“You and Himchan are coming today, right? He’s not answering my texts”

“Yes, why do you ask?”

“Because my manager brought a new kind of coffee bean and I want you to try the coffee and give me your opinion before putting it on sale”

“Sure”

“Thank you. What time are you coming btw?”

“At 11 but im thinking about dropping by at 12”

“Himchan deserves to wait for you hahaha”

“Hehe i know”

The brunet was unconsciously smiling, leaning onto the coffee machine and waiting for Youngjae’s response. He was alone on the break room, which made him feel guilty for not being working at that moment. He had to work on two projects simultaneously and the deadline was near. But he found himself enjoying too much texting with the barista. They just texted each other occasionally for the past two days, but it felt like they had been doing it for years. 

“Jieun is gonna get angry tho”

“I can’t picture that hahah”

“She’s scary i swear”

Daehyun chuckled silently and was about to type his reply when he acknowledged someone entering the room. He quickly put the device back on his pocket and inserted two coins on the coffee machine. Then he pressed a random button and waited for his drink to be ready.

“Lazing around?” He heard a deep voice behind him and immediately knew it was from Yongguk.

The brunet smiled and looked behind him to meet his friend’s eyes. “I’m just taking a break” he explained.

Yongguk snorted. “It must be the longest break ever, then” he said sitting on the table next to the coffee machine.

Daehyun sighed and after hearing a high pitched sound from the machine he picked up his drink. “Okay, okay, I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize, but you know that if you lose your time now you’ll have to use your sleeping hours to work on the projects” said the elder still wearing his usual smile. “It’s up to you.” He stood up with a jump and inserted a coin on the machine to get a green tea.

Daehyun nodded and inspected his drink. It looked like coffee with milk. He smelled it and took a quick sip. ‘Disgusting’ he thought to himself.

“What’s with that face?” asked Yongguk showing his gums with a wide amused smile.

“I don’t really like the mixture of coffee and milk” explained the younger putting the plastic cup on the table.

Yongguk laughed out loud. “Then why did you buy it, moron?”

Daehyun frowned and looked away annoyed. “I don’t know, I just was trying to look casual, ok?”

The elder laughed even louder and eventually Daehyun smiled too.

“You know, you can always give the coffee to her” said the elder pointing to a woman who was standing on the room beside theirs scanning absently some papers.

Daehyun felt a shiver running down his spine at the sight of his boss. An invisible lump formed on his throat and his heart suddenly felt heavy, like if pumping blood was the most difficult thing in the world. He averted his eyes from the woman and tried to distract himself.

He thought he was finally starting to forget about her, but then, the past Friday, he received a few texts from her which basically said that she missed him and that she was sorry and wanted to make up. The brunet did as Jongup told him and didn’t even reply the messages, although it was very difficult for him.

Daehyun finally forced a simile and picked his drink again bringing it to his mouth. “I guess I should give it a try.” He sipped the brown liquid again with the same result as the last time, but this time he tried to look pleased or at least less disgusted.

Yongguk gave him a curious look and then discreetly casted a glance over the woman. “Did you two fight?”

The younger choked on his drink and had to contain a furious cough to maintain his cool. “No, why do you ask?” he said pretending to be startled.

“Oh, c’mon, I’m not blind. Plus you were so shocked you almost spat your drink all over me” pointed out the latter with a snort.

Daehyun moistened his lips with his tongue and quickly forced another smile. “I’ll admit we had a little discussion, but we didn’t fight” he explained knowing that he wasn’t lying entirely by saying that.

“Mm, I see.” Yongguk looked at her again. “I hope you two make up soon” he said grinning.

The brunet contained a deep sigh and slowly nodded in agreement. He felt how the lump on his throat was getting bigger and how his breath was becoming shaky. ‘I don’t want to be so affected. I just want all this to end.’ He took a deep breathe to calm down and he started to walk towards the door.

“Where are you going?” asked Yongguk.

“To settle some things down. See you around” answered the latter bidding goodbye with a movement of his hand.

In a few seconds he approached his boss. He touched her shoulder and looked directly to her feeling more confident than ever. She widened her eyes surprised and locked her gaze on him.

