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A familiar aromatic scent wafted through the air, greeting customers through the glass doors, coupled with faint clinking sounds. The surroundings were serene and pleasant, and the quietness was music to Minseok’s ears. The café had only been opened for two days yet the baby-faced male felt just at home. It was always his dream to be able to have his own coffee shop. His obsession with coffee may just be the main reason for it. He was so entranced by how the brownish liquid could taste so exquisite yet refreshing.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by Luhan sliding an empty cup with the name ‘Lena’ messily scribbled on the side to him.

“A cup of cappuccino please!” His equally baby-faced friend-slash-cashier said.

With that, he grabbed the empty cup, going off to do what he did best. It was a little unique how the whole process went, with Luhan taking orders and he himself being the barista, since Minseok was never good at grasping the whole human interaction concept. Then again, it was Minseok’s quiet self that led to Luhan being intrigued enough to actually wanting to be associated with him in the first place. He silently envied his friend’s ability to socialize, albeit being annoyed at how noisy he gets at times.

He carefully placed the finished product on the counter before pressing the bell. ‘Lena’, a girl with wavy-blonde hair which settled on her shoulders, reached out for the drink she bought.

“Thank you,” Minseok barely whispered, giving a shy smile, while Lena returned him a more gracious one.

Little by little, he thought. Little by little.
-
Do Kyungsoo was not too fond of the bitter odor and taste of coffee. He much preferred sweet things, such as the smell of lovely gardenias or strawberries.

He went through pages by pages of Google, researching on the different and interesting scents to perhaps get an idea for his new creation. It is not a small feat for him to have his own business at such a young age, but he accomplished his goal a few months ago when he opened his very own perfume shop, ‘An Aromatic Trail’.

He started off by selling branded perfumes, while creating a few of his own. To his surprise, his creations were pretty well-received, and he just stuck with selling his own bottles of perfume he made himself.

“Kyungsoo-yah! It’s break time, do you want to grab a coffee from that newly-opened café? Wait, are you watching Prince of Tennis again?” an all too familiar voice bellowed.

Kyungsoo shot a death glare at his childhood friend and salesperson, Chanyeol, who was obviously too big of a size and loud for his own good. He took a big sigh and thought, why not, since his concentration was already gone, credits to his beanstalk-ish friend.

He might have gripped a little too hard on Chanyeol’s arm on the way out.
-
“Welcome to Cup of Beans! May I get your order?” Luhan enthusiastically greeted the duo that entered the café, perhaps a bit too much as he took an interest in the taller one. It was almost comical how their height differed so much.

“Oh, yes! I would like a cup of Americano and-” Chanyeol raised an eyebrow at his fun-sized friend who nodded back. “-make that two cups of Americano.”

“You sure have a deep voice for such a boyish cute face, erm,” Luhan smiled a little too widely at the elfish giant.

“Chanyeol. This tiny dwarf over here is Kyungsoo. And thank you Luhan, you’re really cute as well,” Chanyeol glanced at Luhan’s nametag while flashing a charming smile while Luhan scribbled the names on two cups, almost melting into a pile of goo.

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes so much he was half-afraid that his eyeballs would roll too deep in its sockets.

“Minseok, two cups of Americano!” Luhan yelled (Kyungsoo decided that he would never get too close to the pair if they ever become a couple, in the fear of losing his ability to hear.)

Kyungsoo’s thoughts came to a close when he saw this ‘Minseok’ emerging from the room for staffs to get to his work. Minseok was adorable, Kyungsoo declared, looking at the cat-slit eyes and dainty pink lips that adorned his face, along with cheeks that Kyungsoo would have begged to pinch. Minseok looked up from the coffee machine to place Chanyeol’s finished Americano on the counter, at the same time making eye contact with the other petite male.

It was endearing how both males blushed crimson red to the tips of their ears and immediately turned their heads away.

Chanyeol grabbed his own coffee cup from the counter and continued his animated talk with Luhan after paying for both cups of coffee. Normally, Kyungsoo would have asked Chanyeol to quiet down but he was too busy peeking at the working male behind the counter working skillfully. His racing heart calmed down a little, but only to have it sped up again as Minseok finished his drink and rang the bell. After staring blankly for a few seconds, Kyungsoo recovered from his stupor and retrieved his coffee.

Embarrassed, Kyungsoo pulled his boisterous friend out of the store walking as brisk as possible, almost to the point of running, much to Chanyeol’s chagrin.

