(09.25.2014)

I don’t quite remember how many times I’ve been to this café. All I know is that I love the soothing ambiance of the place plus, it wasn’t far from my apartment. My sister, so she says, visits me every day to leave some of her family’s leftovers in my fridge. After that, she takes me to this café and leaves me until she’s finished with her job.

 I’m not quite sure as to why this café is called Le Café Rogue because there’s not one bit of red in this place.

What a joke.

Anyway, I think the real reason as to why I’m somewhat drawn to this café is because of a man who works here.

I remember dreaming about him last night and probably nights before as well. I don’t know. I really can’t remember.

This man has a huge smile on his face. It’s been three hours since I’ve been sitting here, but there he was still with the same charming smile.

When he finally stepped away from the cash register, he started cleaning tables, and I wondered to myself if this is what he does every single day. It made me wonder when his day-off is and even his birthday. It made me wonder how tall he is, if he actually reached 6 feet tall. I wonder, if he even takes at least a short glance at me when I’m not busy staring at him.

He was coming closer. He wiped the table in front of me and soon enough, he was standing right beside me. Suddenly, it got hard to breathe.

“Do you want more coffee, Sungmin?” He knows my name? He looked at me with a smile as if he’s egging me on to say yes.

“Yes…please…” , did I just stutter?

He flashed one more smile, took my coffee mug, and then went back to the coffee machine that was behind the cash register. I watched him pour freshly brewed coffee in my empty mug. He made it look so cool. Is that even possible? No idea.

When he came back, he set my cup of coffee on the table then took a seat in front of me. “What should we talk about today?” He asked.

I took a sip of my coffee only to choke on it when it suddenly hit me, he sounded like we talk every day.  I put my cup of coffee down. “I’m sorry, have we met before?”

The man smacked his forehead. “I forgot! I’m Kyuhyun, Cho Kyuhyun.” The name rang a bell, but no, I don’t remember meeting him before. “I was born on February 3, 1988 making me 26 years old. I’m 5 feet 11 inches tall, and yes I wish God gave that one extra inch. And yes, I see the way you look at me all the time and I wish you wouldn’t stop but those damn cute dogs that pass by the outside will always catch your eyes. Oh, my day-off are on Sundays.”

Just like that, all my questions were answered. How did he know? Should I start running away now? I’m so puzzled; God help me.

He grinned sweetly. “You don’t have to tell me anything about yourself. I can read minds, if you were wondering.”

“Can you really?!” Yes, I fell for his joke.

“No,” he replied then snickered. “I wish I could though. You’ve always had a very hard mind to read since the moment you first came in this café.”

“When was that?” I asked.

“About…three years ago maybe?”

“Why can’t I remember?”

Suddenly, the smile was not on his face anymore. Cho Kyuhyun stared at my cup of coffee for a while, and then turned his attention to the two Huskies that were sitting outside the window with their tongues out. When the dogs finally left, that was when he looked at me again with a smile.

“Can you please answer my question now?” I demanded this time, but he still would not answer so I just decided to drop it.

~

(09.26.2014)

Le Café Rogue, what an odd name for a place that doesn’t even have at least a hint of red in it.

That man at the cash register, I feel like I know him. He flashed a smile at me. Cho Kyuhyun, his name tag read.

I took a seat next to the window, and two panting Huskies passed by. I wish they would have stopped for a moment, but they didn’t. The owner seemed to be in a rush.

I turned away from the window and was a little bit shocked when I find the man Cho Kyuhyun standing right beside me with a cup of coffee in hand.

“Here’s your coffee with three sugars and no cream?” He asked as if I even ordered coffee already. He even brought two slices of blondie brownies.  

I reached for the cup of coffee with a slight smile on my face as his other hand placed the plate of blondies on the table.

Our hands touched, and it felt amazing. Maybe it was because it didn't have to touch, but it did. We both wanted it to happen, so it happened. It really did feel amazing. 

“By the way,” Kyuhyun uttered, “don’t worry, those Huskies will be back in a couple of hours. They’ll even sit down to take a rest.”

I wondered why Cho Kyuhyun seemed so familiar. His eyes, his nose, his lips…

…Am I in love?

“I wish you’d remember me, Sungmin.”

“Do I know you well?”

“I’m not sure your sister would let me live if I told you the truth.” Cho Kyuhyun stood up with a long face, pushed the chair in then walked back to the counter to help serve customers. What is it that my sister has not been telling me? 

~

Hours passed by and Cho Kyuhyun never came back to talk to me. My empty cup of coffee has been sitting on my table as if it was going to fill up by itself. The Huskies did come back just like he told me they will, but they didn’t stop by to get some rest. Just as soon as the dogs left, my sister came.

As she entered the café, I jolted out of my chair and stared her down. I can’t believe that my own sister would keep a secret from me. What’s worse is that it seems like the whole world knows but me.

“Sungmin, what’s wrong?” My sister asked.

