“Hyukkie,” Hakyeon’s voice called from the main cafe area. I cringed at the nickname he had given me ever since I started wearing my name tag and it had caught on (even some of the regular customers had started calling me by that name). Looking up at Taekwoon (I had been helping him move a couple crates in the kitchen) he nodded and I finished placing the box I had in my arms on the ground before leaving the kitchen. I found Hakyeon behind the cash register giving a customer his order.

                “What’s up hyung?” I asked as the customer finished paying and left. Hakyeon turned around and wiped his hands on his apron.

                “Help me out around here will you? There’s a couple orders backed up,” Hakyeon gave me a bright smile and gestured towards the now crowded cafe. Ever since I had begun working here, more and more people had noticed Starlight. The cafe was now pretty well known among students and adults and we were currently in the middle of our afternoon rush.

                “Sure,” I said simply. Hakyeon turned right around to continue taking orders and I took my place behind the various coffee makers. The job wasn’t difficult, I would look at the orders Hakyeon imputed on the small screen near the cash register and make them as quickly as I could. Most of the people in the afternoon rush were business men and women rushing to their next meeting so almost all of the orders were simple. Black coffee and the occasional dash of sugar and milk. Just enough for them to get energized for their next deal. With two baristas, the rush was quickly dealt with and the cafe soon emptied until there were only a couple of students and adults lazing around.

                “Where did Hakyeon hyung go?” Jaehwan asked. He and Wonshik were sitting at a table near the counter (where the cash register and coffee machines were) playing a simple game of cards. They never really did anything other than play cards and flirt with customers but Hakyeon seemed to think they were useful so I guess that’s his job (I wasn’t the one giving paychecks after all).

                “Back room. Said something about finishing paper work,” Wonshik responded.

                “Right, ‘paper work’,” Jaehwan and Wonshik shared a laugh and a knowing look, and I shrugged my shoulders in confusion. Looking over, Jaehwan noticed my confusion and proceeded to laugh even harder. “It’s okay Hyuk-ah, you’re too young to understand. I’ll give you a couple years before we explain things to you.”

                Rolling my eyes (I wasn’t that young) I continued to wipe the counters and machines down. Even though I hadn’t worked with such sophisticated machinery previously, Hakyeon had quickly taught me how to both use and maintain them. I wiped them down after every rush even though Hakyeon had only told me to do so at the end of the day. Call me obsessive or something but I didn’t like the thought of one of the machines breaking down. Wow, isn’t that something. I was becoming more sympathetic for a piece of metal than I was with my usual group of friends.

                “Bin-ah!” Jaehwan greeted as the bell above the door rang. Looking up from the counter, I saw Jaehwan jump up and run towards the door. He and another man embraced before Jaehwan dragged him over to the table he had been sitting at. As Jaehwan took his seat again, my eyes widened. I knew this man.

                “Haven’t seen you in a while, how have you been?” Wonshik asked, leaning back in his chair. The stranger looked from Jaehwan to Wonshik before breaking out in a smile that only showcased his dimples too well.

                “Mmm, I’ve been good Wonshik. My studies are piling up though,” dimples boy (or Hongbin, whatever) made a disgusting look that didn’t fit his flower boy status at all before turning around. He scanned the cafe before locking eyes with my own. Feeling uncomfortable with the sudden gaze, I looked down at the cloth in my hand and idly began wiping the counter again.

                “You guys got a new worker?” Hongbin asked. He tilted his head slightly to the left (okay I had peeked up again) in a questioning manner. As Jaehwan chattered about his first meeting with me, Hongbin made his way over. Leaning casually on the counter, he watched me wipe at the tiles as if they had personally offended me. I felt his gaze on my face but I continued to ignore him, choosing instead to retreat back in between the different supplies. “Hey, aren’t you going to answer me?” Hongbin continued his line of questioning, “I’m your hyung you know. Wonshik and I are the same age.”

                “Is that so,” I replied. Damn. I had been planning on keeping silent but apparently my sarcastic subconscious didn’t agree with that idea. Seeing as I had no choice, I looked back up at dimples boy and watched as a glimmer of amusement made its way into his eyes (which just so happened to be a very nice shade of brown).

                “Yes, so it would be polite to introduce yourself no?” Hongbin drummed his fingers on the counter idly and regarded me with an uninterested expression.

                “You say that but you haven’t even introduced yourself?” I countered his question with one of my own. I recognized that expression, I used it a lot too when I was trying to get something from my noona. One couldn’t show too much interest or else she’d have the upper hand.

                “Lee Hongbin,” dimples boy responded, a hint of laughter had made its way into his voice. It made his voice lower (although to be honest, his voice was already hilariously low) and I wouldn’t mind hearing a full laugh, especially if I could see his dimples in full action when it happened. Wait, what am I thinking? Did Sungjae spike my coffee this morning or something? When was the last time I had this much interest in a stranger? Not since I met my current group of friends, that’s for sure. I wasn’t one for large crowds so I usually kept to myself and my own friends. I guess you could say I was like Taekwoon in a way. “What about you?” Hongbin leaned farther onto the counter, resting his elbows on the tiles. He narrowed his gaze as he slowly became impatient.

                “Can’t you read?” I replied cheekily, stepping closer and tapping my name tag. Hongbin’s expression darkened momentarily before he pushed himself back up.

                “Seeing as I referred to Wonshik by his real name and not alias, I would think you would infer that I know that Hakyeon hyung likes to give his employee’s nicknames.” I looked at Hongbin’s smug expression and sighed internally. For some reason I was hesitant in giving dimples boy my name but considering the fact that he had called Hakyeon by his first name I had two choices. I could either give him my name now or control the amount of information that escaped my lips or I could let Hakyeon tell him and have my entire resume spilled out at the same time.

