Chapter 7

Obedience

"Wasn't it good to be trapped inside a room with chestnut?" Ara teases, pouring hot chocolate sauce on the waffle, scooping up a perfect ball of vanilla bean ice-cream and topping it with some fried bananas. That looks so nice! 

'Chestnut' has been a nickname for Mark since she first told Ara about him. The name was decided by Ara and the owner when she describes the boy, referring to his light brown hair. 

"It was burning hot in there. It's like I was being locked in an oven. I don't even know what I did to deserve all these." She continues to recite her story about the incident. Not forgetting to mention all the little details that had happened, even telling them about Mark, letting them to analyze the situation too. "He must have had a trauma or something..." "One of my friend acts like that too." The owners says and sips on her drink. "Look who's here." Ara points to the door and smirks, she walks away into the kitchen, leaving the deed to Eva. 

"This place looks good." "I know right, Eva told me about this." "Why didn't you bring us here sooner." The seven boys keep on blabbering like the ahjummas they are. They hog up the space at the counter and taking their time to decide what they want to eat and drink, ignoring the line behind them. "I'll have a- NO WAY..." Jackson looks up, follow by the boys. They stare at the person standing behind the counter, waiting to take their orders. They never expect seeing her here, working even, so does Mark. He must have forgotten what Eva told him. "You work here?" Jinyoung asks carefully. For kids from wealthy families, they have no idea what it is like and probably never have to work a day in their lives. To exaggerate the matter, some of them might not even know what 'part time job' is. It is no surprise to see them being weirded out by the fact of Eva working in a cafe. To the first class kids like them, part time jobs are for the forth. "Your father owns this place?" "No, and may I have your order please?" She asks politely and hinting that the people behind them are getting impatient. Eva taps on the touch screen monitor, entering their orders. "Your orders will be right up. Please have a seat." The boys do as they were told and sit at a table beside the window, constantly turning their heads to look at the counter, watching Eva takes orders and making drinks. She's beautiful.

"Why don't you go talk to your friends. I'll take over." Ara stands behind Eva and reaches her arm across to put a plate of spaghetti Carbonara on the countertop. Mark stares in shock, eyes wide like saucers. Jealousy creeps up on him when he sees their close proximity, but he denies that emotion. He continues to examines Eva, and Ara somehow notices it then decides to go further to rile up the boy. "Pour some more milk into that cup." Ara points at the bottle and reaches her hand to pinch the girl's cheeks. Eva is taken aback by her actions at first but she then realizes that she's doing it purposely. What is she up to this time? She chuckles and decided to go along with her.  

The two girls continue to play along like a sweet couple they are, bickering from time to time and teasing each other. "I guess it's enough for today. Chestnut doesn't look happy." Eva finally knows now, and she finds it stupid to see Mark chewing on his straw with a frown on his face. She can't hold back her laughter and breaks into a giggle fit. "It's funny, right?" Ara and the owner laughs along. She knew about it too! They are seriously childish. 

Eva throws the dirty cloth into the sink and walks out from the counter, marching her way to the table where the boys sit at. "Hey Eva, we were just talking about you!" Yugyeom slaps Bambam on his hand. They are hiding something? "Don't you need to... work?" Jaebum asks, struggling with his words. It sounds awkward for him to say that to a first class student, they usually talk about market prices, stocks, names of big companies and CEOs. "I'm free for now." She looks over to Mark and he's glaring at something. Ara. He looks pouty and his eyes showing a glimpse of anger. Why is he so cute? She ruffles his hair like a puppy. "Who pulls on your this time?" Her joke cracks them up and they are laughing at the eldest. "No one." I'll have to ask him later. 

They continue to talk for the next hours. Eventually the sky has gone darker and it's time for them to leave, Eva hasn't end her shift yet. She bids them goodbye then goes back to the spot where she belongs to. She works on the coffee machine skillfully, not as Ara, but she's better than most of the baristas from other cafes.

"Erm..." A voice speaks, he coughs awkwardly. Eva whips her head at the sound only to see a hella tall boy standing there, eyeing her behind his single eyelids. She searches for Ara and finds her frosting some cupcakes. Eva puts away the ceramic mug. She was working on a cup of coffee, mixing up different beans, brewing with different temperature, pouring a bit of cinnamon or a little shot of vodka. Few cups were set at the side, ready for the owner to have a taste. Eva dreams to invent her own coffee drink and put it in the menu and she's half way to pursuing it.

Eva has to incline her head to meet his eyes. "What would you like to order?" "Americano please, thank you." He says with so much manner, he looks gentle too. And he has braces on, despite that he still looks good. 

