Kyungsoo 

 "I love to cook."

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*ding ding* a customer has arrived.

--

"Good morning! Welcome to the Love Cafe!" Joonmyeon smiled as he was stirring batter in a bowl.

The man at the door smiled and bowed. He went up to the counter and patiently stood there looking around the cafe.

"Do you need help with anything?" Joonmyeon asked as he grabbed a tray from under the counter.

"Actually, yes." The man replied. "Are you hiring?"

Joonmyeon looked up at the man as he began to pour the batter into the tray. He examined the man in front of him. "There wasn't really a 'HELP WANTED' sign on the door.. But hey, I don't mind the extra help!"

"Great!" The man smiled. "When's my job interview?"

"Right now," Joonmyeon chuckled. "There isn't a need for one since you'd be hired anyway.. I just want to know about you since I just met you."

The man sat down on a nearby stool. "Well, my name is Kyungsoo," The man beamed as he showed a sincere smile to Joonmyeon. "I'm in my fourth year of my college life, and I love to cook."

"Well, that's good, since this is a cafe," Joonmyeon remarked. The both of them chuckled. "What is your speciality?"

"My friend's say I make a pretty-darn-good kimchi spaghetti," he bragged.

"I'd love to try it!" Joonmyeon pulled out an apron from the bottom on the counter behind him. He tossed it to Kyungsoo. "Show me whatcha got!"

Kyungsoo laughed as he got off of his chair and walked to the back of the counter. He put the apron on and began to tie it. "Oh! I almost forgot!" he exclaimed. "I don't have any ingredients for it.."

"Kimchi, noodles, tomato sauce, ham, onion.." Joonmyeon yelled checking the fridge from the back room. "They're all here!"

"Wow, that's amazing.." Kyungsoo said in awe as he stood next to Joonmyeon looking into the fridge. "Wait, why do you have this stuff? You don't need this for cafe food.."

"Sometimes, I get hungry on the job.." Joonmyeon said. Both of them chuckled as they took the ingredients back to the front. "Alright, the stove is on the right, pots and pans are stored to the left of the oven, I'll be here if you need anything."

"So.. you're just going to watch me?" Kyungsoo nervously said as he grabbed the noodles.

Joonmyeon nodded. "You don't have to worry, I'm just observing you. Think of it as your job interview."

"Don't people ask questions in an interview?"

"I don't know, this is the only job I've had. And I'm the owner." Joonmyeon chuckled. "I could ask you questions as you go about cooking."

"Oh, alright!" Kyungsoo nodded as he started looking for a pot.

"So, how long have you been cooking?" Joonmyeon asked.

Kyungsoo placed a large pot in the sink near the stove and began to fill it. "Well, as a kid, I'd always help my grandma in the kitchen. I guess it started from there."

"What did you make with your grandma?"

He placed the bowl on top of the stove and turned it to the high setting. "Oh, I cooked everything with her. I even baked with her. She loved to bake."

"So you must be pretty good at baking as well. Kyungsoo, you should have asked for a job here earlier!"

Kyungsoo dropped the noodles in the boiling pot of water and covered it. He showed Joonmyeon another smile as he went to get the the kimchi. "Actually, I don't have the time to cook anymore with studies and other jobs, so this is pretty nice."

Joonmyeon raised an eyebrow. "..Other jobs?"

The smiley boy nodded as he took the kimchi out of it's container and began chopping it the chopping board. "Yes sir, this would be my third job. Probably my first full-time one though.."

"THIRD JOB?" Joonmyeon gasped with a gaping mouth.

Kyungsoo turned around to with big eyes staring at Joonmyeon. "Yes.. Is there something wrong?"

Joonmyeon brought himself together. "No, it's just.. wow, how do you manage everything?"

Placing the kimchi aside and placing a pan next to the boiling pot of water, Kyungsoo poured in the tomato sauce and let it set. "Well.. I make lists, I'm pretty organized, and I like multi-tasking."

"I'll say," Joonmyeon said observing the boy's work station. "You clean as you work along and your work space is spotless!" He continued to watch Kyungsoo as he cut up the ham and onions and placed them into the sauce along with the kimchi. He could tell that this boy was into what he was doing. "Oh, by the way, why do you have three jobs?"

Kyungsoo stopped stirring the sauce and dropped the stirring spoon immediately. "..I have to pay for my intuition.." he muttered.

Shocked by his sudden action, Joonmyepn moved closer to Kyungsoo. "May I ask why?"

The boy shook his head and stood straight up once more. "Oh, it's nothing really.." he flashed a smile as he picked up the spoon and placed it in the sink and was in search for a new one.

"Are you sure?' Joonmyeon asked reassuringly. "There aren't any problems?"

"Oh, of course not!" Kyungsoo showed a bigger smile as he started stirring the sauce with a new spoon. "Everything's just peachy with my intuition fee."

Joonmyeon didn't want to push it, so he changed to a different topic. "So.. tell me about your family."

Kyungsoo was silent yet again. "Ilivingonmyown.." he mumbled as he turned off the boiling water's heat and carried it to the sink.

"Pardon me?"

"I LIVE ON MY OWN!" the boy proclaimed. "I DON'T HAVE A FAMILY!"

"..what happened to your grandma?"

"SHE WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO TOOK CARE OF ME AS A CHILD! MY MOM LEFT ME AFTER MY DAD DIED! I HAD NO SIBLINGS! AFTER MY GRANDMA DIED, I WAS ON MY OWN." The boy's face was covered with falling tears. Suddenly, Kyungsoo gasped as two arms wrapped around him. He couldn't see, his tears were blinding his sight.

