"Stay With Me" - Chanyeol, Punch

| Intro |

The first time Kim Himchan ever saw Park Yeon Ah was during the first snowfall of the year.

He forgoed his daily Iced Americano for a sudden, random desire for bubble tea. It was a weird craving because he rarely ever skipped out on his Americano, and it was winter, and he didn't usually get bubble tea in the winter. 

But at that one moment Kim Himchan wanted bubble tea, and whatever he wanted, he got it. 

Later on he figured it was fate because that day when he stood in line, Park Yeon Ah stood right in front of him, humming to a pop song that was playing in the background. He remembered actually getting irritated at first, for really no reason, but maybe it was because he was running late that day since he had just finished up one of his college classes and his father expected him at the family company in about 20 minutes, and he just knew he had a lot of work to do once he got there. Because even if his own father is the owner of the company, Himchan was expected to start at the bottom and prove his worth before rising to the top. 

Either way, the line was taking too long and the girl in front of him seemed to have all the time in the world as she hummed and tapped her right foot to the beat of the music. So carefree and completely the opposite of how he felt at the moment. She didn't even do anything directly to him, but he was already in a bad mood, and he had a bad habit of putting the blame on others when things don't exactly go his way. She was just an unlucky victim.
A moment later he saw her take this small pack of post-it-notes out of her bag and start writing on it, and that's when he finally stopped paying attention to her — jesus, could this line move any slower?

He had things to do, places to go, so why was everything seeming like it was going in slow motion today?

Finally, the girl in front of him was ordering. Himchan prayed she wouldn't take that long. He found himself subconsciously moving forward, and unknowingly looming over the smaller girl, like one of those really impatient people that tried to make you uncomfortable enough that you would hurriedly finish your business just to get away. The worker at the cashier gave him a weird look before turning back to the current customer.

Huh.

The girl in front of him had ordered the exact same thing he was going to order. 

That was unusual because his order tended to be a tad too specific, almost like how some Starbucks orders could get. He liked his sweetness and ice a certain percentage when it came to his drinks, even the right amount of boba inside the drink needed to fit his needs. So yes, it was weird to see this girl ordering the exact same drink he was about to get, too. What were the odds?

"Next customer!" 

The whole time he was stuck in his thoughts, he didn't even realize the girl in front of him had already got her drink and was walking out of the store. Sparing one glance over his shoulder, he barely caught a glimpse of her before she disappeared out the door, the bell on top chiming after her.

"I'll have the same as what she ordered," He hurriedly said before adding, "Can we make this fast? I'm in a bit of a hurry."

"Coming right up!"

He whipped out his credit card and attempted to hand it to the worker but he already turned away to start making his drink.

"Wait, you didn't take my—" He huffed as he gave a frustrated sigh. Today was definitely not his day, nope.

A few minutes later, the same worker returned with his drink with a blue post-it-note stuck to it. "Kamsahamnida. Please come again!" Wait, wasn't that the same note the girl in front of him was writing on earlier? 

"I didn't pay yet," He stated while holding his card out.

The worker shook his head and pointed at the blue paper stuck to his drink. The words "Pay-It-Forward" at the top of the note caught Himchan's eyes. 

"The customer before you decided to pay for your drink already," He smiled and gestured for Himchan to take the drink. 

Momentarily stunned, Himchan took a few seconds before nodding and saying a short thanks whilst grabbing his drink and turning around to leave the store. He glanced down at the post-it-note to see that there was more writing on it. 

Ahjussi, you seemed like you were in a bad mood since you were sighing every few seconds, so I decided to treat you to your drink! You should be smiling instead of frowning on the first day of snowfall! Cheer up! Fighting! ^-^**

Unfortunately, the only word he paid attention to was... 

"Ah- Ahjussi?!" He snapped in annoyance. He was nowhere near that old nor looked that old at all. How dare she call him that?! Granted, she was a high school student — that was the first thing he noticed because well, she was wearing her school uniform — so it wasn't that hard to figure out. He was in his last year of college, but that was no reason to call him "Ahjussi." 

Not to mention the fact that anyone could very well see that he was a handsome young man!

Shaking his head, he reread the note again and it took a while before his frown eventually faded away. 'What a silly girl,' he found himself thinking. Doing all that just because she happened to notice he was in a bad mood. 

He took his phone to check the time and as soon as he did that, he muttered a curse underneath his breath. He was late, even more than he anticipated since he got distracted. 

The note and girl forgotten, he quickly hailed a taxi. Luckily, it didn't seem like the forces were acting against him anymore because a taxi quickly came by to pick him up. 

