"Is anyone there?" a soft voice called out. "In the back! I'll be out in a second!" Qiuyue called, rushing out with chocolate smeared at random places on her apron. it had been a slow hour so she had taken some time off from manning the cash counter to get some baking done. They were almost out of chocolate muffins. The piping for the design on top was tricky and she hadn't realized that there would be customers waiting. 

Or in particular, she hadn't realized it was time for him to stop by.

"I'm so sorry Sir. A little short staffed today. Hope you didn't have to wait too long. What can I get you?" she asked, speaking without looking at him. Thankfully adjusting the apron gave her a good excuse not to. "An americano and a cheese grilled sandwich please?" he asked and she nodded, trying not to let the smooth voice distract her. It also didn't help that he was patient and polite. She had met a string of customers who were always rude because they were too stressed or in a rush or sometimes just for the heck of it. His kindness was genuinely appreciated. 

"That's the amount. I'll be right back with your order sir" she told him, rushing to the back. "Excuse me?" he called out. "Yeah?" Qiuyue said, popping her head out from the kitchen door. "You forgot to take the money" he said with a chuckle. "Oh..." she trailed off, embarrassed at her mistake. She punched in the amount and added it to the register, giving him the necessary change. "I'll be ten minutes on the sandwich" she said awkwardly, still blushing at the mistake. 

She ran into the kitchen and hurriedly threw the ingredient together for a sandwich. While she prepared the coffee, she wandered if she could be swallowed by the Earth or by a volcano or maybe some shark could just swallow her alive. What great headlines that would be. Being swallowed by a random shark in a landlocked area in city. Anything would be better than this. The one time they were alone and the one chance she got to show him how cool she good be had now been wasted thanks to her carelessness. Perfect. She deserved that shark death.

She arranged the sandwhich and coffee on a tray, carefully wiping away fingerprints and sauce being over spilled. She made sure she had everything needed. She remembered that he liked extra cream in his coffee. He was a regular who always dropped in around evening for a snack and half the cafe staff knew his tastes by now. It was kind of funny. He was really shy at the starting when he had started coming to the cafe and really at ease now but Qiuyue hadn't gotten used to his presence yet. Her tiny tiny tiny crush on him may have had something to do with it, but if anyone asked she would definitely deny it.

She carried the tray out carefully, wondering how exactly to go upto him. What would she say? "Hey, I have food! Food is awesome!" no of course not. what even. She was a foodie but this was too much to say to a customer. "Excuse me sir, I have your order ready." Too formal. She had to use this opportunity to say hi to him somehow. She debated a few other options before deciding that being silent was the way to go. No chances of embarrassment. At this point she was worried she would just say random nonsense like "food I have you order" or soething and being quiet was way way way better. Hopefully he would be attracted to how cute she looked and they would live happy ever after without her needing to talk. ever.

She looked around for him and noticed that he was sitting by the window. He was listening to music with his earphones plugged in and staring out of the window peacefully. She had always seen him concentrating on his work. reading a book or typing away on his laptop. Guess the glasses weren't just for show. going by how perfect his behaviour was she wouldn't be surprised if he was the super intelligent kind as well. This sight was just too cute to disturb. But his food would not taste good if cold. So she carried the tray over.

"Sorry for the long wait" she apologised as she set it in front of him. "It's cool. Food at any time is awesome" he said, picking up a neatly cut traingular piece of the sandwhich and biting into it. Qiuyue stared. He noticed and blushed a little and she chuckled. "Sorry. I'm just really hungry because I skipped lunch" he apologised, feeling dumb now, "It's absolutely okay haha. I was just amused that we had the same reaction to the cheese sandwich because that was my first thought about it too" she said, feeling lighter and happier now. "Food in any form is awesome! But that sounds more like a tshirt quote to be honest" he admitted, pushing his glasses up his nose. The bell at the door chimed, cutting their conversation short.

Qiuyue attended to the other customers but her mind kept going back to the moment they had shared. Everything had been easy going then. Waaaah he really was perfect! and he must be hungry too. He looked okay though? He hadn't ordered anything yet. In a spurt of unusual courage she handed him a muffin (on the house) as he was about to leave and wished him a good day. His smile made her smile the entire day afterwards.

"Hey, I think the nerd kid is staring at you" Sehun said, nudging Qiuyue. "No he's not. Why would he even. You are imagining things Sehun" Qiuyue denied, putting her head down and concentrating on arranging the pastries on display. She snuck a glance and he was looking. Her heart skipped a beat, oddly warm at the realization that he had been trying to catch her eye. He waved and she waved back discreetly, rushing to help Sehun when her manager walked out of the kitchen. "You ing waved to each other. Don't deny stuff now" Sehun accused. "I have no idea what you are talking about at all" Qiuyue lied playfully. 

"Pfft. I can see what you both are upto. Your attempts at the cute fifty feet away from each other style of crush is nauseating" he said, grimacing at the cheesiness of it all. "I don't have a crush on him" she denied automatically. "I actually don't even know his name" she said, shuffling her feet awkwardly. "Go ahead and ask him then!" Sehun told her. "It's not that easy!" she exclaimed. "Hey. I didn't catch your name. It's a simple sentence Yue" he deadpanned. "You go do it then!" she retorted, moving away to make more coffee for the other customers. "It's always my cross to bear" he said dramatically before actually walking over to him.

Qiuyue's jaw dropped. He wouldn't! would he? but he wouldn't!! this was Oh Sehun, of course that boy would. But he wouldn't!

She rushed over, fully intending to take him away before Sehun could actually say anything but she was late by a few seconds. "Hey, can I get you something else?" he asked the anime-handsome-male-lead guy. "No it's okay" he said with a smile. Qiuyue felt a little stab of jealousy. It should be saved for her! Not for this brat... who was pulling her to the front?! "Okay! But if you need something then just tell Qiuyue" he said with a wide toothy smile and left. Qiuyue controlled the urge to glare at him till he died because he was looking at her. "Qiuyue? You are Chinese too?" he asked enthusiastically. "Only by name. Practically Korean in everything but my name. My parents are Chinese but they left Beijing years ago. Are you Chinese?" she asked him. "Yeah. My name is a dead give away though. Luhan. I'm from Beijing too" he said with a smile. "That's really cool" she agreed. 

"So... do you need anything else?" she asked, her shyness slowly coming back. "Nah, I'm set. Thank you for the muffin the other day" he remembered. "Don't mention it" she said congenially. "It was pretty tasty" he added. "No! Actually don't mention it. We aren't allowed to give out things on the house. My manager would kill me!" she pleaded. He gave her a look and she realized what she had said and quickly bowed before leaving. She resisted the urge to hit her head on the counter. He wasn't supposed to know. Oh god she was pathetic.

"That looks like it went well" Sehun said sarcastically. Qiuyue wailed and groaned and disappeared into the kitchen to help in cooking instead. If the earth could swallow her whole it would be very helpful thank you very much. 

He was Chinese though. If nothing else, her conservative parents would be happy.

-x-

A/N - Luhan is the root cause of all my heart wrenching feels.