pairing: ChenLay
length: 1977 words
Part Two: Whipped

Every Saturday afternoon, without fail, there was a man who sat in the right corner booth with a book in his hands and his round glasses perched on his nose. He always ordered the same drink—a vanilla macchiato with two extra espresso shots—and would read in his corner for three hours, leaving at five o’clock on the dot. His fingers delicately turned the pages of his book while a serene smile decorated his beautiful face and Jongdae didn’t think he would ever tire of gazing at him from the counter.

“You look like a creep.”

Jongdae jumped as he turned to face a man who towered over him like a giant. “Oh god, Yifan, you almost gave me a heart attack. And I do not look like a creep. You take that back,” the shorter male demanded in a whiny voice, jabbing a finger at his coworker’s chest.

“I’m pretty sure if anyone else knew how much you stared at him every week, they’d agree with me,” Yifan answered stoically as he swatted Jongdae’s hand away. “You’ve got gigantic hearts coming out of your eyes every time he comes here.” The tall male broke his usual impassive expression to mimic his coworker’s love-struck look whenever the man walked into the small café.

Jongdae immediately hit Yifan’s chest while hissing, “I do not look like that! You’re over-exaggerating!”

“Trust me. I’m not,” the tall male said, instantly reverting back to his emotionless face. “If you had a mirror with you whenever he walked in, you’d know that I’m right.”

A red flush crept up Jongdae’s neck while his ears burned. “Shut up.” His gaze then drifted back to the man in question, who was leaning his chin against the palm of his left hand while flipping to the next page in his book with the slender fingers of his right hand. And, without realizing it, a sigh escaped the barista’s upturned lips and he continued staring adoringly at the handsome man.

“You’re doing it again.”

When Yifan’s deep voice broke through Jongdae’s thoughts again, the shorter male turned around in a huff and whacked his coworker’s arm. “Go make some coffee or something and stop bothering me!”

“But there’s nothing to make,” Yifan deadpanned as he leaned against the counter. “You scared away all of the customers with your creepy stares.”

“As if! The number of customers coming to the café increased when I began working here!”

“Whatever you say.”

Jongdae glowered at his coworker, who ignored the shorter male by staring off into space with a bored expression on his face. “We’re running out of coffee beans, so go to the supply room and get some more.”

“You can’t boss me around. I’m older than you.”

“Well, I’ve been working here longer than you have by two months, so technically, I’m your senior here. Now go get those coffee beans,” Jongdae ordered, crossing his arms haughtily over his chest. He then stoutly turned his back on Yifan and went back to his favorite past time of staring at the attractive man in the corner.

“You’ve still got that creepy look on your face. I don’t think he’d be impressed if he saw how you were looking at him just now,” the tall male called over his shoulder before heading into the supply room for more coffee beans.

Jongdae shot his coworker a glare before hastily looking back at the handsome man, making sure he hadn’t heard Yifan’s ludicrous words. Luckily, the man was too engrossed in reading his book, so Jongdae sighed happily as he rested his chin in his hands while propping his elbows on the counter.

He definitely would never tire of staring at such a beautiful human being.

--

“Why don’t you just go up to him?”

Once again, Jongdae heard his coworker spew utter nonsense out of his mouth and irately faced the tall male, drawing himself up as much as he could to look at Yifan as if they were eye-level with each other. “You need to stop doing that.”

“Then you should stop staring at him so much and actually start a conversation with him instead.”

“I can’t just go up to him randomly,” the smaller male continued protesting. “He’ll think I’m weird!”

“You are, though,” Yifan answered matter-of-factly. “Tough luck. I guess you were doomed from the start.”

Jongdae childishly stepped on the other barista’s foot and pouted when he garnered no reaction from the emotionless male. “Well, maybe you could help me by giving me actual advice instead of making fun of me all of the time.”

“But that’s boring.”

“You’re the boring one with your dumb, expressionless face and monotone voice,” Jongdae shot back while wildly waving his hands at his exasperating coworker.

But before he could continue harping on Yifan, a soft voice interrupted him and Jongdae felt all of the blood drain from his face when he turned around, only to find himself face-to-face with the beautiful man from the right corner booth. “Um, are you busy?” he asked in his light voice while pushing his round glasses higher up on his straight nose. His polite smile looked so precious that Jongdae couldn’t help but feel his heart melt at the wonderful sight.

“He’s not,” Yifan answered, pushing Jongdae forward without hesitation.

A loud squawk sounded from the shorter male, who instantly blushed out of embarrassment while glaring at his apathetic coworker. Jongdae coughed to clear his throat before returning the man’s gaze and saying, “Do you need something, sir?” He thanked his lucky stars that his voice hadn’t trembled while he spoke to the gorgeous man in front of him.

“If it isn’t too much trouble, could I have a refill please?” the man asked sweetly while presenting his empty cup to the barista.

“Of course! I can also get you a new cup,” Jongdae began to offer, but the man immediately shook his head.

