The door slams open, colliding loudly with the nearest wall, when a clearly distressed man runs into the café with a somewhat crazy look on his face; bursting a few peaceful bubbles surrounding other customers and leaving them with round, surprised eyes searching for the source of disturbance that made them look up from leisurely sipping one of the best, even if not that well-known, coffees in town.

The man looks quite average, apart from his facial expression; not too tall, not too short, a little buffy but not too much, with simple black hair, not even gelled nor styled up like the newest fashion tells all the ‘cool guys’ to do, single eyelids, a couple of pimples here and there, indicating the relatively young age, and a clumsily worn uniform from the school three streets away from here.

He’s nothing special so it comes as no surprise that the earlier alarmed customers shake their heads dismissively and, without sparing the newcomer second glances, they return to enjoying the simplicity of this place. That’s the reason they came here, after all.

The stranger bows apologetically at the group of girls sitting near the entrance and visibly tries to calm himself down, unaware that he still holds the attention of one curious pair of eyes which follow him to the small table where he slumps down and covers his face with both of his big hands. He doesn’t look good.

He doesn’t look good and that’s exactly why the owner of those curious eyes decides to go to his table. That, and the fact that he’s a waiter at this place.

“Welcome to our Café, my name is Lee Donghae, how can I help you?” Donghae always made sure to mention his name while greeting new customers, it made them feel more relaxed in his company and in the café in general.

Donghae The Waiter watches as the boy lifts his head and tries to force up a smile. He seems older than Donghae and Donghae wonders how it is possible. Maybe he didn’t pass a couple of times? Donghae is pretty sure that he doesn’t know him though, which is  fishy because the uniform the boys is wearing is the very same uniform Donghae was finally allowed to take off last year when he and his friends surprised everyone by graduating with scores better than anyone expected. And he knew almost every student in his old school. Is this one new? Did he transfer here? Come to think of it, Donghae can’t recall ever seeing him in the area.

“One cup of coffee with milk please. And…” The boy looks conflicted whether to continue his sentence as he scratches his nape awkwardly. Donghae gives him an encouraging smile. “Do you maybe… I mean… Have you by any chance… seen L– I mean, a blonde guy with deep brown eyes and a dimpled smile? I… I was told he comes here often,” he laughs nervously.

That’s just why Donghae loves his job so much. It doesn’t pay well, it takes most of his free time and he doesn’t even particularly like coffee. But he gets to meet so many different kinds of people, with different kinds of tastes, different kinds of problems and different kinds of lifestyles; he loves observing them and trying to predict what do they seek for in this quiet place.

And of course he knows Leeteuk, he’s a regular customer here, his hyung, and the youngest teacher in the history of his old High School.

“Didn’t see him today,” Donghae shakes his head and stops the boy’s disappointed face from coming up by adding: “Which means he’s definitely going to show up soon.”

“Oh,” comes the response and the customer gives him a somewhat relieved smile. “Oh. Great. I’ll just… wait here, yeah.”

Donghae bows and turns to tell the newest orders to the staff before announcing that he’s taking a five minute break. Once in the storage room, he takes out his phone and types a few words in with his lips curved into a grin. How he loves helping others.

‘Hyung. I need your help, come to the Café. Quick. Please.’

Now all he has to do is wait. And watch.

Park Jungsu bursts into the Café in the almost identical manner that could be seen fifteen minutes ago and the exact same customers that were disturbed earlier make the exact same big surprised eyes before mumbling something to themselves and returning to their almost empty cups of coffee.

Jungsu pants lightly and Donghae is amazed at how quickly the older appeared in here. He lives quite far away from this place to be honest.

He carefully scans his surroundings in search for his dongsaeng but when instead of him Jungsu spots a boy staring into the air like an empty doll, all thoughts of helping Donghae with whatever he needed help in, vanish from his head.

“Kangin-ah?” He asks quietly and Donghae smiles to himself. “I mean, Kim Youngwoon-ssi…”

The boy jumps up at the first name. “Leeteuk.”

“It’s Teacher Park for you,” Jungsu deadpans and Kangin shivers as if he was splashed with a bottle of cold water right in the face.

Somewhere between Leeteuk’s first word and Kangin’s (Youngwoon’s?) exasperated look Donghae thinks he’s already figured out what this is all about. And he doesn’t like where this is going.

“Mr. Park, please,” despite demanding it earlier, Jungsu flinches upon hearing his surname. “I’m of legal age. And I am going to pass this time and graduate, I really am. Then I’ll be free. Please.”

“What are you actually asking me to do, Youngwoon-ssi?”

“To sit and join me to a cup of coffee, for starters?” A tiny bit of self-confidence can be seen in his face for the first time since Donghae met the boy. Which means about twenty minutes.

Jungsu sighs. “You’re never going to give up, are you?”

“I’m not.” Determination is clear in Kangin’s voice. “I’m not and you know why.”

“I don’t—“

“I love you.”

There’s a deafening silence after those three words and Donghae decides it’s a perfect moment to deliver the coffees to their table.

