The sun cuts a bright ray of light through the room. Luhan wakes to its gentle white-yellow glow and pulls the blanket back over his head. Then he realizes: this isn’t his and Yixing’s room back at the apartment! Where is he? He sits up quickly, looking around, before remembering the events of last night and settling back into the pillows.

Something crackles on the pillow by his head and he reaches up to grab it. It’s a piece of stationary, the kind you can get at a corner store that has ‘To Do’ already printed at the top. Minseok has written a note for him.

I hope you’ll find this when you wake up and that you had a good night’s sleep! My fever’s mostly gone, and if you’re reading this I’m probably in the bath. Feel free to explore the apartment; I’ll be out in a bit.

P.s. If you want to go home then you can whenever you want, I won’t have any hard feelings.

Just send me a text if you leave before I’m out of the bath so I know where you are!

-M

Luhan smiles and folds the note, placing it on the otherwise empty bed-side table on his right, and then swings his legs over the side of the bed. He’s got a ridiculous case of bed head and he takes a moment in front of the small mirror that hangs on the wall to comb it into a respectable position with his fingers. Across the apartment he can hear water running, presumably Minseok taking his bath. He straightens his rumpled clothes; he slept in them without a second thought, and exits the room.

The apartment is lit with natural light from the sun and it smells faintly of coffee and breakfast pastry. Like Minseok himself, Luhan thinks. The guy and his house have things in common. There isn’t much in the main room, save for an old but well-cushioned armchair, three stacks of books, and a laptop. From what Luhan can tell, this main room is sort of the center atrium, and then it has two tiny rooms on either side which are the one that he stayed in and then Minseok’s, the door adjacent to them is the door to the rest of the building, and the one on the far wall leads to the kitchen and probably the bathroom.

Luhan sits down in the middle of the floor since he has nothing better to do, and just waits. Minseok comes out a few minutes later in a hoodie and Capri-length sweatpants with a towel on his head and almost falls over in surprise when he sees Luhan sitting there. He reddens slightly and then collects himself, coughing into the back of his hand. The other grins and gives a tiny wave of hello and Minseok sits down next to him, straightening the towel so it is covering all of his hair again. Luhan already has a piece of paper prepared.

So, you’re feeling better?

Kind of! Minseok digs in his pocket for a moment, extracts a face mask, and puts it on. Here, now I won’t infect you. The flu symptoms are mostly gone, but my throat is still pretty painful and I’m still coughing. It’s Walking Pneumonia.

Well, that’s good! Don’t go back to work for a few days, I think you should keep recuperating until you’re 100%.  

Jongdae will be back soon, anyway :) I’ve got time.

Will you keep working in the café after he’s back?

If he can afford to hire me…I like it there.

Okay, good. I’d miss you.

Minseok has a gleam in his eyes as he writes his reply and hands it to Luhan. Well, even if I don’t work there any more after this, hopefully we’ll keep seeing each other?

Of course! I hadn’t really thought about it, actually. But yes, I hope so! Luhan smiles widely and sits back a bit, handing the paper back to Minseok so he can reply.

Good! So…Luhan. I really don’t know that much about you personally. Tell me about yourself?

They find a fresh sheet of paper for Luhan to write on and he begins his story.

               Well, as you know, my name is Lu Han. I was actually born not here, but in Beijing Haidian, which is China if you don’t know. I’ve been living here for around a decade, though. I’m twenty four and finishing up at the university downtown, and I’m pursuing a career in architecture and design. I like to play soccer, listen to music, and do brain twister puzzles like the Rubix Cube among other things. My birthday is April 20th…I don’t have much more to say. What about you? I’m curious. Tell me everything.

Minseok takes some time to read it and smiles as he does. Then he accepts the pen from his companion and begins to write. Finally, after what seems like an eternity, he hands Luhan over half a page of story. Luhan gets into a more comfortable reading position and starts at the top.

               This may be rather long, if that’s okay. (As you know) My name is Kim Minseok. I was born here in S. Korea and I’m also twenty four. Being a barista has always been my dream job since I love coffee, and so working at Jongdae’s place has been very cool. I went to a small community college for two years before dropping out…I like to play soccer as well but since my balance is a little messed up it’s hard for me to play sports very well. I guess it might be okay to explain my background a little since I know you are probably wondering. Everyone wonders, so don’t be embarrassed! I was born deaf and so I didn’t learn to talk, but right now I go to a speech therapist three times a week and I think I’m learning!

 I went to a school for other kids with disabilities until I was ten, when my family moved and I started going to public school. Jongdae went to that school as well and he gave me a lot of moral support. I’ve never been one for social interaction, and he helped me to push a lot of boundaries and make friends. I’m not in contact with them anymore but really it was nice while it lasted...my high school years wouldn’t be very interesting to you, it’s mostly just the lower grades all over again plus a little more angst. I’ll skip it and spare you :)

So that’s me. Not as interesting as you might have thought, right?

Luhan reads it over a few times. It’s actually quite interesting, learning about Minseok’s past life. He’s never thought of ‘Barista’ as a dream job before but he decides that it is pretty cool to be able to make coffee today.  And they both like soccer, that’s cool.