enemy, Soph," I snorted. "They're a cafe, not a resto. Besides, I was dying of caffeine deprivation. You know very well I prefer our pastries anyway."

"Jen and Riley will be pleased to hear that," she laughed. "The boys are in the pub downstairs preparing for tonight. You gonna sing for us?"

"Covering for Liz," I shrugged. "She and Carl are out. Jen and I drew straws. She's in the kitchen tonight and I'm on stage."

"Gotcha. Go then. I'll plate a slice of Jen's blueberry cheesecake for you and have someone bring it down."

"Two please," I grinned. "Unless Rixon's already had one?"

"Nope. Probably waiting on you to feed him. You spoil that boy too much, Alex." She shook her head at me and I just laughed. It was partially true after all.

Rixon's mom and mine were into the whole playdate thing, so we were forced to acknowledge each other's existence when we were kids. There were two Anderson children, Rachel and Ruby, and us three Fabrae offspring. Kyle and Ruby were both in middle school and already had their own individual cliques, so they merely tolerated the other at get-togethers. Phoenyx, or Nyx as she liked to be called these days, was just a baby then. The Anderson's didn't have any more children after Rixon so she was mostly alone or being cooed over by both set of parents.

Rixon and I were both just starting school when we met. I was the girl who believed that boys had cooties, and he was the boy who believed girls were aliens. We avoided each other at parties and at school. But after our first fight about something insignificant, we were inseparable. From grade school to University, we were more or less attached at the hip. And yes, of course. A girl and a guy can't be extremely close without having rumours spread about them. The number of people coming up to either of us, asking if we were dating was quite laughable.

And a tad bit worrying. If I were being honest, there did come a time that I asked myself if people were seeing something that Rixon and I were simply blind to. But I've always chucked the thought away. I mean, it's Rixon! I found the childhood sweetheart thing to be quite cute. But Rixon and I? Not gonna happen. Although, that didn't keep me from always having his best interests at heart.

And I admittedly go overboard at times. So sue me.

"Get down there, Alex," Sophie shooed me from the counter. "It's nearly five."

I shook my head at Sophie's pushiness. How Paul put up with her, I'll never know. Rixon's coffee in one hand, I all but skipped down the stairs. The lighting here was dimmer than the restaurant upstairs. But that's how Kyle wanted it to look.

"Alex!"

"Hey, boss!"

"Good afternoon, Ms. Fabrae."

Voices called out from both the bar and the stage as I walked across the floor.

Rixon was in the IT industry, running a company of his own. To be honest, I still didn't understand what he did exactly, just that it was successful. Still, he invested in the resto to give himself some back source of income in case anything went south. At his insistence, we put up a small stage in the basement bar area. It would be a nice draw-in, he'd defended. Truth be told, he just wanted to play again.

Rixon used to have a band back in Uni. He played drums while Liam Shapiro carried bass. Their lead guitarist, Jed Matthews, was also their vocalist. Rixon introduced me to them sometime during our freshman year. They'd treated me as one of the guys ever since. I even became their female vocalist from time to time, and only when absolutely necessary. They also took in Carl, Ruby's boyfriend, as lead guitarist. I sang with them during the first few months, but eventually had to bow out. Med school demanded much of my focus. The guys understood. They weren't a full time band after all. It was just a weekend thing. Each one of them had either school or a job that comes as priority. Liz, my former roommate in Uni, was more than eager to help the band out. She'd hung out with the guys before, they were more than happy to absorb her in the group. They also brought in Jen, Liam's high school sweetheart. The resto had a regular band. Kyle approved.

"Earth to Alex!" I heard Rixon call out. "You okay?"

"Hmm," I turned to see him smirking at me. "Sorry. Spaced out for a minute there. It's been a long day."

"It shows," he teased. He swiped the coffee cup from my hand. "And thanks for this. I owe you one."

"Actually, now you owe me four," I said with all seriousness.

"You're counting? Seriously?" he spluttered. I laughed at the comical look on his face.

"Might come in handy someday," I shrugged. I turned back to the rest of the guys.

"Let's get this show on the road, shall we?"

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TBC