Cheonsa entered a sleeek blue car and motioned him to sat beside her. Then, they drove away from the restaurant. Inside the car, Luhan tried to look cool. He forced himself not to stared at her and instead look at her reflection on the car’s window glass.

Her hand reached the entertainment panel and pushed a button. Instantly, a deafening music rock blasted through it. He tried no to flinched. Rock music already entered his blacklist since he was a little kid back then. He hates it, it makes his ears hurt a lot.

But she seemed to like it. It obvious from the way her lips humming the lyrics and her hand strumming the steering wheel. He smiled when she started to shake her head following the beat of music.

“You should take a picture,” she said out of nowhere, her voice overcome the ear-splitting music. “It last longer you know.”

He coughed. His face went  bright red and he aimed his gaze anywhere but her. “Where are we going?” he asked changing the topic.

“My favorite café. It’s only a couple block from here. The drinks is great and the price is cheap.” She said. He raised an eyebrow. Nobody would guess that a girl like her knew what cheap is. He even doubt that she had ever drive herself like this if he didn’t saw it with his own eyes.

They stopped in front a nice looking café and got out. The ball that hanging on the door chimed when they walked in. The café  looked warm, not a posh place, but good enough. it was small but had a nice interior and its walls were made from glass that made it looked bigger. There wasn’t many people because it wasn’t a weekday.

Cheonsa sat in one of the seat and he took a chair in front of her.When a waitress approached them Cheonsa didn’t wait for the menu. “An iced coffeelatte please. What do you want Luhan?”

He scanned the menu first and said, “A hot chococream would be nice.” He said and smiled at the waiter. He didn’t notice the waitress flustered expression, but Cheonsa did and smile a knowing smile.

“You knew that chococream is for children right?”

He shrugged, he got that often enough not to care about it. “It’s my favorite. I love sweets.”

She rolled her eyes, “You should try a double-shot espresso next time. You might like it.” She said woth a mock expression.

It was his turn to rolled his eyes, “I won’t fall for that trap twice”

She laughed and Luhan smiled, her laughter was music to his ears. “Who did it?” she said between her laughter.

“My bestfriend. He said that with the most honest expression I’ve ever know, so I fell for that. It was horrible experience.”

“Taste depends on your mood you know. Maybe the next time you try won’t be that bad.” She said teasingly.

“Not in a hundred years.”

The waitress came again and handed them their drinks. Needn’t to mention that she did it with a red face, but this time Luhan was too immersed with a girl that sat in front of him.

It was odd for him. He never imagine that he could feel comfortble around this girl. He wasn’t a social people, people who made him feel relaxed was only his parents and Sehun. But how could this girl did it to him within hours?

He always knew that he had a little crush with Cheonsa when he was a kid. But that’s it. He never thought that he would be here, with her. For him, Cheonsa was unreachable, too far and too perfect for him, he just sort of knew that from her photo. But here he was, seating with her. The feeling was undescribeable, he didn’t know whether he should laugh, cried, or jumped in joy.

A little hope started to soar on his eart. Maybe, just maybe, that this marriage thing would work. He could easily imagining both of them wake up in the morning, side by side, and smiling. Even if their hair turn white and their face looks horrible, he was certain that he would be happy. As long as it was her.

He sipped his drinks, feeling its sweet taste filled his tongue and running down his throat. It was odd though. His drinks tasted wonderful. Chococream was always good, but never this good. Maybe this café had a pro to make a common drinks turned into something more astonishing. No wonder this was her favorite café.

A comfortable silence appeared before Luhan decided to spoke, “Uhm... why are we here for?”

Cheonsa looked up from her coffeelatte and bit her lips. With an anxious looks she shoved her glass so it was placed in the edge of table and she leaned back to the chair. Luhan stiffened, he didn’t know what would happen but it seemed that it wasn’t a good news.

She combed her hair using her fingers, making it more curvier. “Listen to me first and don’t cut me off allright?”

She waited until Luhan nodded before continuing. “I don’t know what happened but I swear it’s not what I wanted. I’ve never heard about this arrangement until two days ago, and honestly it scared me.”

It needs a few moments for Luhan to processed her words before he realized she was talking about this arranged marriage. “I don—“

She kept talking and cutting Luhan’s words, “I know that you felt the same way like me. Seriously who would have agree to that in this century. We don’t live at Shakespeare era, if you know what I mean. It just so unbelievable.”

“I—”

“It’s not that you are undesireable, mind you. You are well-mannered and nice man, you must have a girlfriend somewere, right? Well, I don’t want to hurt her, and I’m sure you don’t want that happen too, right?

“But—”

“I know you are too civil to say that to them, don’t worry I’m gonna take care of it. I will take the blame. My parents would gonna be mad at me though, but don’t worry I already used to it.”

“Wha—“

“So I’m gonna call this marriage off.” She said with a smile.

And that effectively shut Luhan off.

Her phone vibrated and she looked at it. Luhan sat there motionless. His eyes looked at her blankly while his mind screamed at him to do something, anything. But it seemed that every cell on his body already frozen.

“I have to go. But I promise I will do my best to convince everyone that this arrangement wouldn’t work.” She said and rose from her seat.

Luhan only blinked. His mind screamed louder and louder, but he still couldn’t move.

“Don’t worry about the bill, I already take care of it. It was nice meeting you, Luhan.” And with that, she left. He could only watched her disappearing inside her car through the café window.

‘What is this feeling?’ he wandered.

Suddenly, it was hard for him to breathing. His throat and lungs weren’t obeying his brain command to inhale and exhale. There was a cold and dark feeling inside his heart.

He clutched his chest. The constricted feeling seeped to his heart like a sudden flood. Every beat of his heart caused pain that made him whimper silently.

Not knowing what to do to ease the pain, he reached for his drinks. Hoping somehow it cured the mysterious ache on his heart.

He drink it, but only one sip. He stared at the cup that he held. It was still a familiar drink, with a brownish color that looked inviting. But it tasted ultimately horrible. He didn’t know that chococream could taste this awful.

It was unbearable, so he called the waitress to change his drink. When she handed out the menu, he picked the very first thing that came to his mind. A double-shot espresso.

It came with a cup and spoonful of sugar. The color looked foreign, black with dots of oil on its surface. Its aroma smelled unknown. He reached it and took a sip. Someone was right. Every taste depends on your moods. This strange drinks felt good. The bitterness was enormous, but somehow, it warmed him. He always thought that bitter was dreadful. But this was good. Instead of vomiting it, he swallowed it with a big gulp until there was nothing left.

The pain wasn’t going away. But somehow, the bitter coffee made his body able to cope with it.

Someone said that taste depend on mood.

If the usual chococream taste horrible and the bitter espresso taste wonderful, then what was his mood right now?

He couldn’t describe his feeling right now. He never felt this way before. What was causing this?

He could feel the answer right in front of him, but he juct couldn’t grasp it.

It was just.... impossible.

He just known her at least two hours, that including their ‘flower crown’ meeting. It was impossible for him to feel that way towards her.

He placed the cup in the table beside his chococream cup. He watch it stood side by side. He sighed. He didn’t know the difference between sweet and bitter anymore.