“Ugh Daehyun, I don’t know why you dragged me here? Do you even like reading?” Himchan complained as I pulled him into the fancy bookstore. The elder didn’t appreciate me interrupting his lunch date with his boyfriend Jongup.

“You shouldn’t have made plans. I told you to meet me here at 12.” I reminded.

The elder huffed, “I thought you were joking. You never buy books.” He growled under his breath. I didn’t respond, scanning the room. “He should be here,” I muttered with anticipation.

“Who?” Himchan questioned, overhearing me. But I didn’t respond, walking further into the bookstore. He huffed again, irritation prominent in his tone. “Why am I even here?” He asked again. “I didn’t want to come alone.” I finally replied, not bothering to look back at him.

I walked further into the cozy building still gripping onto the elder’s wrist. “At least it’s warm in here.” He muttered as we roamed around. The place was actually quite nice. The walls were painted a charcoal with red rims lining the top and bottom creases of the stucco. Dark brown bookshelves filled over a half of the medium-sized building and the other half had black bean bag chairs and red couches for lounging, all set up accordingly.

Across from the lounging area was a small café bar where people ordered coffee, toasted sandwiches, and small sweet treats. There were also matte black, round tables and chairs for people to eat at while they enjoyed their snacks.

“There he is!” I whisper shouted, spotting the perfect boy.

“Who?” Himchan questioned.

“The guy I was telling you about.” I said pointing to the slender brown-haired boy who sat at one of the round tables by the window, sipping his hot drink.

Himchan gave me a confused look.

I sighed impatiently. “The perfect guy that I was telling you about. The one that works at the café a few miles away from here.” I reminded. “Oh~ him…wait…perfect?” He questioned.

“Yes perfect. Every time you see him he has the brightest smile on his face. He’s always kind to you even if you come off rude to him because you’re having a bad day. When he speaks to you his voice is always gentle and friendly. And when you talk, he looks at you straight in the eyes, observing every expression on your face, sometimes it’s like he’s reading your lips.” I chuckled slightly at the last part.

“At that moment, he makes you feel like the most important person on earth.” I smiled unconsciously at the memory.

Himchan gave me a suspicious look. “Um, Daehyun are you okay?” He questioned sounding genuinely concerned.

I quickly snapped out of it, straightening up a little. “Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” I said. He narrowed his eyes, studying me. “Have you actually been reading?!” He questioned, surprised by his own conclusion. “Or are you some doppelganger?” He said, returning back to his suspicion.

“Yah!” I shoved him slightly. “Stop. You’re making me sound like I’m some sort of idiot or jerk.” I remarked. “Because you are.” He retorted, a sly smile appearing on his thin lips.

I only scoffed, not bothering to argue with him, I couldn’t risk making even the slightest scene. “I’m going to talk to him. You stay here.” I instructed. “What? Daehyun w-,” but I ran off before he could finish or get the chance to object.

I took a deep breath before walking up to his table. You got this Dae. Don’t be nervous. You’ve flirted with many girls before. So how hard can this be?

With that thought I slid into the seat across from him. However, I froze when my eyes landed directly on the front view of him.

He was deep into the book he was reading. His brow scrunched slightly, shifting every now and then at the change of his delicate reactions. His eyes moved gently from side to side as if he were carefully absorbing each word. To sum things up, he was adorable.

“Hello.” I finally found the word close to what I wanted to say. However, he didn’t respond…awkward.

Maybe he didn’t hear me.

I leaned over the table slightly. “Hey there.” I tried again.

The boy slightly jumped when he looked up. My face was only a few inches away from his. I smiled awkwardly. “Um…sorry…” I immediately sat back down in my seat, giving him his personal space. He chuckled a little, putting down his book. I felt my cheeks burn in embarrassment.

I cleared my throat before talking again. “I recognized you from the café. So I came over to say Hi.” His eyes immediately locked with mine as I spoke, However, I noticed him focus on my lips as well. I mean, I do have pretty nice lips. “Oh yeah, you’re the customer that comes in almost every day.” He spoke, recognizing me as well.

I tried to keep myself from blushing in embarrassment. Did I really come that often? “Daehyun, right?” He questioned, tilting his head slightly as he did so.

I blinked.

He really did remember me.

“Yeh.” I answered nonchalant, attempting to rest my arm on the back of the seat, but ended up nearly falling backwards out of the chair.

I quickly grabbed the sides of the chair to catch myself. The perfect boy chuckled at this, forcing himself to hold back his laughter. I rubbed the back of my neck in embarrassment. “I guess I didn’t notice that there was no backs to the seat.” I admitted. “You don’t come here often, do you?” He questioned.

“Um…n, I don’.” I confessed, deciding to cut the cool guy act. It obviously wasn’t helping me in this situation. He chuckled for a third time.

“My name Is Youngjae.” He properly introduced himself. “But you probably already know that.” He grinned. I nodded. I actually didn’t know his name. Every time he introduced himself at the café I always missed it. But I’m not going to tell him that, not wanting to make things anymore awkward…at least not for myself anyway. “What book are you reading? Is it for School?” I questioned, assuming that he was attending a university.

