CH 5
♦The Coffee Princes♦
ch 5 ☺
"Thank you and have a nice day." Luhan handed the leftover change to the boy customer before he walked off. "Hey Kyungsoo, one ice coffee please." The co-owner turned to D.O while handing him the order.
"Alright." D.O quickly started on making the ice coffee, "It's rather slow today..." He commented as he reached into the ice bin and poured some ice into the cup.
Luhan nodded, "That's true..." He looked around the café. There were only a few college kids near the window studying or at least reading. The only other person there was Lay, who was collecting some empty plates from a table.
"Hey Yixing, you don't have to clean that up you know. That's Tao and Sehun's job." Luhan chuckled.
Lay looked up at Luhan blankly and just blinked, "Really?" He placed the empty plate back on the table, "So should I just leave this here?"
"No- well... if you're cleaning it up already that's okay." Luhan stated but noticed that Lay still looked confused, "Clean it up." He ordered.
"Alright." Lay smiled, showing off his right dimple and started to clean away. Since Lay was the only server in the café today he seemed to be rather bored. Through out the whole day Lay has been cleaning up and even occasionally looking out the window in a daze.
Lay brought the empty plates to the sink and started to clean them up. Once he dried the plates with a towel he was about to put them into a cabinet but stopped, "Where do these go?"
D.O pointed to the opposite shelf, "There." Lay smiled gratefully at D.O and carefully placed the plates into the cabinet. "You really are bored huh?" Luhan yawned, bored himself.
Lay shrugged, "Not really, I'm just helping out."
"Sometimes I think you're too nice Yixing." D.O stated as he gave Lay the ice coffee, "Drop this off for me."
"Alright."
As Lay went off to deliver the ice coffee to the customer, a bell chimed, signaling that someone just entered the café. Luhan and D.O looked towards the entrance. Luhan smiled sweetly and waved to the girl who came in, "Hey Cuifen." He spoke in fluent Mandarin.
"Hey Luhan-ge." Cuifen smiled back at Luhan and even answered in Mandarin, "How are you?" She approached the cashier, holding a book tightly to her chest.
"I'm very good, thanks you asking. How's school?" Luhan continued to talk in Mandarin, which made D.O make a slightly confused face.
Cuifen was a Chinese exchange student who recently just started studying in Korea. Her Korean wasn't the best and often times she hardly spoke at all. When she entered XOXO Café for the first time, she struggled to order a simple caramel latte. Thank goodness that Luhan was working the cashier that day and happened to know fluent Mandarin. Luhan felt some pity for the poor girl and literally took Cuifen under his wing. Ever since then Cuifen would come into the café from time to time just to relax. The other workers knew of Cuifen, but only Luhan seemed to talk with her.
"School is getting better..." Cuifen shrugged, "I'm still learning Korean so it's hard to talk to my classmates." She then brought a smile to her face, "At least I have you Luhan-ge."
Luhan slightly frowned, "Cuifen, you're a sweet girl. But I can't be your only friend. Is there anybody else you know who speaks Mandarin?"
Cuifen shook her head, "All the other foreign exchange students are from places like Japan or America... I'm the only Chinese student in my class." She slightly pouted, "L-Let's not talk about this anymore, it makes me feel like a loser."
"Alright alright." Luhan offered a small smile, "What would you like?"
After Cuifen ordered her regular caramel latte, she thanked Luhan and walked to her favorite seat in the café. The 2 person table behind the fire place. No one could see her unless you were up near the counter and it was the best place to just sit by yourself.
"That girl..." Luhan sighed.
D.O raised an eyebrow, "Do you worry about her a lot?" He didn't know much about Cuifen, but he knew that Luhan had a soft spot to the girl.
"Yeah, if I had sister I'm pretty sure she would be like Cuifen... Kyungsoo do you know Mandarin by any chance?"
"No, sorry.... but Yixing does." D.O pointed to Lay, who was currently staring at the window... again.
"I totally forgot about Yixing..." Luhan wanted to hit himself, he left the counter and grabbed Lay by the arm.