                “Han Sanghyuk,” I said curtly. I crossed my arms across my chest and wondered for a moment why this man was even here. Before Hongbin could reply however, Hakyeon bounded out of the back room with his hair and clothes slightly tousled and hugged him tightly.

                “Binnie! It’s been so loooong! What’s been keeping you?” Hakyeon half whined and half asked, sounding very much like a concerned mother hen. Before Hongbin had a chance to respond, Hakyeon whipped around and looked at me. “Hyukkie, make a cafe mocha,” he practically ordered before flinging himself upon Hongbin once again.

                “School hyung, medical science is hard subject,” Hongbin answered, keeping his gaze on me as I sulkily went to make the drink. I started by boiling some water and as it began to heat up, I ground some beans into a fine grind. I then started the water heating cycle with the espresso machine and made sure to include enough water to run steam from the milk frother. Grabbing some mocha powder, I placed it in the mug Hakyeon had provided (how he had enough time to do so while talking dimples boy’s ear off is unknown to me) and then poured the now boiling water into the mug. I stirred the powder gently until it dissolved into mocha syrup. After heating up some milk, I poured the milk into the cup after the espresso and mixed the two liquids together. I then topped it off with some whipped cream and mocha powder before handing it to Hakyeon.

                “Anyways,” Hakyeon stated (what had they even been talking about before?) while handing the drink to Hongbin, “you go to Haepari university too right?”

                “Yes hyung, I have for the last two years,” Hongbin replied, rolling his eyes as he took a sip of his drink. His eyebrows raised slightly in some sort of surprise but he quickly controlled his facial expression. Looking at me again, he regarded me with a little more interest as he continued to drink.

                “That’s what I thought. Jaehwan and Wonshik go there too?” Hakyeon continued, looking at the duo that had gone back to their game of cards.

                “Mhmm, I’m in engineering remember?” Wonshik replied as Jaehwan merely nodded. “And Jaehwan hyung is in visual arts.”

                “Wait what,” I blurted out in surprise. I knew dimples boy went to my university (considering I saw him make a girl cry, yeah not the greatest first impression) but the fact that Wonshik and Jaehwan also attended Haepari was news to me.

                “Oh yeah, Hyukkie goes to Haepari too!” Hakyeon practically sang, causing Hongbin to look at me again (can this dude seriously stop staring?).

                “Really now? Then you’d be a first year? In what?” Hongbin asked innocently. I pressed my lips together nervously and prayed that Hakyeon wouldn’t give away any more information. I wasn’t sure why but Hongbin seemed like a dangerous person. Sure he was handsome, I’ll admit that much. Girls and boys flocked to him like kids flock to ice cream but that’s what made me feel uneasy. With looks like that he probably got everything he wanted with a simple smile (those dimples could probably stop wars) and was most possibly used to getting things he wanted his way. Then again, I could also be stereotyping and being hilariously judgemental but I was usually right about these things. My noona said I was good at reading people and body language but to me I just got a certain feeling. I had a feeling Sungjae would be a good friend and a feeling that Hakyeon would never leave me alone (even though he meant well) and now I had a feeling that I shouldn’t get involved with dimples boy.

                “He’s studying archeology I think he said?” Hakyeon replied easily, not noticing my pointed glare. Of course he would blab, he practically told every customer about me when they asked so what was going to stop him from telling this one too? I just hoped Hongbin would finish his coffee and leave, I had a couple more hours until the end of my shift and I did not want to deal with him and his... attractively annoying presence.

                “Mmm, isn’t that interesting?” Hongbin muttered, smirking at me. Grinding my teeth in an irritated manner I put back the materials that I had used to make his stupid drink in order to break the ongoing eye contact we had.

                “Oh yeah,” Hakyeon said (smirking knowingly at Hongbin who gave him an annoyed grunt in reply), “you don’t know about Binnie.” I looked up at my so-called boss and gave him my best ‘I-don’t-really-care’ face. Sure he was my boss and I’d only had this job for a couple weeks but from prior experience Hakyeon let me release my inner sass (since he did it even more than I did). “Hongbin’s a regular here, some customers even call him our poster boy,” Hakyeon laughed and Hongbin grinned again, “Which we should really make him. He just sits here, orders coffee, and looks pretty.”

                “Only if you pay me hyung,” Hongbin laughed, “but I charge a lot considering I have other modelling jobs too.” I sighed as dimples boy and Hakyeon continued their conversation. Bored, I sat on the chair behind the counter and watched Jaehwan and Wonshik play their game of cards before I was hit with a sudden realization. If Hongbin was Starlight’s so called ‘poster boy’ and he stayed from hours on end, then wouldn’t that mean... I would have to see him every day for almost my whole time working here? I groaned and smashed my head on the table, ignoring the startled noises the hyungs made. So much for my plan of avoiding dimples boy, it seems I’d have to get used to him and his annoyingly handsome face. What a pain.

Wow, would you look at that. I finished another chapter within a week. Congratulations to myself. *pats self on back*

And now you know everyone's school... course? Except for Hakyeon and Taekwoon but I'm honestly still deciding whether or not they should be IN school. But whatever, go me for figuring things out. Whoop.

This author's note was just basically me congratulating myself. Wow. Whatever, thanks and love (not really) to juanamoose for editing and doing other stuff like making fun of me. Appreciate it. Not.

Once again, thanks for taking the time to read this, don't be a silent reader, and I do not own anything in this story other than the idea and plot, any similarities to other works of fiction are purely coincidental or have been used as sources of inspiration. Please do not repost this anywhere without my permission; plagiarism isn’t nice!

Hope you're smiling!

~ Alateni