"What is love?"

This Little Cafe

 LuHan 

 "What is love?"

 

________________________________________

 

Joonmyeon saw the pouring rain outside the cafe's front window. "Looks like a sorrowful heart is stopping by today," he sighed. He quickly went to the. Back to retrieve a small cardboard box labeled 'RAINY DAYS.' "This outta do the trick.."

*ding ding* Another customer.

--

"Morning! Welcome to the Love Cafe!" Joonmyeon warmly said. In front of him was a young man soaked to the bone. His brown wet hair covered his eyes, and his mouth was quivering. He was dressed nicely with his leather jacket, white dress shirt, and sleek scarlet tie, but he was shaking and trembling. Suddenly the boy's face was covered with a towel. Joonmyeon wiped up the young man's face. "You poor thing.." he whispered as he continued to dry the young man's face. After he finished, he pulled more towels from behind the counter. "If you want to dry the rest of your body off, you're welcome to do so in the bathroom. You could also change your clothes if you want to. I have some extra clothes in the closet on the right of the men's bathroom. I'll dry your wet clothes and you can get them later.."

The young man bowed and proceeded to the bathroom. Joonmyeon started up the coffee maker. He reached into the small box and poured a white packet out. "Let's hope this helps!" He slowly poured it into the coffee filter and closed the lid for the machine to work its magic.

A few minutes passed and the young man appeared before Joonmyeon again. This time he was all dried up and wore different clothes. He now wore a plain white shirt that showed a big black heart on the front, and he wore pink pajama pants that were patterned with small white hearts. Joonmyeon chuckled to himself. "Sorry, but this IS the Love Cafe.." he said trying to control his laughter. The young man blushed as he sat up on the stool in front of Joonmyeon. "It's okay," he continued. "You look good in pink!"

The young man's head landed on the counter with a big thug. "Ahjusshi, do you have any alcohol?"

Joonmyeon tilted his head. The person in front of him looked so underage. "Aren't you a little too young to drink?" The boy quickly flashed his ID in front of Joonmyeon with his head still plopped on the counter. "So his name is LuHan.." Joonmyeon whispered to himself.

"I get that a lot," LuHan replied. "People say that my angelic baby face makes me look really young. But I assure you I am over 19."

Joonmyeon nodded. "But don't think alcohol can ease your pain all the time. It may wear off the pain, but only for a while. You should at least vent the agony you're feeling inside so it's no longer in you, yknow?"

LuHan lifted his head and leaned over against the counter and stared at Joonmyeon. By the looks of it, Joonmyeon knew why he was soakng wet. "Aight, ahjusshi, bring me something that's non-alcoholic and can ease my pain."

Joonmyeon quickly grabbed a mug and put it under the coffee maker. He pulled the lever and out came the piping hot liquid. He then put the cup into the machine next to it and added the cream. Being the creative man he is, he designed the foam of the cream into a heart. He then handed the cup to LuHan. "There you are. But I won't tell you what it is. You have to guess."

LuHan looked up at the older man weirdly, but took the cup in his hand. He blew on it a few times and took a small sip of it. LuHan closed his eyes and tried to guess what it tasted like. His eyes opened when he realized what it was. "Hot.. Chocolate?"

"DING DING WE HAVE A WINNER!" Joonmyeon shouted as he began clapping his hands and jumping everywhere. LuHan laughed at his liveliness. "But it's not just any hot chocolate," Joonmyeon said as his energy died down. "This hot chocolate tries to get rid of the teas you shredded in the rain.."

LuHan's smile suddenly disappeared. "How did you know?"

"Your eyes are still very red. Plus, I know I would run in the rain to hide the fact that I'm crying."

LuHan looked down on the ground. "It's not like I had any choice.." he muttered.

"Then what really happened, LuHan?"

"It's a long story.."

"I'm the owner of a cafe, son, I have time.."

"Well.."

--

LuHan dressed himself up today. He looked in the mirrored and gave himself a thumbs up. He grabbed the bouquet of roses next to the mirror and smelled them. "I hope she likes these.." he smiled to himself. He rushed out of his house quickly and stood outside of it. he looked up at the sky and saw the clear beautiful weather shine upon him. "Here goes nothing," he beamed running down the street.

