CHAPTERFOUR

"Do... Kyung... Soo..." That name kept ringing in his mind. He stared at the exact words he had written on his notebook. It was Math Class once again. Then he stared at the same space Kyungsoo once occupied. 

Then he wrote Byun Baekhyun right under Kyungsoo's name, and crossed it out. Then he wrote Mr Kwon and cancelled that too. He even wrote Seoul High School of Science and Arts, and crossed that out too.

Was he the only one who was able to remember Do Kyungsoo?

Even if he was, where exactly was Do Kyungsoo now?

What happened?

What is he doing now? 

Is he fine?

So many questions went through like a bullet train in his head. Unfortunately, it was also this amount of questions left unanswered. Frustrated, he laid his head on the table, with one arm extended to support his head like a pillow. His world turned into black soon after amongst the mundane droning of mathematical formulas, he saw a dark backview in the bright light. He could not quite place who was the backview since it was so dark, but the backview's voice was sweet as honey, singing a familiar tune, and that calmed Jongin tremendously.

♦⇔♦

It was a quarter to three when Jongin stepped into the cafe he worked part-time in. He looked around the cafe, a habit he had developed recently since the mysterious disappearance of Kyungsoo. Since it was a Wednesday, Jongin made sure he looked extra hard today. 

"Jongin!" he turned immediately to the direction where the yell came from. "Yes Boss," Jongin muttered after finding out it was his boss who had called him. "Jongin, how many times do I have to tell you to just call me Hyung, or Junmyeon or just Suho like what everyone in this place has always called me?" His boss was Junmyeon, a kind-hearted guy that was only just a few years older than Jongin. Junmyeon was currently studying in the university not far away from Jongin's high school. Even though Junmyeon was not particularly rich, he had enough to set up a small cafe, which is the same cafe now Jongin and some other employees work at. Most of the employees were high school students like Jongin, and some of them were much older who were in urgent need of cash. And this was why Jongin thought Junmyeon was such a saint, constantly helping people around him, and also the reason why he looked up to him very much.

"Yes Junmyeon... Hyung?" Junmyeon nodded his head encouragingly, "I'm sorry... Because its really hard for me to stop calling you boss since technically you are the boss here and---" Jongin noticed he was blabbering again and quickly slammed his mouth shut, earning a chuckle from the older male. 

"It's okay, Jongin. I know you're still not used to it. It's really okay, just take your time, okay?" Junmyeon said encouragingly, in which Jongin replied with rubbing his neck shyily. 

“Oh! I almost forgot what I was calling you for,” Junmyeon started after sharing a mutual laugh, “We have a new guy here and he is a Barista, so now you’ll have someone else to work with!” 

“He makes great coffee, but I will still need you to show him the basics on how to operate those coffee machines over there,” Junmyeon pointed to the black boxes (according to him and only him) at the side of the counter, the same machines which Jongin worked with almost everyday to make good coffee for their customers.

“I don’t even know how to operate those coffee-ers until now! See how important you are?” Junmyeon joked, which was not even funny, but Jongin still laughed because 1. he was a nice guy and didn’t want to hurt Junmyeon’s feelings 2. he had a weird sense of humor that even him himself didn’t even understand.

“Eh… Great? So when can I meet this guy?” Jongin asked, quite excited at the idea that a new person was going to join him in making coffee. Upon seeing Jongin’s face lighting up just a little, Junmyeon felt encouraged. It was rather worrying to see Jongin getting tensed up nowadays.

Since a long time, Junmyeon noticed Jongin had been noticing someone. He could not place who was it, since the cafe was pretty crowded all the time. (Seriously, who could resist such hot boys making you cakes and coffee?) But he did knew that the person would come along on Wednesdays. On Wednesdays, Jongin would stay at the counter longer than needed, sometimes even missing his break, just to wait for someone, or look at someone. However, until a few weeks ago, Jongin stopped doing that.

Instead, Jongin for the first few days would turn his head to look at the door every time someone entered. And apparently the person who entered would never be the person he was looking for. Then he would spend his break time promptly when he was dismissed in the back of the kitchen, only coming out when the break time was over, unlike the times that he would skip his break time just to stay at the counter as long as possible.

Even though he tried to hide it with the excessive loud coughs or clearing of throats, or even trying to flirt with the customers, Junmyeon could feel something was amiss with Jongin. It almost felt like Jongin had lost something, or even trying to search for something.

Or perhaps Junmyeon might have just read into Jongin’s actions a little too much. 

Eitherway, he guessed a new partner for Jongin to work together at the counter would be able to distract him from the negative feelings he had been feeling recently. 

Afterall, Junmyeon just wanted Jongin to feel better, a new partner couldn’t be that bad right?

“Sure, he’s right at the back of the kitchen. Said he wanted to try learning baking from Yixing for a bit before going to his real job,” Junmyeon replied casually, “and also give this to him,” Junmyeon threw a bottle of vitamin water to Jongin, which he swiftly caught it and nodded before proceeding to the back of the kitchen. “The guy hasn’t been hydrating himself enough today, I am quite worried for him.”

Jongin chuckled while shaking the bottle at Junmyeon and said, “Grandpa Suho, you shouldn’t be worrying so much, I can even see your wrinkles at this rate,” earning another bottle to his face (which he figured was his share) and a scolding stare.

“A new partner,” Jongin thought as he stepped into the kitchen, “it can’t be that bad right?” 

♦⇔♦

(Food)note: i hate walking, sometimes. my legs get really tired and sore and feels like they're going to drop off. maybe i am just really unfit :/ hey hey hey how about question of the day! can you guess who is Jongin's new partner? the people who get it correct will receive a virtual hug from me! and i will also follow you on twitter, provided that you follow me on twitter too @itsrelaxion... you get perks when you follow me okay? like previews to chapters and get updates and opinions about anything and everything that's happening in kpop! You can also chat with me, don't worry I won't bite >< until then, please comment, upvote and subscribe! muacks.