ONE

It was a typical Monday morning when Minseok rolled into the coffee shop. It was about seven in the morning and he looked like nothing less of a wreck. He rolled out of bed quickly this morning, barely having time to shower before he was out the door. He knew for sure his hair was a mess; he had dark bags under his eyes and was ready for his morning pick-me-up. He pushed open the door to the coffee shop and his eyes immediately lightened.

Behind the counter stood the same girl that was always there, but he still didn’t know her name. How long had he been coming here? Probably close to five or six months now. He approached her, a beaming smile on his face that matched hers. “Good morning, Minseok. Here for the usual?” she asked, her hands curling around the register as she looked at him.

“That would be ideal,” he replied. “How has your morning been so far?” he asked, digging into his back pocket for his wallet. Her hand came down on his, pushing his wallet down.

She smiled at him, “It’s on me, today,” she said.

“Are you sure? I don’t mind paying,” he replied softly. She shook her head, insisting it was on the house this morning.

“I’ll have that right up for you,” she said and turned away from him to prepare his drink. He grinned and looked down at his wallet, the five that he was pulling out to pay for his drink was shoved back into his wallet to be replaced with a couple of different bills.  He waited patiently for his latte, even taking a seat at one of the tables as he always did—the one closest to the counter where he would sit when he decided to stay for a while.   It didn’t take long before his order was done, and when she brought it to him it was nothing less than what he expected. She was pretty good at latte art and often drew him little patters with whipped cream and chocolate on top; today it was a flower. He smiled at her and tucked the bills into her hand.

Giggling, she shoved his money back to him. “I told you it was on the house!”

“Think of it as a tip,” he said. “Thanks for the latte, I’m sure it will be delicious as usual,” he concluded before bidding her farewell. She smiled and waved until she turned away to look at the bills. She had assumed it was just a couple of ones, but upon further inspection it was a one wrapped around a ten.

“Minseok!” she called, clenching the bills in her hand now, having the intention of shoving them back to him; but when she turned around to give them back, he was already at the door. He flashed a wink before he was out the door and on his way.  A few miles away, Minseok parked in a parking lot and grabbed a bag and his latte before entering the large building. With his bag slung over his shoulder and latte in one hand, he pulled out his phone to check his hair in the reflection on the screen to which he almost screamed at.

“Great! That’s what I went in there looking like?” he asked himself. He rolled his eyes and groaned before shoving his phone back into his pocket and running his hand through his already messy hair to try and lay it down a bit. The elevator door opened and with a scowl on his face he trudged towards the room he needed to be in.

“Good morning Minseok!” a cheery voice yelled behind him before he was jerked around, almost dropping his latte. He whipped his head around to see Luhan, bright and cheery as he was every morning.

One good look to Luhan and the younger male completely understood. “You almost spilled my chai,” Minseok commented darkly.

“Sorry, man. Have a rough night or what?” he asked, calming down a bit to walk side by side with his older friend.  Minseok looked down at his latte, the flower was still there. He sighed heavily, gathering himself once more before replying to poor Luhan.

“I didn’t sleep very well, and then when I did fall asleep it was about two hours before I had to get up, and obviously I woke up late,” he replied, pointing to his much disheveled hair. “And on top of that, while my hair looked like a total disaster, I went to see my cute barista this morning, and I got into the elevator up here totally humiliated. Needless to say, it’s been a rough morning,” he added, taking a sip of his latte. “The only thing better is that this latte is absolutely amazing, as usual.”

“Dude, come on. I mean, I don’t know her, but I’m sure she didn’t judge you. It’s early in the morning, you’re dressed for a workout; not a big deal,” Luhan replied as they walked into the practice room.

Tao chuckled when the two entered the room, but mostly at Minseok. “Xiumin, you got a little something, something…” Tao pointed to his own top lip and Minseok, without thinking, stuck his tongue out to it up. Tao’s eyes widened slightly before he began laughing. “No need to try and seduce me, dude,” he laughed, punching Minseok in the arm gently.

He just rolled his eyes, not really amused by Tao’s joke. He set his bag down and plopped down on the couch to sip his drink until everyone else had showed up. Right now it was just Luhan, Tao, Xiumin, Suho, Kai, and Sehun. But Luhan just couldn’t keep to himself as he sat next to the eldest male.  “So, you had mentioned earlier, your ‘cute’ barista,” he said, quoting the cute part. “I saw she drew a flower for you in your coffee,” he added to the teasing.

“Whatever, dude. I’m not really complaining.  She’s real easy on the eyes, she’s creative, she’s sweet, smart, and makes me free chai lattes; you can tease me all you want—”

“So are you dating?” Luhan interrupted.

Minseok nearly choked on his own saliva at the question. “What are you, crazy? I don’t even know her name!”

“You’ve been going to her for how many months and you don’t even know her name?” Lay asked, totally appalled by the information just involuntarily given to him and everyone else in the room. Oh, the silence that ensued after that was nothing short of magical to everyone except Minseok as all of their eyes turned to him.

He sunk down into the couch, holding his cold drink with both hands trying to avoid everyone’s gaze by looking at none of them. “I guess I never bothered to ask,” he finally responded after a few moments of no one saying anything. Minseok was saved when more boys started pouring in, all fashionably late and soon distractions away from the eldest male.  But even as more and more people rolled in as a distraction, the more Minseok sipped his tea, the more he thought about her. How could he—after going to her for so long—not know her name? She didn’t wear a nametag, so there was no way he could tell that way. Obviously he hand never asked.  

It wasn’t much longer after the other members had left him alone that he finished up his drink; tossing the cup in the garbage before stretching his body for a workout—dance routines. Minseok was stretching his arms and neck as everyone showed before they got started. He sighed and yawned, “This is going to be a long practice,” he commented to himself, only to cover another yawn until he was called to the group, choreographer in room to teach the group a new sequence.  