Soon enough he stopped running in front of a house. He stared at it for a moment before he walked up to it. The house was enormous. In the front on each side stood five pillars all Corinthian styled at the top built. Between each column was a tall glass window that stood outlined with nothing but gold. The door he stood in front of was as tall as the windows, only they were pure white and looked so fragile. LuHan felt like would break it if he just touched it. He took a deep breath and then reach for the doorbell. Before he could, the doors opened right in front of him. On the other side was a young girl who was dolled up. "Oh, LuHan, don't you look nice today. What are you doing here?"

LuHan gulped. "Uh..I wanted to-" 

*BEEP BEEP* A jet black Escalade rolled up behind LuHan in the mansion's huge driveway. LuHan looked at the driver to see an older man. By the looks of it, he didn't look that nice, but he looked awfully rich. "JAGIYA, HURRY UP! WE'RE GONNA BE LATE FOR THE BANQUET!"

"Sorry, LuHan, I have to go. Maybe we can catch up later?" The girl rushed down the stairs and towards the car. "Sorry, yeobo. My friend just wanted to say hi." She opened to door and hopped in and gave him a kiss. From that scene, LuHan dropped the flowers he was gripping to behind his back. The girl who he loved waved at him and drove off and away with a man he knew wouldn't treat her like he would have. He fell to the ground and laid down on the driveway. He looked up at the sky which was now turning gray. Soon enough water dropped onto his nose. He let out a dry chuckle. "This is so cliche."

He got up and brushed his shoulders. He looked down at the flowers on the ground. "Stupid weeds," he said as he kicked them. "Why didn't you work? Why didn't you stop Yuki from getting in that car with that strange man?" He continued to kick the flowers as his voice rose. "WHY DID I HAVE TO FALL FOR HER? WHY DID SHE HAVE TO BE RICH? WHY DOESN'T SHE KNOW THAT I LOVE HER?" 

The small drizzle soon turned into a huge thunderstorm. "OH, THIS IS JUST GREAT!" LuHan screamed up into the sky. He quickly ran off to find some place to keep dry. His clothes were already soaking wet. As he ran, tears began to fall off of his cheeks. His face soon began to become soaking wet from all of the tears and rain drops. He took a 360 to see if there was anywhere he could stop by. He kept turning until he saw a small sign.

'LOVE CAFE. TURN LEFT.' He stood there in the pouring rain and decided he should pay this cafe a visit.

--

"And that's how I ended up here," LuHan said sipping his cup. 

"I see," Joonmyeon said as wiped the counter. "Tell me, LuHan, why do you love Yuki?"

LuHan looked surprised by the sudden question, but thought for a moment. "Well, she's cute, funny, sweet, nice, caring.."

"A lot of girl's are like that LuHan. But what made Yuki stand out? Other than the fact that she's rich.."

LuHan sighed. "Her being rich doesn't make her stand out. The fact that I'm poorer than her makes me stand out." Joonmyeon stopped wiping. "You see, since I'm smart, I got a scholarship to an elite school. It's great, since my mom can finally start focusing on just paying for the house now. But, my school is full of little rich kids who are full of themselves," his voice was almost down to a whisper now as he played with his mug. "None of them know I'm not poorer than them, so they treat me okay, but the first person I told I wasn't rich, was Yuki." He paused for a moment. "Although I told her, she still treated me the same. She said that she didn't care that we weren't in the same social class. She even told me she hated being rich because she never had time with her parents or with friends because all she did was study and work in her dad's business."

"Do you know who she drove off with, LuHan?"

"..No, I don't. But I'm assuming that it's someone who works at her dad's company. Her dad doesn't know I'm not that rich, but he doesn't exactly like me either.. I don't even know why. I can treat his daughter better than any of those snobby rich people could."

"LuHan, do you believe everything happens for a reason?" Joonmyeon asked. LuHan looked up. "Do you think that Yuki is really THE ONE? What if someone out there, another girl is waiting for you? What if her only dream is to find you and spend the rest of her life with you?"

"WHY DO YOU KNOW A GIRL LIKE THAT??"

Joonmyeon chuckled. "See? I think you're just rushing things. I think you only 'love' Yuki because she was the only one you could be yourself with. But obviously, confessing to her wasn't going to happen." He took LuHan's empty cup from the counter and brought it to the sink in the back. He quickly scurried out back to LuHan. "But hey, maybe it wasn't the right time. Perhaps what happened earlier was to bring you to your senses. Or to bring you to me to share what you were thinking." He put a hand on LuHan's shoulder. "Tell me, LuHan, what do you think love is?"

