ChenMin BONUS 1/2: Red Bean Milk Tea w/Grass Pudding
Just SweetIf anyone asked, Oh Sehun would say that Just Sweet was lucky to have its new employees because Suho was nice and Jongdae was, well, he was funny at least.
He would not say that since Suho was actually allergic to tapioca and Jongdae's attention span lasted probably less than three seconds, that Just Sweet might have been better off without its two new additions to the employee team. (Truthfully, Suho's allergy didn't really affect Sehun one way or the other, but when Jongin—who didn't even work there—had wondered if it was bad enough that even touching the bubbles made Suho sick, Sehun had to question why on earth Kris thought it was a good idea to hire the guy. Kyungsoo thought that it was because Suho was kind of cute, in his own, straight-laced, naive kind of way, and if Jongin hadn't been a little afraid of his new boyfriend, he probably would have hit Kyungsoo for that offhandedly complimentary comment.)
Jongdae, in particular, had become the bane of Sehun's existence since he'd started because Sehun had enough to worry about while sharing a shift with Tao. He didn't need the added burden of someone on shift who didn't know how to make red bean milk tea with grass pudding simply because Jongdae hadn't been listening when Sehun first explained it to him.
"He's driving me crazy," Sehun complained to an amused Luhan when he ended up making the red bean drink and bringing it over to his boyfriend himself. "It is only a great fear of Yifan that keeps me from strangling him."
Luhan's expression turned dark. "Don't talk about that traitor in front of me," he grumbled, clearly still angry that it had been about a week since the incident but Tao was still sad since Yifan hadn't fixed things yet. As soon as he made his feelings known about that, however, Luhan's happy smile returned with a vengeance and he grinned at his boyfriend before reaching up to pat Sehun's hair patronizingly. "Aww, Sehunnie, you weren't the best new employee either, you know. Besides, you said you wanted to be with me
forever. If you murder our new hire then you'll go to jail and I'm not about to waste the rest of my life waiting for you to get out on good behavior."
Sehun resisted rolling his eyes because he knew that would only set Luhan off even more, so he just pecked his boyfriend's cheek and went back to work, slightly nervous that Jongdae had managed to break something in the five minutes that Sehun had been gone. Fortunately, though, all of Just Sweet's tea and coffe-making equipment was intact when Sehun returned; unfortunately, it didn't stay that way for long.
Sehun's shift passed slowly and was pretty uneventful aside from Jongdae's continued mini-mishaps. He waved goodbye when Luhan had to leave halfway through, waved hello when Baekhyun and Chanyeol showed up not long after, and repeated the customary greeting of "Welcome to Just Sweet!" over and over and over again. Unlike his past customers, though, the one Sehun was currently serving had actually returned his fake smile with a real one of his own and had replied cheerfully, "Omo! You're so nice! Thanks!"
(At least, Sehun had thought the other guy's smile was genuine; or he did, until Jongdae emerged from the back and Sehun's customer's grin literally turned radiant. Clearly, the guy standing on the other side of the counter was a fan.)
"Omo," the customer repeated as his eyes followed Jongdae's movements shamelessly. He leaned forward so he could whisper to Sehun across the counter. "Kim Jongdae is so beautiful."
Sehun wrinkled his nose, kind of grossed out and disturbed by the idea that anyone could look at Kim Jongdae and think attractive instead of currently incompetent. "I mean," he conceded slowly because the guy across from him was still a customer, after all, "I guess he could be. If you like that kind of stuff."
The other guy's eyes crinkled and his cheeks puffed cutely as he smiled again. "I do."
Sehun coughed awkwardly and glanced behind the current customer to see that their conversation was actually holding up the line. "Anyway, sir, would you like to order something, or—?" (Sehun left it opened ended like that because if the guy liked Kim Jongdae then there was no telling what his answer would be.)
"Omo!" The guy said for the third time. "I'm so sorry! Um, I think I want a red bean milk tea. And can you put grass pudding in that?"
Sehun nodded and tried to keep a straight face even though the irony of the whole situation was actually really hilarious. (He'd have to tell Luhan and Jongin about it later. Probably Kyungsoo too because Sehun's glaring coworker and Sehun's best friend were now a package deal—bleh.)