Soon her eyes came back to their original size and became sad and pitiful. “Daehyun…”

“We need to talk” stated the younger with a deep husky voice.

The woman let out a shaky breath and averted her stare from the intense look the brunet was giving her. “There’s nothing to talk about… I’m sorry about the messages, okay?”

Daehyun slowly shook his head and lowered his voice to not be heard. “Listen to me for once.” His voice cracked a little, but he continued talking. “Don’t text me ever again, we decided to end our ‘relationship’ but you are making things difficult.” He grabbed her by the arm and leaded her to the corner of the room to have more privacy. “You can’t leave me and suddenly decide that you want me again.”

She freed her arm with an abrupt movement and narrowed her eyes. “You also wanted to break up, don’t try to make me feel bad about what happened.”

“Of course I wanted to break up!” he unintentionally raised his voice, but luckily no one was around. “That’s why, don’t confuse me anymore, you made me feel like ” he spat trying to control his anger.

She narrowed her watery eyes even more and frowned deeply like she was about to explode. But finally she left without saying anything, hurrying to the bathroom. Daehyun stood in the same place for a few minutes. He couldn’t bring himself to move, his thoughts wandering on what had just happened. Every part of the conversation repeated on his head like a movie. ‘This is driving me nuts.’ Just then he heard some people approaching. He suddenly woke up from his daydreaming and quickly tried to compose himself. After greeting some of his colleagues, he finally left the room avoiding visual contact as much as possible.

He was walking towards his desk, focusing on everything around him to stop thinking about his boss, when he felt his phone buzzing on his pocket. He stopped in his tracks and retrieved the device. There was a new message from Himchan.

“Daehyun, I won’t make it today either. I’m so sorry, we are very busy over here. I hope you understand.”

The brunet snorted loudly restraining himself from crashing the device against the floor. It was the second time he was being ditched by Kim ing Himchan. But a part of him was relieved for not having to deal with the latter, which was very tiring.

“What happened?”

Daehyun turned around startled and met the owner of the voice. It was Yongguk again, this time wearing a concerned look.

“This Himchan bastard ditched me again” he spat shamelessly. He was too angry to worry about politeness or formalities.

Yongguk sighed and scratched his nape, and after a few seconds of thinking, he resumed the conversation. “Then take the day off.” Daehyun looked at him confused. “I mean, you are tired and apathetic, your mood is horrible and by being like this you are just slowing us down.” He made a pause and took a deep breath. “Just… rest well today and come back tomorrow with a better attitude.”

The brunet didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know either if he should feel relieved, useless or angry at his friend’s words. Yongguk noticed Daehyun’s hesitation and scratched his head again. “I’m sorry if I’d been too harsh. Please go home, Daehyun, you need it.” He patted the brunet’s shoulder and gave him a warm smile.

Daehyun looked at him and eventually he smiled too. “Thank you” he said.

***

He didn’t know exactly how did he get there and why, but he was standing outside Youngjae’s coffee shop. Daehyun sighed and shook his head to clear his mind. He didn’t want to look like a bitter person in front of Youngjae and Jieun anymore, so he tried to smile and cheer up. To feel better, he thought about Busan and his family and friends, he thought about Jongup and Junhong, he thought about Yongguk and finally he thought about Youngjae’s kindness. For the past two weeks Youngjae had been helping Daehyun in many ways even if they weren’t friends, so the brunet wanted to repay him or at least don’t be a burden.

He looked through the window and saw Jieun serving a drink to a woman who was reading a book and Youngjae cleaning a table. The place was almost empty and Daehyun started to wonder if the owner got any benefits from the shop. He put those thoughts aside and slowly opened the door of the establishment. When the small bell ringed over him Jieun directed her gaze to the door, widening her smile at the sight of the brunet.

“Good morning, Daehyun” she said cheerily.

“Good morning” he replied grinning.

“You can sit here to wait for Himchan” she said motioning to a table next to her.

Daehyun half chuckled and sat where he was offered, placing his backpack on the floor. “Himchan won’t come today, though” he announced.

Jieun’s face transformed into a startled and disappointed look. “Is that so…?”