“Um, no. It’s actually a book I’m reading for leisure.” He answered. Awe~, he’s so smart…reading books for fun. I couldn’t help but rest my chin in the palm of my hand, watching him. “What school do you go to?” I asked. He paused for a second, his smile shrinking a little.

“Ani~…I don’t go to school. It’s too expensive for me.” He said, fighting back a sigh.

My eyes slightly widened suddenly feeling terrible. “I’m sorry.” I immediately apologized. “It’s okay. You didn’t know.” he gave me a small smile.

Silence fell between us, making things awkward again, or at least for me, Youngjae seemed unbothered by the silence. “Um…What kind of books do you like to read?” I asked, desperately wanting to change the subject.

“I really like Romance and Mystery. Science fiction is actually pretty cool too. It’s quite interesting. It’s hard to really say I have favorite author because I like to read a lot of different people’s works, but if…” I listened to him as he went on talking about his top five authors and why he liked them. And his favorite stories and books of all time. He even gave me some recommendations. He was also into modern poetry as well. It was honestly amazing how he spoke so passionately about something I personally find boring. It almost made me want to start reading. “What about you?” He suddenly questioned, catching me off guard.

“Me?” I blinked. “Yeh.” He said suppressing a chuckle. “Um…” I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want him to think that I was some sort of idiot. “I like to read fiction.” Was the best thing I could come up with. Youngjae slowly nodded, sipping his hot drink, his eyes not once ever leaving me. “What genre?” he asked. “Um…action…” I said, only to earn another chuckle from him. He nodded again, but thankfully didn’t ask any more questions.

We spoke for a few more minutes until I felt something burning the back of my neck. I turned to face the source to see that it was Himchan.

He was still stood at the spot I had left him, glaring hat me, his arms folded. He was beyond angry.

I turned back around to face the perfect boy. “It’s about time for me to go. My friend is getting impatient.” I reluctantly told him. Youngjae nodded in understanding. “It was nice talking to you.” He said, his wonderful smile never leaving. “Yeah it was. Um, I was wondering if I could get your number. So we can keep in touch…and have uh…more conversations like this?” For some reason I was unsure of how to ask for his number.

I mentally face palmed myself. You couldn’t have been anymore awkward Daehyun? The younger let out another chuckle. “Sure.” He beamed taking my phone from my hand (that I had pulled out of my pocket).

Seconds later he returned the cellular device back to me. “Thanks.” I said, forcing myself to hold back my smile. “You’re welcome. Just…don’t call me. I only do text messages.” He quickly noted. I nodded, shoving my phone back in my pocket, not thinking much about his words.

We said our final goodbyes before I returned to an angry Himchan.

“I got his number.” I announced as soon as we left the bookstore. I was grinning from ear to ear, unable to hold it back anymore. “Tch…” Himchan only huffed. “He’s great isn’t he?” I grinned for validation.

My grin slowly faded at a thought. “It’s so sad though. He can’t attend college because he can’t afford it, and he’s really smart.” I pouted. However a smile immediately returned to my face at an idea. “As soon as I graduate next year I am going to get a good paying job and I can pay for his college tuition.” I announced, proud of my idea.

Himchan raised an eyebrow at this. “Do you really like him that much?” He questioned.

I shrugged, trying to suppress my smile.

The elder nodded, taking my expression as a yes. “Well, I hope he’s someone you’re serious with. Otherwise, I’d kill you for ruining my date.” He remarked.

“Yah! I told you three days in advance to not make any plans today.” I defended. “Whatever, I’m going to apologize to Jongup and see if he wants to do something later tonight.” He said pulling out his phone. I chuckled, letting him walk in front of me to give him his privacy. A genuine smile grew on my face, a warm fuzzy feeling emitting from inside me. “I hope so too.”

-

A couple of weeks past and I grew to fall in love with more than just his looks and outer demeanor. He’s smart, dedicated, hard-working, and so much more.

We texted pretty much every day. I originally initiated our first few conversations, but he grew comfortable enough to initiate some conversations himself. We got to the point where we were sending good morning and good night text messages to one another.

He really seemed interested in my life, which I honestly found strange. There was honestly nothing all that exciting about my life. It’s pretty much the same as any other University student’s life. I’m daring but I’ve never done anything crazy. My past and childhood isn’t all that either. However, he seemed intrigued by my experiences and detail. He loved detail.

It was kind of a lot, me telling him my experiences in detail through text message. At times I had offered to just call him and tell him the story, but he always declined, saying he preferred to read. I didn’t think much about it and did as he asked. But after a while it starred to become a hassle.

School became overwhelming and demanding so I wasn’t able to go visit the café (he worked at) as often. I son began to long to see him and hear his voice.

But after the second week of talking, things started to get different.

On Tuesday I decided to go to the café, 30 minutes won’t hurt. So after my last class I went straight to the restaurant.

