The bells above the door tinkled when she walked into the coffee shop. What a welcoming sound. The warmth washed over her, contrasting from the bitter cold winter outside the glass door. Even the smell of the air was welcoming. The rich smell of coffee. That soothing coffee shop atmosphere. It relaxed her, especially after a long day of her school’s dance team practice. She was a bit of a mess from practice and her long, wavy hair was all over the place. She didn’t mind. Dance was worth it. She started dancing freshman year, and fell in love with it immediately. Now she had dance team practice six times a week. Tiring, but one of her favorite part of every day.

She noticed the coffee shop had started using their special, once-a-year Christmas cups. Those Christmas cups always made her happy. Instead of getting her regular Americano, Suzy treated herself to a white chocolate mocha – her first favorite drink since she discovered the magic of coffee shops  - the best possible place to relax and finish her schoolwork. Before she took a sip, she noticed how perfectly the chocolate curls rested on the whipped cream, the dark brown, creamy white, and bright red of the cup contrasting. It’s like Christmas in a cup. She couldn’t help but pull out her camera and take a couple photos, from different angles. She loved food photography, cooking, and baking. To be honest, she loved eating too, and she was lucky enough to have the metabolism to keep her skinny. She even ran a pretty successful food blog. She took a sip of her mocha, closing her eyes at the creamy heaven-ness slipping down , warming her entire body. With the taste of sweetness still lingering in , she started looking through the photos she had taken. One of the photos, she especially liked. It captured the beauty and warmth of her mocha. Except it had also captured a distracting corner of plaid cloth, most likely from a table cloth or a shirt from someone in the coffee shop. She smiled, for plaid always reminded her of Myungsoo. Oh that strange boy, always wearing plaid. She wondered how many plaid shirts he must have. She also wondered if he knew she’d been watching him. Perhaps not exactly watching, but noticing him, even if it was subconsciously. Even when she would daydream in class, she would catch herself turning her body towards or mindlessly looking at Myungsoo, no matter where he sat in the room. What did this even mean? She only knew she wanted to get to know him, be friends. Despite his “ice prince” personality, she always imagined he was more than that. That he was warm and sweet, like a white chocolate mocha in the middle of winter. Perhaps it was that glimmer in his eye. She sighed, "Oh gosh. Why am I such a creep?" She decided she should probably stop paying so much attention to him; it would be embarassing and awkward if he ever caught her glancing at him. She started, almost spilling her mocha, as she realized she had done it again. She was looking at Myungsoo, sitting only a couple of tables away. How long had he been there? Did he realize she was there? Without even thinking, she pulled the camera in her hands upwards and snapped a photo of him. *Click* And another. *Click* She froze, immediately wondering why she had just done such a thing. She had taken creeper photos of him, practically subconsciously. And in that moment, Myungsoo glanced up from his drink. Turned his head sharply and looked at her. That piercing look again. His eyebrows wrinkled and he made a funny face, a look of confusion and amusement. But she was much too embarrassed to notice. She looked down and sighed. Oh what was she thinking. What a stupid, weird impulse. She wanted to hit her head on the table. But she had no choice but to walk over to his table to apologize. She walked over and stands next to his table awkwardly. Oh why today? She was still feeling gross from dance practice and her hair was a tangled mess. But then, it didn’t matter. As far as she could tell, he hasn’t shown any interest in girls whatsoever, rejecting every girl who has approached him. What an incredibly picky boy. Or maybe he has his mind set on someone. Or, for all she knows, he may very well be gay.

Pushing away the strange thoughts, she forced a blushing smile and babbled, “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to take a photo of you without asking permission first. I don’t know what came over me. It must be habit.”

He just stared at her, with an unreadable expression on his face.

“I just… uhm needed some candid photos of random people for photography club,” she quickly lied. Well, it wasn’t entirely a lie. She did need photos for photography club that week. But of trees. Not people.

Instead of answering. He took a quick look around the coffee shop. She followed his sweep, wondering what he’s looking for. Then he spoke. Finally. “You can sit down,” pointing at the seat across from him.

She was startled, again. What. Why. They haven’t even had a real conversation before. Never really talked. Hardly even made eye contact for more than a few seconds. And here he was asking her to sit down next to him. Nevertheless, she grabbed her drink and bag from her table and sat down at his table.

“I’m sorry” she muttered again, embarrassed. “I’ll delete the pictures.”

“No, you don’t have to. You know, I…” he trailed off. And seemed to change what he was about to say. “I… like your camera. Canon Rebel?”

“Yeah! How do you know?”

“I have the same camera myself. I like photography, too.” He was still shy. She could tell he doesn’t like talking about himself much.

Still getting over the fact that forever-pokerface was actually conversing with her, she replied, “Hey why don’t you check out our photography club? We meet at lunch on Wednesdays in the computer lab”

“I didn’t realize we had a photography club at school, but yeah that sounds interesting. So what do you like to photograph?”

“People,” she replied to back up her lie from earlier. “And food.”

“Food?” He looked energized. “I love food. Eating it though…” His smile started coming out. The one with the dimples.

Her heart skipped a beat again. Just like the first time. “Well, I love food too. Cooking it, eating it, photographing it… food is beautiful.” Wow, she thought, I must sound ridiculous. But she didn’t mind. They were actually talking. And he didn’t seem so awkward once she got to talk to him.

After talking about cameras and food for another half hour or so, Myungsoo had to leave the shop, saying he had schoolwork to do at home. She sat in the coffee shop a little longer, finishing her homework there. Then she pulled out her camera and looked at her Myungsoo shots for the first time. The first shot was perfect. Myungsoo was gorgeous… with the window splashing light on his profile -  a perfect profile. Shiny, soft hair, a cute, delicate nose, thin, curiously-shaped lips. But her favorite part was his bright, fierce, but warm and beautiful eyes. 

She looked at the second picture. And choked on her mocha laughing. It was the derpiest photo of a person she had ever taken. He had a weird facial expression, like a duck face, but surely it was on accident. What was this? A beautiful boy could derp this hard? Her shoulders could not stop shaking from laughter. Well then… she walked home staring at this photo, bursting out in random fits of laughter. He was so cute.

In case you aren't familiar, this is DerpSoo:

trololol. I love him.