“I’m sorry” apologised the brunet.

“What? Himchan’s not coming?” asked Youngjae approaching the table.

“No” replied Daehyun a little bit annoyed by their persistence on Himchan.

“That’s a pity, I wanted him to try the coffee.”

Jieun looked at his mate with disbelief. “Seriously, you only think about coffee, don’t you? You made me try the new one twice…”

Youngjae chuckled and patted her head. “But you liked it.”

“I’ll concede that to you” she replied with a sigh. “Anyway, attend him, Jae, I’ll go to take a break.” She said and left before the latter could answer her.

“Now she’ll be grumpy the whole day” whispered the barista to Daehyun.

The elder muffled a chuckle and looked at Jieun entering the staff room with a disappointed look on her face. ‘She must really like Himchan.’

“I’m surprised that you came” confessed Youngjae. “I mean, if Himchan’s not coming…”

“Well, I have some free time and I wanted to try your coffee” explained the brunet.

“Oh.” Youngjae averted his eyes unsure of what to say. “Thank you for coming, then.”

‘No, thank you for everything.’ “No need to thank me.” Daehyun shrugged it off.

“Then I’ll bring the drink to you now. It’s already prepared, so you don’t need to wait. Oh, also it’s free since it’s not officially on sale.”

Daehyun just hummed in agreement. “Nice.”

In less than one minute the barista was placing the steaming coffee in front of the younger. He was also bringing with him a book and a piece of paper.

The brunet raised an eyebrow. “What’s that?” he asked pointing to the book.”

Youngjae directed his eyes where the latter was pointing. “This” he placed the book on the table with a bright smile on his face “is a paper folding book.” He sat in front of the latter. “Jieun just gave it to me for my belated birthday and I wanted to try to make a paper crane.”

“When was your birthday?” asked the elder.

“Two weeks ago.”

“Happy belated birthday, then” said the brunet feeling a little bit awkward.

The latter smiled warmly. “Thank you.”

‘Maybe I should get him something, it would be a good way to thank him for everything. But… we aren’t close enough, what if he thinks I’m doing it because I want him to give me a present on my birthday? Or maybe he would feel too awkward and flustered to accept it…’

“Daehyun? Are you alright?” The barista was waving his hand in front of the latter with a concerned look on his face.

The brunet almost jumped on his seat. “Sorry, I spaced out.”

The latter chuckled. “I noticed that” he said opening the book and looking for a specific page.

Daehyun observed how the latter was immersed on his searching and decided to finally try the coffee. He brought the cup to his nose and immediately put it aside grimacing. “Wow, the smell is strong” he commented.

The younger just hummed absently in response. “Try it, it’s really intense, I’m thinking about mixing it with hazelnut.”

The brunet finally took a hesitant sip. The flavour was too strong, but surprisingly it wasn’t bad at all. Actually, it was delicious. “I like it” he stated. The barista raised his gaze up and met Daehyun’s eyes grinning contently. “But with just one sip I feel like I’d drunk ten cups of coffee. It’s a good idea to mix it with something else” he added up.

The barista smiled and focused again on what he was doing. “I’m glad you liked it. And thank you again for coming” he said while folding the paper by half.

Daehyun hummed and took another sip of his drink looking absently at the paper taking forms. The barista looked as concentrated as when making coffee. He followed all the steps cautiously, folding the paper neatly and checking several times if it was the right form. His slender fingers travelled all over the white piece of paper, working gently to get a perfect result, and he used his nails to fold the stiffest parts. Whenever he got something wrong he would mutter angrily and proceed to unfold carefully the shape. Like that a few minutes passed by and Daehyun didn’t even noticed. He was too absorbed by the latter’s skill with his hands. Suddenly Youngjae’s hands stopped and just then the brunet realized that his right hand was placed over the barista’s left one. The touch was warm and Daehyun found himself enjoying it. He jolted at the sudden realization of what he was doing and moved his hand away at speed of light. “So-sorry” he mumbled avoiding the latter’s eyes. “I thought you got something wrong” he explained.

‘, , , what the hell am I doing?’