“What have you been hiding from me?” I saw her body stiffen.  She gestured for me to sit back down and I did. It was honestly pretty embarrassing that I made a scene in a café. When I had sat back down, she called for Cho Kyuhyun and they went to a corner where I can see them, but I can’t hear them.

A couple minutes later after the muffled bickering that happened between my sister and Cho Kyuhyun, they walked back to my table and sat down. It was silent for at least fifty seconds and the tension was felt between the three of us. My sister opened but nothing was coming out. Just then, Cho Kyuhyun opened his mouth and the same thing happened. There was nothing.

“Am I sick?” I asked with a trembling voice.

“Yes, you are,” my sister replied. “You have amnesia, Sungmin. I bring you to this café every single day since your accident. Kyuhyun will tell you the rest. I have to go home.” She placed a kiss on my cheek and whispered she loves me before she left.

Thirty minutes passed and it was closing time. Of course, I wasn’t paying attention to the fact that the other workers were cleaning up and sending the seated customers away with glee and respect. I was too focused staring into Cho Kyuhyun’s deep brown eyes. They are so beautiful, but I could see the pain that he was suffering. I know he doesn’t want to say anything in fear of hurting me more after finding out the news from my sister.

Ten minutes passed.

It was just me and Cho Kyuhyun now.

Le Café Rouge was empty with half of the lights off. The setting sun was enough to keep the place lit up so that I could see every perfect imperfections that this man sitting in front of me has. The tip of his nose was turning red, his eyes turning red as well as if he is ready to let out the loudest cry of his life.

“I’m sick.” I told him when I know that he already knows. I looked outside the window to see cars speeding by. My right hand reached for the back of my head and I felt a scar.

Cho Kyuhyun finally opened his mouth to speak. “It was all my fault, Sungmin.”

“Whatever it is that happened, I’m sure you didn’t mean for it to happen.” I tried comforting him, but I was sort of trying to comfort myself more.

He proceeded to talk about what happened. It was one snowy spring night two years ago. Nobody, not even the scientists, predicted that it was going to snow in the month of April. We were on our way back from seeing the Cherry Blossoms and the car skidded and flipped four times hitting five other cars. I ended up flying out the windshield. I had woken up in the hospital after two months and ended up with amnesia from all of the trauma I received that scary night.

A tear escaped out of my eye.

There were no other words to be said.

Because of that accident, I was forced to forget the people I love—especially this man. No wonder my heart thumped so loud every time he looks at me. I was in love with him. I still am. But tomorrow… I will wake up not remembering him.

Oh, the horror.

How does he feel about this all? How can he handle seeing the man he loves not remember anything at all? How does he feel about me not remembering his favorite food or color or even his favorite time of the day?

“I’m trying to get by,” he spoke. The street lights came on as the sun rapidly descends to mark the end of another day. “Your family begged for me to stay away from you, but your eldest sister was kind enough to take you here for me to watch over you every day.” He stood up and walked to the back to grab his sweater. “I’ll walk you home.”

I smiled at him. I was happy to hear that he wasn’t going to easily let me go even if my family begged him to stay away. We stepped out of the café and he locked the doors. The sun was completely gone and the autumn breeze started to blow.

We started walking towards north. I looked back at the café one more time, then looked at the man beside me. “My family hates you?” I asked him.

He snickered. “After what happened to you? What parent wouldn’t want to wish death on the person who almost killed their child? I don’t blame them though. It really was my fault.”

Impulsively, I reached for his hand and clasped them with mine. “It was nobody’s fault. It was an accident.” He stopped walking and so did I. He placed a kiss on my forehead and we resumed walking.

When we got back to my apartment, I couldn’t even recognize it. I asked myself if this really was mine. “Will you stay with me for the night?”

All he gave me was a smile. So I asked again. “Will you stay with me? Please?”

Cho Kyuhyun was just silent while looking at me. But I was getting disappointed and he noticed because if he didn’t, his lips wouldn’t be on mine. He kissed me so passionately leaving me out of breath. When he finally pulled away he told me that he’ll stay with me for the night.

I grinned from ear to ear before placing another kiss on his lips.

“Remember me?” Cho Kyuhyun asked.

“I won’t ever forget you,” I replied with a hug.

~

(09.27.2014)

I, Lee Sungmin, woke up with a throbbing pain on the back of my head. I made my way to the bathroom to wash my face with cold water to wake me up. When I came out of the bathroom, I made my way to the kitchen where a sweet scent of pancakes was filling up the whole room. I was taken aback when I saw a shirtless man standing in front of the stove. He greeted me good morning with the sweetest smile on his face.

And I replied…

“Who are you?”

-끝-

(a/n): obviously im the worst human being that there could possibly exist bcuz when i said i was gonna update this as soon as possible i mean 3756453 months from now. MY APOLOGIES! i hope it was worth the wait everyone :'( pls comment!!