“Here you are, hyungs.” He ignores Jungsu’s reproachful gaze when he emphasizes the word. He may be one of Donghae’s favorite hyungs, but that doesn’t change the fact that he can be pretty stupid at times. Just like right now. “I hope you’ll work it out.”

“What was that about?” Asks Kangin while watching the retreating waiter’s back, to which Jungsu only sighs.

“The most nosy waiter you could ever come across. Whatever.” He rubs his temples. “Listen, Kangin, I know you think you love me- no let me finish,” he adds when he sees the other opening his mouth. “I know you think you love me, but the real situation is: you’re a student. And I’m your teacher. We can’t… I can’t do this. I like my job, I don’t want to change it. Maybe in a year or two, when you actually graduate… Maybe we could give it a shot then.”

“So you do feel something for me!” Kangin announces in a triumphant voice. “I knew it; I knew it wasn’t just the alcohol that made you kiss me that night!”

“SHHH!!” Jungsu quickly looks around to make sure no one’s listening to them. “Keep quiet, Kangin-ah, do you want me to lose my job this instant?!”

A grin is all he gets as a reply.

“What.”

“You called me Kangin,” The smile never vanishes from Kangin’s face when his eyes turn into two adorable half-moons.

“…So what if I did?” Asks Jungsu grumpily and the moment he does it, Donghae knows they’re going to be just fine. This Kangin guy won’t give up and his hyung was never stubborn enough to be a strict, consistent teacher anyway.

Donghae shifts his gaze from the couple to give them some privacy when he sees Kangin’s hand discreetly taking and Jungsu’s. He smiles. Those love stories – it was them that made his chest swell with warmth.

He wishes he had someone like that boy, someone who’s dedicated enough to fight for him, even if it’s he himself he has to fight with.

Not everyone is as dramatic as Kangin and Leeteuk were though. There’s the couple who likes to regularly visit the Café and be the sweetest thing one could imagine. They’re inseparable. Even now, they’re sitting at their favorite table near the window, Donghae notices, as he lays his eyes upon the smaller boy’s head resting on the other’s shoulder, chuckling quietly at whatever he said. It’s obvious both of them are really enjoying each other’s company.

Their love story was just as sweet as the Café’s sweetest frappe.

Yesung, the black haired, a little scary looking boy, was a friend of Donghae’s boss who simply loved to use her friends’ strong points to her advantage. In this case, it was Yesung’s voice that she needed from time to time, especially when the amount of customers visiting her café was not big enough for her liking.

Despite his quite dark appearance, Yesung was a nice guy and so he usually didn’t make any problems about not earning any money for his little performances; one or two free coffees and he was good.

One of those evenings Donghae spotted a small, delicate boy who was sitting near the improvised stage, staring at Yesung with pure adoration written all over his (very pretty) face. He looked absolutely stunned by the other’s vocals and/or appearance, Donghae didn’t know which one more. What he did know, was that their story had just begun, even if neither of them realized it yet.

After the last notes faded into nothingness, replaced by the round of applause, Yesung stepped down and reached for what was left of his water. Instead of the cool plastic of the bottle though, his hand had touched something entirely different.

“Who are you, what’s your name, how old are you, where do you live, what do you do for living and how much should I beg you to change it into a whole new career?”

Everyone stopped their conversations, hearing a small guy shot out the words with the speed of a rifle, and the boy himself blushed crimson red when the first bursts of laughter filled the local.

Ryeowook, as it soon turned out, was a talent scout who just stepped by that day, to have a cup of coffee and a cheesecake. And it was a good thing he did. Donghae remembers him telling Yesung how the agency he worked for would love to see him on the upcoming audition and how he was undoubtedly going to become a worldwide star in a matter of months if he did go for it.

It probably wasn’t so much the vision of ‘conquering the world with his amazing voice’ that made Yesung say yes. No, in Donghae’s opinion, it was the concept of meeting Ryeowook again that had eventually won over his natural shyness.

They kept seeing each other in the Café to talk over the details of Yesung joining the agency and such, and every time they came, they would get themselves two coffees and two cheesecakes.

Donghae can’t point the exact moment things started to change between them. How Yesung’s smile got just a tad bit wider whenever he saw the scout; how Ryeowook’s cheeks would flush pink every now and then; how they started to order one cheesecake instead of two; how they finally sat beside each other, not across like they used to...

But they surely did. And they are the most perfect example of a happy couple right now, one of those Donghae likes watching the most, because they never fail to place a fond smile on his face (most likely having no idea that they do). Just like at this very moment.

“Should we take this one?” Yesung asks, one hand pointing at something in the folder they both are staring at, while the other his boyfriend’s arm lazily.

Ryeowook pouts cutely. “But it’s black… Do you really want to see this much of a depressing color when you come back from work? I don’t think it’s the greatest idea, Sungie, it’s so sad and you wouldn’t feel good with it and I wouldn’t either. Why don’t we go to the shop tomorrow and then we can decide, I’m telling you, it doesn’t look that great in real life; plus we would have to clean it every single day because black gets dirty so easily and you can see every little smudge and stain of dirt; haven’t I told you about my grandma’s friend’s daughter? She was so keen on black furniture that she didn’t listen to anyone telling her not to buy it and she ended up having to spend all her free time with a cleaning cloth and her dress was always dirty because of that… But maybe it wasn’t that big of a waste because- have you ever seen her dresses?! Anyway,” He stops to take a breath and frowns a little. “What was I talking about…?”

“Our couch,” Yesung says with a chuckle. “But not the black one, the one next to it.”

“Oh.” The boy takes a closer look. “Oh yes, it’s perfect! Why didn’t you just stop me!” He punches Yesung’s chest playfully.

“Well…” Comes the answer of the singer-to-be before he sticks out his tongue. “I was curious about the dresses.”

“Shut up,” grins Ryeowook and pecks the other’s cheek. “So it’s decided then! Now let’s choose a bed!”

Donghae chuckles at their cute behavior. It always looks like that – Ryeowook chatting happily about anything and everything (he seems to have an opinion to voice out about every subject one can possibly bring up), and Yesung quietly adoring his boyfriend, sometimes throwing few words of his own.

And now they are moving in together. How much sweeter could they be? It’s like every couple’s wish coming true… Donghae can feel himself slowly drowning in a sea of sappy dreams, where his Dream Guy, all in shadows, offers him a new place to live and lets him do the decorating however he wants to, when a sharp shout makes his eyes snap open and quickly stand at attention.

“Yah! Stop the crybaby act over there and take those desserts to Table 4 before they melt completely in this God forsaken heat, got it?”

“Got it!” He salutes with a grin.

He’s about to make his way to the mentioned table with two huge ice creams on his black tray, when a high shriek makes his body freeze. One leg in the air, a rubber almost touching his shoulder after being half-thrown onto it, and wide open mouth – he must look odd, but it’s the last thing in his mind when his attention is caught by the scene unfolding right before his eyes.

“I am not going to sit here, putting up with your bull, do you hear me?!” Shouts the man who did the shrieking earlier. He runs his perfectly manicured hands through his perfectly dyed and styled hair, as the expression of angry frustration displays on his perfectly smooth face. His big, perfect eyes are fixed on a man sitting at the table with resignation and guilt written all over his features.

As perfect as the shouting man is, the one being shouted at gives off a whole different feeling. While his slightly sculptured body reveals hours spent in a gym, his entire being just screams of calm and peaceful aura. His a little bit too long hair keep falling into his trustworthy eyes and he seems not to notice that his own hand tugs it every so often to its right place.

He throws a look at other customers who are suddenly very busy coughing and checking their phones or becoming overly talkative to their friends.

“I think everyone does, Chullie, please don’t make a scene,” He sighs and Donghae thinks he can hear a somewhat foreign accent in his voice.

“Then grow some balls okay!” The diva-like man doesn’t look like he’s going to calm down anytime soon.

“Chullie…”

“Don’t you ‘Chullie’ me!” He yells. “Just man the hell up! I didn’t leave all my past behind for you to just call it quits, Hangeng! Don’t you dare suggesting going back to China now!”

Ah so that’s why the man’s accent sounds so weird. He’s a Chinese, seriously, how could Donghae not notice it? So obvious.

Hangeng sighs yet again and shakes his head. (In a matter of seconds his hair is in his eyes all over again.)

“Don’t you understand? Going to China is the only possible solution for us.” Donghae feels his happy bubble burst away when he hears the Chinese man’s voice, so full of concern and, even if it’s not as clear, love. “We can’t be happy here. He will always know where to look for us… for you.”

The fury on Heechul’s face is suddenly replaced by fear and sadness as a lone tear makes his way down his left cheek.

“He will, won’t he… But China, Hannie? I know nothing about the country and those people, not to mention the language!” The beautiful man finally sits down, in front of his, Donghae is sure of it by now, lover. “What about our place? Our friends? Heebum?”

Hangeng’s thumb wipes the tear away from his skin.

“We’re going to be okay. We will start everything anew, we’ll buy a new house, we’ll take Heebum with us, and our friends…” He stops, as if thinking of the least hurtful way to say what has to be said. “We can’t contact them for some time. He could track us down if we do so.”

“How much longer are we going to keep running from him? Why can’t you just kill him like you killed the others?!” Heechul’s back to hysteric shouting and Donghae shivers. What’s going on here? “We can’t just live out on the streets Hangeng!”

Hangeng suddenly looks away from his lover, only to scribble something down on the messy sheet of paper in front of him. He then raises his eyes back to Heechul.

“It’s going to take only a while. Then we can just go back to renting a flat, maybe with some other refugees. It’s going to be just fine.”

“No.” Heechul suddenly declares firmly. “It’s not. I… I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to meet him. And kill him. I don’t care anymore so you won’t stop me Hannie, don’t even try.”

Big surprised eyes are all he gets as a reply.

“It’s not me who doesn’t understand. It’s you, Hannie. I don’t want to live in all that dirt. I don’t want to not be able to talk to my friends, to go shopping, to use the Internet freely! I don’t want our children to be forced to live like that…”

The last sentence is more of a whisper than anything else.

Hangeng frowns and Donghae is close to tears himself when he sees Heechul’s trembling lip, and he knows, he just knows what’s going to be said now.

“I’m pregnant, Hannie.” Silence. “With your baby.”