Youngjae coughed awkwardly. “Don’t worry.”

The brunet drank in one sip the remaining coffee and focused his gaze on his hands. He felt how his cheeks burnt and inwardly prayed for not being blushing. ‘I feel like killing myself right now, seriously.’

“Hey, do you want me to teach you how to do it?” asked the younger.

Daehyun looked up to meet the latter’s eyes. The barista was holding the paper crane almost finished between his fingers. The elder just nodded unable to say anything. Youngjae stood up to sit beside Daehyun and placed in front of them a new piece of paper. “The first thing you need to do is fold it by half to form a triangle” he explained.

Daehyun hummed and hesitantly did as he was said. “Right. Now unfold it and do it again with the remaining two corners.” The elder unfolded and folded the paper carefully. “Now you have to fold this triangle by half and then fold one of the parts like this.” He took the paper shape from Daehyun’s hands and showed him how to do it. They both jumped a little when their finger brushed, and the brunet was starting to feel uncomfortable by the whole situation.

Youngjae leaned back on his seat and gave the paper back to Daehyun. “What’s all this awkwardness?” said the brunet laughing softly.

The barista scratched his nape. “I’m sorry, I tried to relax the ambience but I think I just made it more awkward…” he apologized.

“Don’t apologize, I started everything” reassured the elder. “Anyway, let’s finish this up, I’m curious about the result." He looked ath the latter. "Now what do I have to do?”

Youngjae smiled and leaned again towards the table, closing his proximity with Daehyun to help him. “Alright, now you fold this small amount and form a square.” He helped the latter with his own hands. “And after that you unfold this corner upside and then you form a diamond.”

Daehyun tried to focus on the paper crane but he was enjoying too much the skinship. The sudden sound of the door opening and the little bell ringing startled them making them abruptly separate and jump on their seats. The barista stood up immediately to greet the new costumers.

The brunet hid his face on his palms feeling too embarrassed and thanking god for Jieun’s absence. Then he remembered the woman who was sitting a few meters away from them and looked behind him to find her staring at him with a disapproval look on her face. He muffled a cry on his hands. ‘What the , Jung Daehyun.’

Just then Jieun appeared, closing the door of the staff room behind her. She bided good morning to the new clients and let Youngjae deal with them. Then she knotted her apron and approached Daehyun’s table to retrieve the empty cup. “Did you like the coffee?” she asked. Daehyun nodded in response. “Good. What happened? You look anxious.”

The brunet composed himself and forced a grin. “Nothing, I just remembered something” he lied.

The young woman hummed understanding and placed her gaze on the book. “Oh, I see you two were having fun with my present” she said giggling. “Don’t you think it’s a very original gift? The face that Jae made when he saw the book was just priceless” she continued talking cheerily.

“Hmm, he looked really happy with it” reaffirmed the brunet.

“He was making a paper crane, how lovely! I’m so glad he liked my present” she said smiling brightly. “But he shouldn’t be lazing around, though.” Daehyun felt guilty because somehow he always ended up distracting the barista.

“It’s my fault, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, no” she quickly reassured. “He’s always been like this, don’t worry. He wastes loads of time, but somehow he always manages to be productive.”

“Shut up, Jieun” hissed Youngjae from the counter.

She turned around to face his friend. “I’m not saying anything bad about you” she protested. “Anyway” she resumed his conversation with Daehyun. “I talked to Himchan and he’s very sorry. He asked me if you would like to meet tomorrow in the afternoon, this time for sure."

Daehyun frowned a little at the mention of the elder. He couldn’t hide the fact that he was mad at Himchan. “I’ll talk to him later, thank you anyway.”

She pursed her lips noticing the latter’s irritation, but she didn’t say anything. “No problem.” She coughed awkwardly. “I have to get to work, so I’ll leave you alone, ok?”

The brunet nodded with a light smile on his lips. “Don’t worry. I’m leaving soon anyway.”

Jieun pouted a little. “Umm, I see. If you want anything else just tell me” she winked at him and after the latter hummed in response, she went to the counter.

