“Hilltop café is officially open!”  

 

Mr. Choi turned the “open” sign to face out the window, and everyone applauded.  

 

"I hope we get a lot of customers today!” Suhyun exclaimed with bright eyes.  

 

Halla met Suhyun only earlier that morning; she was another employee who would be working alongside her at Hilltop.  The young chipmunk-cheeked girl was Mr. Choi’s niece and Seungcheol’s cousin, and was adorably positive and cheerful.  Halla envied Suhyun’s alacrity at her age, as someone who had not yet experienced the depths of hell that was college.

 

As promised, Seungcheol showed up early in the morning as well.  Surprisingly, he was diligent in preparing for the opening and worked hard.  Halla had to admit that Seungcheol’s contribution was the only reason they were able to open on time, considering the fact that the only thing Mr. Choi did all morning was debate whether or not he should call the matcha smoothie the “matchoothie”.  

 

"So… now what?” Seungcheol pondered, asking the question everyone had in mind.  After the applause died down, everyone stood silently, as if they were expecting confetti canons to burst and for a stream of people to walk through the door miraculously.  

 

"I guess we wait for customers?” Mr. Choi responded, not sounding too sure himself on how to answer Seungcheol’s question.  “Did all you guys tell your friends to come?  Seungcheol, did you invite the boys?”

 

"Yeah, but they’re coming later.  I’m letting them sleep in today since yesterday was a busy day.”

 

Letting them sleep in?  Is he a dorm supervisor?  Halla wondered.  She didn’t take him to be the type to enforce school rules, let alone follow them.   

 

"All my friends are in class,” Suhyun stated.  Seungcheol’s head snapped towards her direction at that statement, and he briskly walked towards her.

 

"You have class today?  Why are you here?” he asked sternly.  

 

"Seungcheol, relax.  Today is a field day, so I snuck out.”

 

"If you don’t go, it doesn’t affect your grade, right?”

 

"I wouldn’t be here if it did.”

 

"That’s right,” Seungcheol declared proudly.

The dynamic between Seungcheol and Suhyun was something that Halla would definitely have to get used to.  Although he acted like a child most of the time, Seungcheol seemed to take on the role of the protective older brother to Suhyun.  The same guy that tried to juice a potato out of curiosity the previous day was now scolding his cousin for missing school.  That was something to process.  

 

"Suhyun, do you want to help me prep some of the food items?” Halla asked, itching to do something productive.  She was starting to get tired of waiting for a customer to come in.  

 

"Sure!  Can we try to organize the toppings for the toast?”

 

"Sounds good.”

 

The two began rummaging through the ingredients in the kitchen and taking out ingredients to organize in containers.

 

"Mr. Choi, where is the condensed milk?” Halla inquired while scouring the cabinets once again to see if she had missed it.  

 

"Should be in the pantry!”  

 

Halla walked down a narrow hall, and found the pantry.  The moment she opened the door, she erupted in bouts of coughing.

 

How is this place so dusty already?  This café truly seemed to defy the impossible.

 

Condensed milk, condensed milk…. Halla’s eyes scanned the shelves.  Oh!  There it is, Halla spotted her target on the highest shelf of the pantry.  She tiptoed, reaching for the can.  

 

Just a little more, she thought, stretching her arm as far as possible and straining her calves in an attempt to get just a little bit closer to the can.  

 

Suddenly, she felt warmth on her back. and the object she was so desperately fixated on reaching was in the hand of someone else.  

 

Halla looked up slightly, surprised to see Seungcheol’s face directly above hers. Startled, she gasped and turned her body, only to have her face almost buried in his sweater.  Her eyes averted side to side, looking for means to escape, but she was trapped by the close proximity of their bodies.  

 

Why are his shoulders so damn broad?!  I can’t get out.   

 

Seungcheol retracted his arm and held the can of condensed milk in front of Halla’s face.

 

"Is this what you wanted, shortie?” he smiled mischievously.

 

Halla searched her mind for any sort of words she could use to cohesively put together any form of response, but nothing was coming out.  Instead, she tried to avoid eye contact, feeling a bit flustered.  

 

"Honestly, I just made your heart flutter, didn’t I?”  

 

That greasy line sent Halla straight back to reality.  In one swift motion, she stepped on Seungcheol’s foot with a considerable amount of force and grabbed the can.  Seungcheol let out a sharp howl of pain, and Halla smirked.

