“Don’t look, but he’s coming our way now.” Mina whispered in an overly dramatic voice. You were about to roll your eyes, but since there really was a guy walking your way, you controlled your urges. And any and all snarky remarks you had. Of course he was walking your way. He was a waiter in this weird, host café.

“Hello Mina, I see you brought a friend.” Your heart skipped a beat at his voice. It was sweet, as if it was somehow coated in honey. You looked up at him, and immediately found him staring at you. He was wearing blue contact lenses and his hair was bleached blonde, yet it looked almost natural on him. He had full lips, that he was biting. The sight made you uncomfortable. He was attractive, and yet there was something off. You pushed the thought away.

“I did! I kept telling her about this place and she finally caved and came with me!” Mina chattered excitedly. The waiter eyed you for another few seconds, then turned his attention back to Mina.

“You’re a blessing, Mina. I’m always excited to meet your friends.” He smiled, placing his hands on the table and leaning closer to her. He shot you a wink, too. For good measure, probably. “Let’s see if I remember correctly… Mina wants elderflower lemonade, and our weekly special as long as there’s no pistachios in it.”

Mina gasped, surprised that the man who literally got paid to charm his customers and woo them remembered her order. You took the moment to glance at the menu so you could at least try to think about your own order. The waiter reacted faster than you anticipated, slapping his hand over the menu and turning his gaze at you. You felt warm suddenly.

“Oh no, darling. My name is Heejun, and I’m not just your waiter.” He slid the menu across the table and took a step closer to you, observing you carefully. “Tell me your name, and I’ll tell you what you want. If I’m wrong, it’s on the house.”

Heejun crouched down to be at eyelevel with you. Suddenly you were very aware of everything. You hadn’t brushed your teeth after lunch. You were wearing this shirt for the second day in a row. There was a stain on your pants that you’d brushed off, but you knew it was there and it felt as if Heejun somehow knew it was there, too.

“I told you my name, wouldn’t it be fair to give me yours?” He asked, holding out his hand. Your heart thumped loudly, and realized your hand was already in his. He raised it slowly, bringing it to his face as if he were going to kiss it, but never broke off eye contact. It felt like a bomb ticking away, and yet it was exciting. You barely managed to stammer your name when his lips were about to touch your skin.

He grinned upon hearing it, and brushed his thumb over the spot he might have kissed. Maybe he really was the kind of person who could guess your order from just hearing your name. These kinds of jobs did require some level of people skills. That’s what you told yourself when he guessed right.

“You want the raspberry special we have, but without the whipped cream. And as a drink…” He paused, pulling a face as if he were thinking hard, then smiled. “I can make watermelon juice for you, even if it’s not the season anymore.”

He winked, gently placed your hand back on your lap, and raised himself up straight. Mina was gawking at him. You shot her a look, half worried she’d be jealous her favourite waiter was treating you like his girlfriend, but found that she was giggling.

“You’re spot on! She always pouts when watermelon goes out of season because it’s her favourite!” Mina giggled, “I didn’t know about the raspberry, but it’s true that she doesn’t like whipped cream. How did you know?!”

Her giving away personal information made you squeamish, but you could hardly nudge her for it when the god of guessing food orders was still standing in front of you. He shrugged, cupping his chin in a ponderous expression.

“I just have a knack for guessing stuff. I’ll bring it right over.” He gave you a brief smile, then walked off. It felt like you’d just run a marathon.

You really hadn’t expected Heejun to spend as much time with you as he did. It felt as if he had all the time in the world, even when there were at least three other groups that he was tending to. You’d never seen a waiter act like this. Even knowing he was a host, he made it seem as if he had all the time in the world for you and Mina.

“It looks like college is really giving you a hard time, huh?” Heejun asked, his head carefully leaning on his hand as he made cute faces for Mina. “I can tell you’re not sleeping a lot. You’re making me concerned! Are you taking vitamins?’

Mina was gobbling it all up. Heejun was lavishing her in attention. Even though you didn’t expect anything from him, and you didn’t want his flirtatious attention, you felt a little bad to be left out. Third wheeling, where the first wheel was paying the second wheel. You took a carefully measured small bite of your raspberry fruit tart. How much longer did Mina plan on being here?

“I’ll be right back.” Mina dropped it like a bomb. Suddenly she was gone, and you were left alone with Heejun. You weren’t sure what to expect, maybe for him to leave, but instead Heejun stretched himself out and made himself comfortable in Mina’s chair, right next to yours. He turned to you with a lazy smile on his face, carelessly raising his hand to pat your hand.

“This all really isn’t your kind of thing, is it? You don’t look comfortable.” He noted calmly. His hand was lying on your armrest, oddly close to yours. His pink reached out slightly, like a peace offer.

“It’s… I respect what you… I get that it’s a job that makes a lot of people very happy.” You awkwardly managed. Heejun let out a chuckle and shrugged.

“Right. You respect the hustle.”

“Well if you put it like that…” You made a face.

“It already sounds weird if I put it as ‘I act like a boyfriend to women who know I’m not their boyfriend and pay me for it’. Wait.” He laughed and ran a hand through his hair. You laughed along with him and patted his arm for some kind of comfort. He turned his head back to look at you and shrugged. “Thank you. I’ll get them to take the tart off your tab.”

“Are you sure? I mean, you did guess it correctly.”

“Actually, I was kind of hoping you might come back if I gave you free cake. Not for… You know.” As he was talking, he slipped his fingers between yours ever so slightly. You looked at it, then at him. He was eying you without his trademark smile. For whatever reason, you pushed your fingers back against his.

“Maybe if it’s not so busy.” That wasn’t entirely what you meant to say. “I didn’t mean… There’s just a lot of people and I don’t do well around lots of people.”

“Nice save.” He grinned, squeezing your fingers briefly. “If you want to come when it’s really quiet, the best would probably be… To go on a date with me.”