CHAPTER 1 : The world is round.

/shhhuuushhhiiishhhh/ The sound of the coffee machine excites him, a lot. The sound of grinding the coffee beans are like the music to his ears everyday. Most of the time he will imitate the noise of coffee grinding. Chen, his barista always says that he's very animated. Then comes the aroma of the coffee, which triggers every nerve, every inch of his body. It just turns him on. Right he label himself as a coffee addict. Some days he couldn’t even fall asleep without consuming his daily dose of caffeine. He likes to see every drop of the coffee drips off from the spout. He enjoys the process of making a good cup of coffee for his customers so much that he find it annoying sometimes for being a perfectionist. To certain people, coffee is an energy booster ; some treat it as a fashion tool, to make themselves look classy slash rich ; coffee mania : addicted to coffee and has made it an irreversible daily routine. For any of the reason above, nothing is better than starting the day with your favourite cup of coffee, he thinks.

“Here’s your caramel latte. Enjoy and have a good day” Kyungsoo said with a polite tone, accompany with a warm sincere smile. Then he proceeds to serve the next customer. Yeap that’s what he does for living. He owns a café in Cheondamdong, the usual place that the rich asses hang out. He’s born in a quite well being family. His father is a well-known pianist while his mother was previously a vocal trainer that owns a vocal training center. But his mom decided to quit being trainer to take care of Kyungsoo’s little new born niece. And certainly the artistic gene flows in Kyungsoo’s blood. His parents never forced him to do something he doesn’t like because they understand that passion builds a great man. So yes there’s Do Kyungsoo, a 23 years old young man owning a café. He felt grateful for everything that he owns right now and he thought that he doesn’t need love, as long as he has the coffee beans and his coffee machine which he named it Pori. Kris, his best friend, who self-claimed as the God because of his angelic yet charming appearance that enable him to attract any girl that he wants. Kris always brings him to the clubs aiming to get him a girlfriend but Kyungsoo didn't really bother to look at the girls no matter how y or attractive they are. 

/dinggliing/ The sound of the jingling bells hanging on the glass door. “Welcome to Fourty8 café!” Kyungsoo shouted cheerfully while indulging in writing up the ingredients that he needs for his new recipe. It was a Christmas carol that was playing. He decided to put on the Christmas carols because Christmas is just few weeks away and he always liked Christmas. “Jingle bell jingle bell jingle bell rock” Kyungsoo sang along randomly while snapping the rhythm with his left hand. That’s his favourite Christmas carol thanks to the movie Mean Girls that he had watched for the 28^th time. He enjoys chick flick a lot which is definitely bizarre for a manly guy like him, says Kris. He could feel that the figure was walking towards the counter so he stopped writing and singing, looked up with his usual doe eyes. It’s a man. A man with a nerdy square shaped spectacles, right hand holding a brown working bag , all suited up. He’s not too tall, perhaps around 5’9, but that his body proportion is certainly the close enough to the golden ratio. “Fashionable blue collar huh. Another brat. Okay maybe a good looking one. ” Kyungsoo thought. He has a habit of guessing the customer’s flavor. And 98% of the time, he’s like a crystal ball that could accurately tell what kind of coffee that the customer will like. “He must be an Americano man.” He thought. But before Kyungsoo say anything, that man has started the conversation.

(italic : English ; normal: Korean)

“One grande Ice Mocha please. Having here. ” He said, in English. It gives Kyungsoo a little mini heart attack because he did not expect it. He can’t decide if he’s shock because of his perfecto so very fabulous~a English pronunciation or his charming tone, much lower than Kyungsoo had imagined. He stunned right at the position without moving for a good 5 seconds… The customer raised his eyebrow and shook his head for a few times. “Can I have a cup of ice mocha please? Having here.” He repeated in Korean, thinking that Kyungsoo may be unnecessarily fluent in English. That cue has brought Kyungsoo back to the reality.

“Oh, whipped cream for you?”  Soo replied confidently in English, with a steady British pronunciation. “sir?” This time it’s the handsome man’s turn to be surprised. “Not bad, at all” He thought. The tip of his lips unknowingly curved upwards for a cute 5º degree. But then he suddenly remember that he has to be cool so he dropped the smile and said “Yes please.”. “Any extra shot for you?” Kyungsoo added, while looking straight into the customer’s eyes for the very first time. “No thank you.” Kyungsoo simply liked how he pronounced “you” and he doesn’t know why. But thank god he’s good in multitasking plus hiding his emotions with his doe eyes. Kris always says that he’s indeed very unreadable. “That’ll be 6800won.” Kyungsoo continued the conversation in English which surprised Chen who overheard it. The pretty man fished out a piece of 10000won from his black Prada leather wallet (Kyungsoo is observant because his eyes are too big so it’s pretty hard for him to miss any details) and put on the counter table even though Kyungsoo has already opened his palm ready to receive the money. “Weird” Kyungsoo thought. He took the cash and returned the change using the same method like how the man paid him. “Here’s your change 3200won. May I have your name sir?” Kyungsoo asked politely, trying to hide his enthusiasm to know his name. He guessed that he must have a fabulous English name since he speaks such impressive English. Again, he surprised Kyungsoo.

“Byun… Just call me Byun will do.” He replied in Korean this time. “All right Mr.Byun. Please wait at the pick-up counter. Your coffee will be ready shortly. ” Kyungsoo said while writing “Byun~ ” on the plastic cup. He carefully added a smiley at the end and also a short little something below his name. Yeap that’s another habit of lovely Kyungsoo. Byun just walked off coolly after murmuring a thank you that Kyungsoo could barely catch.

Kyungsoo told Chen to go clean up the tables while he will make the coffee for Byun. It was “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” playing as the background music. As usual he hummed and mouthed to the song when he was preparing the mocha. When the mocha was finally done, he carefully cupped it then placed on the tray. His gaze matched with Byun’s eyes coincidently.

“We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy…..WHATNO” Kyungsoo sang. Byun looked at him with an amused judging face. He face palmed himself for slipping out the song that was playing mentally as well as in reality. “Sorry I mean enjoy your mocha and have a great day!” Kyungsoo hurriedly corrected himself while trying to hide the shade of pink on his chubby cheeks. “I wish you a Merry Chrismas too and thank you.” Byun thanked him with a unreadable expression then walked towards an empty table at the corner. Kyungsoo’s eyes never leave the back of Byun until he sat down, with his front facing the counter. Kyungsoo quickly looked away before Byun had a chance to catch him staring. Kyungsoo just smiled to himself dumbly and continue serving the other customers. For the very first time in Kyungsoo’s life, he’s really curious about someone else and he sincerely wanted to know more about him—Byun. Those sparkling eyes, seems really familiar to him but he couldn’t recall when have they met before. 

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Byun took a sip of his drink then start working on his stuffs on his mac book. Before Byun realized, its 10 minutes to 2pm and he has a meeting at 2.15pm. He hurriedly packed his stuff into his bag. He took a last big sip of his mocha while looking at the outer of the cup. He realized there was some wordings on it. The handwriting was rather cute and round like Comic Sans MS. It’s his name with a cute smiley. Then he lowered his eye level to the sentence that made him chuckled after reading.

“I hope this cup of mocha could make your day like how you have made mine.” Byud hid his smile and walked out the café without turning his head back.

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The next few days, Byun returned to the café almost everyday. He doesn't know the reason why but yes he kept returning to the cafe. Each time Kyungsoo will have some casual conversations with Byun, exchanging regards or talking about the weather. Anyhow, Kyungsoo managed to dig out that Byun is 24, a year older than him. An attorney working at the lawyer firm which is few blocks away. It’s always Kyungsoo who asked him question while Byun hadn’t asked him a single question. Whenever Byun comes to the café, he’s always busy with his work. He will be either working with his laptop or on the phone with his client. Byun would randomly caught Kyungsoo staring at him but he will looked away immediately. Kyungsoo thought that maybe Byun wasn’t interested in him, at all. It’s a mutual thing that Kyungsoo is walking towards Byun who stood at his original spot.

