Part One
Table For One
A/N *****In an attempt to make it easier for you to visualize yourself in place of the main character, I will not mention her name, or what she looks like whatsoever. Keep in mind that since there are multiple girls with no names in this story, it may get confusing. So in situations where there are more than one girl, I bolded the "She" or "Her" or other pronouns of the sort so you know it is referring to you. If it's obviously talking about you, then I won't bold it. I would've made it easier by just using someone's name, but I wanted it so that you can pretend that it is you and replace it with your name instead, sob. I hope it's not too confusing! It turns out I'll be making this a two shot after all, hehe ^^; Please enjoy!
-
"Table for one, please!" A familiar, low voice called from the front door as it swung open and slowly shut again.
"Is the fat here again?" The girl replied, not even looking up to know exactly who the customer was as she continued with her job of cleaning the table.
"Yah!" The restaraunt owner -also known as her mom- scolded, lightly smacking her daughter's behind with a menu as she passed by, heading towards the boy at the door. "That's not very polite."
"It's just Daehyun, mom. He won't take it personally." She laughed, finally putting down the table cloth and looking up at the boy at the door. Just like she stated, there Daehyun was; hair messy, and clothes casual like usual. After years and years of hearing his voice, it wasn't hard to recognize him without looking.
"On the contrary, I'm actually quite thoroughly offended." Daehyun put a hand to his heart and faked a hurt expression as he turned towards her mother who was walking towards him. "I think you should give me a discount on this meal ma'am, that worker of yours is terribly rude."
Her mother laughed and patted Daehyun on the shoulder as she passed him the menu and pointed him towards a table. "It's nice seeing you again Daehyun, dear."
Daehyun chuckled and bowed to her mother with a smile on his face and made his way to the table he was assigned to.
Jung Daehyun. He was like family to her. He was the boy she had known ever since he moved to her city from Busan. The boy who would stay up late on the phone with her whenever she needed him. The boy -aside from her father- whom you'd need permission from if you ever wanted to date her. The boy whose house she could sleep at without her parents assuming anything inappropriate (they didn't do things like that anyways). The boy who'd buy her ice cream whenever she was down (but ended up eating most of it himself). The boy she watched sunsets and sunrises with due to staying up all night.
He was the boy she was proud to call her best friend.
And he was also the fat who came to their family restaraunt every. Single. Day.
"Did'ya miss me?" He smirked, taking his seat and resting his elbows on the table as he watched her scrub the table beside him.
She scoffed and brushed the hair that had fallen loose out of her face with the back of her hand as she looked up at the Busan boy. "What's there to miss when you're always here?"
"Don't complain! I'm a regular customer! Regular customers should be cherished." He leaned back and put his hands in his pockets. "Cherish me~" He chuckled as she rolled her eyes and continued scrubbing.
"And by cherish you mean 'please give me lots of food because i'm a fat pig blessed with high metabolism' right?"
"Oh you know me so well, I bet you know what I'm going to order, too." He smiled, passing her the menu. He was right about that though, since he ordered the exact same thing every time anyways.
"Why don't you try something new for once?" She shook her head and took the menu from his hand, pointing to pictures of other dishes. "These taste good! And this one's probably your taste... and-" She sighed when she noticed he was no longer paying attention to her. "Okay, the usual it is then." She nodded, turning around to go place his order, and recieving a face full of a customer's shirt as he was walking by. She stumbled back and almost tripped, until the boy grabbed her waist to keep her from falling.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She gasped, looking up at the the boy. He looked like he was her age, and he was wearing her school uniform. He smiled down at her, his black hair falling around his face -which was a bit too close to her own. He wasn't that bad looking but he wouldn't stand a chance with Daehyun watching from the table directly behind them.
"No, no need to be sorry." The boy replied, looking at her with his hands still placed at her waist. She gulped and squirmed a bit, in attempt to make him let go, but his hands remained at her sides. He needed to let go. Not only because she found it uncomfortable being held like this by someone she just met, but because she pitied his soul if Daehyun was watching. Which she was certain he was. "You go to my school right?" He questioned as his eyes travelled downwards to obnoxiously check her out. She heard a slight cough from Daehyun beside them.
"Ah..." She started, lifting her hands to lightly push him away, but before she could say more, a shout resonated in the restaraunt.
She, and everyone else in the restaraunt, rapidly turned their heads to the source of the sound. Daehyun was clutching his hand, his face scrunched in pain.
"Sh-!" He whispered, hurriedly blowing his hand. She quickly moved to his side, leaving the other school boy behind, and grabbed Daehyun's hand. "I spilled my tea..."
