“Okay, so the failure of Japan’s economy is due to the bubble economy and…” So Eun shut her eyes tight as she struggled to recall the factors for the historical failure of the Japanese economy she learnt in her lecture earlier this morning. And…blank. 

So Eun let out a sigh of exasperation and clamped her history lecture notes shut. This was probably the umpteenth time since she started her part time shift that she has tried to memorise the contents from her earlier college lecture but obviously, it had been an utter failure so far. 

You know what? I need a break. That’s exactly what I need. 

She looked up from behind the cashier counter and felt a sore ache pulsing through her neck. Damn it. So Eun brought her hands up to give her sore neck a tiny massage and felt the ache slowly going away. Much better. Maybe I should try being a masseuse one day. She chuckled. She was thinking useless thoughts again.

At that instant, So Eun heard the door chimes ringing and she immediately turned her attention to the new customer that had entered through the door. A boy, which looked approximately 18 years old sauntered in. 

“Welcome to Namu Cafe. What can I get you?” So Eun greeted the boy while putting on her most pleasant smile. 

Behind that smile, So Eun’s head immediately started working. 

She noted the black hair and checked off the first criteria in her checklist. Black hair is decent. Yes, not too bad. Face is quite decent as well. Her eyes trailed to the black ear studs. Nope, no way. He has earrings.

Within a mere minute, So Eun had already decided that this guy standing in front of her at the cashier counter was not going to be a decent boyfriend. And this was all because he had black studs. 

So Eun has always had this habit of matching almost every boy she sees around her age group against this mental checklist she made when she was 17. The ideal boyfriend checklist. 

According to the checklist, for someone to be an ideal boyfriend he had to have decent hair, an intelligent face, no tattoos, and no earrings. And as long as a guy did not meet all the criteria on So Eun’s checklist, they had no chance of being a good boyfriend. 

So Eun handed the approximately 18 year old boy the caramel latte he ordered and said cheerfully, ”Thank you! Do come back again!”

The boy took his drink, gave a small polite nod and left. 

So Eun’s thoughts trailed off to Oh Sehun and a gentle smile formed on her lips. Sehun had black, clean cut hair. Decent hair, check. His earlobes were free of any piercings and he had absolutely no markings on his body. No earrings and no tattoos, check. Last but not least, Sehun’s face was definitely intelligent, at least to So Eun. Intelligent face, check. Oh Sehun was 23. He was perfect. And he was her boyfriend. 

So far, no guys So Eun ever laid her eyes upon fulfilled her ideal boyfriend checklist. Maybe there were one or two, but I swear it was rare that any guy would be gifted with a face So Eun deemed intelligent. 

How did it feel to have such a perfect male as your boyfriend? 

When Sehun asked to date her 3 months ago, So Eun felt like she could ride above the clouds on her unicorn together with her pegasus friends and eat the rainbows. That was how ridiculous it seemed. Never in her life would So Eun have dreamt of someone so perfect like Sehun wanting to date her. Wanting to and not being forced to. Not that she was complaining, instead, So Eun was so excited to say yes that she almost choked on her saliva. 

The door chimes once again broke So Eun out of her thoughts. Is it Sehun? Is he here to see me?  So Eun’s heart started racing with excitement. Instead, a familiar forest scent struck her. Oh. So Eun couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed. It’s not Sehun. It’s him. It must be 10pm already. 

So Eun immediately turned towards the all too familiar customer and politely greeted, “Welcome to Namu Cafe.” 

Right at the door of the cafe stood the guy in a charcoal grey sleeveless hoodie with the hood drawn down, covering his eyes and the blonde nest of tousled hair atop his head. 

This guy had been regular patron of the cafe probably since 3 years ago when So Eun started her part time job at the cafe. When I say regular, I mean really regular. For 3 years, he had never failed to come to the cafe daily at exactly 10pm, never 1 minute earlier or later, and always ordered the same drink; vanilla latte. This had always felt really odd to So Eun and even though she saw him everyday, she could never gather the courage to ask him about it. It could be because of his large dragon tattoo on his right arm that scared her, or those dark piercing eyes that seemed to scream ‘stay away’. 

And of course, the first time So Eun laid her eyes on him, he had immediately been subjected to her ideal boyfriend checklist. And he violated every single one of her criteria right off the bat. 

He had a blonde nest of hair that was nowhere close to being decent. He had black studs (So Eun had always questioned the trend of black studs that guys loved to follow. It was totally stupid to her), and a huge conspicuous black dragon tattoo that covered the upper area of his right arm (that was nicely muscular I might add). Last but not least, the guy’s dark piercing eyes and constant dangerous look was definitely not the least bit intelligent. 

“Should I get you your regular vanilla latte?” So Eun politely probed the guy when he just stood at the door without a word. 

Then her eyes fell on his exposed arms and So Eun jumped back in shock. Oh my God. Her eyes widened as they trailed over the long deep cuts all over both of the guy’s arms. It looked like a knife had slashed his arms and each gash was at least the length of her palm. Blood was slowly oozing out of all the gashes, trickling down his arms, to his fingers then dripping on the floor. 

So Eun slowly lifted her hands to cup in horror as her eyes stayed fixated on the horribly serious wounds.

Oh my God. Oh no no no. What on earth happened to this guy? Why is hi—

She almost forgot to breathe when the guy lifted his head to look at So Eun with his signature dark piercing eyes. Instead this time, So Eun saw pain, extreme pain in his eyes. It was no wonder when she saw his face. His face had blue black and purple splotches all over. A small but clearly visible cut ran across his right eyelid that was too swollen to allow him to see. Red blood had crusted on his swollen lip. 

God, this guy is so damn badly beaten up. He shouldn’t be here!

“Do- Do you need to go to the hospital?” So Eun stuttered as she slowly made her way towards the badly wounded guy. 

So Eun slapped her forehead and let out a nervous laugh, “No no thats a stupid question. Of course you should go to the hospital. W-wait, let me get my phone.” She frantically patted her skirt pockets, searching for her phone. 

“No, don’t do that.” A soft, hoarse voice barely made out.

So Eun slowly lifted her eyes to meet the pained expression on the guy’s face. “Don’t call the ambulance?” 

“Don’t…Don’t call. Please.”

Before So Eun could even process her thoughts, the guy suddenly clutched his abdomen and let out a tortured groan. She saw the gaze in his only one good eye gradually weaken and his legs losing strength. 

No. No no no.

With a loud bang, the battered guy collapsed on the floor, unconscious. 

“NO!” 

A/N

It has been a really really long time since I ever wrote a fic. I've had a really busy and stressful year this year due to my finals but now that I'm done with it (whew) I have all the time in the world to come back to writing! Yay

I hope that all you lovely subscribers will enjoy this story which I will definitely work hard on. 

Thank you for taking the time to read and feel free to leave any comments(: