January 17^th 2016

You are somewhere deep inside one of your campus’ library corridor, sitting with your legs crossed and a half-read book on your lap. This is where you’ve been escaping reality for the past week. Since the coffee in this building is so pricey, you decided to bring your own coffee from home in a big coffee mug shaped like a mason jar.

The coffee you brought from home half an hour ago has gotten cold and watered down. You lay your head back on the bookshelves and let out a sigh, you miss your little hole-in-the-wall. You miss the atmosphere, the friendly baristas, you miss the chair— Oh, how much you miss those comfy chairs. The library is old, the carpet you are sitting under probably hasn’t been cleaned in a very long time. You miss the warm macchiatos. You miss the natural lighting you get from the small window right beside you, rather than this stupid yellow lamp hanging above you. To be honest, reading hasn’t made you feel good since the day the café closed down. Sure, you’re reading the book word by word, but you can’t seem to escape reality and feel what the characters are feeling for no more than a few minutes. Your mind is too distracted. No more adventures in your little head, no more fun.

It was stupid, but you actually thought of breaking in the empty store to just sit there and read. Yes, ‘twas a very stupid idea but the desperation to find a place to read is real.

“Attention everyone, the library will be closing in fifteen minutes. I repeat, the library will be closing in fifteen minutes.”

You lightly slap the center of your forehead. You totally forgot the library closes at 5 PM on Sundays. The frustration and anger you’ve been burying down on the bottom of your heels has finally reaches up to grab you by the throat. You just got here half an hour ago, you didn’t even have time to defrost yet! You wasted your time, and 3,000 won on bus fares.

You grab your trench coat and bundle up while muttering bad words under your breath. With your book snuggled up under your arm, and half of your face covered by your scarf, you head out of the old building of knowledge.

You walk with your head down low, passing by students, lovers, mother and daughter, best friends. You’ve been independently living in this city for three years on your own, in a comfy studio near the café. The library however, is a 20-minute bus ride from your place. Another good reason as to why you need a new reading place; 20 minutes bus ride is a long time, and you always feel so scared waiting at the bus stop all by yourself whenever you wait for the bus to go home from the library.

The bus ride back home was frustrating and depressing. You eagerly tap on your phone screen, trying to find any other branch libraries around the city that you can crash in for a few hours of reading time. But every website you click on, they all say the same thing: Sunday 10 AM – 5 PM. As you step out of the bus, you burry your face even lower into your warm scarf. Your place is a few streets away from the bus stop, so rather than waiting for the second bus, you decided to walk.

You quietly hum to your current favorite song to yourself, wishing that you didn’t forget your headphones at home. The sound of bells can be heard a few stores ahead from where you are. Two girls walk out of the shop with cups of coffees in their hands, laughing amongst themselves.

It would be nice to walk home with a warm cup of macchiato, you thought to yourself. As much as you are addicted to your books, you are also a big fan of caffeine. So you head on to the shop you see the two girls came out of.

You stop in front of a small coffee shop with a worn out sign that says “Snakes and Ladders”, the name sounds familiar to you but you can’t seem to pin point where you heard it. The coffee shop is well lit with a huge glass window right in front of the shop. You can see a barista eagerly working behind the counter and a huge menu board written in chalk behind him.

You twist the doorknob and nervously take a step inside the warm café. The jingles of the bell made a couple of people turn their heads towards the door, including the barista himself, “Welcome.”

His smile made the knot in your stomach even more twisted. You walk towards him, lining up behind three teenage girls who are wooing over the good-looking barista as he makes their coffee. Macchiato 5,000 won is written in green on the chalkboard. Not bad, you thought to yourself, I just hope it’s refillable. One of the things you loved about the old café is that their drinks are refillable, you only have to pay half of the price of the first drink for it.

“Hello, there! What can I get for you?” ask the barista, his big round eyes met with yours.

“Can I get a macchiato to go, please?” you said, looking away. You don’t know why, but those few seconds of eye contact you guys had made you feel super uncomfortable. It felt like those big round eyes of his are piercing right through your soul. You felt vulnerable.

“Sure thing! Can I get your name, please?” He grabs a paper cup and a sharpie marker, ready to write your name.

Taken aback by his weird question, you wait for him to say he’s kidding or something but he didn’t. He is seriously asking for your name so he can write it on your cup.  You blink a couple of times, putting the book you’ve been holding under your arm on the counter, “Uh… Cinderella.”

He chuckles but didn’t question the name, “One cup of macchiato to go for your majesty, that’ll be 5,000 won.” He said, giving me a playful wink.

You walk over to the side and watch him work. He has his back facing you, so you went ahead to stare right at him. “Eye candy,” you whisper to yourself.

“Right?”

You turn to your right to see a boy with bright orange hair watching the same back you are watching. “Oh, did I say that out loud?” You said, embarrassed. 

He waves his hand, “No need to feel embarrassed, most of the girls here comes just to see him.”

You want to ask him if he came for the barista too, but you don’t know if that would be considered rude or not. So you decided to just nod your head and shut up.

“Is he your type?” he asks you

You look at the barista once more; cute face, hot body, nice smile, head full of hair. “I don’t really know…” you lied.

“Good answer,” said the boy

“Macchiato for Cinderella,” said the barista, his eyes wandering around until they met yours.

