Imagine this...

You're a twenty something newly single of the working class living in New York.

It is the middle of spring.
Its warm out with a light breeze.The air is filled with the sound of clustered conversations, soles on concrete,and beeping horns,as you traverse uptown NY with your good friend Steven in tow, in search of a cafe that has recently opened that your friend is very eager to try.

The two of you are maneuvering around fast walking busy bodies when you see a young man on the other side of the street.He's dressed in bartender garb standing on the sidewalk in front of a quaint looking cafe called 'Tinsels Cafe' the young man has a nervous demeanor and is holding what seems to be flyers in his hands.He shyly passes them out to pedestrians.Probably advertisements to welcome potential customers to the cafe you think to yourself.

It has to be the cafe you're looking for no doubt,you make your thoughts known to Steven and you two quickly cross the street watching for cars as you jog up to the front door,nodding to the jittery young man as you each politely take a flyer and step into the cafe.

The sound of a tinkling bell rings above you and you are met with the aroma of ground coffee beans and baked goods.To the right of the entrance,a large rich mahogany counter,above it hangs menu panels displaying the cafes various drinks and foods.Standing behind the counter stands a bored looking young man filing his nails,w wearing a bartender outfit similar to the jittery boy with the flyers just outside the entrance.There are three other similarly dressed young men behind the counter talking quietly amongst themsleves.Not one of them bothered to acknowledge you,which you found strange and a bit rude. And even stranger still, you notice that all the servers seem to be young men.

The shop isn't busy at all but you expected as much for a new shop.To the left of the entrance, wooden chairs in shades of burgundy, brown and maroon are arranged into mini-living rooms with matching wooden coffee tables.There is a bespectacled woman sitting quietly in the corner with a newspaper and coffee in hand and two older women sitting next to a window decorated with potted plants chatting and giggling away.

You spy a table adjacent to the chatty older women and notice a small pink laminated menu sitting on the coffee table.You and Steven have a seat and decide to glance over the menu, and after promptly making your selections you're ready to order.You turn your attention to the young men behind the counter.Ready to get your order taken you raise your hand in the air and give it a little shake as you call out to them "excuse me,we would like to order" you say.

They didn't seem to hear you as none of them have looked up from their conversation.You try again but a bit louder this time "excuse me sirs" you say,but still your call goes unanswered as not a one looks up.Surely they heard you that time,they aren't ignoring you are they? A bit annoyed now you call out again,this time much louder "EXCUSE ME!" you exclaim.You receive a grumpy and rude "WHAT?!"in reply from one of the young men behind the counter.He's looking at you now,apparent annoyance in his face contorting his otherwise handsome and flawless looks.An Asian man, tall,young, looks to be in his early 20's with androgynous facial features and plump lips.His hair is dyed a strawberry blonde and cut into a short sleek bob with bangs.

You were so taken aback by his curt reply that you momentarily gawked at him in surprise.It takes a minute but you manage to collect yourself and find your voice "we would like to order" you say a bit sheepishly.The young man scoffs under his breath and makes his way over to your table.You shoot Steven a look of bewilderment at this servers rude behavior,Steven looks just as confused and shocked as you are.

The server stops in front of your table placing his hands behind his back whilst glaring down at you.You see a rectangular name tag attached to his shirt "Taemin" it reads."Well?" the sound of his breathy yet soft-spoken voice snaps your attention from his name tag onto his face.

"Er...yes" you splutter.You tell Taemin you would like a large brownie,a slice of cheesecake and a grande sized vanilla latte.He narrows his eyes at you and asks "You sure you need all that?" You furrow your brow at him "w-what are you saying?" You ask indignantly.Is he trying to say you ordered too much? He ignores your question and turns his focus to Steven and asks "and what do you want?" Caught a bit off guard,Steven places his order.After Steven is finished Taemin mutters something under his breath and storms off,dissapearing behind a pair of silver doors behind the large mahogany counter that swings to and fro which you surmised must be the kitchen.

As soon as the moody Taemin was out of sight you voiced your complaints to Steven."What crawled up that guys ?! Did you hear him?! What nerve! Was he trying to call me a pig or something just now?!" The vein in your neck throbbed angrily at the thought.What did it concern him how much food you ordered? You thought to yourself.Steven muttered something along the lines of leaving a lousy tip which you vehemently agreed upon.Your conversation was cut short however as you heard a pair of doors being swung open and saw the ill tempered server striding towards your table carrying various plates of food.He gingerly set down Steven's order but he slammed your order down too hard,spilling your tea a little onto the table.

Tea? You eye your cup to see a light colored liquid with a slice of lemon floating in it,much too light to be coffee and there is a faint citrus scent emerging from it.It is indeed tea.

Taemin began to wordlessly walk away from your table when you say to him...."Excuse me sir,but this is not what I ordered.I ordered vanilla latte but you gave me tea" you say pointing to the cup."I know what you ordered" he said,arms folded."Then if you know,please take it back" you say as you try to smile,you push the cup towards him a little as you do. "No" he says.