 

"Thanks for the help!” she chirped in a mockingly sweet tone, and exited the pantry.              

 

→

 

Twenty long minutes passed, and Halla was beginning to have doubts that they would get any customers that day.  The café, although in a beautiful location, was somewhat in the middle of nowhere.  It was on a small, obscure hill near the outskirts of the city-- not the kind of place a lot people walked around that would happen to stumble across the café.  It also seemed like everyone was so focused on physically getting the café up and running that they forgot to publicize the grand opening.  

 

"Hey Seungcheol,” Mr. Choi called out, “Maybe you could go outside and hold up this sign I just made to try to ring some customers in.”

 

Mr. Choi held up a plain posterboard with “Come to Hilltop Café!  Grand Opening With Grand Deals!” written in almost illegible red marker.  

 

"Oh, and do that thing that you taught me!” Mr. Choi said, as he jerked his head forward into his elbow.

 

"Dabbing?” Seungcheol laughed.  

 

So that’s where he learned that.  Halla was wondering where her boss acquired such an annoying habit.

 

Just then, Halla heard the jingle of a bell, and everyone’s eyes darted towards the door.  A customer!  

 

Two young girls entered the café, and sat down near the door, taking in their surroundings.  

 

Halla squinted at them; something about their faces seemed familiar.  She then realized that they were freshmen in her major.  It took a while for her to recognize them, since they were usually surrounded by a larger group.  Halla and her friends called them the “giggle girls,” because they always seemed to be loudly giggling about something.  

 

"I got this,” Seungcheol said confidently, and approached them with a pen and notepad in hand.  

 

"Hi, welcome to Hilltop café!  We just opened today, so with every order we’ll be giving a complimentary slice of cake!” Seungcheol grinned widely.  “Are you ready to order?”  

 

The two girls exchanged glances, and started giggling simultaneously.

 

"Well what’s good here?  Besides the outstanding service?” one of the girls with a stylish short bob asked, leaning forward towards Seungcheol and batting her lashes.  

 

"Are you more of a coffee or a tea person?”

 

"We like sweet things,” the other girl answered, biting her lower lip.

 

Oh my god, Halla thought, they’re flirting.  She leaned on the counter, crossing her arms and enjoying the scene that was ensuing before her.  The girls seemed to giggle at every word Seungcheol said, and flipped their hair back and forth every few seconds.  Halla was almost afraid they would break their necks.  It was amusing to watch, since Halla had only seen such aggressive flirting in movies.  

 

After taking their orders, Seungcheol made his way towards Halla and handed her a ticket, grinning.

 

"First customers, so don’t up.”  

 

While making the giggly girls’ drinks, Halla could hear the two chattering in high-pitched whispers between their constant glances towards Seungcheol, who was cleaning the windows across the room.                 

 

"Oh my god, he’s so cute.”

 

"I know, right!  He looks like an idol.”

 

"We have to tell the rest of the squad to come here and check it out.”

 

"Should we snapchat him?”

 

"Yeah, let’s do it!”

 

"Um, excuse me?”

 

Halla looked up, realizing that the short-haired girl was talking to her, with her phone held right in front of her face.  

 

"Can you maybe, uh, move a little to the side please?  We just want a better view… of the city, I mean.”  

 

Halla raised an eyebrow, but complied.  Who was she to get in the way of young love?  

 

→

 

After about an hour, the girls got up and made their way towards the door.

 

"Thank you for coming!  Please come again, our grand opening deal will be going on for the whole week!” Seungcheol exclaimed.    

 

One of the girls looked back and giggled.  

 

"Oh, we’ll be back.”  

 

Halla chuckled under her breath.  It was entertaining, to say the least, to watch people act the way those girls did.  Halla was all for people going out and getting what they wanted, but she was just not used to seeing such a direct and physically superfluous approach.  

 

Seungcheol started walking towards her, and Halla decided to test how much the recent encounter with the new customers inflated his ego.

 

"Wow, Seungcheol.  First customers of the day, and you’re already a hit,” she winked.  

 

"What are you talking about?  And what’s wrong with your eye?”

 

Was he just pretending to be clueless or was he actually this clueless? Halla decided to continue on with her teasing.

 

"Did you get their numbers?”