Minseok stared at the retreating figures, (more specifically, the petite one with cute cheeks, cute eyes, cute nose, cute lips, cute everything), whispering a barely audible ‘Kyungsoo’.
-
Both males slept that night with dreams of small statures and cherubic cheeks.
-
The next day, Minseok spotted the friend of Kyungsoo arriving in the café again. He almost felt ashamed how he remembered the smaller boy’s name but not any of the other customers he served before, but he was too busy being disappointed to do so.

“Hi Chanyeol! Here alone today?” Luhan grinned.

“Yeah, for some reason Kyungsoo wanted to stay at the shop to work,” Chanyeol casually said.

“Oh, I almost forgot you guys worked just across the road,” Luhan smiled. “So, will it be the same for today?”

Minseok tuned out the rest of the conversation, feeling excited that the cute boy just worked across the street, meaning they would definitely have a chance to meet again. He smiled so widely he covered his face in embarrassment.
-
I am the dumbest, most idiotic person to walk on the face of this earth, Kyungsoo thought to himself for the past day. What was I thinking just blatantly staring like that, why did I blush like a schoolgirl in some shoujo manga? Kyungsoo messed up his hair in frustration, knocking his head on his desk several times.

“Hey, Kyungsoo, I’ll be going off first, my mom’s visiting tonight. Remember to lock up!” Chanyeol waltzed into Kyungsoo’s office which was embellished with bottles among bottles of scents.

Kyungsoo groaned at why he hired Chanyeol in the first place, then he remembered that Chanyeol was pretty much his only friend. Well, there was not much of a point to stay at the shop anymore, since there seemed to be a lack of customers that evening, so Kyungsoo trudged his feet to close up the store.

Slinging on his bag, Kyungsoo made his way home, only to find a familiar figure (aka, the source of his repetitive head-banging and face-palming) closing up his shop as well. Maybe if I stand as still as possible, he won’t notice me, Kyungsoo thought as he stood rooted to a spot, only to be greeted by Minseok with a tiny wave from across the road which almost got Kyungsoo’s heart to jump out of his ribcage at such an adorable sight.

Realizing he had been staring quite a while, Kyungsoo waved frantically at Minseok. With the pair being flustered, they made quick steps to their homes, which are in the same direction, to both of their dismays, or more likely, delight.

In the end, after many peeks and racing heartbeats, they both separated at a junction.
-
That night, Minseok dreamed of sweet things while Kyungsoo dreamed of refreshing ones.
-
The next day at work, Minseok arrived an hour early to the café. He gathered caramel syrup, whipped cream, marshmallows, a pack of beans, and whatever who could find. But alas, after many scrunched-up faces and poured coffee cups, he decided to stop for the day.

At the very shop just across the road, a similar situation went on.
-
“-sister’s coming over, got to scoot! Bye boss!” Chanyeol once again ‘applied’ for an early leave.

Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows, wondering when did Chanyeol ever become such a family-oriented person, then shrugging his shoulders to himself, ready to close down the shop early once again.

To his surprise, a customer came in just then, making him very uncomfortable having to tend to a customer himself. If you haven’t already know, little petite Kyungsoo was not a man of many words nor a fluttering social butterfly. He shuffled his feet a bit before following the customer, an elderly old woman.

“Do you have any recommendations for a young girl around your age? I don’t think my granddaughter’s all that picky, but I’d love to give a gift for her, since I just arrived in town, and I haven’t seen her in a long- Oh dear, I must have been rambling too much, haven’t I?” the old maiden said.

Kyungsoo quickly shook his head rapidly, indicating that it was totally fine and he was actually relieved that the silence was filled, as he led her to the flower-scents section.

“Why, you just remind me of my granddaughter, shy and timid, but all the more lovable!” the lady chuckled.

Kyungsoo flushed a deep red he thought of the one flower that described her grandchild perfectly; the sweetpea. He quickly grabbed the bottle that he was looking for and handed a sample to the lovely lady.

“Ah, a lovely and delightful scent! Very refreshing! I’ll get this please!”

After the transactions, Kyungsoo bid the woman farewell with a small ‘thank you’, to the lady’s delight. He then proceeded to lock up the store, seeing once again, the same figure as yesterday, locking up the store. Perhaps it was the old lady, but Kyungsoo had a sudden burst of confidence and crossed the street, finally meeting the boy properly.

“Hi,” Kyungsoo meekly greeted, that confidence all gone now he had seen perfection up close.

The dubbed perfection replied back with a tiny voice after a few seconds of shock as well as happiness that he finally heard the boy of his dreams (quite literally) speaking, in such a deep, velvety voice at that.

