She had her eyes hooked on him as he walked by, his sharp features capturing her vision. A short-haired blonde looked across from the window of her cafe, her heart rate rising the longer she stared at the handsome man walking his way. His hair was gelled upwards and cut finely, his eyes lost in deep thought as he looked forward and his mouth slightly open as if to think of ways to utter words in a voice she could only imagine to be beautiful. She sighed and leaned on the table she was wiping, a cloth in one gloved hand with a a spray bottle in the other. What seemed like hours, but was only a few minutes, passed after her daydream when she felt a fist colliding with her shoulder, knocking her far from her daily fantasies of the same man that passes by. She quickly gave a glare to the one who punched her, to which she was met with a similar glare from behind. 

The top madame (as she once referred to herself in a drunken state, the blonde remembered with amusement) was not amused by her recent behaviour.

“Choa-unnie,” the manager reprimanded. “Stop looking like that, you’re scaring away the customers.” 

The eldest looked back to the empty cafe, with its brick walls and barren seats and tables, and scowled at her younger boss. She was about the same height (as they’re both short), with short brown hair. She was wearing the uniform that was the same as Choa’s, which was an olive dress with black aprons. Before Choa could retort anything to counter her manager, she was interrupted by the incoming visitor in the window.

 It was that man.

She shoved her manager away and stood by the door as he walked in. He was somewhat surprised by the quickness and sudden appearance of a waiter to his entrance, especially one with such a very bright smile. She bowed as he nodded and gestured him into any table he wished. He kept it easy and had Choa led him to a window seat. As he got himself seated, Choa excitedly pulled out a notepad and a pen. Her hands were shaking, which was very visible to the infuriated and confused manager as she stood next to the counter. Her expression was a mix of the aforementioned emotions along with a hint of worry in her eyes as she leaned on the counter.

“Don’t worry, Jimin-unnie.” A girl across the counter with long hair tied in a ponytail was looking across the counter to witness a love-smitten blonde as she spoke with a customer while wiping one of the various mugs the cafe housed. She had a smile on her face as she pulled her brunette hair over her shoulder. Her mature face gave way to a small hopeful look. “It’s just Choa-unnie meeting the man of her dreams.”

Jimin nearly choked as she heard the statement. She gave a stunned look to the other girl as she looked back with a reassuring smile.

“What the hell, Yuna?!” She could feel the surprised stares coming from the customer and Choa, the latter of which also had a very slight glare in her gaze. As Jimin sputtered to keep her conversation regular with Yuna, Choa returned to the handsome man sitting in her cafe.

Oh my god, she exclaimed to herself. He’s actually sitting here and ordering and I’m actually taking his order and his voice is just so deep and his eyes are just so-

“Excuse me,” said the customer, his voice pulled her out of her thoughts and Choa immediately stood attention and stiffened herself. 

“Yes?” She mentally slapped herself for going off in her head.

Choa felt the awkwardness of their silence as he only stared at her with wonder. His mouth was slightly agape, and his blush-inducing gaze was laced with amazement as if he’s seen the descent of an angel. Choa cowered slightly behind her notepad, gripping her pen tightly until her knuckles were white. The man blinked once, and coughed quickly before looking away.

Holy those eyes are just, but before Choa could finish that thought, she felt herself melt from within, which was apparent in the heat on her cheeks and on the tips of her ears. 

 “Um, one coffee, black,” he ordered quietly with such a deep and charming voice. Choa felt her internally-melted form explode repeatedly, causing her heart to beat harder and faster. She felt the rhythm in her ears with the sound of rushing blood, as well as the uncomfortable pinch in her centre that signifies her nervousness. 

 “Uh, sure,” Choa said, working to keep her voice steady. “One black coffee coming up!” 

 As black as those eyes. Choa felt herself biting her own lip in the confines of her own mind. Speaking of lips, what I would give to bite them…

 “You’re so thirsty, unnie, which is good since you should be getting a boyfriend by now.”

As soon as she reached the counter to place the order, another girl had appeared in her absence. She had long black hair and gorgeous features that was accented by the smirk she gave to her elder. She was standing beside the counter as she wasn’t an employee, but rather a good friend of the employees at the establishment. Choa could only glare at the newcomer for her statement, fear of actual assault damaging her first impression for the handsome customer near the window. 

