It´s normal, right? He finished at five o´clock in the morning, of course he would be sleeping his day off. I was tapping my foot nervously while glancing at the door. The customer next to me was picking his order and thinking I was trying to urge him. He might have even picked out something he doesn´t like just so I would already leave. I moved my nervous taping behind the counter where I was angrily filling one coffee cup after another. And I would fill more than a hundred cups before the doorbell would ring, showing the handsome man standing there.

“Heechul!” I called all the way from the counter because I couldn´t hold back my happiness.

“So loud,” he rolled his eyes and walked to me with a smirk. Leaning against the counter, he ordered his favourite Americano and walked to sit down to the table in the corner.

I swiftly prepared his order, now by a habit throwing in a chocolate cupcake. I rushed with the tray and after putting it on the small wooden table a little too harshly for it being a café order, I plopped on the seat right next to him. My hands clutching the black apron, my eyes on him.

“I was worried,” I told him straight.

“I sent you a message last night,” he answered sipping from his coffee as if nothing.

“I know, I stayed awake the whole night because of it,” I admitted. “How did the hunt go? You didn´t get hurt or anything, right?” My eyes were darting everywhere to see if he wasn´t hiding a bruise or an injury.

“Hyukjae,” Heechul sighed and put his coffee back on the table. He squeezed my shoulder and massaged it a little until I bowed my head down and released a little bit of the tension. “It´s my job, I´ve been working as investigator for a long time and I do my stuff carefully. I would rarely get hurt, almost never actually, so please stop staying awake every night I go out.”

“It was just once,” I mumbled.

“For now because I went hunting only once,” he answered, “I´m telling you this because I don´t want you to be so freaked out again the next time I go. I have night visits at least once a month after all.”

“You say it as if you were planning on worrying me more often from now on,” I frowned. But not because I was angry or irritated. The opposite, I didn´t dare to hope but it seemed like he wanted to keep seeing me.

“Of course, I´m not going to quit my job,” Heechul rolled his eyes, not catching the hint.

“No, I mean,” I cleared my throat and opted for looking at the poor chocolate cupcake on the table instead of at the investigator. “It´s about me.”

“You want to go ghost hunting?” The raven head asked me while crooking his neck. I didn´t look him back in the eye.

“Not that either,” I sighed. I had no idea how to ask him if he wanted to have anything to do with me. Yeah, he did kiss me. Though it was just a peck. But I couldn’t tell if he was being serious or just playing around.

“Cute,” I jolted when I heard him chuckle. I raised my head only to realise in annoyance that he was joking around. He knew perfectly well what I wanted to ask him and was teasing me on purpose. Or maybe he didn´t actually want me to ask. It could have pretty much been a defence, a nice way to turn me down. Alright, I shouldn´t be selfish and immature now. I cleared my throat.

“So,” I decided to give up. “How did the investigation go? Did you see the ghost?”

“Ah, yeah,” Kim Heechul was caught off guard. I hoped he regretted teasing me because I intentionally dropped the topic. Or maybe he was just surprised how easy it was to make me give up. But I felt like I´ve been bothering him the whole time.

“Is it a secret?” I asked and Heechul blinked. “The case with the widow you´ve been working on.”

“No, no, it isn´t!” The raven haired man finally found himself. “I can tell you of course if you have time.”

“I don´t but I want you to tell me,” I said firmly and then wondered if I wasn´t too out of my character since Heechul seemed perplexed by my behaviour.

“Fine then,” he glanced at me a little unsure and began with the most real ghost story so far. “I think you remember the first time I came here,” I nodded. “I was here with an old lady. Her husband died recently and although she was aware of the existence of the last will that he wrote right before his death, she couldn´t find it. Without that the inheritance would be divided according to the national law. She was going to let it go when something strange happened.”

“What happened?” It came out a little low spirited. Heechul took a deep breath but managed to keep it together.

“At first she thought it was a poltergeist. A raging ghost that causes noise and damage in the house. But the old woman thought she heard her husband´s voice during the raging and that´s why she called for me, to tell her what it was and to help her get rid of it.”