More silence.

“Don’t you think it’s a little TOO dramatic?” The Chinese asks doubtfully.

“Eh?” Heechul makes an offended face before rubbing his nape sheepishly. “Well, maybe. Wait, then scratch the last part, uh, as much fun as it was, people probably wouldn’t believe in such a turn of events… Or would they?”

“No.” Hangeng decides after a second of thinking. “They wouldn’t.”

Heechul pouts. “You’re no fun, Hannie. You limit my—“

“Your creativity, I know, I know. You only said it like fifty times since we sat here.” The Chinese smiles at the other, who pouts even more.

“I actually meant to say ‘my imagination’, but you’re so damn right about the creat- oh look! Our desserts!” Shouts Heechul suddenly, seeing Donghae holding his tray, and then he grimaces. “Hey, why are the ice creams all melted?”

If Donghae could, he would honestly answer that it’s not his fault, that it’s the heat of summer that made the beautiful desserts look like a mix of not-so-fresh ingredients flowing in a purple yoghurt. But right now all Donghae can do, is to stand there, blinking his eyes, opening then closing his mouth and visibly trying to understand what the actual hell has just happened.

“I don’t want them anymore, Hannie, do something.”

Hangeng sighs and looks apologetically at the waiter. “Could you bring us something else? I’ll pay of course.”

“S-sure.” Donghae seems to have finally regained the control of his own body when he turns away and quickly makes his way towards the kitchen. He can hear a faint ‘I swear, you’re such a child sometimes, Heechul-ah’ coming from the same table, but he decides not to care. For now.

Okay, this is weird, he thinks while waiting for the order. Who are those guys? Should he call a police? Or maybe an ambulance would be a better choice, seeing as at least one of them looks like he has a hard case of split personality (which he heard can be cured).

When he hears a quiet bell signaling that the desserts are ready to go, he briefly considers sending some other waiter to the scary couple… but no. He’s gotta find out who they are. (And, well, he’s the only waiter here. Cuts of the budget.)

Okay, deep breath and here goes nothing.

“…see, we could put the black character in the house, then the main couple won’t have a clue and he can freely- Oh, thank you.” Hangeng looks up from his notes when the plates are placed on their table. Heechul is still sulking on his chair.

“W-Who are you?” Well if that wasn’t a smooth start, Donghae. “I- I mean, ehm, do you need help maybe? I actually have a cousin in China and…” He has no idea where he’s going with that.

“What!” Heechul gasps and giggles. “You mean you don’t know…?” His laughter gets louder. “Hannie, he really doesn’t know!”

Donghae pouts unconsciously.

“Hahaha, oh my God, hold me Hannie… Haha, he thinks me… You… Hahahaha, I can’t! He really doesn’t know! So cute, hahaha!”

I don’t like him, Donghae decides and turns to the more reasonable one in this relationship, who is… also chuckling quietly!

“Yah!” Screw the policy of the Café (‘No Shouting At Customers!’), he hates being left out like that. “I don’t know what! What’s going on?!”

He still doesn’t get any answer.

“Come on,” sounds the voice behind him. His boss. “Leave them be, they have a scenario to finish here,” she says and directs their steps to the bar.

“Scenario?”

“Yeah, they are scriptwriters. And they’re really good at what they do… Most of times. I don’t think this one’s going to be a hit though,” she glances back at the duo. “That is, if Hangeng doesn’t hold back his lover there.”

“So they are a couple?” Asks Donghae just to make sure.

He gets a nod in response. And a half concerned, half judging look.

“What?”

“Nothing, it’s just. Well, Heechul seemed to like you. Looks like they’re going to become regulars here. So,” she glares at him all of sudden. “You be nice to them. Don’t you think I didn’t hear you yelling at our customers. Do it once more and we’re over. Got it?”

Donghae shivers at her deadly tone. “Got it.”

“Okay then!” The boss’ good mood is back. “Get back to work and I’ll do just the same!”

Such a scary woman, thinks Donghae. Talking about scary…

“I’m not sure about that, Heechul-ah.” Hangeng frowns and chews at the end of his pen. “You know this one has to be huge or we’ll have to find another job.”

“So what?” Heechul shrugs and grins. “New job means new experiences. Those help us write better anyway.”

The Chinese shakes his head. “But we can’t do anything else. This is the only thing we… I am good at.”

Heechul’s features soften. “Don’t you worry there, you silly Chinaman. Of course it’s going to be the best.” His hand automatically tugs his lover’s hair behind his ears as he tries to reassure him. “We’re the perfect combo, don’t you remember? The Crazy Cat and his Imperturbable Tamer!”

Hangeng chuckles at the stupid nicknames given them by the public. And then he realizes, he’s right.

“I love you, Chullie,” he says only loud enough for Heechul to hear. (And Donghae but it’s just because of his bad eavesdropping habit.) “You have no idea.”

“Oh yeah?” smirks Heechul. “I think I do. And I think, we’re going to finish this scene, go home and have wild on the kitchen table, what do you say?”

Hangeng’s eyes go wide as he slaps his palm onto his lover’s lips. “Shhh! What if somebody hears you!”