"What is love?" LuHan asked back. Joonmyeon nodded. "Well.. I don't know."

"If you don't know, then how could you say you 'love' Yuki if you don't even know love?" This hit LuHan in the heart like a bullet. He hasn't actually thought of this before. Nobody has ever asked this to him. "LuHan, I'm not saying Yuki isn't THE ONE, but you shouldn't only wait for her. I don't know what you've been through, what you're going through, or what you may go through down the road, but please know that you will find someone who'll love you and cherish you and will also help you through life's journey."

LuHan showed a small smile. "Say, uh.."

"Suho." Joonmyeon smiled.

"Suho, have you experienced love?"

Joonmyeon let out a small chuckle. "I met her back in high school. She was a sweetheart. We instantly fell in love, but we knew that we were rushing things so we soon stopped seeing each other." Joonmyeon looked down at the counter. "But somehow, I found her again at a cafe, just like this, just reading a newspaper and drinking some coffee. We started talking again, and before you knew it, we got married." Joonmyeon went under the counter to bring out a picture frame. He handed it to LuHan. "This was our wedding photo.."

"WOW," LuHan gasped. "She's beautiful!" 

"She's always beautiful," Joonmyeon added. "I even said she'll add beauty to heaven during her funeral."

LuHan looked and saw Joonmyeon's expression change. "Wh-what happened?"

"She was getting into a cab heading home from work. The taxi driver was really drunk and sped way over the speed limit on the highway..and he didn't see the huge truck in front of him.." Joonmyeon stood there in silence. His face still down facing the counter. LuHan put the picture down and sat quietly. He expected tears to fall or yelling to occur, but none of that happened. Joonmyeon brought his head up and smiled. "But, I know she's looking down on me and I'm happy for the memories she gave me. And I know that one day, I'll be with her once again."

LuHan smiled. "Suho, you are quite amazing.."

Joonmyeon let out a small laugh. "Thanks, LuHan," he took the picture and put it back under the counter. He looked out the window. "Hey, would you look at that? A nice way to continue life, don't you think?" He nudged LuHan. "Now, go on and continue enjoying life, you crazy kid. No need to pay, this one's on me. And keep the shirt and pajama pants, you look great."

"Thanks, Suho!" LuHan cheerfully said as he got up from his seat. "I hope you don't mind if I come back again," he added as he headed for the door.

"Well, you have to if you want your clothes that were soaking wet earlier today!" Joonmyeon laughed. "Comeback anytime you want. I'll be waiting!" he waved at LuHan as he exited with a smile on his face.

--

*ding ding* Another satisfied customer.

 

________________________________________

 

 author's note 

» //I can relate to this chapter so much, and I didn't choose this scenario for Lu just bc he's my ultimate. Uhu

 

 

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xiu_pao
130616 - 2AM BUT LOOKIE, AN UPDATE AFTER 6 MONTHS ;u;

Comments

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Hunteris5000
#1
Chapter 14: OMG SO HAPPY I LOVE YOU!!!
Hehe, AND you're update of course. ^_^
Kaisoo moment so KYOPTAAAAA!
-blacktea
#2
Chapter 14: i'm happy you updated! ALL DEM FEELS
Mwuahxoxo #3
Chapter 14: Yey, you're back! Excited with your updates. Update please!
ex_omona
#4
Chapter 14: Oh Gosh that's surprising! Kyungsoo's gay! Although thats far more interesting than just plain girlxguy. This story's getting more interesting. I wonder how you'll intertwine minseok into this...
Coralie_x_KPOP
#5
Chapter 14: Aawwww I liked the Kaisoo :D and welcome back! ^^
-blacktea
#6
please update ^^ the poster is really pretty
superhyung
#7
Chapter 13: YOU ER YOU BETTER UPDATE SOON ALLY. HWAITING!!!


also this fic is extremely cute and i really like it. suho is such a caring dude man and all the boys god where do i even start. so far my favorite is chen's love story, but who knows? we still have kai, xiumin, and tao
Hunteris5000
#8
Hwaiting!!
Hunteris5000
#9
Chapter 13: OMG, author-nim! Are you going to put in the wedding as well? Cause that would be so cute, and the fluff would KILL ME. Also an avid reader and subbie of "Chef Shenanigans"! Love your work!