Coffee. Everyone loves a fresh cup of coffee. Who doesn’t?

Park Eun Young is a big coffee fan. Albeit the caffeine addiction may have caused her sleep patterns to be a little rough, having her daily dosage is a perk me up to kick start her day. Eun Young may have thought it was a funny thing to depend on coffee but it was her good luck charm. Without it, her day doesn’t seem complete and there might be something lacking at the back of her mind. She couldn’t function without a proper cup a day, probably causing her to feel fidgety right now in the middle of the night after knocking out from her full shift at the hospital.

Her day was pretty much was going down the drain, starting from the morning when her alarm failed on her. She was running late for her shift and was practically flying everywhere in order to catch up with time. Hastily getting herself ready, she did not manage to make herself a cup of coffee in the morning since she was in a rush. She even headed straight towards her immediate destination instead of dropping by the nearest coffee shop as she didn’t want to get herself into hot soup, knowing her superiors were a little strict on the terms of punctuality.

Not helping with the smooth morning, it was a hectic day in the hospital, with lots of patients that Eun Young had to attend. She could have gotten herself a cup of coffee but even with the small breaks she was granted, there wasn’t much time for her to fully indulge in her favourite drink. She had to make do with whatever time she had to gulp down those tiny cups of coffee from the vending machine for her feed of her medicine.

Groggily heading out of the building, she checked the time on her wrist watch. “10PM? Wow, it has been a long day. A cup of coffee right now would be nice to cheer me up”, Eun Young thought, making her way to her favourite joint near her place.

The coffee shop that she frequent to is rather quaint and cosy, which suited her liking since she likes to enjoy her hot drink with minimal disruption. Luckily for her, the coffee shop operates 24 hours a day, allowing her to grab her feed anytime without having to worry whether she would have to miss out on it.

Stepping in the store, the place seemed rather quiet with the only presence of two customers who were seated at the end of the shop.

“Probably a slow night”, she thought.

Greeted with a beam by the barista, she headed to counter and ordered her usual. She decided to enjoy her coffee in the store instead of having it to go since it wouldn’t kill to stay out a little longer and enjoy the night. Carrying her coffee, she headed to one of the seats and settled in the comfort of the cushion chairs to sip her coffee and read her book.

Ding ding ding.

The sound of the bell by the door made her looked up at the new customer who had just stepped into the store. Scanning the physique of the customer, she couldn’t help but to wonder why the person had to be dressed in a face mask, which was unusual considering it was already in the middle of the night and there were not many people around the neighbourhood. She brushed the thought off, continuing with her book and enjoying the sweet taste of her macchiato.

----

Sliding in the comfortable seat, he took out his Macbook Pro and waited for it to boot up, allowing him to survey around the store in hopes that it was quiet and provided him some privacy to do his work. Lee Donghae had a really rough day, preparing for the upcoming Super Show 3 and his involvement in his drama. All he ever needed was some quiet time by himself and his favourite cup of coffee to accompany him before he faced another gruelling day that would probably made him even busier than the usual. It has been a while since he had time for himself, he couldn’t even spare a moment to savour something that he enjoyed the most. Given the opportunity that he has right now, even for a few blissful hours that might burned off his sleep, he endearingly enjoyed the comfort of the me-time that he made do with.

Taking off his face mask, he fiddled with his laptop and took a small sip of his piping hot coffee, only to burn his tongue due to his impulsiveness of drinking the hot drink without waiting for it to simmer down. The sensation of the burn was annoying him beyond comprehension as he didn’t need another problem to deal with, especially a tiny problem that really didn’t mattered to him at all. He touched the tip of his tongue and resumed back to his work, only to hear a muffled giggle at the other table.

Looking up from his laptop, he looked at the occupied table, only to notice a petite lady with a book on her hand, avoiding his gaze and suppressing her giggles.

“Aish! She must’ve noticed my reaction”, Donghae thought, quickly looking away and blush upon his silliness. Of course she would notice, especially when he gave out a sudden ouch that might have disturbed her concentration of her book. He took another glance at the lady again, from his sight, noticing the seasoned book she was reading and the way her hair falls nicely over her shoulders. He caught sight of her looking at him as well and was immediately greeted with a gentle smile that managed to make flutters in his tummy.

Returning the smile with another, he glanced back at his laptop and continued whatever he was supposed to do without giving much of a thought.

----

Glancing at her wrist watch, she decided to make a move since it was getting really late. After the last few sips of her coffee, she gathered her stuffs, smoothed her skirt and headed towards the door, giving one last glance at the amusing stranger that made her giggle earlier on. Eun Young wouldn’t lie about his attractiveness; there was something peculiar about him that made her want to look at him after he took off his face mask. She noticed that he was busy with his laptop, probably dealing with last minute work that he had to settle with. Shrugging, Eun Young stepped out of the store and headed back to the destination which she called home.

----

It has been weeks since Donghae last stepped into the quaint coffee shop for his coffee fix. On top of that, it has been weeks since he last saw the lady that made his tummy flutter when she gave him a smile. She left the store without him knowing, which made Donghae felt like he missed an opportunity to spark a conversation with her. Since he was spared of time for the next few hours before he had to be back to the studio for a recording, he wandered into his favourite neighbourhood to get his coffee. After all, he was hoping that there would be chance to see the lady again, in any case if luck was on his side.

Before he could step into the store, a sudden push came bumping on him, causing the stranger that he had stumbled upon to drop her coffee. Donghae looked up and noticed the lady was in a little fright due to the hot coffee spilling all over the floor and almost scalding her hands.

“Gwechana?” Donghae honestly asked, looking out for her expression to calm down. He noticed the familiarity of her hair that ran smoothly down her shoulders and her milky skin that was glowing. She nodded, looking up at him and gave a small smile to assure him that she was alright.

“I’m sorry; I am such a klutz. Are you okay? Oh shoot, there goes my coffee”, Donghae heard her stuttered through her ramblings. She looked at him with her warm but yet apologetic eyes and a sudden spark glowed within her, realising that she remembered the stranger that she had bumped into.

“Ah, as long as you’re alright, I’m fine”, Donghae said, without realising that he sounded rather corny to have said all that. He bit his lips and gave her an assuring smile, only to ask if she was interested if he could buy her another cup since it was part of his fault to have made her dropped her coffee on the floor.

Eun Young couldn’t say no to those beautiful eyes that swarmed her, unknowingly, she made herself nod and followed the stranger to the counter to get herself another cup of coffee. She meekly glanced at the towering stranger beside her who, offered her a smile and gave her new cup of coffee.

“Thank you, err...”

“How rude of me, I should have introduced myself at the very least”, Donghae butted in before Eun Young could finish her thank you to him.

With a brief introduction and an offer that Donghae couldn’t refuse by Eun Young who offered him to join her coffee moment, Eun Young and Donghae’s common interest kick start a new friendship the instance they sat down and take a sip of their favourite beverage.

With a tiny encounter blossomed into something new for the both of them. Who would have thought that two very different people with different backgrounds share the same passion; luck must have been on their side when the both of them stumbled upon one another.

And to think it started from coffee, something so addictive but gives a sense of comfort to enjoy, any day.

----

A/N: Hooomygod, boring ending ‘cos I ended it so abruptedly. I think I’m just gonna leave it up to the readers to interpret the end of the story.