 

"What?  Why would I give customers my number?”

 

Seriously?

 

"They were into you, Cheol.”  

 

Seungcheol blinked.  He was taken aback, not at what Halla said, but the fact that she just called him “Cheol.”  It wasn’t exactly a nickname, but it was close, and he liked the way it sounded coming out of .   

 

"They were?” Seungcheol asked, realizing he had to say something instead of just standing there in wonderment.  Suhyun and Mr. Choi nodded in unison.  

 

"Oh.”  

 

Silence.

 

"You really didn’t know they were flirting?”

 

"No.  I didn’t notice.”

 

Shocked was an understatement to describe how Halla felt.  She was sure that anyone could’ve picked up the signs the girls were giving Seungcheol, so imagine the surprise she received when Seungcheol, the guy who praised his own face in a day more than Halla could count with her fingers, was completely oblivious to the underlying meaning of all those hairflips and eyelash bats.  

 

Seungcheol truly was someone who Halla could not figure out.  

 

→

 

Hilltop café eventually began to fill up, and the place seemed to glow with a more lively atmosphere.  Halla noticed that a good portion of their customers were freshmen from her college, probably as a result of the giggly girls’ sending the rest of their “squad” their way.  

 

Halla was happy to be busy and productive with all the new customers.  She had always been the type of person to enjoy working hard, and felt that it was extremely gratifying to earn her own money as a result of that effort.  She began to imagine all the things she’s been saving up to buy and the meals she could treat her friends and family to with her incoming paychecks.  

 

"Hello!  Welcome to Hilltop café!” Halla greeted a group of five boys who just entered.  They all flashed her a polite smile and sat down at the largest table in the room.  

 

Halla watched them scan the menus and converse.  She noticed that they were all quite attractive guys who seemed to be around her age.  For some reason, Halla could not take her eyes off of them, she was fascinated with the bright halo of energy that seemed to surround them.  

 

"Excuse me?” one of the guys waved his hand towards Halla.  He had kind eyes and short, brown hair.     

 

"Yes?  Are you ready to order?” Halla asked as she walked towards their table.  

 

"Actually, uh… we were wondering if Seungcheol was here?  He’s working here today, right?”

 

"Shh,” the tallest of the friends elbowed the speaker in the rib, continuing to speak in a loud whisper, “we should let her serve us, she’s pretty.”          

 

"But if she serves us then we can’t make Seungcheol wait on us.  Imagine all the back and forth running we could make him do!” one of them chimed in.  This one was blonde, and had narrow, up-pointing eyes.    

 

"You guys are just asking for more laps at training later, you know that?” one of the boys who seemed to be younger compared to the rest added.

 

Halla just stood there, silently watching the boys bicker, unsure if she should go find Seungcheol or if she wait until they were done with their discussion to take their orders.  

 

"Hey, guys!” Seungcheol said, suddenly appearing besides Halla and leaning on her with his elbow on her shoulder.

 

Just in time.  

 

The group of guys greeted him enthusiastically in unison, and Seungcheol beamed back at them.  

 

"Halla, these are some of my roommates!”

 

Some?  Halla thought, appalled.  There are more?   

 

Seungcheol introduced each of his roommates one by one.  The one with kind eyes was named Jisoo, the tall one was Mingyu, and the blonde was Soonyoung.  

 

"That’s Chan,” Seungcheol pointed at the younger looking boy, then moved his finger towards the one with his long hair in a ponytail.  “And that’s Jeonghan.”  

 

A moment of silence passed, and Mingyu cleared his throat.

 

"Well, are you going to introduce us to her?” he asked impatiently.  

 

"Oh, right,” Seungcheol let out an embarrassed laugh.  “This is Halla, she works here.”  

 

The boys clapped a little too exuberantly, smiling widely at Halla.            

 

"Halla, when are you going to be on your break?” Jeonghan asked after the applause faded.

 

"I was going to go on my break after serving you guys, why?”

 

"You can go on your break now.  Seungcheol will serve us” Jeonghan smirked almost devilishly, pulling up a chair beside him and motioning for Halla to sit with them, to which she aceded.  “Actually, he’ll serve all of us.”   

 

"Oh come on guys!  Do you have to do this on the first day?” Seungcheol wailed incessantly.  

 

"What’s the most difficult drink to make on the menu?” Jeonghan asked Halla quietly, leaning towards her to hear her answer.