"Nam Joohyuk-ssi." Eva calls out the name, and the tall boy reappears. His face is red for some reason, looking ultra fluffy in his fur collar coat. He has a shy smile on his face, surprisingly he's avoiding her eyes. His hand moving to grasp the cup and for a second their fingertips touched. He immediately lets go of his drink from the jolt of electricity, his face turning crimson red. What's with him? Eva stares weirdly. "I-I'm so sorry..." He groans lowly. "It's okay, I'll make you another one." She hands him the cup and he takes it then scurries off the cafe. 

"Who that boy?" Ara appears suddenly.

"I've no idea, but he's weird." Eva recalls the time when she sees twinkles in his eyes. He looked just like a little kid receiving a new toy in Christmas. His small smile was attractive.

"Ever heard of love at first sight?" 

"That's stupid." That thing is cliche.

"He looks pretty nervous though." Ara removes her waist apron and fishes out a box of cigarette and a lighter. It seems like she's going to meet her teenage girlfriend. She lits up a stick and smoke puffs out from her lips when she greets farewell. It's time for Eva to leave too. 


Eva steps out of the shower with a towel wrapping around her body and a small ones on her head to soak off her wet hair. After putting on her pajamas, she walks to her window with excitement. She's more than ready to meet the person she's been waiting for. "Hey, you're late!" Mark yells from the opposite the second after he sees her window being pushed open. "What's wrong with you today? On your period?" She questions jokingly. It's true that the boy is acting like a today. He didn't speak much to her at the cafe, didn't pick up her calls and only reply her texts with short lines. "Oh I don't know too?" He speaks in a sassy one. "First of all you didn't tell me that you work in a cafe. Second, you never mention to me about your boyfriend. And now I'm see you working with him. In the same place!" Mark throws his hands up in frustration, while Eva watches in amusement. She has to hold back her laughter. He thinks that Ara is my boyfriend? Her plans were very effective. 

"Are we even friends now?" Eva finally cracks up. "What's so funny?" It's hilarious to watch a guy gets upset and jealous over the opposite gender. She laughs and laughs, to her heart content. As for Mark, he remains a straight face, waiting for the girl to stop. Her laughter continues to ring in his ear, it tickles his heart a little and he finds it weird. "Care to explain?" She finally pauses. Breathing heavily and wiping off fake tears from her eyes, "Ara is a girl." "This is not funny, Evianna." He's being serious. "She really is!" He can't believe it. Embarrassment rushes over and pulls back the curtains to calm himself down. When he opens them again, Eva is grinning slyly. "Awww." She coos, teasing him. 

"When have you been working there?" He asks curiously, actually showing interests in the job, even though he knows better than anyone else that his parents will never let him do any work as long as he's still studying. They don't even allow him to step a foot in the kitchen. He has to ask the maid to do the favor all the time when he's craving for ramen. Poor boy doesn't even know how pancakes were made.

"Two weeks after I came here. I was still lacking in Korean but the owner was kind to hire me right away." "But why? How?" 

"Because I had the same job when I was in the States. And here I am..." She gestures the hand movements in making coffee. Mark stares with his big doe eyes.

"You gotta teach me that." He imitates, making the girl chuckles. "Is it easy? To do all the cool tricks?" Eva's mind wanders to the image of Mark brewing coffee in a brown waist apron. The sleeves of his white button up shirt rolled up with two espresso cups in his hand. She can assure that more high school girls are going to visit the cafe, mesmerizing his beauty. "Hey hey! Do you hear me?" Mark waves his arms around to catch her attention, breaking her fantasies. "I was asking if you're joining the camp? The boys and I decided to give it a try." A camp? Never in her life Eva had joined one, not even in the States. Her school used to hold many activities and camping is one of them. Because of the fact that she's staying in an orphanage and she's sometimes needed to take care of the younger ones, she wasn't able to leave the place. Seeing that there's an opportunity, she can't let off the chance. Going hunting in the forest, building campfire and spending a night in a tent. It all sounds so amazing to her. At least for that particular day she doesn't have to live in luxury. All these branded clothings, expensive utensils, servants and personal chef. Feeling she was born with a silver spoon in , she knows it too well that that's not her. She seeks for a simple life, doing things on her own without being pampered by anyone. Roasting marshmallows at the campfire with plain white t-shirt, cotton shorts and messy bun. No one is stopping her to join this activity. "Of course." 

Like this story? Give it an Upvote!
Thank you!

Comments

You must be logged in to comment
Li_Yen #1
Chapter 9: Pls update ASAP!!!
So addicting...
cece_mytlover
#2
Chapter 9: really interesting story :D
Bambam25
#3
Chapter 7: Sooo cool, hope you update soon. ;)))))