You flipped a page and pretended to read, knowing very well that he’d be watching you from afar. You had to stifle a smile because you didn’t want to look like you were interested in him, but you were definitely starting to take interest.

You first noticed him in a café. You were sat in the corner with the sun rays dancing on your tanned skin and your hand gripping a pen scribbling away in your journal. He sat a couple of tables away from you and when he saw you, he couldn’t stop staring. You didn’t know his name but you know that he would often glance your way, and whenever you caught him looking at you, he’d look away and you’d notice a rush of pink tint on his cheeks and ears. At first, you were bothered, but overtime, you begin to notice how cute he looked and would return the glances. 

As a regular patron, you’d return to the same café to either relax, read or do your digital illustrations on your iPad. You weren’t expecting him to be there again, but it definitely left you surprised when you saw him seated at the same table, sipping on his coffee. You stood frozen in your spot and hesitated for a bit. When he saw you, he straightened his posture and pretended to read a book that he had brought along. It was a Harry Potter book and it made you smile a bit.

Walking past his table, you played it cool and settled your bags down and went to past his table again to the counter to order your usual drink.

“Hey , the usual chai latte today?” Jinhee, the barista, asked. She was always very cheerful and it was so easy for you to have a chat with her.

“Morning, Jinhee! Actually no, I’m going to get something else,” you said shyly, biting on your lower lip.

Jinhee was surprised but asked with a smile,”What will it be this time?”

“Can I get… a caramel macchiato?”

“Caramel macchiato?”

“Yes. A caramel macchiato.”

“Caramel macchiato it is. That’s $5.20.”

As you walked over to the pick-up station, you felt his eyes on you as you moved. You glanced his way and he quickly turned his gaze back to the book. You noticed that he never moved a page and that made you giggled.

“Caramel macchiato.”

You jumped at your order and picked it up, but not before you asked Jinhee what his name was.

“Hey Jinhee, do you anything about the guy seated right behind me?” you asked in a whisper. “Don’t look! Don’t make it too obvious that I’m talking about him.”

“Him? Oh, he’s new. I heard from Hyunjun that his name’s Yunho, but he could be wrong,” Jinhee replied, shrugging her shoulders. She closed in on you and whispered,”But he is cute. So cute.”

“Hyunjun? How the hell does Hyunjun know him?”

Jinhee shrugged her shoulders. “Beats me. Could be that they’re neighbours, or schoolmates. Who knows.”

“Right,” you sighed and thanked Jinhee again. “Wait. It was Yunho right?”

“Yup.”

“Thank you.”

As you were walking back to your table, you saw him glancing at you and you smirked. You settled down in your chair and pulled out your ipad and began your work, but not before you exchanged glances with Yunho.

This cheesy play-hard-to-get moments went on for days, and stretched up to a couple of weeks before you bumped into him at a bookstore. You didn’t think that he was seriously into you, but seeing how he was in the same place as you again, you were starting to believe that he seemed pretty serious about it. But you didn’t want to make it look easy for him, so you decided to make him chase you.

As you flipped another page and read a couple of lines, you looked up to find him gone. You gazed around and he was nowhere in sight.

“Hi.”

You jumped and gasped at the sound of that deep male voice and slowly turned around. You felt relieved when you realised who it was. 

“Hi.”

He towered over you by a lot but that didn’t intimidate you a bit. He was holding onto a random book that he had picked off the shelf and was clutching onto it nervously. He seemed really shy at first and you thought that it was really cute. 

He extended his right hand surprising you a little bit and introduced himself. “I’m Yunho. Jung Yunho.”

You looked at his hand and noticed how manly it was. Slowly extending your hand into his, you felt his firm grip.

“. My name’s .”

“. Nice to meet you, .” He smiled so widely, you were smitten by his cute smile.

“Likewise.”

There was a brief awkward silence but Yunho managed to break it. “D-do you… want to go get coffee… with me?”

You stared at him and saw his pink cheeks and you smiled faintly. “Sure. Let me just get this book.”

“Right, of course.”

You were about to walk to the counter when you stopped and turned to him.

“You’re… not a fan of reading, are you?”

Stunned, he shifted in his position. “How can you tell? You don’t… like men who don’t read?”

“You didn’t even flip a page when you brought in a book to the café that one time,” you laughed,”But no, I don’t care whether men read books or not. It’s their preference. It’s your preference. I just want to get to know you.”

Relieved by what you’ve just told him, Yunho followed you to the counter, all the while talking about yourselves and getting to know each other.