 

"Oh, definitely the frappucinos.”

 

"Great!  We’ll take six caramel frappucinos!”   

 

Seungcheol groaned loudly, then trudged his way towards the drink-making station, glaring at the boys from across the counter.

 

"That’s what he gets for making us beg him for the last bit of toothpaste,” Soonyoung grumbled while all the other boys began to laugh.  

 

→

 

"So, you’re from California?”

 

"Yeah, I moved to Korea in high school for educational purposes,” Halla answered somberly.  The mention of her hometown always made her homesick.  

 

"I’m from California, too!” Jisoo said brightly.  “Which part of California are you from?”

 

"Los Angeles.”

 

"Woah, we were raised in the same city but we’re only meeting now in Seoul?  That’s so cool!  Did you grow up taking day trips to Santa Monica with your family, too?”

 

"Yup!  Every summer we would go to the pier because my little brother was addicted to playing the games.”  

 

Although it made her even more homesick to talk about family, Halla felt a sense of bittersweetness meeting someone who was going through the same thing she was.   

 

For the past twenty minutes, Halla had been talking to all the boys and enjoying ordering Seungcheol around (although Halla had to admit she felt just a teeny bit bad for making him remake their drinks so many times).  She felt an indescribable sense of comfort being with Seungcheol’s roommates, probably due to the fact that they were so open and friendly.  With just one conversation, Halla could sense that they were a very close and jubilant group of friends, and wouldn’t mind seeing them as regular customers at Hilltop.   

 

"I should get back to work now,” Halla said reluctantly.  She didn’t want to stop talking to the guys, but she felt guilty for letting Seungcheol and Suhyun do all the work when it was just starting to get really busy.  She headed back towards the kitchen and began helping Seungcheol finish an order.

 

"Hey,” she whispered, “your friends are kinda hot.”  Seungcheol seemed to choke on air all of a sudden, coughing loudly.

 

"What?!”

 

"I said your friends are hot.”

 

Seungcheol said nothing in response, just staring at her with furrowed eyebrows and a pouty lower lip.  

 

"Go take this to table two” he said shortly, shoving a tray of drinks into Halla’s stomach and stomping away.  

 

Such a child, Halla thought, laughing to herself.  She took the tray and served it to its designated table, then went to another table of four men that just entered.  

 

"Hello, welcome to Hilltop café!  Can I take your order?”

 

One of the men sized Halla up and down.  

 

"Ahh, so it’s true what they say about the staff here being attractive,” he said while his lips.  

 

"Can I take your order?” Halla repeated, with a less friendly tone this time.  She was beginning to become impatient.  

 

"Shouldn’t you be saying thank you after being complimented?” one of the other men smirked at her.  Halla stared down at her notepad.  She did not like the way they were talking to her and eyeing her, but she didn’t want to create a scene on her first day of work.

 

"Oops!” the first man dropped his menu on the floor.  “How careless of me.  Could you pick that up for me?”

 

Halla squatted down and picked up the menu, throwing it back on the table with a twinge of annoyance on her face.  

 

A few people around the café began to stop their conversations and shift their focus to the commotion the new customers were making.  Seungcheol put the drink he was making down and made his way to the front of the counter, pulling his sleeves up.    

 

"Oh, come on, darlin’.  Couldn’t you have picked that up a little prettier?  Arch that back of yours for us,” the man said, grabbing Halla’s wrist and pulling her towards him.  

 

"That’s it,” Seungcheol muttered, about to lunge at the man, when all of a sudden, his target was on the floor.      

 

In the blink of an eye, Halla had kicked the foot of the chair the man was sitting in and pulled down the top rail with her free hand, sending the chair and the man in it straight back, hitting the ground with a loud thud.

 

The room became silent, excluding a few sharp gasps, and now everyone’s eyes were on Halla.  

 

She grabbed a menu and flung it on the floor next to the man’s head, who was groaning in pain.  

 

"Oh, sorry.  I dropped it.  While you’re down there, could you pick that up for me?” she said with a deadpan face.

 

She was about to walk away, when the other men at the table stood up and charged towards her.  Mr. Choi suddenly appeared in front of Halla, with a phone in his hand.