She kissed her teeth and examined the burn. "I knew you were clumsy but you'd think pouring tea would be a safe enough task." She blew slightly and glared at him. "Stupid clutz. How do you just spill tea on your hand?"
"I don't know..." Daehyun pouted, looking over her shoulder, glaring at the boy still standing behind her. The other boy gulped as Daehyun's fiery eyes bore right into his. "I probably got distracted." He shrugged. "By an annoying fly." He emphasized on the "fly" and broke the eye contact, smiling once the boy got the hint and scurried away.
She continued blowing on the burn before he suddenly pulled his hand away and stuck it in his pocket, his hurt expression quickly evolving into an amused one. "Doesn't it... still hurt?" She questioned, confused.
"Kind of." He shrugged, looking over at the boy who was now sitting back at his table across the room and intently staring into his tea cup. Daehyun smirked. "But nothing hurt more than seeing that loser's poor attempt at hitting on you."
"H-Hey... Jung Daehyun..." She stuttered, furrowing her eyebrows at her best friend who simply smiled back, looking accomplished. "You didn't spill tea on yourself on purpose, did you?"
"No comment." He smirked, before letting out a sob in horrid pain when she suddenly grabbed his burnt hand and squeezed it tight. "OW! ! What was that for?!"
"Why would you do that?!" She scolded, flicking his forehead with her other hand.
"Why are you hitting me?! I always get you out of these kind of situations, you should be used to it by now!"
"If you want to cause a distraction to help me out, don't do it while hurting yourself you dumb !" She hit him on the shoulder one more time.
"You should be thankful! Unless you wanted that dumb guy checking you out?!" He kissed his teeth and pulled his hand away from hers, clutching it near his chest.
"You're gonna make me feel guilty if you help me by hurting yourself.." She explained.
"Yeah, well, hitting me is a great way to show how guilty you feel."
Daehyun was always protective of her, and she understood that. He was like an older brother, always looking out for her. She loved him for it, and she was always grateful, but at times like these, when he took things too far for her own sake, she couldn't help but find him stupid. She sighed and took his hand again, looking at the burn. "Sorry. And thank you."
Daehyun rolled his eyes and pulled his hand away, picking up his tea cup. "If you're so thankful, go place my order. I'm hungry."
She nodded and walked away, heading to the window to the kitchen where she could write his order. She picked up the pen and was about to start writing his usual order, when she heard a group of girls muttering behind her. She stopped writing, and slowly turned her head to see a group of girls clearly staring at her, before quickly snapping her head around again.
"You think they're dating? They've been really close friends for a while haven't they?" A girl mumbled from behind her.
"I hope not..." Another girl sighed.
"Daehyun's totally my type."
"He's got some serious good looks..."
After a minute of overhearing their swooning, she turned to look at the girls again, who were now all staring at Daehyun. Then she turned to look at Daehyun, who was cluelessly drinking tea, tapping his foot, and looking back at her. He raised his eyebrows and winked at her when he noticed she was looking.
"Look, he winked! He winked at her! They're dating aren't they?" The girls began muttering again, including things like "That's too bad..." and "She's not even that great looking..." and "Oh, I wish he winked at me instead."
She shook her head in pity over the girls. Daehyun was fawned over by plenty of her friends at school, so it wasn't surprising that people would fawn over him anywhere else, as well. She admits, he wasn't all that bad looking. He was actually pretty damn attractive compared to most guys. But his good looks were becoming a burden, since so many of her friends would constantly ask her to set them up. He was a pretty hot topic in school to be honest, but he never seemed to really acknowledge that.
She quickly wrote his order, leaving it on the kitchen window and hitting the bell before hurrying back to the table beside Daehyun to continue her scrubbing. Once in a while she'd take a glance up at him, and he'd just shamelessly stare at her as he sipped his tea.
"Why do you stare at me so much?" She questioned, spraying the table and wiping it some more.
"Don't flatter yourself." He laughed, placing his elbow on the table and pressing his cheek against the palm of his hand. "There's nothing else to stare at. Unless you'd prefer I stared at the cieling, or chairs, or something?"
"Daehyun, why aren't you dating anyone yet?" She asked, completely ignoring him.
A loud, "HAHA." was heard from beside her.
"You must be kidding," He chuckled, sipping his tea again. "I'm not interested in that kind of thing." He shrugged and placed the tea cup down, looking at her. "And no one's interested in me anyways."
"Hah, now you're the one that must be kidding." She scoffed, pointing behind her with her thumb. "Did you not notice the large group of fan girls you have?"