The first day on Byun’s cup was a simple “Welcome back. Great day ahead!”. On the 2^nd return, Byun ordered a Caffe latte but it tasted slightly bitter than usual. Kyungsoo’s note: “I hope you wouldn’t realized that I added one shot in your latte because you looked like you needed one.”. Byun definitely didn’t mind it. In fact, the extra caffeine he consumed kept him more alert than usual, which is exactly what he needed because of the complicated case he had just received. During the 3^rd return, he thanked Kyungsoo for the extra shot and that was the very first time when he smiled at Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo thought that he’s going to melt on spot because of Byun’s crescent eyes smile. On the 4^th return, Byun came to the café sleepily at 8.15am. Kyungsoo suggested Byun to take a cup of Caramel Latte with 2 extra shot. He even added extra layers of caramel on top so that it wouldn’t taste too bitter for Byun. Kyungsoo’s little words that day : “You look even cuter when you’re sleepy. But as much as I wanna see your cute sleepy look, please don’t overwork yourself.” Byun rolled his eyes in front of Kyungsoo but there was sunshine in his heart.  The 5^th day when he returned to Fourty8 cafe wearing a simple V neck white tee and a pair of acid washed jeans, Kyungsoo was amazed by how fashionable that little guy could be, despite his own stick-to-the-basic fashion taste. He just love wearing black Adidas sweats or anything black. He started to wonder if he was a dark angel in his previous life because of his undying love for black color apparels. Kris, who is a part time model for various famous brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, (Yes the brand that the male promoters appear to be half-. Sometimes Kris will be there modeling too ,well of course half- I know what you’re thinking.) Tommy Hilfiger and Burberry, told Kyungsoo to change his style for the nth time or else he wouldn’t be able to find a girlfriend but Kyungsoo never bother to care.

One week later, Byun went to the café again. The shop was empty as it’s dinner time. The other barista was not there so Kyungsoo was working alone. “55, 56, 57….” Kyungsoo was absent mindedly counting the coffee beans on the plate without noticing that Byun was already standing in front of the counter. Byun amusingly staring at Kyungsoo for not noticing his existence. He finally couldn’t stand anymore after Kyungsoo reached the counting of 89. He cleared his throat, gaining no response from Kyungsoo. He got annoyed then knocked the counter table twice and said “Hello?” with a slightly higher tone.

“Holy Jesus you scared me!” Kyungsoo shouted while patting his chest. “How long have you been standing there?!” Regaining from his shock he straightened his body and adjusted his black suit shirt. “Long enough.” Byun replied calmly. He realized that Byun looked very different today. He was wearing casuals instead of the formal suit and the pair of glasses. He was wearing a thick black leather jacket with a blue and white plaid shirt inside. A pair of black skinnies which hugs his thighs perfectly plus a pair of black high cut Nike shoes. His hair was styled upwards revealing his pretty forehead.

 “I’ve been standing here for a decade. Are you going to take my order or not?” Kyungsoo embarrassedly apologize and asked for his order.

 “Hazelnut Latte please. Make it a venti.” Byun answered. “Hazelnut Latte. Venti” Kyungsoo echoed adorably. “Having here? Byun~~~?” Kyungsoo purposely stressed on his name, trying not to contain too much aegyo. To Byun it’s cute enough to make his heart skip a few beats. 

“Yes since the Christmas carol here is really nice. And I think im addicted to your coffee. Did you put any drugs in it? You know that you’re violating TCA 39-17-107. You can be imprisoned for up to 10 years. ” Byun replied with an eyesmile but his mind was whispering “Yes since I kinda miss your heart shape smile actually.” Kyungsoo giggled at his joke. Byun’s humor is just right for his taste. Just like a cup of coffee with the right amount of sugar, milk, espresso shots according to one's liking. Byun's joke going straight to the bundle of Kyungsoo's laughing nerves. He likes people that has the ability of making others happy so effortlessly. 

“Or is it me that’s addictive? Stop shooting me using your law gun.” Kyungsoo frowned at Byun for verbally bullying him. Byun can’t stop laughing because Kyung’s face looked like the yellow bird in angry bird when he’s acting angry.

 “Do you know that a venti cup of latte contains 180mg of caffeine. But such laughter from someone as cute as you is surely more effective than 10 venti cups of latte.” Kyungsoo smiled back and continue entering his order on the touch screen monitor, added “Whipped cream? With or without?”.

“Nope, thanks Kyungsoo.” Byun shook his head.

“I figure that you don’t need it because you’re sweet enough. But if you said yes I would’ve give you extra, with some chocolate chips on top too.”  “But wait did you just call me by my name?  How did you know my name? I don't remember introducing myself. ” Kyungsoo asked shockingly.