“Oh, no thank you,” the man graciously declined with a sheepish smile. “That would cost you and it isn’t good for the environment to be using so many cups. I’m perfectly okay with reusing mine.” His eyes turned into crescent shapes behind his round glasses while a dimple appeared on his right cheek as he beamed brightly at Jongdae.

The barista felt his heart beat faster and faster against his chest as he stared at the deep dimple on that attractive man’s face. He would have shamelessly continued staring if Yifan hadn’t cleared his throat loudly while covertly bumping the shorter male’s hip when he walked over to grab the cup from the man’s hand to begin preparing his order. Jongdae’s cheeks burned again as he found his voice and managed to answer, “Oh, yes, of course, sir.”

“Thank you!”

“Wh-what did you order earlier?” Jongdae asked, despite already knowing the answer. His voice slightly faltered when he was faced with another dazzling smile.

“A vanilla macchiato with two extra espresso shots, please.”

“Coming right up! You can take a seat where you were earlier,” Jongdae said, gesturing to the right corner booth before belatedly realizing that he had basically given away that he knew who the man was, or at least where he sat. “Wherever you were,” he quickly amended while animatedly waving his hand in that general direction.

“We’ll bring over your drink when it’s ready,” Yifan added.

“Thank you very much,” the man said gratefully while handing his credit card to Jongdae.

Their fingertips brushed lightly against each other and the barista felt like fainting, because this breathtaking man’s skin was so smooth and beautiful, and what country had he saved in his past life to be granted this amazing opportunity to touch his hand?!

Yifan noisily cleared his throat again, having seen the exchange out of the corner of his eye, even though his head was currently facing the machines as he made the man’s drink.

“Here you go,” Jongdae said with his cheeks turning pink again while passing the credit card back to the man once he had swiped it through the system. “Your drink will be ready shortly!”

“Thank you again! I’ll be waiting!”

Several seconds after the man had returned to his seat in the corner and was out of earshot, Jongdae let out the breath he had been unconsciously holding and stared at his coworker with wide eyes. “Oh my god, I can’t believe that just happened.”

“Me neither. I didn’t think you could get even weirder and creepier, but you did,” Yifan commented as he carefully began pouring the finished vanilla macchiato in the plastic cup.

“You shut your mouth,” Jongdae answered hotly. He then pointed to the drink that was currently being capped and asked, “Are you done? If you are, I’ll take that to him right now.”

“No, I’ll do it myself. I don’t think I can watch another second of you making a fool of yourself,” the tall male replied coolly, holding the cup high up out of Jongdae’s reach. Before the shorter male could protest and argue back, Yifan stepped around the counter and walked over to the right corner booth that the man was sitting at.

Jongdae enviously watched as the man cheerfully grinned at Yifan who only nodded in response, his face still impassive. And after his coworker returned to the counter to serve new customers who had walked in, Jongdae stepped to the side to resume his weekly activity of simultaneously working and staring longingly at the beautiful man while he read.

--

He sighed as he watched the man leave with his book in hand once the clock struck five. At the very least, Jongdae had the memory of touching the man’s hand today, even if it had been for just a few seconds. The barista didn’t ever want to wash his hands again after that wonderful encounter.

Jongdae’s phone suddenly buzzed and when he read the text message he received, he felt his heart stop suddenly as his eyes grew bigger with each word that he read.

Unknown Number
I’m Zhang Yixing! Nice to meet you, Kim Jongdae! I hope we can talk more in the future! If you didn’t notice, I’m here every Saturday afternoon. Come say hi to me next time if you’re allowed to!

“What—what did you say to him earlier?!” Jongdae immediately rounded on Yifan, who curiously looked over at the smaller male’s phone.

“Oh, I didn’t say anything to him,” he answered in a bored tone once he read the message. “I just wrote down your name and phone number on the napkin that was under his drink, and drew your face. Like this.” Yifan grabbed another napkin and used a black pen that had been sitting nearby to draw a simple smiley face that showcased his short coworker’s prominent kitten lips. “That way he knows it’s your number and not mine.”

Jongdae didn’t know if he wanted to die of mortification, because Yifan’s terrible drawing looked nothing like him, or if he wanted to die of happiness, because he now knew the beautiful man’s name and phone number. And knowing that Yixing wanted to talk to him made Jongdae feel as if he were walking on clouds.

“I think a ‘thank you’ would be appropriate right now.”

“Yes, yes, thank you so much, Yifan!” Jongdae quickly wrapped his arms around the tall male for a brief hug before letting go and grinning maniacally to himself as he reread Yixing’s text message another dozen times. That lovely dimpled smile emerged in his mind as he did and the barista dramatically clutched his phone to his chest while sighing in contentment, wishing for it to be next Saturday already.

Yifan only sighed and shook his head. Without a doubt, Jongdae was the weirdest person he had ever worked with during his twenty-some years of life.

♈♈♈