12. Second Date

Pairing: Minseul [Mino and Seulgi]

Concept: Café!Au

[Completed]

Seulgi recklessly continued to tap onto the coffee table with her painted nails to match the slow rhythm of the music playing in the background. She checked her messages again.

Of course, there was nothing.

Seulgi didn't really know how to react to this. He was late and she was fine with it at first because she was so nervous and she was glad that she had some time to calm down but so much time passed and he hadn't even contact her yet. Seulgi's dad always told her that if a man made her wait then he wasn't worth it because it meant that he didn’t care about her as much as he pretended to and valued his time more than hers. For Seulgi, it didn’t go as far that and she was willing to overlook this incident but she sure thought that it was not polite that he didn’t mind making her waste a whole hour doing nothing at café. It’s not like she had better things to do at home but she expected so much from this first date and she was overly nervous and somehow excited at first but now all the magic faded and she was starting to find this first experience a bit deceiving.

"Excuse me, can I take a napkin from your table? The waiter seems to have forgotten mine," the man next to her asked casually. Seulgi nodded and politely handed him a napkin before returning to her inoccupation. It was a handsome and tall man with dark hair who had been sitting next to her from the start. At first, they arrived at the same time and were assigned seats next to each other by the busy waiter who had many other customers to serve. Since then, the young man had already drank two espressos and looked just as bored as she was with his two drawings hanging on the far end of the table.

"Can I take the fork too?" he turned to ask her a bit later. "Unless you're going to use it, of course."

"In fact, it's for someone else," Seulgi apologetically said before bowing.

"You're waiting for someone?" he asked her a bit surprised.

"Yes but he is a bit late," she embarrassedly revealed. "If you want I can ask the waiter to come by here more often so you can ask him a fork or a napkin."

"Oh no it's fine," the handsome man smiled. "I'd rather ask you."

Seulgi unconsciously frowned.

"I don't want to bother him for a napkin when the café is so packed, the staff must be busy," he explained. "Also, I was just asking because you looked bored out of your mind. You are really waiting a lot, I hope that person is worth it."

"You aren't waiting for someone?" Seulgi asked innocently.

"I wouldn't wait that long for someone," he chuckled. "That's too much even if I have nothing to do."

Seulgi bit her lower lip as she thought reflexively.

"But you do you, if you don't mind then keep waiting. I wasn't trying to make you feel uneasy, that's just how I think," he reassured her. "I am Mino by the way," he added with a bright smile.

"Seulgi," she answered.

"Then I won't bother you anymore Seulgi, have a good, uh, good wait?" he said before taking a pen out of his pocket.

"Thank you."

Seulgi rece again to her table a bit flustered. It was the first time she encountered someone so casual and friendly. He was nice and Seulgi wished they could have talked a bit more, at least until her date arrived, since he was as bored as her but she was too shy to ask him anything. 

She had gone through all her social media accounts and read her friends’ messages twice before he decided to appear with an apologetic smile and a bouquet of flowers in his hands. She couldn’t help but be relieved and delighted to see the man she had been waiting for so long come to her in the café with such a present. She forgot all the time she wasted waiting for him and greeted the older handsome man with a warm smile.

“You shouldn’t have,” she slightly blushed before taking the flowers. “They are beautiful.”

“I didn’t really know what you liked so I took the most beautiful ones because they made me think of you,” the male smiled before sitting down. “I’m sorry for the wait, I don’t know what happened, there was a lot of traffic on my way here.”

“Was there an accident?” Seulgi worriedly asked.

"I was too frustrated to ask, I didn't want to make you wait more!"

Seulgi was about to break into a fond smile but frowned instead as she looked more intently at the flowers. She gave the older male a strange look that made him raise an eyebrow. 

“What’s wrong?” Kibum asked.

“Oppa, these are camelias.”

“So what? You don’t like them?”

Before she could answer, a strong tingling sensation started in Seulgi’s throat and her eyes started tearing up. She sneezed twice and was preparing for another one before throwing the bouquet on the floor, far away from her.

"Bless you," Mino said as he distractedly continued to dribble on the napkin she handed him earlier.

“Thank you," Seulgi said before returning her attention on her date. "I’m allergic to camelias,” she sobbed a bit. “I told you that last time at the club.”

“Of all flowers I could choose, I chose the one you can’t stand, I am really unlucky,” Kibum chuckled as Seulgi wiped her tears away. “Anyway, it’s a shame. I just won’t bring flowers next time, alright?”

Seulgi didn’t know if he expected an answer from her so she remained quiet and tried to stop her allergic reaction by drinking water to chase away the tingling sensation in .

“Do they have nice drinks here? I’m so thirsty!” Kibum sighed before scrolling through the menu.

“Ah! They have a special thing here oppa!" Seulgi excitedly said as her eyes lit up at the thought of the dessert. "It's called Flame of love and it’s a special meal for two with a huge dessert!” she exclaimed. “I always wanted to try it.”

 In fact, Seulgi saw the Flame of Love being served many times while she waited for Kibum as the café was filled with couples and it made her want to taste it. She craved it and would die to try this large strawberry lava cake but it was definitely a thing she couldn’t order alone.

“Oh come on Seulgi, these things are so expensive and you get nothing on your plate. People just buy it because it looks like a thing for couples,” Kibum rolled his eyes. “I thought you were smarter than that.”

“But it looks good,” Seulgi mumbled a bit ashamed. “Maybe they buy it because it is great you never know.”

“I know,” the older male affirmed. “It’s probably just some overpriced popular gibberish Seulgi. I don’t see the need to go that far, it’s just a cake.”

Seulgi looked down out of embarrassment and tried to look for something else on the menu. She was scared that he thought she was childish for insisting again so she decided to opt for a bland iced americano and a Red Velvet cake while Kibum took a large strawberry shortcake with nothing to drink. As she looked to the menu, she felt a little pressure onto her knee. Seulgi looked down to see Mino's pen scratching her leg before handing her a small piece of paper.

Flame of Love is not gibberish! He's just a born hater

Seulgi chuckled and Mino smiled as if he was reminded of something funny. She jerked her head up when she heard Kibum's voice asking for her attention.

“So are you still drawing?” he asked her out of the blue after the waiter left.

“Yes,” Seulgi nodded. “The club is actually doing pretty well. We have new members and everyone seems to get along.”

“Doing well? Even after I left?” Kibum dubiously asked. “I thought the new president would ruin it truthfully but I’m glad it’s not the case. I had to graduate after all.”

“Yeah,” Seulgi hesitantly said. “We all thought it was a great loss when you left the club. Especially me,” she bashfully added. “I mean, after everything you did for me... without you I surely wouldn’t be as good as I am today. I am grateful.”

“Don’t be so formal with me,” Kibum chuckled. “I'll admit I helped a bit but you had a lot of potential from the start.”

Seulgi blushed as soon.

“Oppa, do you remember that time when you said you were going to give me a