"Oh! And," the guy leaned close again as he looked at Sehun hopefully, "can you throw in Jongdae's number for no extra charge?"
"That depends." Sehun pretended to deliberate for a moment just because it was fun to watch the other guy sweat. "We don't usually do this at Just Sweet, but can I get a name for your order? Cause I don't have my coworker's number, but I know someone who does."
"It's Minseok!" The guys reaction was almost a squeak and Sehun winced at the sound as he heard Chanyeol and Baekhyun's cackled in the background. "Sorry," the guy apologized. "But, um, yeah. Minseok."
A few minutes later, after Sehun had left and oblivious Jongdae at the register while Sehun prepared Minseok's drink, Sehun placed the finished order on the bar and yelled out, "Red bean for Minseok."
At the sound of his name, Minseok leapt up from his seat and hurried over, just as Jongdae's head whirled in Sehun's direction, face filled with shock.
"Kim Minseok?" He tried to whisper to Sehun while giving a customer change and searching around the bubble tea shop for the owner of that name.
Sehun shrugged—how was he supposed to know Minseok's last name? Jongdae, though, just looked horrified as his eyes located their target and it was indeed the Kim Minseok he'd assumed. "Oh god," Jongdae groaned under his breath as he beckoned the next customer forward and Sehun just felt confused.
"Is that bad?" He asked his pale coworker, once Minseok had grabbed his drink, waved goodbye to his new friend, and promised to come back again tomorrow.
"Not bad, necessarily," Jongdae hedged. "It's just that he confessed to me a while ago and I haven't given him an answer yet. So now he always shows up in the most random places of my life and I don't know what to do."
"Give him an answer," Sehun declared, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. (He conveniently forgot for a moment how hard it had been for him when it came to liking Luhan, and even how difficult it currently was for Tao and Yifan to be anywhere in the same room together. Jongin liked to say that his best friend's memory selection was going to get him in trouble one day, but it hadn't yet, so Sehun just ignored Jongin—like he always did—and went on with his temporarily forgetful ways.) "And how long is "a while ago" anyway?" Sehun wanted to know because Jongdae was starting to look really guilty all of a sudden and Sehun took that as a bad sign.
Suddenly, though Tao appeared from where he'd been sulkily washing down and clearing tables for the last half hour, and answered the question instead. "Jongdae and Minseok were sunbaes at my high school, Sehunnie-hyung. And while I was there, I heard a rumor that Minseok-sunbae has liked Jongdae-sunbae since they were 10 or something but Jongdae-sunbae has never clarified his feelings one way or another."
Tao finished with a disapprovingly raised eyebrow in Jongdae's direction, but Sehun took the willingness to discuss another's love life as a good sign of Tao's progress and clapped Luhan's cousin on the back enthusiastically. (Well, it was enthusiastic for Sehun, but if anyone asked, Tao would probably say it felt more like a gnat landing on his shoulder than a strong hand hitting his back.)
"This is good," Sehun nearly crowed in excitement about the happy news he'd be able to deliver to his boyfriend's waiting ears. "You're coming back to us, Taozi!"
At the reminder that he was supposed to be mad at Yifan, Tao actually got angry once more, so he left in a sudden huff that made Sehun regret saying anything in the first place. Jongdae just rolled his eyes at the other two's interaction and left to go back to his position at the register.
As Sehun watched both of his coworkers walk away, a horrible thought occurred to him and he felt right then like he almost wanted to cry. If he'd thought a distracted Jongdae was a lot to deal with on top of a wallowing Tao, now that Minseok had into the small group of regulars—employees and customers—at Just Sweet, Sehun could see things getting a whole lot worse before anything got better.
Be sure to check out the previous two chapters. They're both author's notes, but they're important, so please take a look if you haven't already. And for anyone who might be worried, don't be! Taoris and Chenmin will get their happy ending too!
I hope you enjoyed this ChenMin bonus chapter. And if you did, please don't be shy; upvote, subscribe, but at least definitely comment and let me know!
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