Daehyun decided to finish the paper crane before going, so he started to fold and unfold the paper following the steps until it was finally finished. He closed the book proud of his work and stood up searching for Youngjae and Jieun to say goodbye. Just then the barista exited the staff room wearing his coat. They looked at each other until Youngjae approached Daehyun. “Are you leaving” asked the younger.

“Yes” replied the latter. “And you? Are you finished already?”

Youngjae shook his head and grinned with resignation. “I wish. We ran out of jam and I have to go to buy some more” he explained.

Daehyun nodded understanding. “Should we go then?” he suggested.

The latter hummed and they both left the shop after biding goodbye to Jieun. The air was warmer than the past few days, but even so it was very cold. Youngjae shoved his hands on his coat’s pockets and turned around to face the elder. “Where are you going now?”

“Home” simply answered the latter. He still felt a little bit uncomfortable with the younger.

Youngjae raised a brow. “Since you said you were on a break I thought you’d get back to work” he said.

Daehyun sighed a little bit annoyed. “Actually my superior told me to take the day off.”

“Oh.” Youngjae buried his face on his coat. “Anyway, the bus stop is on that corner” he said motioning with his head. “I’ll walk you there. I have to take that direction anyway” he explained.

The elder hummed in agreement “Umm, ok, thank you.”

They walked silently until they got to the bus stop. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, though. The street was busy and the traffic was horribly noisy, so it didn’t really feel like silence.

“So, Himchan didn’t come because you got the day off?” asked the barista.

Daehyun shook his head and sat on the bench of the stop to wait for the bus. “It was rather the opposite. Himchan ditched me and my superior told me to take the day off.”

“I see. What a nice guy your superior. And what an Himchan” said the barista half chuckling.

“Yes. When I received his message saying that he wouldn’t make it today either I felt like strangling him, to be honest.”

“He must be really busy…”

Daehyun hummed. “The truth is I understand his situation. I guess I was already pissed off.”

“Why?” asked Youngjae hesitantly. “Sorry, you don’t have to answer.”

“It’s ok” said the latter. “Recently I got out of a relationship and I guess I haven’t got over it yet.”

Youngjae frowned and nibbled his lower lip. “I’m sorry… Are you ok?”

Daehyun nodded. “Yes, don’t worry.”

The younger averted his gaze. “You know, if you ever need to talk you can count on me.” He made a pause. “I know we aren’t that close but I’m a good listener.”

The brunet focused his eyes on his hands to avoid visual contact. “Thank you very much” he mumbled.

“I hope I don’t look like a creep now” said Youngjae chuckling.

“You do, but I like weird people” reassured the latter. “Oh, the bus already came.”

The transport stopped in front of them and the doors opened letting a group of people to get off. “Thank you for the company and I’m sorry for distracting you again” apologised the elder.

“What? You don’t distract me, I mean, I’m the one who lets himself be distracted by you. Ok, that sounded strange, forget what I said.” Daehyun looked at the latter with a smug grin. “Okay, stop already giving me strange looks and go home!” said Youngjae pushing the latter towards the bus’ door.

“I get it, stop pushing me” said Daehyun controlling his laughter. “Thank you for everything, Youngjae, see you around.”

The younger shook his head. “No need to thank me, really.”

Daehyun got into the bus and waved his friend goodbye, and the barista waved him back. The brunet finally sat next to a window and adjusted his earphones, focusing on the rhythm of the music.

‘I definitely need to get him something for his birthday.’

I'm baaaaaaaaack ＼(*T▽T*)／

Did you miss me? I missed you all, a bunch actually (＠´＿｀＠) These days I've been so busy I literally didn't even have time to sleep ;__; But now I'm free and I can do whatever I want HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.(＊☉∀ ⊙｡)

Aw, I wanted to tell you so many things... but it's already 2 in the morning and I forgot everything (ﾉ)´∀｀(ヾ) Soooo, thank you very much for waiting for me ♥ I really want to squeeze you all and kiss your faces because you are so beautiful and wonderful *cries*

About this chap, I know it's very a little bit crappy, but I've been for weeks using only my native language, so I completely forgot about English. Also i wasn't inspired when I wrote this so... Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it ♥♥♥♥♥

Love you all, have a nice week ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)