Daehyun peeked around her to see what she was referring to, and immediately turned away when the group of girls began squealing and squeezing each other at the fact that he looked their way. His cool exterior broke down in a split second, as sweat broke out on his forehead under his bangs, and he pursed his lips. This was how he gets when it comes to girls. "A-are you sure they're looking at me?"
"Well they're clearly not looking at me." She chuckled, looking at him who picked up a menu and hid behind it.
"What should I do?" He whispered, looking around the menu. He gulped as the group of girls continued to squeal and wave at him. He let out a sigh and put the menu down, smiling shyly and waving back. The girls just got louder, jumping in their seats and freaking out.
She laughed as Daehyun picked up the menu and shyly hid behind it again. He was good at being cute without trying, which was probably part of the reason why so many people fell for him so easily. She patted his shoulder and picked up the table cloth, going back to clean.
Her mother stopped near Daehyun's table and leaned in. "The prince of our restaraunt is getting quite some attention, hm? Are they disturbing you? Would you like me to tell them to leave?"
Daehyun shook his head and bowed at her mother. "Ah, 'prince' is too much isn't it?" He looked down, shy. "No, no, it's fine... they're not bothering me." He laughed to himself and scratched the back of his neck.
In a way, he was good when it came to girls. But in another way, he really wasn't. Because whenever a girl would compliment him, or he heard somebody liked him, he would become this gooey puddle of shyness. He would get completely flustered and stammer and blush, so he could never really say anything in return. But at the same time, by being flustered and stammering and blushing; he was capable of being extremely endearing. So even though he's never able to flirt back, he unknowingly melts the poor girls' hearts by being so cute and flustered.
She herself was surprised she hadn't fallen for Daehyun yet. But she believed that was impossible, considering the plenty of years they've spent as best friends, to the point where they could be siblings. She just didn't see Daehyun like that.
"I think you should date someone." She suggested, taking the seat beside him.
"H-huh?" He replied, looking towards her, flipping is bangs aside with a flick of his head. "Why?"
She shrugged and looked at the burn on his hand as he clutched the menu. "So you can stop focusing on me, and go share your heart with someone else." She tapped his hand and smiled. "In a more romantic aspect."
Daehyun cleared his throat and put down the menu, slolwy bringing his hand back into his jeans' pocket. "I'm not 'focusing' on you. When the time calls for it, I can't help but care, that's all. I know that guy who was hitting on you. He doesn't have good intentions, believe me." He explained and shrugged. "And to your 'go date someone' suggestion, no thank you. Romance isn't really my taste." Daehyun grimaced and shook his head at the thought of him ever dating anyone. He almost gagged as he imagined some girl clinging on his shoulder, calling him "oppa" and trying to be endearing with overexaggerated aegyo, and was close to literally gagging when that imaginary girl transformed into Kim Himchan, a friend that was known for his scary and obnoxious attempts at being cute. He shuddered at the thought of Himchan callling him "oppa". Just... no.
"Oh, come on." She rolled her eyes and sat down beside him. "You never even tried romance, how do you know it doesn't suit your taste?"
"Is romance some sort of dish now? Because if it is, I'm not planning on taking a bite." He laughed, lightly shoving her shoulder with his. "Speaking of taking a bite..."
She groaned and rolled her eyes for the hundredth time that day before standing up and fixing her apron. "Yes, yes, your food is coming."
Daehyun smiled as she made her way to the kitchen, mumbling "Fat " under her breath.
"I heard that." Daehyun called after her.
"I don't care!" She shouted back.
A week or two later, she came up with a decision.
After wondering about Daehyun and whether he would ever open his heart for a girlfriend, she came to conclusion that it was about time he found out himself. She loved Daehyun with all her heart. She cared for him alot. And because of that, she thought it would be good for him to start opening his eyes to the world of romance. And being pretty much the only girl Daehyun was known to spend time with, not to mention being his best friend, she was perfect for the job until he found a girl for himself.
She had realized that Daehyun cared for her way too much. The burn on his hand was a painful reminder for both her and him as to just how much he cared. She understood since he saw her like a little sister, and she appreciated all of it, but she felt burdened by all the attention he gave her. If he were to get a girlfriend, at least half of his care and attention would go to her, and then Daehyun would be happy. And that would make her happy as well.
She took a deep breath, and nodded as she headed towards Daehyun's table with his meal. "Eating the same thing again huh?"
He smiled at her as she set the table. "Of course!"