"Is there something you need?" Lay asked as Luhan dragged him back to the counter.
"I need you," Luhan grabbed the caramel latte that D.O finished making and placed it into Lay's hand, "Deliver this to that girl." He pointed to Cuifen, "But talk to her. In Mandarin. And don't come back till you know her name, hometown, her age, favorite color and book. Understand?" Luhan waited for Lay to respond.
Lay blinked once and then again, trying to gather all the information that Luhan gave him. "Okay." Was all he said, still blinking.
"Good." Luhan then pushed Lay towards Cuifen's direction and watched as Lay walked slowly towards her.
"You're rather forceful today..." D.O pointed out.
Luhan shrugged, "I am the boss... well co-owner."
Lay had no idea why Luhan would suddenly force him to talk to a customer. Sure he was okay with delivering the caramal latte, but what he was about to do was just strange to him. He kept on repeating the things Luhan told him to ask the girl over in his head. When Lay got closer to Cuifen he couldn't help but stop in his tracks and just stare at her.
She really was pretty. Lay noticed the way she would smile slightly as her eyes shifted from left to right, reading the book carefully. One moment she slightly pouted as if she reached the part of the book where the main male love interest suddenly left the girl. Cuifen didn't even notice Lay coming closer with her order until a shadow forecasted over her book. When she looked up she found Lay with a small smile, enough to show off his adorable right dimple.
"Is that my order?" She asked in a small voice, hoping her Korean didn't sound that bad.
"Yes it is, one caramel latte." Lay remembered to speak in Mandarin. Cuifen's eyes widened slightly when she heard someone else speak her native tongue, "You speak Mandarin?" She asked in Mandarin to make sure.
Lay nodded, "Yes I do. I'm from Changsha, China. Where are you from?" He actually remembered to ask her!
Cuifen closed her book and focused on Lay, "I'm from Changsha too!" She smiled sweetly, excited to meet someone from her hometown.
"Really?" Lay blinked, "I never met anyone else from Changsha since I moved here...."
Cuifen almost looked like she about to jump off her seat, "I'm Huang Cuifen by the way."
"I'm Zhang Yixing." Lay was trying to remember what else he had to ask her. "How old are you? What's your favorite color? And... What's your favorite book?" He smiled in triumph, he managed to remember!
Cuifen tilted her head in confusion by the random questions but smiled anyway, "I'm 20, my birthday was actually a week ago. My favorite color is white and my favorite book... I really don't have one. Why do you ask?"
"Because Luhan told me to." Lay smiled at a now more confused Cuifen, but she was still smiling up at Lay. "Well, it's nice to meet you Yixing. Thank you for coming over here to talk to me."
Lay's smiled widened, "It's no problem, it's the nicest thing to do." He waved bye, "I won't bother you any longer, you looked pretty consumed into the book."
Cuifen waved back, "Thank you again." She was about to turn back to her book before she realized something, "Yixing! I need my caramel latte."
Lay turned back from walking to the counter and sheepily smiled, "Sorry I forget things easily." He placed her order on the table.
"It's okay." Cuifen smiled sweetly, with a glisten in her eyes. She really did mean it when she said it was okay.
Lay nodded, "Have a good day." He walked back to the counter to see Luhan giving a look. "So..."
"Her name is Huang Cuifen." He lifted up one finger, "She's from Changsha, likes the color white, and doesn't have a favorite book.... Oh! And she's 20 years old." Lay lifted up five fingers and then Luhan gave him a high five. "Good job Yixing."
Lay just nodded but smiled while looking back at Cuifen reading. She brushed some hair behind her ear while smiling down at the book. He was kind of glad that Luhan forced him to talk to the Chinese beauty.
AUTHOR'S NOTE.
YAY! An update! Finally! I've been busy with college recently and I managed to write this after rewriting and editing it about 4 times... I'm happy with the final result. You guys finally get to meet Cuifen, the only Chinese Princess out of all the girls. I think she's so sweet and perfect for Yixing... plus Lay needs a sweet and patient girl to fit him. Hoped you guys liked it!
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