Their encounters continued like they did before, notes were exchanged, and Minho left the café at the exact same time every single day, not leaving out a single one. Taemin found himself smiling at the sound of the bells by the door every day, knowing it couldn’t be anyone but the tall male opening the door at almost half past 5.

Sometimes Minho greeted him with a small nod and an occasional mumbled “Hello”. Some other days, he went straight to his usual seat. Those were the days when the small notes remained unanswered. Taemin never really thought that there could be a pattern to those days, so he did not pay attention to it until those days got more frequent. He started wondering what was happening to the older male, why he was closing back up again.

17:15

Taemin brought out the trash shortly before Minho was usually arriving, it was a gloomy day and the air was thick and hot. Pretty much the worst weather for any kind of physical work – and this included carrying a trash bag to the other side of the alley.

He was about to enter the café again, waiting for the tall male to arrive when he heard loud children voices and turned to his right side, only to spot Minho accompanied by a bunch of middle school kids. Taemin turned around right in time to see one of the kids snatching the leather bag out of Minho’s hand, and shouting at the tall male who didn’t do anything but nervously blink and stare on the floor, and occasionally reaching out for his bag when the kid held it underneath his nose.

“You little ers” Taemin growled, his eyes narrowed and in a fast pace he jogged over to where Minho was struggling to defend himself from 11-year-olds. The closer he came the better he could make out what the kids were saying, and it made his skin crawl.

“Hey dummy, why don’t you look at me?”

“I got your oh so important books, should I throw them on the floor? Huh?”

“Why were you born if you cannot talk to people?”

Taemin had heard more than enough and furiously started to rail at the kids who looked at him in confusion as soon as he opened his mouth.

“ing little s. HOW DARE YOU TREAT ANOTHER PERSON LIKE THIS. Get out of here before I punch you in your ugly little faces.” The blonde male looked at the kids, basically staring them into the ground.

When none of them moved, his voice got louder until the point where he was shouting at them.

“CAN YOU NOT HEAR ME?! GET THE OUT OF HERE.” This seemed to be working as the kids started to back off. “AND ING LEAVE THAT BAG. I DON’T EVER WANT TO SEE YOU AROUND HERE AGAIN.”

The kid holding Minho’s bag let it fall on the floor and then all of them ran away, leaving only Minho and Taemin in the ally.

“These goddam kids, how dare they” Taemin mumbled while he was picking up the bag from the dirty floor. His blood was still boiling, and he almost jumped when he turned around and Minho was standing really close to him.

“OH , you surprised me!” Minho’s eyes widened when he met Taemin’s for a split second and he looked away instantly.

“Thank you.” He said with a slightly trembling voice.

Taemin’s heart started beating faster, did Minho just talk to him? Without him having to ask a question!? He only realized he had been standing there frozen in astonishment when Minho held out his hand.

“Oh yes, right, your bag. Here you go.” Taemin said calmer than he actually was and held the leather bag out for Minho to take. Which Minho did, their fingers touching slightly before the taller pulled his arm back, his back in a tight grip, afraid of losing it again.

“Uhm, Let’s go back to the café. I’ll have to make your latte first though.” Taemin said, pointing the way with his hand to let Minho walk first. He hadn’t expected Minho to answer to what he said because it wasn’t even a question, but somehow, he was still disappointed that the taller didn’t say anything but just nodded his head and walked to the familiar place, Taemin following up behind him.

When they were inside, and Minho was just about to pass the counter, he turned around again, facing Taemin – his eyes trying to focus on something that was not the floor and therefore were moving around a lot.

“You.. you-“Minho started, surprising Taemin for the second time that day.

“Yes?” He encouraged the taller male who seemed to be calming down slowly.

“You don’t have to…- don’t hurry.” For a second, Minho’s gaze was able to find Taemin’s eyes and the latter felt like he would die of a heart attack any second. Minho was talking to him, telling him he didn’t have to hurry while actually looking at him! It didn’t matter that it was only for a split second. He felt pride swell in his chest, Halmoni had told him that Minho had never looked at her face before even though they had been talking quite a lot, the autistic male had always stuck to looking at the wooden table while speaking.