“I don’t care~” Heechul sing-songs and blows his Chinaman a flying kiss, completely ignoring the other’s resigned look.

Donghae smiles with amusement at the act.

He wishes he… Eh, no. He actually doesn’t envy this particular couple anything. They’re weird. Kind of sweet, yes…  but still weird.

“Excuse me?” A sudden hushed voice startles Donghae who literally jumps in surprise.

There’s a chubby man in front of him, looking very very nervous, and throwing glances here and there from time to time. Honestly, Donghae sort of wants to call the nearest hospital for him, because he surely does not look healthy. However it is not what he gets paid for, so he sticks with his usual:

“Welcome to our Café, my name is Lee Donghae, how can I help you?”

“Lee Donghae-ssi, can I ask you a favor?”

That perks up Donghae’s interest. “What kind of a favor?”

The man fidgets a bit. “You see… A girl is going to enter this place in a matter of minutes and we… I mean, I… kind of, uh… sort of… I’m going to… Eh, see it for yourself,” eventually he gives up and takes something out of his pocket.

Donghae’s jaw drops.

“Oh my God, it’s so beautiful! She’s gonna love it!” He exclaims happily and it seems to build up the other’s confidence a bit.

“Yes, I was going to give it her in this Café, since she loves it so much here. Anyway, she’s going to be here any second now, and my favor is… Are you listening, Donghae-ssi?”

“…Oh?” The waiter finally tears his eyes away from the wonderful ring placed on the man’s hand. “Yeah, what were you saying, eee…”

“Shindong.”

“What were you saying, Shindong-ssi?” He continues undeterred.

Shindong looks like he’s beginning to question the waiter’s reliability, but since he doesn’t really have any other choice right now, he repeats his request quietly. Donghae seems more and more excited by every word he hears.

“I’ll leave it in your hands now, okay? Remember, bring it when you hear the signal. Do you remember the signal?”

“Yup!” Donghae nods eagerly. He’s never been a part of somebody’s proposal before! It is so awesome, he sure is going to remember this day for a long time.

The chubby man doesn’t look convinced. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, yes, go to the table already, she can get here any second, you can’t ruin this day! Nothing can!”

“…okay then. I’m going. Eh, can you bring us two frappes? With lots of whipped cream.”

“Sure thing!” Says Donghae gleefully before strolling to the bar, where he’s going to have the best view on Shindong and his fiancée’s table from.

Proposal… Wow, that’s big. It inevitably leads to marriage which is… even bigger. Donghae hopes this Shindong guy knows what he’s about to do. Not that he had ever experienced it himself, but from all the dramas he watched, marriage hardly ever is happy and fulfilled. The movies usually show how you begin to notice your partner’s flaws and habits you never took a notice of, how you suddenly become irritated while spending time with your spouse, how you start to prefer going out with your friends to staying home with the supposed love of your life…

If those dramas are correct, Donghae doesn’t envy his customer.

But then again, he must really love the girl very much. Enough to want to spend every single day till the end of the world with her, to experience her bad days, her mood swings, and more – to have kids with her!

Donghae smiles at the thought. Kids are something he’s extremely fond of but at the same time something he knows he’ll never have on his own. That is, at least until Korean government decides to legalize homoual couples’ marriage and let them have the possibility to adopt children, which, because he’s a rather optimistic guy by his nature, he believes is going to happen eventually.

But we’re getting off the topic here.

The point is, if this Shindong is seriously thinking of marriage, he can only be admired because as far as Donghae is concerned—

“…your dress is really beautiful tonight, where did you get it?”

Oh! , it’s the signal! Where’s the champagne! Oh okay, here it is, now to put that beautiful ring into the glass, like that, and… The Cupid’s Delivery is all prepared and ready to go!

Now let’s see, where’s Shindong and his chosen one? Thinks Donghae before his eyes land on the chubby man and he freezes. Eh? Wasn’t it supposed to be only two of them?

Despite what Shindong told him earlier, there was a whole bunch of people at the table, with just as many women as men. How the heck is he supposed to choose the right one?! Okay, relax, it’s gotta be the most beautiful girl… His eyes meet a small, petite woman sitting across Shindong and smiling charmingly. No, he shakes his head, she can’t be the one, she’s too small for a man like him.

Donghae scans the people again. Yes! Here she is! A tall blonde with cute face and long legs… it has to be her.

“Excuse me, I have a special gift for you, miss. Please enjoy.” He grins excitedly and gives a thumb up to Shindong who looks like he’s going to faint. Poor guy, he’s probably so nervous now. “It’ll be fine!” Whispers Donghae while passing his seat and pats him on his back.

When he’s back to the bar, he turns back to watch the girl’s reaction. What he sees however… is not what he has expected at all.

“W-what is that supposed to m-mean?” Says the petite brunette with tears in her eyes.

Shindong shakes his head frantically. “Nari-ah, this is not what you think it is-“

“What is it then!!” Nari seems to have lost her patience as she stands up from her seat abruptly. “Because to me it looks like you just cheated on me right in front of my eyes, you… you… you !”

“Nari..!”

“I hate you!” The girl yells before storming out of the Café.