"It's alright," Joonmyeon said as he grasped the boy in his arms. "You're not alone, anymore." At that moment, for the first time in a long time, Kyungsoo recieved a long, meaningful hug.

"But..w-what d-do you m-mean?" Kyungsoo sobbed into Joonmyeon's shoulder.

"I, too, live alone," he pulled away from the hug to look at the crying boy. "Look around yourself, Kyungsoo. What do you see?"

Kyungsoo wiped his tears away with his apron, and opened his eyes as he turned a 360 to observe his enviorment. "It's j-just your caf-fe.."

"And this is all I have," Joonmyeon showed a fainted smile. "My wife died, I never had kids, this is my life, basically."

"But.. isn't t-that l-lonely? Don't you feel unloved?"

Joonmyeon shook his head. "Of course not. I feel an endless amount of love, This is called 'The Love Cafe' after all," he chuckled.

"..I don't g-get it.."

"You see, Kyungsoo," he handed the sobbing boy a box of tissues from a nearby counter. "When I see customers satisfied with food or any advice I give them, I feel their love. For the food, for a new beginning, even their respect for me sometimes."

"And.. that's enough?"

"To me, it is! Over the past couple of weeks, I've had a few teenage boys like you come to my cafe, and I feel like their my own sons. They visit so frequently, I could've sworn one of them called me 'appa.'"

Kyungsoo chuckled. "So, am I like a son to you now, Appa Suho?"

They shared a laugh. "Now that you're a cook here, you probably will."

"Cook..cook.. OH MY GOSH THE KIMCHI SAUCE!!" Kyungsoo yelled as he scurried to the stove. He sighed in relief to see that the sauce was unharmed. "Oh, thank goodness." He turned off the heat, strained the noodles in the sink, placed the noodles on a plate, and topped the noodles with the sauce. He looked over at Joonmyeon as he held a grater and slab of cheddar cheese. "How much cheese do you like? I usually put a load.." Joonmyeon nodded and motioned the boy to put his regular serving of cheese on the plate. Kyungsoo did so, and then placed the plate in the preheated oven underneath the stove. He clapped his hands clean as he began to tide his work space.

Joonmyeon saw how much passion this boy took with cooking and cleaning. He really loved what he was doing. The stove chimed and Kyungsoo grabbed some ovenmits he found underneath the counter and used them to retrieve the hot plate in the oven. He placed it on top of the counter and smiled in satisfaction. "It's complete!" He exclaimed as he stared at the ceiling with his hands in the air like he was rejoycing.

The boy, yet again, showed a smile, but Joonmyeon saw this as the first smile where the boy felt truly happy. Kyungsoo handed Joonmyeon a fork and motioned him towards the plate of hot food. Joonmyeon took in the aroma of the spaghetti and slowly let the fork go from the plate into his mouth.

"WOW, FANTASTIC!" Joonmyeon took the plate off of the counter and began to eat it more. "THIS IS INCREDIBLE! THE NOODLES ARE COOKED TO PERFECTION, THE SAUCE HAS THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF KIMCHI! IT TASTES BETTER THAN RAW KIMCHI! AND OH MY GOSH, THE CHEESE JUST TOPS IT ALL OFF!"

The plate was done as soon as Joonmyeon stopped talking. Kyungsoo was amazed how fast it was finished. "Was it that good?"

"Good, doesn't even begin to describe how perfect that dish was," Joonmyeon said as he wiped his face from his messy eating. "I'm glad that you decided to get a job here, Kyungsoo."

"I'm glad too, Suho." They both looked at each other and smiled.

"Well, I think this job interview is done," Joonmyeon chuckled. He went up to Kyungsoo and offered him a hand. "Welcome to The Love Cafe team, Kyungsoo. You start tomorrow."

Kyungsoo knew he was supposed to shake the other's hand, but he leaped and pulled his new boss in for a hug. "Thank you," he mumbled.

---

*ding ding* a new employee satisfied.

---

In the afternoon, business was going as normal. Baekhyun visited, but sat at a booth and ordered a black cup of coffee in order to stay away while he was studying for school.

Just then..

-

*ding ding* a customer has arrived.

-

"Hello! Welcome to the Love Cafe!" Joonmyeon shouted from behind the counter. The customer that just entered had his face covered with a scarf and was wearing a hat that covered his eyes. "May I help you with anything?"

He walked to the counter, quickly. "Um, I need a favor from you," the customer said.

Joonmyeon was a bit suspicious, but he nodded.

"You see that boy over there?" the customer said pointed at Baekhyun who was plopped on the table instead of doing his so called 'study session.'

"Baekhyun? Joonmyeon asked. The customer nodded.

"Yes, I'd like to pay for everything he buys this entire week." He handed Joonmyeon his wallet.

"Wait, what?" Joonmyeon said as he stared at the wallet.

"I want to pay for whatever that boy orders from this cafe for a week. Is that possible?"

"Sure.." he confusingly affirmed as he took the wallet.

"Great, there's $500 in there, that should be more than enough."

"Um.. may I ask why you're doing this, um.. sir?"

"Let's just say... I owe him," the customer chuckled. They exchanged bows and the customer was out in a flash.

--

*ding ding* a satisfied..customer?

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 author's note 

» [[hello, my little cafers! hehe, Ihope yall had a happy new year! ; u ; so hopefully, i'll try my best to update this fic at most, once a week. if i'm lucky.. but i added graphics for each chapter, i hope that's alright huhuh ;3;

»ALSO! I'm going to write another food-related exo fic, and I'd really like it if you guys could help me decide with a fancy 5-star restaurant name? you can check out my blog for the deets and comment there for suggestions~

»thanks for sticking with my unconstant updates, guys ; w ; i seriously appreciate it. comments are always welcome<3]]