Unknowingly, his day had gotten a tad bit brighter. 

The second time Himchan saw Yeon Ah was a month later, in the exact same bubble tea house.

That was the first time he actually saw how she looked like. The last time, he was basically just staring at her back, but this time… he later realized that he couldn’t get the image of her sitting there out of his mind no matter how hard he tried.

It didn’t help that where she was sitting in that small little café there was a small light hung on the wall. It caused a glow before her, and Himchan could’ve sworn there was a halo behind her head – something he would never admit to anyone though because Kim Himchan definitely did not think this girl was an angel sent from heaven, no way. (This turned out to be something he did end up accidentally admitting to Youngjae one night while they were all drunk, and the smart little bastard wouldn’t stop mentioning it for a whole month after that. The mysterious girl that Himchan thought was a literal angel. Even now, the younger would bring it up randomly to the older man’s dismay.)

Did it hurt? When you fell from heaven? The stupid pickup line briefly ran through his head, and he had to refrain from hitting himself because since when did he think of such idiotic thoughts like that?

Kim Himchan is a practical man, and useless thoughts like that stayed out of his head.

Or, at least, that’s what he kept telling himself.

When he saw her that day, he actually didn’t even realize that she was the same girl as last time. It was only when one of the workers called out her order – and it was the exact same as before – did he finally know. He remembered briefly debating on whether he should go up and talk to her, but then the list of pros and cons came flowing out, with the cons heavily outweighing the other.

What would he even say to her?

Would it seem like he was hitting on her? Because, sure, he’ll admit that she was a pretty thing, but he wasn’t looking for any kind of relationship. Plus, it’d be pointless to say he just wanted to make a new friend because even he acknowledged that his intentions were far from that.

And oh yeah, not to mention she was a high school student while he was an upcoming graduate from college who had a long road of important goals to achieve. What would a young girl like that have anything to do with his life? He didn’t have time to play games.

With that last final thought in his head, he ordered his drink and quickly left.

But as always, what he thought – life, on the other hand – basically thought otherwise because what he didn’t expect was to see her the very next day.

It was like fate purposely kept dangling her right in front of him because as he walked by the park near his college after his last class that day, Himchan found himself staring in disbelief at the girl that sat right in front of him on a bench reading a book. He probably looked like a fool just standing there.

After recollecting himself, he quickly turned away and looked at anywhere but the figure sitting just a few feet away from him.

Before long, this became almost like a routine for Himchan. He began constantly seeing her at random places at random times. He’d catch her studying, and he’d notice the little things as she stared, frustrated, at her notes and how her lips would slowly quirk up when it seemed like she finally understood what she was reading. He’d see her just walking around shopping, or mostly window shopping, and by now he knew she adored that pretty pink, flowy dress that was in display in one of the popular boutiques everyone always passed by. She would stare but never go in. Or maybe he’d catch her sitting on a bench reading a book. Occasionally he would see her with other people, none of which he ever recognized, but most of the time she was by herself.

At first he thought it was weird and a maybe a bit too coincidental, but in the end he had to remind himself that it was him that was the one who always noticed her while she didn’t have a single clue who he was. It was completely one-sided, and if he really thought about it, he wasn’t entirely sure whether he preferred it like that or not.

And this continued on. Before he realized it, he started looking forward to catching small glimpses of her whenever he went out. He never took it further than just glancing at her (because he would never use the term “watching her” – that seemed a bit stalkerish for him). The two just always seemed to end up at the same place at the same time.

Before long a year had already passed, and although a lot had changed in Himchan’s life, that one girl remained a constant that he came to expect.

It was a strange ordeal to sum it up.

And complicated it became when the urge to actually meet the girl who often drifted through his mind grew.

She, who was once just a stranger, became the one guilty pleasure Himchan allowed in his life, the one thing he wasn’t willing to give up out of the many he had given up to become who he was now.

But, as always, things just never go as planned.

…because what is life if there aren’t any obstacles?

Author's Note

Hi, everybody!

I'm so glad to see I've gotten some subscribers even before I managed to upload the first chapter! Sorry about the long wait, I wanted to keep planning out the story a bit more before I started posting it! This isn't exactly a first chapter yet, more of a beginning/introduction so that you all have a bit of understanding, and I made it more on Himchan's point of view. 

I hope you all enjoy it, and I will try to post the next chapter soon! Thank you all for taking the time to read this and any comments/thoughts that you write! I will definitely appreciate it. :)