She sighed, taking the seat in front of him and watched as he grabbed the fork with happy eyes. "Remember a week or so ago, when we talked about trying something new?"
He looked up at the cieling with his mouth filled, chewing while thinking and then swallowed, nodding at her. "Yeah why? You want me to order something different?" He picked up his tea cup and proceeded to pouring it all into his mouth.
"Let's date."
Daehyun spit out his tea almost immediately. "What?!" He coughed, incredulous as he pounded on his chest and stared at her with wide eyes. She grimaced, taking the table cloth from the pocket in her apron and wiping the tea he had spit onto the table.
"O-Oh dear..." Daehyun muttered, his shocked expression turning into a worried one. "The cursed time has come... it happens in every drama... I should've expected it but I didn't know it would actually happen..." He gulped, and looked up at her. "My best friend has fallen for me."
She rolled her eyes as he continued muttering to himself, saying things like "Maybe because of how nice I was treating her?" and "Should I grow a unibrow or something to stop her from being attracted?" After a few more minutes of listening to his dumb conversation with himself, she kissed her teeth and smacked him with the table cloth.
"You sound really crazy, you know that right?" She scowled, putting the table cloth back in her pocket.
"Me?!" He gawked. "You're the crazy one! My best friend is asking me to be her boyfriend..." He stood up enough to lean over the table and bring the back of his hand to her forehead. "Are you sick? Are you okay?"
"Calm down, will you?" She shooed his hand away and he sat back down. "Let's date. But only for a week."
Daehyun tilted his head, confused. "For a week? What? Is that how dating goes?"
"No, no." She laughed and continued. "We won't actually be dating. I'm just going to allow you to experience it!"
"Experience dating? Why? I don't need it!" Daehyun ridiculed, putting his tea cup down and looking at his best friend like she had a disease.
"You like food right? Well, just pretend it's like food." She grabbed his fork and brought a handful of the food towards his face. He opened his mouth as if he expected her to feed him but she just continued talking. "Pretend it's a dish you've never tried before. It doesn't really look that great... you don't really like it..-"
"But I eat that every day, why wouldn't I like it?" He cut her off, only to be threatened with the fork in her hand. He shut his mouth immediately.
"Just pretend and let me continue!" She sighed, exasperated. "It doesn't really look that appetizing to you, but everyone else seems to enjoy it! So how do you know you won't like it if you don't give it a taste?" She cleverly explained, hoping to convince him with this scenario. He liked food. It would be easier using it as an example.
"Well, what if I don't like it?" He questioned, the scenario working out after all.
"Then you spit it out, and oh well, too bad." She shrugged, dropping the fork back onto the plate and leaning closer to him. "But if you do like it, take another bite. And continue from there!"
"By 'Take another bite' and 'continue from there' are you saying that if I liked dating you, we'll continue it? Are we going to try falling in love?" He laughed, picking up his fork to start eating again.
"Haha, very funny." She retorted. "No. I'll just date you for a week. I'll plan things out and we can go together and well, we'll have dates! For seven days! It'll be a good experience for you! And if you like it, then find a girl and date her for real!"
She watched as he chewed, looking up at the ceiling again to think. He shrugged and looked at her, nodding. "Fine. It's summer vacation and at least we can have some bonding time as best frien-"
"No, no, no! Not best friends! Starting tomorrow, we're a couple!" She complained crossing her arms. "I won't be your best friend. I'll be your girl friend!"
He scrunched his nose. "How demanding. I want to break up." He laughed, and she hit him on the shoulder, laughing as well. "Okay, fine, fine. Just promise me one thing, okay?" He scooped up some food with his fork and waved it in front of her face. "Don't fall for me, babe."
She rolled her eyes again. "As difficult as that sounds, I promise." She replied, sarcasm dripping in her voice.
But as he brought the fork to , feeding her with that lovely smile on his pretty face, she felt an ominous feeling as she wondered whether keeping that promise would be as easy as she thought it would be.
But she brushed the thought aside and opened with a smile when he offered her some more, ignoring the group of girls -who come just as often as Daehyun nowadays- still sobbing over Daehyun behind them. She could hear their "Damn, they really must be dating" and other such remarks from across the restaraunt. With how loud the group of girls was, she was sure other people could hear it too. But it was okay for them to assume things right now.
Tomorrow, they'd be kind of sort of officially boyfriend and girlfriend anyways.
-
A/N I hope you enjoyed the first chapter!! ^^; I'll update soon ♥
UWAAAAH~~ it's over !! Maybe. Unless I take up that sidestory idea hehe. I hope you enjoyed!~
Comments