"W...what?" You stammer,confused.Taemin uncrosses his arms and points at the brownie on your table "that brownie has 300 calories" he states, he points to the slice of cheesecake next "the slice of cheese cake has 200" Your cheeks began to burn hot at his words."The....GRANDE vanilla latte you ordered would have been 500 calories.Are you an elephant? You have a attractive voluptuous figure,you'll lose it if you continue to eat like Rick Ross" he states rudely.You hear a snort utter from Steven as he begins to drain his cup.You ball your hands into fists and you glare at the server "Hey you!" You shout incredulously at him but he simply "hmphs" and walks away,unconcerned in the slightest about your anger.

"Is he insane? That was out of line!" You say aloud.Your eyes rest grudgingly on the tea Taemin brought you,his harsh words echoing in your mind.

How dare he,i'll eat what I please! You think to yourself.Did he call me voluptuous? You also think.

It's my body,if I want to eat like a elephant that's my business! Did he say my body was attractive? You think he did...
you had a bit more extra fat on your body than necessary,your mother often referred to you as 'chubby bunny'A lesser polite term one of your brutish classmates once called you was "fat" Chubby,fat...these were terms you were familiar with,but attractive and voluptuous was not one of them.Voluptuous sounded a bit.....y.Your face began to redden...no one ever said that to you before...

Concerned,your friend asks if you're alright given the servers remarks....you say that you're fine and reluctantly pick up your tea.You give it a sniff and take a sip,its warm and sweet and tastes of honey and lemon as it warms your stomach on it's way down,Its good.

But maybe the smell is a bit too strong as your nose begins to tingle a little,and you start to sneeze.You didn't notice before but the cafe was a bit chilly,a shiver goes down your spine and you hug yourself and vigorously move your hands up and down your arms in an attempt to warm yourself up.Perhaps it was the cold and not the tea that was the cause of your sneezing you think.Reluctantly, you glance over once again to the cafe counter seeing that the servers have one again continued their conversation with each other,all except Taemin who was now glaring at you from across the room.

His intense gaze made you a bit nervous,whats his problem? You wonder.You knew it would be futile to call out to him,so you decide you may have better luck by getting up and strolling up to the counter.The other servers ignored you,whilst Taemin just continued to glare.You notice a little silver bell resting on the counter,you hit it twice in defiance at being ignored a 2nd time.The ping ping of the bell causes the chatty servers to stop their conversation and glare over at you "that's annoying" one of the servers said grumpily in response to you ringing the bell.

You narrow your eyes at him "Well,sorry but.... I need service" you say raising your head a little."Again? I just finished serving you" Taemin butts in."Well I need more seevice" you say."What a pain" the server with the nail file says."What kind of cafe is this?!" You ask exasperadly.They ignore your question as Taemin asks simply "well what then?make it quick were busy" he says as he begins to dig in his ear.You look around the almost empty shop.Busy how? You ignore his quip and get straight to it."It's become cold in here,i think im getting sick.Can you please turn down the A/C or turn up the heat?" You ask.He puts his hand in the air feeling for something "Doesn't feel cold to me,its probably all in your head" he says lazily.

You slam your fist on the counter fed up with his antics."It is not!Listen here you little snot,i don't know if you're having a bad day or what but your attitude stinks! Turn down the A/C or not only will you not be getting a tip,ill be speaking to your manager!" you snapped.You were quite pleased with yourself for being so assertive.
Your assertiveness however was met with snickering from the other three servers who were trying to hide grins and keep from laughing.The other patrons of the cafe seemed to be giggling a little too.What was going on? Why was everyone giggling at you? As if everyone was in on a joke you knew nothing about.

Taemin rolls his eyes at your sudden outburst and says with an impertinent smirk "you don't have to be so rude"he says,as he disappears once again behind the silver doors.You felt your face flush,unbeleiveable! He was rude first!You left the counter in disgust and stomped back to your table.

You sat down with a thud and pulled out your cell.Steven asks what you're doing and you reply saying "leaving a bad review of cafe on Yelp" you say as your fingers move quickly across the screen.

The sound of silver doors again,but you don't bother looking up this time.Suddenly,you feel something smack into your chest.You look down to see a dark blue jacket covering your upper torso.You look up to see Taemin standing there hands on his hips."Why did you throw this at me?!" You ask angrily. "Didn't you say you were cold?! It's my jacket ,take it! If you get sick it'll be a pain" He said angrily back and walks off.

His jacket? You awkwardly put it on.Its warm,very warm as you hug it to your body.It has a wool-like lining on the inside and it smells of old spice.It made you feel happy and cozy,and then irritated.He didn't have to throw it at you,you didnt ask for his jacket.But that was also very kind,and a boy has never given you his jacket before.Your face got hot again,arent you tired of it doing that?