“O…Okay” Taemin managed to utter and Minho turned around to walk to his usual seat.

“You know what? Do you want one of the biscuits meanwhile? Halmoni made them fresh this morning. Maybe you could like them!” the blonde said, waiting for a reaction from the taller.

“Thank you” it was a barely audible mumble, but it was all Taemin needed to hurry behind the counter, putting one of the fresh biscuits on a small turquoise plate, immediately bringing it over to the table where Minho was sitting by now, just taking out his lecture of today when he arrived.

“Here you go. I hope you like it. Your Caffe Latte will be up right away.” Taemin said, hurrying away again, not wanting to disturb Minho more than he already had.

17:33

A cup of coffee was placed on his table and Minho could bring himself to thank the other with a short “Thank you” before trying to move back into his safe space.

But today he found himself in a similar situation again like the day he had first encountered the loud blonde male that went by the name of Taemin. He barely managed to free his mind but was pulled back into reality whenever he was about to leave. Memories filled his brain instead of George Orwell’s utopian vision of the future in 1984.

Memories of Taemin cursing at the kids that have been following him around whenever they see him. Memories of the blonde male picking up his treasured bag. Memories of his face.

Memories of Taemin’s face.

He barely had memories of people’s faces because he usually didn’t look at them. He didn’t know what had made him wonder about the looks of the blonde male, but he had looked him into the eyes which was a huge thing. Minho didn’t exactly praise himself for managing to look into another person’s eyes while saying something, but he knew that it was an accomplishment and that the people in the camp would have praised him for it.

Minho nervously turned pages of the novel, desperately trying to concentrate on the written. A few sips of coffee, another try of making sense of the English words.

A piece of paper was placed on his table, followed by fast footsteps hurrying away. George Orwell, big brother is watching you. The narrator from the off telling about how the protagonist get’s tortured because he doesn’t follow societies rules. A small note on wood.

There was a note on his table, right next to his Caffe Latte.

Thank you for talking to me today Minhossi, you can tell me if those kids bother you again, I will not stand by. I will be outside smoking if you need anything.   Taemin

The message was written in the by now familiar messy characters.  The writing fit the person.

A small smile played around Minho’s mouth when he read the message over a few more times, thinking of a fitting answer.

18:45

Minho left like always, his bag in his hand, nodding to say goodbye when he walked out into the evening.

Taemin who had been watching Minho less than he usually was – afraid that he would somehow notice - couldn’t wait to see if Minho answered his note. He wanted to find out if the taller would answer a note that didn’t include a question.

I should rather be thanking you for picking up my bag. It is a highly treasures possession of mine and therefore it is my duty to thank you for your help. You shouldn’t smoke, it doesn’t do your health any good.
                                                                     -Choi Minho

Taemin read the beautiful characters with wide eyes. He had been hoping to get an answer, but in no world would he have imagined getting such a long response.

When the first happiness of getting the reply faded, uneasiness built inside of him.

How come Minho’s only attention was on the bag? Could it be that he didn’t register the evil words the kids threw at him? That wasn’t possible. Was it?

After cleaning the table, he took the note to the small stack of notes he had hidden behind the counter, wondering if Minho had made it back home safely. No matter if the taller registered what the kids said, Taemin was sure about one thing: No matter who would try and hurt the autistic male or his bag would have to go through him.

A/N

Hello everyone, as you may have noticed: THIS SMALL STORY HAS A POSTER NOW! (I am no professional so it is nowhere near perfecr but bear with me)
I probably spent more time making that freaking poster than I needed writing this chapter. I am not 100% sure if it fits the story but I guess it just has to.

I realised that I didn't answer comments from the last chapter yet - I am an awful author, sorrrryyyy!! I will answer all of them (and who knows maybe some new ones *throwing hints*) tomorrow when I get back from work since I will go to sleep now.

I love you and let me know your thoughts if you have any!

xx

R

ps: Some of you have asked about the confusion in the age of them (foreword: 27/25 chapter: 19/21) It wasn't a mistake and you will get the whole picture in later chapters!