Shindong throws a murderous glare towards the surprised waiter and runs after her. Donghae gulps. It certainly isn’t his day today.

His eyes follow the couple whom he can now see through the front window of their café. The girl wipes her tear-streaked face angrily while the man explains something very fast and very nervously, judging by his flailing arms. She then raises her hand in his direction.

Uh-oh. This is no good. No good. Nooooo good.

Shindong shouts something before she has the chance to finish the slap, and all Donghae can make out of it, is “the waiter’s fault!”’ and he knows he’s doomed. This, or he misheard Shindong’s words. (He wishes it’s the case.)

There’s a silence after that. Then Nari’s mouth moves as if she’s saying something hesitantly and Shindong turns to re-enter the Café. Donghae’s reaction is predictable and totally not worthy of the professional waiter he is – he hides under the bar and stays silent.

Not the best hideout in the world, but it’ll have to do.

“Ehm,” He hears above his head not even a minute later. “Donghae-ssi?”

“Yeah…?”

“I have a message to you. From Nari.”

His eyes widen as he stands up and straightens his uniform not-so-nonchalantly. “Yes?”

“She told me to say, and I quote here,” He makes the quote marks in the air. “You’re the worst waiter she had ever seen and she doesn’t even know why she kept coming here for.”

Donghae’s expression falls and he panics a little. Oh my god, he has just broken a perfect couple apart! They will never come here again and… OH MY GOD, THEY WILL NEVER COME HERE AGAIN! His boss is sooo going to kill him for losing customers, he may as well just buy himself a nice place on the graveyard now.

“B-but you two…”

Shindong grins. “Let’s just say… we’ll both be regular customers in your Café from now on, after all.”

Donghae can’t help letting out a relieved laugh and hugging his new customer. “Thank God, I’m not dead yet… Anyway! Congratulations!!”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” says Shindong with a smile. “And thank you, I guess. I’ll get going, my fiancée doesn’t really like waiting outside. Oh, and by the way. The signal was ‘you’ve found the address to my heart’ not ‘your dress is beautiful’. Seriously, how could you mess it up?”

Oh! …oh. That explains a lot, he thinks as he waves Shindong goodbye. Well, it did work out in the end, didn’t it. He really hopes those two will be happy with each other… and keep coming here.

It’s getting quite dark when Donghae notices the entrance of one of his favorite people ever visiting the place. Those two were always fun to observe during his shifts; they would do extremely well in some comedy show, but from what Donghae knows (and suspects), neither of them will ever even think of it.

The first boy who enters the local and holds the door for the second one to come, is a ridiculously tall human being, whose every limb is just plain long. His legs almost reach the sky, his arms could hug at least seven people at once, even his nose is longer than any other nose Donghae had the pleasure to put his eyes on. This long and lanky guy however, covers his lanky-ness with the ever-so-fashionable clothes and accessories that adorn every possible space on his body. Jacket from Dior, pants from Versace, bag from Gucci and shoes from Prada, that’s how you could basically describe Zhoumi in a few words.

Despite wearing all the possible brands, the guy never feels distant or like he considers himself better than others. No, on the very contrary, his smile seems to brighten the world whenever he walks into any room, no matter how gloomy it has been before his appearance.

He also talks. And not just saying his greeting or wishing you good day, oh no, Zhoumi apparently loves the sound of his own voice so he makes it a point to let it be heard by everyone. He talks even more than Ryeowook, for god’s sake! But somehow, people are still very keen on him. The fact that nobody understands him might be the real reason behind it.

Zhoumi is Chinese, that much is obvious, his name being the biggest clue on that. But yet, he just doesn’t seem to be bothered by the thing people usually call a ‘language barrier’. There’s no such words in his dictionary, which, by the looks of it, must be very broad for him to be able to talk this quickly and without repeating the same words over and over again. Anyway, Zhoumi apparently can’t really tell a difference between two languages, so he makes no effort to use a specific one what-so-ever. His rapid mix of Chinese and Korean has been jokingly called a Zhouminese by the Café’s staff and the term spread like fresh cookies in the morning. By now there’s probably not a person who has ever talked to Zhoumi and doesn’t know the term; and if there is… it won’t stay that way for long.

Zhoumi’s steps to the café follows a small hamster-like boy, with a mess of hair on his head and dressed in a couple of baggy clothes that look like he has grabbed them from the floor of his surely messy, boyish room this morning.

He’s short, has tiny eyes and obviously doesn’t care what he’s wearing at all. Total opposite of his boyfriend. Except for one little thing. If Zhoumi talks a lot, Henry is on a whole different level. He doesn’t talk, he chatters, chats and natters – all at the same time. Fortunately for those who surround him, he’s even harder to understand than his lover.

Yes, Henry is a foreigner as well. However the case of his nationality is not as clean as Zhoumi’s. See, Donghae claims him to be Chinese too, but his boss is overly confident the boy is Thai. His fellow waiters who encountered the foreigner argue between Vietnamese, Indonesian and, surprisingly, French. One of the cooks says he has once heard the boy speaking fluent English and therefore he tries to convince everyone that Henry is from the States or from the UK. One thing no one can deny is that he is not from Korea… Not that it satisfies anyone’s curiosity.

