first cameo; smtown goldies and babies

warning, the timeline is all over the place, I’m here to remind you that this happens the day after Yuri’s scene with Jinyoung in the previous chapter, meaning this chapter still falls under one month ago. Another warning, lots’a pov changes bc I’m THAT kdrama cliché who enjoys playing with coincidence ;P enjoy (also this is short again lmao bc we all know the whole plot falls into place at what part, kids? exactly, at the . for now enjoy this sort of filler!)


“Men,” Sunmi looks up with a jump, the handle of a rain-dampened umbrella finding home at the spine of the seat opposite hers with a rather loud clash of plastic and wood, “are trash,” while the owner, a defeated lump of long limbs and bleached hair, dramatically slumps down against it, leaning on the table with his head bowed.


“What did Minho do this time?” At the mention of his boyfriend’s name, Taemin looks up, glaring at the nothingness beside Sunmi’s unsuspecting head as if Minho would materialize at the mere mention of him. She has absolutely no idea how their dynamics work, as her best friend tends to make big stories out of little plots- maybe that’s why Taemin was in drama club when they met in college, and have been stuck at the hip ever since. Regardless of his complaints, she knew this large sack of tall limbs she called her best friend loved his boyfriend, a larger sack of even taller limbs.


Upon receiving no response, Sunmi taps a blunt nail on the braced forearm; nothing, “wow, he must have ed up royally,” she tries a light tap on the younger’s cheek, but it only results an eye twitch so she reluctantly pulls back, “for you to be this tense, even around me”.


Taemin sighs, Sunmi winces, “he forgot our anniversary.”


“Babe,” She starts, struggling to keep a smile at bay as if her opponent opened the space that’d lead her to immediate checkmate, “how ‘bout we order something before you mope about him?” she offers, and even adds a, “Kibum would happily bake your favorite if you asked him to.” That pushes a smile to Taemin’s lips, albeit a slightly forced one for appearance’s sake. It obviously doesn’t ease the tension that’s taken up his mind space, that’s branched down his back and made the muscles tense there as well.


Sunmi peeks at her phone, finds the notification she’s been waiting for and stands up. “I’ll talk to Kibum about it, and maybe detour to the bathroom as well, wait for me!” she says, but she’s smiling too knowingly to be doing just that, Taemin doesn’t have time to question anything.


---


The first time they almost meet, it’s in the semi-busy streets of Seoul, during the down slope of foot traffic as the remnants of people left bustling around are those who’ve overslept through their alarms. It was a trick of timing, had Sunmi spent less time in the bathroom before leaving Taemin to his own devices, or had Yuri not smudged her lipstick and took a minute too long to repeat them, their shoulders would have brushed past. Maybe one of them could have tripped and the other be made to help her up, maybe their hands could have brushed lightly at the tips of their knuckles and felt that imminent spark.


Unfortunately, time didn’t want them to meet yet, instead makes them walk into opposite directions with a hairsbreadth of distance and a split-millisecond eye contact as Sunmi exits the establishment, as Yuri makes the move to open the door.


Fate has already plotted down how they should meet; the sub-details that should happen before they do so while time, he’s very loose about when. Sunmi could have bumped into her, but time likes to tease. Yuri could have had a better look at her, but time said “look there instead”. They could have met, but it wasn't the right time yet.


---


Ding! “Hey, Jonghyun!” Yuri greets with a wave, waltzing over to the counter to order her dynamic duo of a breakfast, darker-than-my-bitter-heart kind of coffee and witchcraft-accusation-worthy muffin. Bubbly conversations float over the steadily relaxing aura that comes right after the morning rush hour; Yuri happily chats up with Jonghyun, the establishment’s cashier-handler, to lull the long wait away. Not so luckily for her, the first batch of muffins have already been devoured by a  group of officemates who got there minutes before her, and she’s made to wait for the next batch to finish baking in the oven.


Kibum stalks over the two a few heated opinions-about-aliens exchanging later, with cake batter in his mahogany hair and annoyance in his slightly twitching right eye. He looks just about ready to explode too, but Yuri pretends she doesn’t notice, “what’s up?” she asks instead when Kibum leans over Jonghyun’s shoulders.


“Nothing,” he says after a pause, muffled into Jonghyun’s shirt covered shoulder, “Just feeling bitter about being single, is all,” he adds, sharp eyes emerging from their hiding place to glare at someone in Yuri’s left, “Why haven’t I found someone like that yet?”


When she peeks to the side, she sees a couple- a very gay one- a few tables away from her, two incredibly handsome men holding hands over flowers and cake that Yuri presumes is made by Kibum, if the matching icing that covers the cake and the icing that’s cartoonishly on the side of Kibum’s cheek were anything to go by. They look happy, so much so that she lets herself smile a bit (actually no, she cracks up because the taller of the two bumps his head when he stands up and holy molly, he’s so tall-).


Jinki snaps her out of it, “hey!” right beside her ear quite out of the blue, she instinctively slaps the culprit, “what?!”


“Your order’s done,” he replies, holding onto the cheek Yuri physically made red. She feels warm in both hands, looks down to find her coffee