You were confused at this man's bizarre behavior,one minute he's insulting and rude but then it seems the next minute he shows concern,and gives you compliments.Why is he like this? And what sort of establishment allows this kind of behavior?And why haven't you left yet?

You lock eyes once again with Taemin,who has come to give you the bill.He slams it on the table and begins to walk off "Wait!" You say stopping him in his tracks."What is it now?" he asks, his back facing you as he looks over his shoulder at you.

"You have been rude to us...well... mostly me the minute we entered this cafe,What's your problem? Do you really think it's okay to treat your guests like crap?" He turns to face you now."Then why did you come here?....if not to be treated like crap?" He responds coolly. "Huh?" You ask confused.

He shakes his head "Were you born yesterday? Dont you know what kind of cafe this is?" He asks looking at you amusedly.You glance at Steven who shrugs at you,you turn back to Taemin and shake your head no."It's a Tsundere cafe,idiot" he said running his fingers through his hair.

"Tsun...Tsundere cafe?"But those only exist in Japan.I didn't know they opened one here!" You say.No wonder the patrons giggled at you ,did everyone know about the cafe except you? You look at Steven to find him laughing uncontrollably.So he knew too but he didnt tell you,how embarrassing.

"Steven you jerk,you should have said something not played a trick on me!" you say But Steven only laughed harder.You started to get fired up when a thought crosses your mind."But wait then...that stuff you said earlier about me being voluptuous and  giving me this jacket? Was that an act?...you do that to everyone,right? You get paid to,its nothing special with me,right? You deflated a bit as your question tumbles out.Steven has stopped laughing and there is a bitter taste rising in your throat now.

Surprisingly his face softened just a bit as he could hear something sad in your tone,for a minute he just stares at you,rendered speechless.

Sensing the awkwardness in the air,you force a chuckle "I'm just kidding" you say half-heartedly trying to convince yourself more so than trying to convince him.Whats wrong with you? Hes just a Tsundere waiter,it's his job to do this.Is your self-esteem so low that a couple of well placed compliments from a handsome stranger got to your heart?  Still...You feel your eyes well up a little but you pull yourself together."You're good at this tsundere thing,you really fooled me i'll be sure to include a tip" you rummage around in your pocket and toss a couple ones onto the table and hurriedly get up to leave before you embarass yourself further.As you make your escape Taemin grabs you by the wrist and pulls you to him,facing him.

His body heat mixes with yours,and his face comes dangerously close to your face.The scent of peppermint is wafting off his lips.You look up at him, gazing into his glossy chestnut eyes."W...what the hell?..." you stutter nervously as try to control your heart rate which was dangerously rising for some reason....

Taemin eyes linger on your lips and he sets an intense unbreaking gaze on you,his cheeks have gone a bright magenta as he leans in close and whispers into your ear,his breath hot on your neck."Im not allowed to do this it's against policy,but...You better come and see me again,or I won't forgive you" he shoves you away and begins to clean off your table."Oh,and keep my jacket" he says glancing up at you and then returning to his cleaning.

He was just saying that,he probably says that to all the patrons he didn't mean it you try to convince yourself....it didn't look like he was acting though.You mull it over as you and Steven exit the cafe onto the busy streets of N.Y

However the next week you find yourself wandering into 'Tinsels Cafe' again and strangely enough the week after that.You found you just could not stop yourself from coming here whenever you got the Free time because you wanted to see the man who had caused your heart rate to rise involuntarily.You always got the same server,moody Taemin.But ....that's how you wanted it.

One week in late June you found yourself sitting quietly in the corner of the cafe sipping...tea....again,When taemin passes by you and drops a wadded up napkin into your lap.He hurries away before you have a chance to ask any questions.You unroll it to find what looks to be a phone number and a note scribbled inside.

'Press My Number' it says

His....his number? It couldn't be.You type the number into your phone and save it as contact,you then text the number "Taemin?" You type.You waited, watching eagerly as Taemin services a group of teens sitting in the back.To your surprise you can make out a faint buzzing noise coming from over there.You see Taemin jump a bit and then glance at his backside and then he glowers over at you.He says nothing to you however as he disappears behind silver doors to the kitchen.

You hear a melodical noise and look down at your phone to see that you have received a text message.You open it and it reads "Don't text me right now jerk,are you trying to get me fired?! Wait till I get off!"

He was rude through text too? It dawns on you that he's not Tsundere just for his job,hes really like that! you quickly reply back.

'well what time do you get off then?' you wait anxiously for a reply.

**Melodical noise

'3:00pm'you better not leave before then

You look at your phones clock "2:30" it reads.A savage excitement wells in your chest.You didn't mind waiting a half hour,you wouldn't even have minded waiting an hour.To you,someome who makes you feel the way Taemin makes you feel is worth the wait.

~Fin