1, 2, 3
10 Cups Of Coffee
1- Iced Caffè Americano
It's been nine days in the new town and Hyukjae can finally go to Starbucks. He could never imagine himself living so close to one, so he was nearly counting the minutes until his place would be all set up so he could go and enjoy the city a bit. He left his building, crossed the street, walked a bit (fourteen steps!, he cheered silently. Okay, maybe I'm kind of obsessed) and stopped in front of one of the windows, looking inside and happily noting that the place wasn't packed. He chuckled a bit to himself, it wasn't really okay to be so excited about something like that, was it? He shrugged and stepped in, staring at the menu for a couple of minutes before boldly heading to the counter and quickly ordering a small Iced Caffè Americano in one breath. The barista lady eyed him weirdly but he just let it go, too caught up with the moment to actually care. She took his order and he paid for it, moving to the side to wait along with a lovey-dovey couple, making his heart ache a little bit and regretting his decision to leave before Yesung got home from work.
Yesung was the only person he knew in Seoul. They were best friends during middle school, but after Yesung had to move because of his parents' dream of opening a succesful bakery, they lost a little contact. That's why Hyukjae felt so reluctant to call his old friend and ask if he knew about somewhere cheap for him to stay while living away from his family. He considered himself lucky that Yesung was looking for someone to share the rent with, so he didn't even think twice and accepted the offer.
He lost the train of thought when a guy called his name, he turned around and had his eyes almost sparkling with excitment. He said a quick thanks and sat on an empty booth next to the window, wasting no time to bring the straw to his lips and gulp almost more than he could handle. His friends had always made fun of him for having kid's taste buds and this was the first thought that crossed his mind as he swallowed the bitter drink.
The second was that maybe he wouldn't come back that soon.
Well, that was disappointing.
2- Strawberries & Crème Frappuccino® Blended Crème
One day, he decided to go back.
Growing a little tired of Yesung's bakery after tasting everything over and over again, he thought about it for a while (an entire month. Shouldn't you be looking for a job or something, dude?) and bid his friend goodbye, ignoring the look the other gave and also the previous warnings (something along the lines of "I thought you were traumatised?" and "Are you really sure you are going to eat at the competition? Wow. Just, wow. Such a loyal friend.").
He snorted at the drama and stepped in again, looking carefully at the menu and deciding that maybe he could just ask for help. Taking a breath - no need to be this socially awkward, man, it's all fine - he walked to the queue and waited until one guy finished ordering, jumping a little when the employee called the next costumer.
"Hi?" He started, voice a little pitchy, feeling uneasy and out of place, not being sure what to do.
"Um... Hi" The guy behing the cashier - Donghae, he read - replied impatiently. "What's your order?"
He gulped before smiling a little, kind of trying to be charming. "Well, Donghae, I don't know"
"You don't know?" Donghae arched an eyebrow and glanced behind Hyukjae, watching the line growing. "Well, can you make up your mind?"
Hyukjae was a bit taken aback by the brunette's sharpness, but managed to blurt out his request for help anyway, highlighting that he didn't actually like the taste of coffee. Donghae stiffed a laugh before mumbling something along the lines of you can always ask for the kids' drinks, you know as he considered for a while, playing a bit with the hair falling in front of his eyes. Cute, Hyukjae thought, biting his bottom lip, hiding his smile and making sure he wouldn't say that out loud.
"Well, do you like strawberries?"
This time, Hyukjae smiled.
3- Cappuccino
Hyukjae was almost smiling creepily at himself as he entered the now pretty familiar shop, hoping he would find that rude-but-kind-of-cute brunette again, who despite his attitude (Hyukjae hoped it was an one time thing, really, 'cause someone that cute couldn't be rude all the time) gave really good suggestions. His smile faltered almost completely when he didn't see the guy anywhere, but he headed to the bored looking girl taking the orders anyway. Hyukjae felt virtually lost because he had no idea what to order, so he decided to stick with the plain Cappuccino, considering it was already November and the weather was indeed starting to get a bit cold. He took his hot cup and walked to the booth he wanted to claim as his favorite, bringing his laptop with him and checking Craigslist, trying to find a job he both liked and was good at (good luck there, buddy).
20 minutes later, his Cappuccino now cold and starting to get too bored, Hyukjae looked up and around the place to find a smiling Donghae, talking and joking with costumers and he was just startled. He looked at his half full cup and cursed himself quietly for coming too early, wondering if it would be okay to order something else only for the sake of being able to hear the other laugh like that. He decided that being jobless and starting to create an unhealthy obsession with this place, he shouldn't spend any more money today and just go home to continue his job hunting there, or else he would have to accept working with Yesung at the bakery in order to pay all his bills. And he would surely not make it if he had to live 24/7 with his bossy and kind of self-centered hyung.
(But on the other hand, he was glad Donghae's bad mood was apparently only an one time thing)
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