“Wait, so you went last night to a house with a poltergeist? Alone?” Instead of cold, I was now angry. I was worried for the god´s sake, I couldn´t help it! I had feelings for Heechul and I hated myself for it because I´ve never fallen for anyone so randomly. It was the worst, I felt so tired already from trying to fall out of love for the man. It didn´t work, all the more I was convinced that I wouldn´t be ever able to meet a man like him.

“No, I never go alone, I had an assistant with me,” Heechul frowned, “I´m a professional not a teenager going ghost hunting for the creeps.”

“Did you identify the poltergeist?” For the second time today I changed the topic abruptly and confused the investigator.

“Yes,” Heechul answered with a baffled expression on his face. Then he shook his head and turned away from me. “I recorded the sounds in the living room and then analysed them this morning. It was indeed a male voice heard in between banging and rustling of the furniture and objects being moved around the room.” I shivered, I would definitely not want to be in that room. I envied Heechul´s bravery.

“And the last will?” I asked in much calmer manner. I tried to cool it down quickly or else I would make Heechul angry or even make him leave. I wasn´t ready to not be able to see him yet.

“The voice I recorded was singing a song,” Heechul pretended to ignore my weird mood, “it was Super Junior song, Simply Beautiful. I thought it was weird, if the old man was the one singing, the song should have been from Patti Kim or someone his age. So I asked his wife and she confirmed that he liked songs from Kim Hyeja better.”

“I know the song, it´s quite recent,” I said and pretended to be alright.

“The lyrics go like this: Let’s sit on a rocking chair underneath the tree and rest,” Heechul sang quietly and I blushed for no good reason. “Well, I´m sure you´ve guessed what we were doing the whole morning.” I haven´t guessed anything, I was trying to remember his voice.

“We went digging under the tree where the old couple would sit on rocking chairs in good weather,” Heechul explained the obvious when he got no reaction from me. “We found there the last will in a green plastic box. Now I just have to wait for her call, the lady will tell me tomorrow if the poltergeist is gone or if I need to send somebody for exorcism. I have afriend called Siwon for that.”

“I see,” I noticed he rushed the rest of the story, he excluded his usual eerie voice and wasn´t even interested in my reaction. The whole week of investigation and the result is this simple. I felt bad for him but I felt even worse for myself. Why does it feel like the ending? Like a summer love or midsummer night´s dream, short but memorable. “I think I should go.”

“Hyukjae?” Heechul was looking at me with something I would identify as confusion or even slight fear. “You, have you found a new interest or something?” I would have never expected this question, it almost made me hope for more.

“What?” My eyes widened. “No way! I just don´t want to be pushy, what if you never come to the café again? Even for a coffee if not for me,” I uttered at the end dejectedly.

That was when I realised that Heechul was unknowingly holding the hem of my apron. I was about to run away from embarrassment and from my own feelings but he was holding me down. It was some kind of supernatural power he had over me. I couldn´t move out of the spot next to him, only desperately watch his gentle eyes and smiling lips. My heart threatened to jump out of my chest, I had to keep it inside my ribcage by force. I put my hand on my chest, hoping Heechul wouldn´t hear the vicious heartbeat.

“Did you know, Hyukjae?” Heechul asked quietly. “I hate sweet things,” he said with a scrunched face and I felt like crying, imagining every single cupcake I placed on his table, even those I ate myself.

“I´m sorry,” I told him almost sobbing already. Suddenly I got startled, though, when I felt his hand pat my head. He brushed through my blonde hair gently, touching the tip of my ear and the corner of my forehead lightly. I´ve never been treated gentler, especially not by such a scary person. He was special.

“You are the most sugar coated guy I´ve met, which is strange,” Heechul chuckled, “because I´m sure I like you.”

The End

Hello! I´m so sorry for everything. I know the story isn´t written well and sure i didn´t check for the mistakes. I will certainly re-read it and rewrite maybe the rushed ending, check for mistakes too. But I´m glad I finished the idea, there´s always not enough of HeeHyuk. :3 Thank you for reading and commenting! Have a nice day and take care! - PandaHero