Up till now no one has ever thought of simply asking the boy about his origins.

So, this particular couple Donghae does not understand. And from the looks of it, he doesn’t think they understand each other as well, but they seem to somehow work it out.

Chatting happily, they seat themselves at the nearest table and Henry’s hand immediately shots up to call the waiter.

“Donghae-hyung!” He exclaims when Donghae stops in front of them with a note ready to write down their orders.

“Hi Henli-ah, hi Mimi-hyung, what would you like today?”

Zhoumi cuts Henry off before he can open his mouth. “It’s my turn to choose! Hmm, I’ve recently heard only good things @# %#%^^$ @*&%!# and they told me it’s &^%$#@$ @%(#! So we’ll take $%^@ and &@$(%$!!”

Oh crap, Zhoumi’s in his Chinese mode again. Donghae throws an exasperated glance to the younger boy who looks like he has troubles with interpreting his boyfriend’s words as well.

“Right,” he says slowly in English. “I didn’t get it, hyung,” he admits apologetically. “But you can just give us two big chocolate cakes and two cups… of… caffe macchiato?”

Donghae really appreciates Henry’s incredibly slow but careful and somewhat understandable Korean.

“No, Henry!” Zhoumi protests suddenly. “I ^%##@ %&E&^* %@#$% okay!! And you @#%($#%&!”

“Gege, I have NO idea what you’re talking about! @#--$@$%... &%#!- &$@$... *@$%#&^...?” Asks Henry unsteadily.

The tall boy sighs deeply and rolls his eyes. “I told you, #$%!%&  %^252^& while @$%^%%^&, why don’t you #$^@%%%@, understand?” He pouts.

“#$%  @@&$ %^&(#^  so I thought #$%!^ %&$@$ #%, is that okay?”

Zhoumi frowns.

“Eh..? Well, *%#$&)#% #$&$^(%## %*@... *^@#^?”

At this point Donghae isn’t even sure whether what they are both using is any real language at all. Plus he gets the impression that they are talking about two entirely different things.

But, they’re too amusing to interrupt them, so Donghae muffles his laughter and makes his way to the bar where he passes the order to the kitchen and when he’s finally back, the corners of his mouth curve upwards at the sight of Henry being squished to death by the other’s long limbs (not that he seems to mind it).

Suddenly Donghae’s attention shifts from the sweet Chinese guys to the loud (oh how loud) and painful sound of a hand meeting someone’s cheek.

“How… How dare you!” Shouts a man in the middle of the room in the direction of the handsomest guy Donghae has ever seen in his life. He’s tall, with perfectly muscled body that shows through his white, elegant shirt, and his hair is oh-so-well styled, and his smile… Don’t let him even get started about his smile.

…Mostly because Donghae sees it only thanks to his vivid imagination, because the god is far from smiling right now.

“I can totally explain!” He shouts back defensively.

The man who yelled earlier (much uglier, as Donghae doesn’t fail to point out), raises his clenched fist in a clear intention to damage the godlike figure’s face.

Wow, so much going on today, thinks Donghae, being already on his way to prevent any fight from happening in the local. Again, Donghae’s boss is a really scary woman. But before he can get to them and even before the ugly man’s fist has the time to reach its destination, a silent but firm voice makes everything halt.

“Stop it, Hyukkie.”

That must be the name of the angered boy because it’s him who reacts by lowering his hand, though with obvious reluctance, and looking at the source of those words. The source who is sitting quietly at the table, staring at his unfinished cake and playing with a spoon.

“Why! Loot at him Minnie, coming here as if did nothing wrong, that bastard!” ‘Hyukkie’ spats, pointing at the handsome guy, whose face has become an epitome of utter confusion.

“He…” The sitting boy finally looks up at the two and Donghae can see multiple emotions going through his features, hurt and betrayal being the most obvious ones. “He surely has his reasons… Don’t you, Siwon-ah?”

If you ignore the pain on his face, this Minnie seems like a really pure and innocent human being. He looks just cute, almost like a girl, but not really. He is certainly as beautiful as one, but his broad shoulders indicate a life filled with activity and exercises. The size of his eyes makes Donghae widen his own. How does an Asian get to have such huge, pretty eyes? And how does another human dare to fill it with so much sadness?

Suddenly Donghae doesn’t think this Siwon guy is so perfect anymore.

“Sungmin-hyung! You can’t just—“

“Shush, Hyukjae!” Sungmin snaps. “Don’t make a scene here.”

Siwon clears his throat after a short while of tense silence. “Well,” he starts and fixes an invisible dust on his shirt. “I always knew you’re a reasonable guy, Sungmin-ah.”

“It’s ‘hyung’ for you!” Hyukjae cuts in angrily.

“You must realize we just lost that thing, you know?” Continues Siwon, completely ignoring Hyukjae’s remark. “It used to be there but then just… bam, you know? It’s not here anymore.”

“You really… think so?” Sungmin’s calm voice sends shivers to Donghae’s spine. Something’s not right here.

“Yes, you became so clingy you know, I need some space and didn’t you say you need it too? And Tae—I mean, I have found it again, you know. And she makes me happy, yo—“

“I know!” Sungmin finally loses all his calm when he stands up. “I know, stop repeating that, you only do this when you’re nervous.”

