With sudden, harsh rain pouring down from the darkened skies, the small café named Five Stars, stationed almost in the outskirts of London, quickly filled with many kinds of people, all with a purpose to discover a nice cozy place to find something enjoyable about the weather. It was late, with only half an hour left until the closing. And since mostly everyone had ordered something, be it a cup of coffee or a small slice of strawberry cake, the staff had too much work in their hands. .

"Number nine, number nine..." Taemin, a dark-haired waiter muttered to himself while holding a plate of three small cherry pies, his eyes searching for a table that held the said number. Having found it, he quickly moved, greeted the three elderly women respectfully in almost-fluent, but slightly accented English (the women were undoubtedly quite surprised at a foreigner bringing them their ordered food, although much less than hearing him speak their difficult language), asked them if they wanted something else (to which they replied negatively), bowed, and left to give out the next order.

As he worked, he was also thinking about how unfair it was that the rain just happened to fall when it was his shift. Usually the café was moderately populated, and almost empty during the late hours, which was Taemin's set working time. It fit him well, getting a good amount of money with simple work, how could he ever pass that by? For a foreign student getting their education in the prestigious University of London money was definitely needed and that kind of a job helped to provide him just that. Besides, it wasn't stressful, but more of a relaxing experience.

But despite the relaxation and the bonus money he knew he would get, he still had a strong desire to go home.

"Taemin, why haven't you taken this away yet?" his fellow waitress colleague, Sulli, asked. She felt the same way as Taemin, he knew, as they had grown into best friends by their time in this lonely, incredibly populated city of Seoul. A foreigner as well, though with a slightly lighter look, they had bonded quickly, sharing their stories with each other. She did get grumpy sometimes, much to the annoyance of Taemin, but her positives luckily made up for it.

"Oh, , sorry," he said to her as he passed by the counter. "Hectic, you know," he added as he took the order and moved out.

It's almost 9pm, almost 9pm, he thought, only ten minutes left, please go quickly.

The café started emptying as people realized it was reaching its time of closing, much to the happiness of Taemin, Sulli and another waiter, Jonghyun. They were able to start cleaning the tables and preparing for the workday's end.

In the corner of his eye, Taemin noticed Jonghyun glancing at Sulli in a strange, almost longing way. He swallowed a giggle. Jonghyun had always been so obvious about his interest in the gorgeous co-worker, yet the woman never noticed. Or perhaps she was just playing coy, or pretending not to recognize the glint in Jonghyun's eyes as he spoke with her, as Sulli was good at reading people. Taemin made a mental note to ask her about Jonghyun later.

With two minutes left until nine o'clock, a young, very attractive man stepped in, drenched from the still torrential rain. His dark hair was flat on his forehead, dripping the water embedded in it, and his seemingly designer clothes were soaked. His white shirt was so wet Taemin could see the skin through it. He tried not to dwell on that much.

He shrugged off his jacket and made his way over to the counter.

"A cup of tea, please," he said in a smooth, velvety voice. The workers didn't know what to do, with only a minute left of their job, and the man giving them an order.

"Uh, sir," Taemin spoke, "it's almost closing time."

Taemin bit his lips subconsciously as the man turned to look at him. He sighed, a frown impaling his wonderful face, and suddenly he turned pouty. "But it's just a cup of tea, it won't take long, right?" he questioned, his bottom lip sticking out, although Taemin wasn't sure if it was done so on purpose.

Taemin glanced at Sulli and Jonghyun, who seemed just as helpless as him, but stood next to each other in a way that made Taemin smirk. Thinking he could sacrifice a little bit of his time, he made a move with his hand in their direction, as if telling them to leave. Sulli met his eyes, with uncertainty making its way to her gaze.

Go, I'll be alright, he mouthed at her and smiled. Although not very satisfied, Sulli nodded, trusting Taemin with his decision, and told Jonghyun that they were free to leave. Taemin turned back to the man who had been watching the exchange with hopefulness and curiosity. "Take a seat, I'll bring you a cup then," he said with a friendly voice, and the smile that took over the man's face was nothing short of breathtaking. "Okay," he answered and started heading towards one of the tables right next to the warm fireplace. Then he turned and looked at Taemin with a glint in his dark eyes. He his lips before asking, "I think I might want some company so how about you make a cup for yourself too and join me?"

Surprised, Taemin just nodded. Satisfied, the person went on his way to his table and sat down. Taemin started making the tea but his mind was swirling with thoughts. Why did I nod? Why didn't I just say that, no, sorry, I have things to do? ing why must he be so... damn... attractive? Why-

Sitting down in the chair on the other side of the table and setting the cup in front of the man, he started fondling with the ear of his own mug, not knowing what to say or do. The man thanked him and took a sip of his tea.

"Mmm, this is good," he said, "nice to drink on a night like this."

He raised his gaze from the cup and looked his companion in the eyes. "Thank you," he said, sincerely.

Taemin smiled at him and shook his head shyly. "You're welcome."

"What's your name?" he asked then.

"Um, I'm Taemin," he answered and finally tried out his own drink.

"Taemin," he said, as if trying out the feel of his name on his tongue.

He wouldn't and couldn't ever tell him, but Taemin thought that the way he pronounced it was way too cute. He looked Korean, but obviously he wasn’t that good at actually speaking the language as he had difficulty saying his name in the right way, although it was just simple two syllables. He could tell the man was really trying to say it the way Taemin had before, though, and that flattered him.

Taemin blushed instead and started fiddling with his fingers, not being able to control his actions and bodily reactions, unlike his thoughts.

"Thank you, what's yours?"

He flashed that amazing smile at Taemin again.

"I'm Kai."

----

"I can't believe it's been two years since we met," Taemin said suddenly, lying in the arms of a sleepy Kai.

"Mm, me neither. I didn't know I would end up here with you," Kai whispered, too tired from their fast (and hard) night to use his voice.

Taemin tried to look up at his face, just to find that he had craned his head in a way that didn't help Taemin at all, so he raised himself on his elbows. Kai's eyes were already closed and Taemin wanted to cackle at the fact that Kai's stamina had worn out before his own. His boyfriend's sleepiness didn't keep Taemin from placing a soft peck on his lips, though.

"I find it amazing how you just happened to come into my café at that time," Taemin said and sighed, content. "I didn't want to think so back then, just in case if something were to happen, but now... now I can't help but wonder if we really were made to be, are made to be. That couldn't have been a coincidence."

Kai opened his eyes and bit his lip, a somewhat troubled look on his face. Taemin noticed and curved his eyebrow in a questioning way.

"Honestly..." he started and gulped.

A pause.

"I actually planned it that way."

"Planned?" Taemin asked, confused.

A nervous bite on his lip once again.

"I planned it all... coming to the café when it was about to close," he muttered and averted his eyes, soft pink gracing his cheeks. "I wanted to get to know this pretty dark haired boy who had brought me my cup of tea a few times before, greeted me with a graceful bow and a beautiful smile."

Two years later and Kai was still able to render him speechless.

So he pulled him into a kiss instead.