It was a small, humble coffee shop. With dark mocha bricks that decorated the outside walls and a tan wooden sign that read ‘Dream Bean Coffee Shop’ in light purple cursive letters, only a few feet above the single glass door that had another white sign that read ‘Open’ in fancy blue letters. Next to the door were two large display windows on either side that showed off the fancy desserts they had to offer.

The bell chimed as I opened the glass door, signaling my entrance. “Welcome to Dream Bean.” The person behind the counter, named Jin, greeted. He was pretty much the genius behind the delicious desserts that were made here. He also mad the coffee every now and then, but baking was the tall man’s forte.

My body subconsciously relaxed under the gentle warmth of the café and the sweet aroma of the fresh baked pastries. The inside walls were a lightly tanned color with seven round chestnut tables that lined them, matching the color of the wooden counter where the magic was done.

There were only a few people at the tables, working on their laptops. Other than that one or two people came in and out occasionally, taking their orders to go.

I smiled when I spotted Youngjae wiping down the utensils and counter top, behind the front counter, his back facing everyone. “Hey Daehyun.” Jin greeted as I walked up to the counter. “Haven’t seen you in a while.” He teased. “Yeah, I kind I got busy with school.” I admitted. The chef nodded in understanding. “Are you going to order the usual today?” He asked.

“Hm…I think I’m going to try something else today. I said picking up one of the menus that laid neatly on the counter. “Okay, I’ll be right back then. If anybody else comes to order can you tell them that I’ll be right with them? I have to check on something right quick.” He said. “Yeah sure.” I said without thinking much about it. “Thanks,” and with that he made his way to the back, leaving the door slightly open.

My smile grew as my attention turned back to Youngjae, who was still cleaning. He seemed pretty focus.

“Youngjae…” I whispered. I loved just saying his name.

“Youngjae…” I whispered again when he didn’t respond.

“Youngjae~…” I cooed a little louder.

No response.

“Hey Youngjae.” I said, this time in my normal voice. However, he still didn’t respond.

I furrowed my brow. I know he definitely could’ve heard me that time.

I leaned a little to the side to see if he was wearing any earbuds, but he wasn’t. “Um, Youngjae?” I tried again. But he didn’t respond. He didn’t even turn around.

I couldn’t help but frown. Was he ignoring me? But why?

No that can’t be. He wouldn’t do that.

At that moment a tall kid walked up to the counter in front of the register that faced the door. The teen smiled happily when he spotted Youngjae, who was still occupied. The teen gently hit the small bell by the register. The ell chimed softly and something hooked on Youngjae’s belt vibrated.

The barista stopped what he was doing as he looked towards the register. “Hey Zelo.” He greeted walking over to the other end of the bar. “Hi Youngjae!” The teen returned the greeting.

My facial muscles contorted to one of shock and confusion.

“What are you doing here? I thought you had off today.” Youngjae asked him, watching the teen carefully. “I’m here to get my paycheck.” The teen smiled cheekily. His mouth movements were exaggerated as he spoke, emphasizing each word. Youngjae chuckled, “I’ll go and see if Jaejoong has it ready for you.” “Thank you~.” The Zelo kid sang. Youngjae turned back around his back still facing me and headed to the back where Jin had went.

I stood there dumbfounded. He completely ignored me.

Zelo rocked back and forth on his heels humming happily to himself until his eyes landed on me. “Oh hey Daehyun.” He greeted. “Hey…” I said still dazed. What is this feeling I’m feeling right now? Is it shock? Embarrassment? Anger? Hurt? Zelo furrowed his brow at me, but before he could say anything Jin returned.

The two immediately greeted each other before the check turned to me. “Are you ready to order?” He asked, his friendly grin on his face.

I felt my stomach twist and my insides burn in embarrassment. “Um, I don’t think I’m hungry anymore.” I responded, feeling hurt by my own words. He gave me a strange look but nodded anyway. “Have a good day.” He said with a small smile. I returned the smile, said bye to Zelo, and left the café not bothering to wait for Youngjae to come back out.

I shoved my hands in my pockets, protecting them from the unforgiving January winter wind. All of my excitement and anticipation vanished in just a matter of minutes.

I didn’t understand. Why did he ignore me? Did I do or say something wrong? No, there’s no way we texted this morning and everything was fine. But at the same time it felt wrong accusing him of ignoring me. But why? It’s not like he didn’t hear me. He heard Zelo.

I sighed in frustration not understanding anything. Maybe it’s not a big deal, maybe I’m just looking too deep into things.

15 minutes later I made it to my dorm room. It was a single suite, so I had the room all to myself. Which was nice, especially for times like these.

I took a long warm shower before changing my clothes and finding something to eat. Flopped onto my bed, settling for a fruit cup. I had lost my appetite and nor did I want to do my homework. What happened earlier still bothered me. I was conflicted between my own thoughts and what I saw. It looked like he clearly ignored me, but he wouldn’t do that Right? I don’t even know him well enough to even confirm that he wouldn’t.

“I should call him.” I finally decided. It was already after 5 o’clock, so he was off of work. Without wasting another second I pulled up his number on my phone and pres