Siwon rises his eyebrows in surprise. “H-how do you…?”

“Because I know you Siwon-ah. Or well,” Sungmin shrugs. “I thought I did. How else do you think I kept winning our poker games? You would always…”

“Sungmin-hyung!”

“Right, sorry. Anyway. Do you wish to say anything else?” He asks calmly again and Siwon smiles; he doesn’t notice Sungmin’s palms tightening into fists and nor does he notice Hyukjae’s deadly glare slowly making room for an expectant smirk.

“Well. It was fun meeting you Sungmin-ah. Those two years – I’ll remember them as good ones. Give my greetings to your brother, and to your pare… OUCH!!”

Siwon never got to finish his sentence as a stone-like fist landed on his jaw.

“Don’t you dare,” hisses Sungmin through his gritted teeth. “Don’t you dare talking about my family now.”

“S-Sungmin-ah.. What are you…”

“Get out. Get out and I never want to see you again, understand?!”

“Sung—“

“Understand?!” Donghae can see tears threatening to fall from Sungmin’s eyes and he thinks he knows what the other’s trying to do.

He runs to the trio and bows apologetically. “Excuse me, fights are not allowed at this place. I’m afraid I must ask you to leave,” he says to Siwon.

Showing Siwon the way out, he can see in the corner of his eyes how Hyukjae hugs the now sobbing uncontrollably man to his chest. Poor thing. He makes a mental note to tell his boss that this is never allowed to their Café again.

Back at the bar Donghae convinces one of baristas to make a special sweet frappe for Sungmin; he doesn’t even care he just agreed to doing the dishes for the whole next week, he just wants to see this man smiling happily again and if it’s not possible tonight… Then Donghae’s going to make sure the other will visit the Café again. And again.

Sad sigh escapes Donghae’s lips as he keeps observing the broken boy and his best friend. So… Not all love stories have happy endings, I suppose, he thinks as he bows goodbye to the leaving customers. It’s almost time to close the business for today.

He won’t be having nice dreams tonight for sure, thanks to that stupid bastard.

Suddenly a man from the corner gets up. He’s pretty tall, dressed in a dark school uniform that makes his skin look even paler than it already is, and the smirk visible on his face seems to be an inseparable part of his features.

Donghae kind of knows this guy, he’s been coming here quite often, always sitting at the same spot, always ordering the same small black coffee, no sugar, no cake. He would be lying if he said he hadn’t ever paid him any attention. But the guy never did anything apart from sitting and drinking his coffee in a deadly slow pace, and so Donghae’s attention would get absorbed by other customers and their little stories every single time he tried to read his face, his gestures or his eyes. And every single time, when he finally remembered about him and looked to the right corner behind the plant, it would be already empty. Always.

But not today, apparently.

“May I help you?” He asks using his usual kind voice and honest smile, which maybe is a little bit forced, just today, because of what he encountered a while ago.

The strangers’ lips form themselves into a half smile which makes him look all the more mysterious. “Not really but maybe it’s me who can help you?”

Donghae gapes in shock as the boy, Cho Kyuhyun – according to the white school badge pinned to the left side of his uniform, leans forward to plant a small feather-like kiss on his quickly turning crimson cheek, before backing off, arching one of his eyebrows up, and slowly making his way to the open door.

W-what…? Donghae darts quick glances here and there, making sure no one really noticed the twenty-seconds incident, just to discover the boy has been the last customer of today.

He hides his hands in his pockets and he frowns as his fingers come across a small, neatly folded piece of paper that he thinks hasn’t been in there before. His suspicion is confirmed when he takes it out and his eyes land on a boyish handwriting, making up a phone number and a smiley face he wouldn’t expect from this particular customer. And then he smiles.

He smiles, because as much as he loves seeing others happy, as much as he enjoys observing different people solving their problems, having fun, falling in and out of love, just living their lives to the fullest, as much as he adores the looks of thankfulness he gets when he ‘accidentally’ helps them make the better choices, and as much as he would love everyone to return to his café with a smile on their faces – just this much he wants to laugh, cry, have fun and live his own life by himself.

He wants to be happy; he, just like every other young man, wants his love story to finally find him and, while winking and charmingly tilting its head, ask him to dance with the colorful wind of the unexpected.

And this… This looks like a hell of a perfect beginning to his very own love story. His love story full of shy looks, hidden smiles, first dates and first kisses, laughter and tears; full of drama, misunderstandings and jealousy, full of playfulness and hurt, of passion and betrayals, of worries, doubts and  suspicion; but at the same time filled with love, tenderness, silent whispers, anxious waiting for a goodnight text and a good morning call, sweet gifts to celebrate the things his friends would find ridiculous and roll their eyes on, but to them it would make perfect sense… Filled with joy and happiness. Yes, this kind of a love story.

Donghae tightens his fist around the paper with Cho Kyuhyun’s handwriting, grinning unconsciously to no one in particular when he thinks of what might happen if he’s actually brave enough to call the number on it.

And honestly…?

He can’t wait to do so.

~fin.