the next time jinki visited the cafe was on a monday. he walked in with minho and like the previous week, demanded that he sit while he ordered. jinki ignored minho’s annoying whining of “i want to see the cutie too~” and approached the counter with a bright smile. 

“hi jonghyun ssi,” it took some time for jonghyun to appear from under the counter. he was squatting behind the counter, pretending to arrange the cups. as much as he wanted to see jinki again, he hoped that he wouldn't have to face jinki after that embarrassing note he wrote him last week. after realising that he couldn't actually hide from jinki, he rose up with an entirely red face. 

“hi…” he answered softly, looking down at the counter.

“are you alright? your face is really red. do you feel faint?” jonghyun’s heart pounded at the worried tone in jinki’s voice. 

“ahh…” jonghyun cupped his face with both hands, “i'm fine, just a little hot in here…” jinki’s heart fluttered at the adorable sight. just how cute can someone get? and he was seriously getting a little worried for jonghyun because surely his uniform wasn't that thick and the cafe’s aircon was on full blast; jinki would be shivering if it weren't for his medical coat. 

“i don't think you're fine, do you want to sit down for a bit?” , jonghyun thought. jinki was a doctor after all, who was he trying to lie to? a little hot? who was he kidding? 

“ahh i can't, i'm working.” afraid that jinki would push him to do it anyway, he continued, “i'm just a little embarrassed… there's nothing wrong with me.” he looked up and his eyes met jinki’s concerned ones and he immediately looked away again. sometimes jonghyun hated how shy he was, especially around people he was interested in. 

“i see… so why are you embarrassed?” jinki bit back a smile as he watched jonghyun’s eyes widen. he could literally hear him thinking about how he was going to explain himself. jinki could kind of guess the reason why jonghyun was embarrassed and didn't want to torture the cute man any longer. “anyway, can i have 2 cups of hmm, iced matcha latte?” he smiled fondly at the way jonghyun scrambled to grab 2 cups, hiding himself briefly behind the stacked cups. 

“that'll be $14,” jonghyun said shyly, reaching his hand out for the money. jinki handed him his card, along with something else under it. 

“that's for you,” jinki pointed at the card. confused, jonghyun flipped the card over and saw what looked like a note. jinki realised that he really enjoyed looking at jonghyun’s honest, endearing reactions when he saw his eyes widen in shock again. 

“oh… thank you!” with his face completely red, jonghyun hurriedly kept the note in his back pocket. when he handed jinki’s card back to him, his hands were trembling, “umm… you can sit down, i'll bring the drinks to you in awhile.” they didn't normally serve customers but since jinki was his favourite customer, jonghyun didn't mind. 

“it's okay, i wanna watch you.” jinki’s wide smile made jonghyun breathless for a bit because he was just so… attractive. he unconsciously stared for a few seconds before he realised it was weird and rude to do so and started fumbling to make the drinks. jinki leaned against the counter, laughing softly. he felt kinda accomplished, seeing jonghyun in that state because of him.

jonghyun was a little nervous yet b with curiosity at what jinki wrote to him. after making sure that jinki wasn't looking at him after discreetly watching his and minho's table for a while, he quickly reached into his back pocket to open the note. 

‘hi jonghyun ssi, 

thanks for telling me your name :) while the coffee you make has no doubt become my favourite drink, you should know that the main reason why i come here is because of the person who makes it ;) pretty sure i'm not the first person who is gonna tell you this, but you're extremely adorable. and really cute. honestly i haven't frequented this cafe in awhile, but i'm glad i did ;) thanks for the encouragement! i hope i will never get to see you where i work though (in the operating theatre. i mean, unless you wanna be a surgeon too :P oh but even then it wouldn't be ideal too since i won't be able to focus on operating coz i’ll be too busy looking at you ;) 

p.s. so… what do you usually do in your free time?’ 

even after having gone out with jonghyun on several dates already, jinki just couldn’t stop the smile that would appear on his face every time he saw jonghyun approaching him.

“hi gorgeous,” jinki said cheekily as jonghyun came into hearing distance. he loved saying things like that to make the shorter man blush and hide his face. 

“hyung…” jonghyun whined, pouting up at jinki. jinki reached down to grab jonghyun’s hand, pressing a kiss to his fingers. 

“why are your hands so cold? are you cold?” 

“the train was a little cold but i'm fine now…” jonghyun answered shyly as jinki intertwined their fingers, using his other hand to rub jonghyun’s hand. they started walking, with jinki leading the way.

“could've picked you up~” 

“it's okay hyunggg, i didn't want to bother you,” at hearing jonghyun’s pouty voice, jinki glanced at jonghyun and his lips looked so pretty. it took all of jinki’s self restraint to not bend down and kiss him. 

“you'll never be a bother to me,” jinki lifted up their joined hands to press another kiss to jonghyun's fingers, “you're too pretty for that,” he added jokingly. 

“nooooo, i'm not,” jonghyun protested. jinki could see the blush on his cheeks and was secretly satisfied. 

“huh,” jinki scoffed, “do you even know how many guys and girls check you out? we've barely been together for 3 minutes now and i'm pretty sure i've seen at least 6 people checking you out already.” 

“what?” jonghyun instantly looked around with his big eyes, “noooo, no one’s looking at me.” 

“oh jonghyun,” jinki pretended to sigh, “it's always the pretty ones who don't notice.” 

“hyunggg stopppp, you're pretty tooo~” jonghyun murmured the last part shyly. 

although he didn't show it, jinki’s heart burst with pride as he heard what jonghyun said. “why, thank you gorgeous,” he winked at jonghyun, “but you're the prettiest so stop arguing.” 

“whatever hyung, you're impossible,” jonghyun mumbled with red cheeks, looking away from the older man. “where are we going by the way, hyung?” 

“ahh, i'm bringing you to somewhere special, it's a surprise~” 

“why hyunggg~ what's so special about today?” jonghyun pouted. it was his birthday today and when jinki asked him out about 2 weeks ago, jonghyun got so excited because he thought that jinki wanted to celebrate his birthday with him. however,  jinki hadn't wished him at all; and jonghyun didn't blame him since they've only started dating and for some reason, their conversations had never breached the topic on birthdays so he didn't expect jinki to know when it was. his pout grew more pronounced as he thought about it, and his shoulders slouched a little. 

“nothing~ just wanna bring my jonghyunnie out~” jinki sang, swinging their hands back and forth a little roughly to cheer jonghyun up. jinki wouldn't brag about his ability to read people well but jonghyun was literally just an open book.