  “Did you drink too much coffee today? Caffeine overdose? The last time I checked you have a name pin on your shirt since forever.” Byun asked with a sarcastic tone. Kyungsoo couldn’t hide his

 “Oh right. Anyway, are you sure that you're rejecting my special whipped cream offer?” Kyungsoo wiggled his eyebrows.

 “Since you said that I’m already sweet enough, I guess no. I don’t wanna get diabetes and die in such young age.” Byun answered while acting like some swag he’s combing the side of his hair.

“Fine then Byun~. That would be on the house today because you’re the lucky 48^th customer today.”

 “Really? Mind if I ask why do you like the number 48? Your shop is named as Fourty8.” Byun asked out of curiosity.

“That’s my favourite number, for a reason. Well lets be frank, I just wanna buy you a drink. That was an excuse. We don’t note the number of our customers actually.” Kyungsoo giggled, showing his heart shaped smile that Byun was longing to see.

“You don’t need that excuse because you could always offer that because I’ll absolutely say yes.” Byun replied confidently.

“Well then have a seat first while I get your latte ready” Kyungsoo told Byun while turning his back to grab the empty cup.

“Say it’s a Sunday. Why din’t you go out with your girlfriend but ended up here?” Kyungsoo asked

 “I don’t have a girlfriend. I have no time for that.. I don’t even have time to .” Answered Byun in a casual tone as if he’d been asked the same question for thousands of times. “Well I’m sorry for you then Byun~” Kyungsoo laughed it off to clear off the awkwardness while staring at the last droplet of coffee dropped into the cup. On the other side, Byun liked it very much when Kyungsoo calls him Byun. But he’s sure that it will sound better if he calls him Baekhyun, which is his first name.

“Hey Kyungsoo! You know what?” Baekhyun turned his body and called out from his seat. Kyungsoo hummed as he poured the full cream milk into the cup. “You can call me Baekhyun. Baek. Hyun.” Baekhyun turned back to face the street after telling him that. Kyungsoo almost had a heart attack because he thought that Byun will reply “You can be my girlfriend boyfriend.” Just right after he processed what Byun really said, he stopped everything that he was doing and looked at Byun Baekhyun. It feels like the world is spinning except for Baekhyun whose back was facing him. Suddenly everything was so clear to him. The puzzle in his head has been finally solved. Those eyes! How could he forgot those eyes? 

“Here’s your Hazelnut latte, Byun~ Baekhyun.” Kyungsoo put the cup of latte in front of Baekhyun. The coffee art was really prettily done. It was a 3D rabbit with a heart on above it’s head. “Wow I didn’t know that you’re good in drawing coffee art too.” Baekhyun was surprised by how delicate the art was. His reaction was exactly how a 5 years old will react when you give him a cotton candy. At that moment, Baekhyun was pretty much a 5 years old to Kyungsoo.  

“There’s a lot of things that you haven’t learn about me.” “Enjoy!” Kyungsoo smiled mysteriously at Baekhyun and walked away gracefully. Then, he suddenly turned his head and asked

 “Hey Baekhyun are you good with electronics? There’s a problem with my cellphone.”

“Hmmph what problem?” Baekhyun answered after sipping the latte, with some foam still sticking on his upper lips. Kyungsoo had the urge to kiss it clean but he resisted himself of course. He’s afraid that Baekhyun will make a reverse move after stepping out for the first step, which is letting Kyungsoo to call him Baekhyun.

“ It’s just that your phone number is not in it.” Kyungsoo smiled cheekily then took the tissue on the table to wipe off the foam on Baekhyun's lips. 

little did both of them know that,

everybody has secrets. 

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Author's note :

Hello. 3260 words. omg ok i admit that it's quite a failure. Please forgive me cuz this is my first attempt on writing a fic. and too bad English is not my 1st language. 

 If you realized there's a lot of weird and empty holes in this chapter, I will fill it up in the 2nd chapter and yes that was on purpose. Try to guess what is actually happening between Baeksoo. I hope that nobody could read my mind cuz i was hoping that i can surprise you readers. This chapter was more to Kyungsoo but next lets get to know more about Baekhyun. 

Please do comment after reading!! I can take criticism well too so yeah you may go ahead. 

Thanks for reading. :) 

p/s: Tbh i somehow think that the roles should be exchanged, which is Kyungsoo as attorney ; Baek as barista. It's too late when I realized that. Use your rich imagination instead.