How does your life move forward, 
when all you want to do is hold still.

-- Hold Still (Ninan LaCour)

             There are two types of waiting. There's the waiting you do for something you know is coming sooner or later -  like waiting for the 6:28 train, or the school bus, or the party where a certain handsome boy might be. And then there's the waiting for something you don't even know what is exactly, but you're hoping for it. You're imagining it and living your life for it. That's the kind of waiting that makes a fist in your heart.
             

            “And I’m not going to make these idiots wait anymore…” Yi Xing murmurs into his coffee as he closes the depressing book of quotes he has been reading for half an hour now. He makes a face at how bitter it was (his coffee not the quote book), looking at his cup, he questions why humans subject themselves into this type of torture. He looks around the cozy store more popularly known to humans as a café. The barista, a fun-sized male with pretty, pretty eyes, a set of teeth even Peter Pan would envy and pale white skin, serves his nth customer of the day. Yi Xing looks at the barista’s cute hands with little fingers and that pinky that he can’t wait to tie the red strings to. If only he’d be able to do it without ordering another lethal brew. His first attempt was a failure due to the fact that another barista served his drink. He didn't know that there was such a thing as lunch breaks and fun-sized barista was about to take his when he made his order. When has being Yue Lao become this complicated? Curse modern century people for not believing in them anymore, thus tying the red string for someone who doesn't outright wishes it takes forever (exaggeration on the forever since humans has a limited life span) to tie a string to a certain person. The task gets harder when said person thinks he doesn't have a need for a lifetime partner. Not that Yi Xing is predicting that this relationship his currently brewing would go smoothly and last their entire lifetime. There are certain things even he can't predict.

                A few minutes of prepping himself on paying for something even he wouldn't want his assistants to have a taste of, the small bell placed on the door of the coffee shop sounds, a quiet little melody of warning. Yi Xing looks at the customer who walks in. Slightly taller than him (he suspects insoles – a contraption humans use to fake their own height), face red from the cold, eyes swimming with glee (or murder whichever way you want to put it) and a creepy smile on his face. Yi Xing’s smile rivals that of the recent customer (maybe less creepy), the person who he needs to tie the other end of the string to just brought itself to him.

                Yi Xing stands up, approaches the unsuspecting victim. He can feel the string vibrate in his hand. Yep, he’s right about the other end. And this person is willing… too eager maybe but that actually compensates the lack of interest of the other party. But that would eventually change, he just has to persuade Yi Fan to stop being overly dramatic.

~o~

                Kim Min Seok is the new barista. He’s only been working at Two Moons for barely two weeks and he loves his job so far, well except for one teeny tiny snag on his usually well organized itinerary. And the bane of his existence is in line right now to make his daily routine of either embarrassing him or making his life a living hell.

                “Hello Min Seok-ah!" said bane of existence greeted Kim Min Seok with an air of familiarity and his usual wide grin and sparkling (bordering to weird) eyesmile.

                “What can I serve you today?” He asks in the usual voice he uses for all of their customers. The grin on this particular customer’s face got wider if that’s even humanly possible. Please don’t say me on a platter, please don’t say me on a platter, he repeats in his head like a mantra while retaining his ‘for customer’s only’ smile.

                “Hmmm…” the weird boy looks thoughtfully at the menu board and Min Seok took this opportunity to examine the boy’s face. He actually looks kind of decent, okay more than decent when he doesn’t have that creepy crazed look on. His eyelashes are long too for a male. His eyes have a few creases on the side, he should suggest an wrinkle removing cream for this customer, it’s weird to see wrinkles on such a young face. Min Seok was about to make a mental comment on the boys pouting lips when said boy cleared his throat. Has he been caught staring?

                “Yes? Have you decided on what to order? I’m not on the menu…” Min Seok states. His eyes widen when what he said finally sinks in. The boy in front of him looks dazed. Min Seok hopes, for the first time that said boy was busy looking at his face to even register what he said.

                “You have really really pretty eyes…” Min Seok thanks the heavens for the distraction and for the boy's short attention span.

                Min Seok swallows the lump in his throat, decided to be professional even if it’s too late. He was about to ask the boy what his order is again when he noticed a guy, another customer in line leaning so closely to the boy. He has seen this guy earlier ordering plain coffee, is he a friend of the boy?

                “Perhaps your friend would want to order for you?” Min Seok inquires.

                “Friend?” the boy looked puzzled. Okay, maybe the guy wasn’t a friend of his, but the closeness…

                “I’m not with him… Ermmm, bad eyesight… Thanks for letting me lean on you... I’ve decided that I’ve had enough for today. I might come back tomorrow…” the guy took the boy’s hand to shake and hurriedly exits the café. Min Seok’s eyes followed the guy’s retreating back. This day is turning out odd.

                “I think I’ll have the caramel macchiato today, to go…” the creepy smile is back on the boy’s face. “Lu Han…”

                “Huh?”

                “It’s Lu Han, for when you put a name on my take out cup…”

                “I already know your name, you’ve been here a couple of times…” Min Seok is confused. This particular customer has ordered exactly the same thing on the same hour during the past two weeks (and exactly the same duration that Min Seok has started working at the cafe).

                “Oh… But you haven’t actually called me by name so I thought…” a pout is forming on the boys lips and it’s making him look even younger.

                “Kindly wait on the side, Lu Han-ssi, while I make your order…” The sparkle on the boy’s eyes and the grin on his face is back. Min Seok doesn’t know what he did to make the boy smile like that but it’s better than the boy pouting. He kinda need the job and he doesn’t want to get a complaint just because a customer thought he wasn’t paying attention.

                Outside the café, Yi Xing makes a happy body wave. His mission is partially accomplished. Now he only needs to stir Yi Fan away from Tao’s (one of his assistants) bad influence. His addiction to human TV Dramas is making Yi Fan more dramatic (?) than usual and it’s not good for his client.