You walk towards him, grabbing the coffee cup with your two hands. “Thanks,” you said, ready to walk out of the café. As you turn your back towards the barista, you see the boy with the orange hair wave out his hand to someone behind you. “Jungkook-ah,” he calls out.

“Babe, you’re here early… I’m not done for another half an hour,” said the barista.

“I know, my class ended early,” the orange hair boy reply.

You didn’t look back. You didn’t even bother to say good-bye to the boy you were talking to for a few minutes. You were too distracted, of course he’s gay! The good-looking guy that is too good to be true is always gay! You thought to yourself.

You walk home feeling embarrassed, stupid and depressed. As you unlock the door to your studio, you down the last drop of your macchiato and throw the cup inside the blue garbage bin.

You did your usual chores; wash the dishes from breakfast and lunch, make yourself dinner, scroll through social medias on your laptop, watch a couple of episodes of the current drama you are watching, and off to bed you go.

You snuggle inside your soft blanket, trying to find your ‘sleeping spot’. Everyone has a sleeping spot, but yours changes every now and then. Sometimes you like to sleep on your stomach, sometimes on your side, and heck, sometimes you even like to sleep in a fetus position.

You slowly feel your eyelids getting heavier, remembering the things you did today. I woke up, I ate breakfast, I did my homework, I did my laundry, I took the bus to go to the library, it was cold, I sat on the floor of the library, I read a chapter of my book, I— You abruptly sit up, your eyes wide open at yet another stupid act you did today, “MY BOOK!” you said out loud.

January 18^th 2016

After your afternoon class, you decided to revisit the place you were at yesterday, Snakes and Ladders. You let out a small groan, if your book is not at that café, then you probably left it on the bus, and that means you will have to pay the fine at the library. Cha Ching! There goes my money, you thought to yourself.

You walk down the familiar sidewalk, only this time in daylight. You burry your hands inside the pockets of your trench coat, and scurry off to the small café. In broad daylight, you can now clearly see the vintage looking café. It is now 3:30 PM, as you enter the café, you see a familiar face working behind the counter.

It wasn’t the homoual barista from yesterday, it was him; your favorite barista from the old café. He was facing the coffee grinder, so you can only see the side view of his face. A few questions pops up in your head, He works here? Since when? How come he lied to me that day and told me he didn’t know of any other good café in the city?

You walk towards him, feeling a bit nervous since your last talk. You clear your throat to get the boy’s attention, “Baekhyun-sshi?”

The boy didn’t turn around. You decided to call out to him once more, thinking maybe he didn’t hear you. “Baekhyun-sshi?”

Finally, he turns around, but to your surprise it wasn’t Baekhyun. Heck, he could be his twin for all you know, but the boy behind the counter is not your favorite barista. He has a very similar face structure, but this boy has a more defined nose, and his lips are a bit thicker than Baekhyun’s. The boy you can’t stop staring at also has a noticeable beauty mark on the tip of his nose. His chocolate colored hair sweeps across his forehead, with a few streaks of forest green on his fringe.

A familiar rectangle smile appears on his face, “Welcome.”

“H-hey…” you said, once again feeling uncomfortable, “I accidently left my book here yesterday, did anyone—“

“Ah!” said the boy, he grabs something under the counter. “This?” he said, pulling out my book.

“Oh, yes!” You said, grabbing the book from him, “thank you so much.” Just as you were about to head out, you hear his voice.

“That’s it?” He asks, “You’re not even going to buy anything?”

You raise your right eyebrow and turn back around. “I didn’t know I have to buy something if I’m just here to get something that I accidentally left.”

A smug spread across his face, which makes you feel even more annoyed. “I mean… we kept your precious book, didn’t we? The least you can do is buy a coffee.”

You walk towards him, pulling out 5,000 won out of your wallet. “Here,” you smack the money on the counter, “Thank you for keeping my book safe,” you said sarcastically, “I don’t want your stupid coffee.”

Just like that, you storm out of Snakes and Ladder, cursing at the cocky barista under your breath. He might look like Byun Baekhyun, but their personalities are total opposites. This boy screams out cockiness, and you hate that. You hate overly confident people. You walk towards your bus stop while clinging on to the book you just traded for 5,000 won. I will never come back to that stupid café ever again, you promised yourself.

Back at Snakes and Ladders, the taunting boy is drying off the coffee mugs with a smile on his face.

“Oh!” said Jungkook, “The book I put under the counter is not there anymore…”

“She came to get it,” he said, still smiling.

“Why are you smiling like that?” ask the other.

“Because I just picked a fight with her,” he chuckles.

The boy’s intention was very different than the actual outcome. In all honesty, he didn’t really mean to pick a fight with her. He just wanted her to stay a little longer. Her beauty caught his eyes, and he wanted to study her face and her body language a little bit longer than just a few minutes. Even that small argument they had, weirdly satisfied him too. When she tilted her head to the side and raised her perfectly shaped eyebrow at him, or how her long brown hair swayed side to side as she stormed out of the café. He would’ve preferred capturing her happy face, but her annoyed face was cute too. 

The boy knows she’ll never come back, he knows she totally despised him now. But a tiny speck in his heart still has hope that one day, he would see her face by the front door once more. 

Hey guys :)

I got super excited so decided to write the second chapter really early

It's funny that some of you thought her favorite barista was Jin because he was my second choice lol.

subscribe and upvotes are appriciated

Comment what you guys think about this chapter ^^

I shall update soon~