But of course he was not the only one in a state of daydreaming as the younger of the pair was dumbly awestruck at how flawless the older could get, with such a perfect voice. He quickly shook off his thoughts as he soon realized he was smiling rather dumbly into space (Minseok thought it was cute (again)).

“Oh, I’m-”

“Kyungsoo, I know,” Minseok replied before mentally slapping himself because how creepy he must have seemed. “The cup! The coffee cup the other day! And I’m-”

“Minseok, I know,” Kyungsoo blurted before clamping his mouth shut, blushing hard.

Minseok blinked rapidly before deciding that it was Luhan being too loud the other day, and giggled. Now it was Kyungsoo’s turn to blink his eyes rapidly and join in the giggles, both males walking to the direction of their homes, in comfortable silence. They both parted ways at the junction, having Kyungsoo to cross the road once again, but not before exchanging smiles to each other. To Minseok’s discovery, Kyungsoo smelt like perfume (surprise, surprise), but his strawberry-scented shampoo stood out the most.

Both of them walked home, one thinking of strawberries, and the other, sweetpea.
-
The silent evening walks back home together became a routine for them; with small greetings and smiles. Both employers might have chased out their employees earlier than usual with a dopey grin on their faces, much to the boisterous friends’ pleasure yet puzzlement since they phoned each other up for more dates.

Of course, their little experiments went on, but with repeated failures as none of them could figure out the perfect perfume or coffee for such perfect persons.

Their little walks went on to evening visits of their own shops, sharing their interests. Much to Kyungsoo’s surprise, Minseok was actually older than him. His eyeballs looked like they were going to fall out of his sockets anytime, as quoted by Minseok.

“My favorite coffee would have to be Espresso,” Minseok answered Kyungsoo’s question. “It’s the base of many other coffees, and I really the simplicity of such coffee.”

Minseok went on about the different types of coffee and each distinct flavor, not that Kyungsoo minded in the least bit, since it was an affable spectacle to see one talking about their passion. The older male finally realized he said too much and became flustered. Kyungsoo chuckled at this, and Minseok gave a light slap onto Kyungsoo’s arm jokingly.

“It’s fine, I would go on and on about perfumes and how I like the strawberry scent best,” Kyungsoo beamed.

“I know, you smell just like strawberries-” Minseok uttered, feeling embarrassed after realizing what he said.

Silence then enveloped them, as well as a lot of blushing. After a few moments of awkwardness, Kyungsoo excused himself, leaving Minseok to wallow in self-pity as he thought that now he had done did it, he had done scared his more than a little crush off.

In the end, light bulbs sparked off in their heads.
-
For the next three days, the two love-struck birds had not seen each other since, due to the morning trials of Minseok and the evening experimentations of Kyungsoo. But surely, on the third evening, they both found the right ones, one involving espresso coffee essence and the other, edible strawberry perfume, but both in small dosages; merely a drop each.

And indeed, they had met on the third evening where with clammy hands and gifts, these two enclosed selves were ready to open their hearts. It was the older who dashed across the road this time, with determination and panting breaths.

“I-” both males chorused at the same time, and paused. 

The silence should be excruciating, but it was in reality weirdly comforting. They both looked at each other, wondering if they should say anything, but they brushed it off.

This was how they were supposed to be anyways: themselves. Their quiet selves were the ones they were most comfortable with. Realizing just that, they both reached out their gifts and handed them to one another soundlessly, save for the tremors of the hearts.

Kyungsoo received coffee, but upon closer scrutiny, there was the smell of strawberries. A weird combination, one might think, but it surprisingly went very well together as Kyungsoo sipped its contents, grinning widely as he thought he found his new favorite drink.

Minseok on the other hand, got a bottle of perfume, which he immediately tried it out on himself, and he was astonished to smell espresso and a refreshing flowery odor. Minseok positively squealed a little in his heart.

In their own handwritings, on the coffee cup and the perfume bottle, there wrote:

I like you.

Simple as it can be, yet rushes of emotions swept through them, ranging from wide smiles, to hesitance, and bliss.

Eyes meeting each other, both males pulled into a kiss without a word. Neither knew who started the kiss, but both only knew that in the warm embrace, they thoroughly savored every inch, every corner, as if they were afraid of separating. Their eyes squeezed shut as their noses took in the overwhelming aromas of each other, probably going into a state of overdrive. Clammy cold hands turned into warm ones as they held onto each other, almost as if they were never letting go.

In the many aromas and stillness, two quiet souls found home.