 

"I don’t think you want to do that, fellas,” he warned, waving the phone in front of their faces.  “The police is on their way to arrest you for public disruption and ual harassment.  You have five seconds to get out.”

 

All four of the men scrambled towards the exit in an instant.  After they had left, everyone went back to their conversations, almost as though the incident had never happened.

 

"I’m sorry…” Halla mumbled, her head down.  

 

"For what?” Mr. Choi chuckled, putting his phone back in his pocket.

 

"I didn’t want to make a big scene or hurt any customers, I just started to get really angry with the way they were—”

 

"It’s fine, Halla.  Those douchebags deserved it, you did the right thing.”

 

"Did you really call the police?” Suhyun asked, walking towards Mr. Choi.

 

"Nah, I showed those es a dial screen, but those kind of cowards would be scared of anything.  I was going to call if it started to get really bad, though.”                   

 

"Are you okay?” Seungcheol asked, rushing towards Halla, gently lifting her wrist closer to his face and examining it.

 

“I’m fine,” she replied, pulling her hand back. 

 

After a few minutes of Seungcheol’s insistence on checking if Halla was really uninjured, he made his way back to his friends, who was just gaping in silence for the most part.     

 

"That was so cool,” Chan marveled.  

 

"She’s cool,” added Mingyu.  Everyone nodded in agreement.   

 

“I know,” Seungcheol smiled, gazing at Halla from across the room.  Just when he thought she couldn’t get any more intriguing, she did.    

 

→

 

The day was nearing the end, and the café was empty besides Halla and Seungcheol cleaning it up.  Suhyun went home earlier in the day when the influx of customers died down, and Mr. Choi was out buying more ingredients to restock.   

 

 

 

Halla had not expected Seungcheol to stay the whole day, but he really stayed busy throughout the entire time he was there, serving all the customers with a smile.  She concluded that he was really desperate to get that drink again.

 

"Here,” she said, putting the drink she had just made on the counter Seungcheol was wiping down.  She started to make a beverage for herself, once again experimenting with all the flavors.    

 

He looked up from what he was doing and grinned.  Not one of those greasy grins he usually flashed her, but a genuinely appreciative grin.  

 

"Thanks,” he picked up the drink and faced towards the window, “Is it a tradition to serve these when it’s sunset?”    

 

"Nope, pure coincidence.”

 

"Can we make it a tradition?”

 

"You want me to make you drinks as a tradition?”

 

"No, I want us to be together every sunset as tradition.”

 

Halla froze.  For the second time today, she was left speechless, not knowing how to respond.  She opened to say something, but nothing came out, and she decided to ignore him and finish making her own drink.  

 

"Whenever there’s a day that I’m here, and there are no customers around, we could go out to the patio like this,” Seungcheol smiled, picking up Halla's and his beverages and heading straight towards the back door, “And watch the sunset together.”

 

"Hey!” Halla shouted, following him out the door, “Give that back!”

 

By the time Halla was outside, Seungcheol was already sitting down on the edge of the wooden porch.  He handed Halla her drink when she took a seat beside him.  

 

"Isn’t it nice?” he asked, sipping on his straw and gazing out towards the city.

 

Yeah, it was, Halla admitted, letting the warm breeze kiss her face and taking in the beautiful view in front of her.  She exhaled deeply, letting her mind drift away.

 

Seungcheol glanced at Halla.

 

"You need to do this more, you know,” he said gently.

 

"Do what?”

 

"Relax, let yourself breathe.  I’ve only known you for two days, but it’s obvious how much you stress yourself out.  These past few days you’ve constantly been in motion, and that’s cool and all, but sometimes you need to just… slow down.”

 

Halla closed her eyes for a few moments, taking a few deep breaths.

 

"Let’s do it.”

 

"What?”

 

"Let’s do this… as a tradition, or whatever you said.  It’s not bad.”

 

As much Halla hated to admit it, Seungcheol was right.  She did need to take a few more moments to herself to unwind once in awhile, and to be honest, this was the most at peace she felt in a while.

 

---

 

[A/N] Yes, if you were wondering, that was a reference to seventeen project.  Although at the moment, there aren't a lot of people reading this fic, I hope the ones who are reading are enjoying!!  It really brightens my day to read comments just knowing that people read through the whole thing ^_^

 

Also, if you were wondering, Seungcheol is my u/b.  I made a list to prove it.  Please love him a lot!!