Meanwhile, the coffee shop was nothing less than empty. It was usually like this: Minseok would come in bright and early, usually no later than seven thirty for an order, and then Jihae would stand around until at least nine, when the second rush came in. That’s exactly what she was doing now. She had popped a squat, camping out in one of the booths until the streets started getting busier, but even then, she didn’t get up.

Not until another customer rolled in, anyway; a young woman who quickly ordered her morning coffee and was on her way as well. It wasn’t uncommon that people would just drop by and get their order to go, but it was nice for Jihae to watch the interaction among people as they drank their drinks and ate their snacks. People-watching was one of her favorite hobbies; she couldn’t help but smile as others smiled with each other.

She would have loved to have this kind of normal interaction with people, but due to her busy schedule and lack of a social life, even if she did have the free time, it was hard to find complete strangers that were willing to engage in frivolous conversation with her.  However, she had taken Minseok for a spin or two when he had a couple of extra minutes to just chill around and chat with her. He would often ask her about her previous day, since he always saw her early morning. The conversation was totally pointless, but she liked this type of interaction, unpressured and totally free.

Unfortunately, that was only for a couple of minutes a day and she knew she would never have the courage in any of her free time to ask him if he’d like to go out for lunch sometime, to just sit and chat and feel like a normal girl with a normal social life.

She sighed, a girl could dream; especially as she mindlessly took the orders of somewhere around seventy, if not more, people a day. By now, about half of those were regulars, and her incredible memory had remembered their orders down to the amount of sprinkles some of them liked on their drinks, making her job a bit easier.

But even as she mindlessly filled orders, the day seemed to go by quicker and quicker each day. Today, the day seemed to end quite fast. The sun was setting as she threw her apron over her shoulder, turning the key in the lock of the front door to top off closing up for the night before beginning her trek back to her condo.

It was about time for her to call up her friend Sora who had been harassing her about Minseok since the day she kind of met him—though it was more like Sora was in the shop and witnessed the interaction between Jihae and Minseok; nothing more, nothing less. But she wouldn’t leave Jihae alone about it and demanded that Jihae call her every evening after she got off work. Jihae was doing a pretty good job keeping up with that.

The phone rang in her ears after dialing Sora who quickly picked up the phone. “Hello, my darling!” she called cheerily. “I was just looking at my watch and wondering if you were going to call me today!”

Jihae gave a half laugh, “Yeah, another uneventful day as usual,” she replied.

“Oh come on, it couldn’t have been that bad!” Sora said, “I mean, you got to see that cutie Minseok today! Was today finally the day he asked your name?” Sora thought it was a little ridiculous that he still didn’t know her friend’s name, even after he saw her every single day. It probably would have made Minseok’s life a lot easier if Jihae ever wore her nametag like she was supposed to but it wasn’t a problem for her, obviously she knew what her name was.

“What do you think, Sora?” she asked; her laugh a little more genuine now. She couldn’t say that Sora was being a little ridiculous because she was right about Minseok. Jihae felt the same way—though it was partially her fault that she hadn’t introduced herself, she felt that a proper introduction was not meant for the workplace; even so, it was kind of silly that he hadn’t asked her name, especially after she had been calling him by his first name for months now.

“Hmm, I’m going to go with, no,” Sora retorted with a sort of maniacal cackle that make Jihae jump a little bit. She knew Sora was kind of crazy, but sometimes she still got a little disturbed by the older female. “I know what will cheer you up! I’ll come over for a jam session! That always cheers you up!”

Jihae sighed, “Probably not tonight, Sora. But thanks for the offer. I’ll probably just go home and catch up on my shows and then head to bed for the night. I didn’t sleep very well.”

Sora sighed in disappointment. “Alright, but you better be practicing! I’ll talk to you later then, okay? Have a lovely night, darling!” and with that, Sora hung up the phone without as much as a word from Jihae. She didn’t mind, though. It always happened this way. Sora couldn’t spend enough attention on a short goodbye from Jihae, so it was rare that she ever even got to say it. Jihae shoved her phone back in her pocket with a shake of her head and continued on her way home.

Meanwhile, Minseok had stopped on his way home to grab something to eat and arrived as the last one home. He turned his key in the doorknob, juggling food in his arms as he tried to push the door open, thankfully successfully and kicked it closed with his foot. Of course, nobody was going to help him as usual as he stumbled in, setting the food on the table.

“Ah, Xiumin! You’re finally back!” Luhan commented, greeting Minseok in the kitchen. It was so strange, even still, to go through each day hearing both of his names, his given Korean name, and his Chinese name so many times in the same day.  

Minseok sighed before he replied, “Yeah, there was a long line,” he said and dug through the bags as Luhan lurked over his shoulder. “Here,” he said, holding up a container that figuratively had Luhan’s name written all over it.

“You’re the best!” he practically squealed, bounding into the kitchen for utensils. He may as well have plopped right down there on the kitchen floor to eat because he was shoveling food in his face before he even turned around from the drawer he previously opened.

“I know,” Minseok sighed, gathering his own food before plopping on the couch next to Luhan.

“What’s wrong with you? Your mood totally changed today at the end there; is everything okay?” Luhan asked between bites. Minseok was surprised he even got words out because he was pretty sure that while the younger male was talking he was still attempting to eat. It was a miracle he didn’t choke.  

“Just thinking, don’t worry too much and try not to choke.”

It wasn’t a lie, Minseok just didn’t want to tell Luhan that he had been mentally kicking himself all day for not knowing his barista’s name. But the fact that he caught flak for it was enough to get him thinking—how would he go about asking her name without totally embarrassing himself?