“Says the one who’s been in a band with her crush for over a year,” the older retorted cleverly, causing the younger girl to fluster (and the other employees to laugh). “Don’t you have a rehearsal with a precious drummer to ogle, Mina?”

“About that…” Mina fidgeted and looked down, her expression crest-fallen. “We lost some members since they were too toxic for the band. It’s just me and Youkyoung now, and we have a band competition coming up within a few weeks.”

“Can’t you just make some flyers for new band members?” Jimin leaned against the counter with interest. “I’m sure there are many people who would like to work someone as pretty you two.”

“It’d take too long,” Mina replied, shaking her head. “Besides, I’m not letting any stranger taking my Youkyung from me!”

Her pout and territorial proclamation brought laughter to the employees. Yuna walked out from behind the coffee machine and gave Choa the cup of coffee. Choa took the cup carefully with the tiny plate and thanked her.

“Compliments from behind the counter,” Yuna said quietly as she winked first at Choa, then nodded at the customer. Choa nearly forgot about him with Mina’s predicament, but when she looked at him, she caught a sight of movement and only saw him looking out the window, his posture strangely frozen stiff. She didn’t know why, but it felt adorable seeing him that way. “He’s been staring at you the entire time, in case you didn’t know.”

Choa felt the blush return to her face at the thought of those handsome eyes sticking to her. She nearly spilt the coffee when she heard that, but she caught herself just in time before her arms gave out from the returning nervousness. She continued her way to the customer and set the coffee on the wooden table. She noticed that not once did he turn to look at her, and rather gave a small, “Thank you”. It was only when she turned away to go back to the counter did she notice his eyes moving to her, their gazes catching for a split second. 

With that sight, she nearly tripped on her way back to her friends. Not like they were noticing anyways, as Jimin immediately cheered loudly.

“We’ll do it,” she yelled at Mina as she clapped her on the shoulder. “Even Choa-unnie can do it!”

“Do what?” The blonde looked in confusion at the rest of the girls. Jimin tugged on her sleeve as she gave her an excited grin.

“We’re performing with AoA for the band competition!” 

Choa stared at the other girls. She was dumbstruck beneath a blank expression. She blinked once, hoping that the vision would have faded and she had misheard. 

Performing?

“Unnie?” Jimin waved a hand in front of her face, but the elder was still frozen. “I think we killed her.”

“She had a heart attack right on the spot at the news,” Mina noticed. “Is that a good thing?”

“Maybe she had a heart attack at how good the news was?” Yuna tried to reason. “She is good at singing and did say at some point she wanted to sing.”

They all froze as well when they heard the scraping of a single chair. Footsteps quickened the pace of the girls’ heartbeats. Only Choa remained unaffected, she was still frozen in the same position the closer the footsteps got. She unfroze when she caught the scent of a certain cologne from behind her, in which she breathed in deeply to stop herself from squealing. Everyone heard the small slip in his step, causing him to accidentally lurch forward onto the blonde. She squeaked at the contact, the warmth pulling her breath out of her lungs. She saw an arm stretched out to the counter to hold the man up, but it was also leaning into her arm. She gasped at the close proximity, and just barely prevented herself from melting when she felt the man rumble out an apology. She could barely hear the words, but she felt it from the contact her back had with his chest (which felt so divine, like leaning against a heated cloud). She turned when she felt his contact leave, her hands over her face to cover the blush on her cheeks. The blush on her ears she could nothing about and took a chance that maybe he didn’t notice the glowing red from the tips of her ears.

“Sorry,” he apologised softly. He only had a bashful smile on his face and bowed quickly. “The payment’s on the counter.” 

He quickly left the cafe with a cool grace as he went on his way to wherever. All the girls were frozen at what just happened, 3 of them staring at the waitress who was affected the most. Her face was red all over, and her breaths were shallow. She was on the edge of swooning and fainting on the spot.

“His eyes,” she could only utter. 

“He left a note,” Yuna noticed as she picked up his money. After scanning the piece of paper, she gave Choa the note, before remarking on how he overpaid his bill. Choa read the note with bated breath. Written on it was the name, “Choi Seung Hyun,” followed by his phone number. Underneath the number, was the word, “T.O.P.: I’ll see you at the competition.” 

 Jimin clapped Choa on the back as she gave an incredulous stare at the note.

 “Looks like you’re joining the competition then?”

 “Oh, yeah.”