Chapter 19

“I’ll be right back with our drinks. You wait here okay? Don’t you dare disappear again like you did the last time, you hear me?”

“Yes, yes just go! Geez..I’m not going anywhere.” You pushed him towards the counter and headed for your usual seat at the café.

Usual seat.

 You never thought the day would come when you would actually have a usual seat anywhere. Before you met Chanyeol, all you did was just go straight home after school and swim. Now, swimming seemed so hard to fit in your daily schedule.

You placed your bag on the empty seat and slumped in your chair. After what happened during lunch, Chanyeol had been bugging you about Kyungsoo. He kept asking why you were so interested in talking to him, and why you were asking so many questions. He even asked whether you had a crush on Kyungsoo, which made you glare at him a couple of times.

He’s such a pain to deal with. Just like a child. I am so mentally and physically drained.

Other than having to entertain Chanyeol, you also had to concentrate in class, take down notes, and it was your cleaning duty that day so you had to clean the dusters and sweep the classroom floor. Of course, Chanyeol was there to help you, but you still felt so tired. You stretched your arms above your head and leaned your head on the table and slowly closed your eyes.

Just then, you felt something warm against your cheek and opened your eyes. Chanyeol was smiling as he placed the warm cup of caramel latte against your cheeks.

“You seemed super tired. A little too much after one whole week of lazing around at home huh? Here.” He placed your drink on the table and sat across of you. You sat up and rubbed your eyes to keep yourself awake.

“Thanks.” You mumbled as you brought your drink closer to your lips.

The warmth of the drink sent tingling sensations through your body and you felt better, but still sleepy though. Chanyeol looked at you and rested his head on the back of his palm.

“You know, if you’re really that tired, you can just go home and rest. I understand.”

“No, no. I made a promise, and I’m keeping it. I don’t break promises. I can handle it, just need to keep myself distracted that’s all.” You told him.

Chanyeol seemed dissatisfied with your answer and furrowed his eyebrows. “Alright, alright. I’m going to start my shift now. If you need anything, just call me okay?”

You managed a sleepy smile and nodded. Chanyeol gave you a concerned looked before hesitantly leaving you so that he could start on his part-time job. You yawned and rested your head on the table again.

Maybe I could just nap for a while.

You were thankful that your seat was hidden at the back of the café, so not many people could see you except for those going in and out of the store room or the toilet. You closed your eyes and slowly, after a few minutes, you were in deep sleep.

The sound of the waves crashing against the shore filled your ears. The warmth of the sun felt like it enveloped you in a hug. You slowly lifted your head and was greeted by the familiar beach. The one you saw in your dreams the night you out. Your eyes widened and you quickly sat up.

You looked down and noticed you were wearing your swimming suit again.

No, no. Is it happening again? Wait…then that means…

You quickly spun around and you felt your whole body tremble. There he was. Standing right in front of you, looking so flawless, healthy and so…alive. His eyes were looking straight into yours. Those hazel brown orbs that you missed so much, were staring at you.

“A-appa-“.

You couldn’t speak. No matter how much you wanted to, your throat just wouldn’t make a sound. The tears collected in your eyes were starting to blur your vision, but you could still make out his figure, standing motionless in front of you.

You reached out to him, your hand barely reaching his when you noticed how he was slowly backing away from you. His eyes weren’t looking at you anymore. They were focused on something else. Something behind you. Right then, a shadow loomed over you and you turned. To your horror, a big wave was slowly forming behind you, like a tsunami.

No, not again. I’m not going to let you go!

You tried to run towards your father but it seemed as though your legs weighed a ton and you couldn’t lift them up. You looked down and you gasped in shock as you saw water slowly rising up to your thighs.

“Appa, save me! Don’t leave me again! Appa! Appa!”

You saw your father slowly disappearing into the distance. But for a moment, you didn’t know if your eyes were playing tricks on you. You thought you saw your father’s lips move, as though he was saying something but the sound of the water pulling you was too loud that you didn’t catch what he said.

You struggled to break free but you couldn’t and in the end, you let the wave swallow you and you could feel yourself drowning again like that night. Slowly your eyes closed and everything turned black. You then felt someone nudging you awake and a familiar voice echoed in your head.

Dad?...No, that’s not his voice…Ch-chanyeol?

Your eyes slowly fluttered open and you found yourself being surrounded by Chanyeol and Baekhyun. Both of their faces filled with worry. You realize it was Chanyeol who had been nudging you. His grip on your arm was strong.

“Hae Ra, are you okay?”

You lifted your head and nodded, feeling confused.

“What’s with those looks? What happened?”

Beside you, Baekhyun sighed in frustration and shot you a firm look. “What happened? We’re the one who should be asking you that! What the hell happened?!”

You furrowed your eyebrows.

“I don’t understand what-“

Just then, Chanyeol was gently dabbing your face with a piece of tissue and you jumped in your seat at the sudden contact.

“What- What are you doing?!” You squealed.

“Hae Ra, you’re crying. What were you dreaming about?”

“I’m crying-“ You touched your cheeks and it felt wet. And now that he mentioned it, your voice was a little hoarse, it was as though you had been screaming at the top of your lungs the whole time.

You looked around you and it seemed you were the only ones left in the café.

“Where’s everyone?”

Baekhyun sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “We had them to leave the café, seeing how much you were screaming and crying in your sleep. We kept calling out to you but you wouldn’t wake up, so our manager told the other customers to leave.”

Your eyes widened and you could feel your cheeks burning in embarrassment.

“I was screaming out loud?! Oh my god, where’s your manager?! I have to apologize!”

You were about to stand up when you heard a voice coming from behind the counter.

“You don’t have to apologize, but instead, I want you to do me a favor.”

You turned your head and saw someone, maybe a little younger than you, seated on the counter with his legs crossed while holding on to a cup of coffee. He smiled at you and lightly hopped off the counter. You couldn’t deny the fact that that boy was good looking, but you also noticed from the way he spoke earlier, that he had a little lisp.

“W-who are you?” You asked the boy.

He smiled, making his eyes form crescents. Chanyeol, who was seated beside you all along leaned in and whispered.

“”That’s Oh Sehun. He’s the son of the owner of this café, and…he’s also our manager.”

Your eyes widened in shock.

M-manager?! At such a young age?!

The boy named Sehun smiled and nodded his head, as though he read your exact thoughts.

“So, what do you say? Are you going to do my favor or what?” He raised one of his eyebrows at you.

“T-that depends. What’s the favor?” You tried to challenge him. Yeah, you might’ve caused some public nuisance but seeing the smirk on that boy’s face tells you that he had something up his sleeve. And that something, you guessed, was something you wouldn’t like to hear.

Sehun hummed, amused by your feisty behavior towards him even though the both of you just met. Finally, with a cheeky grin, he looked at you, those same crescents appearing on his face again. He folded his arms and had an amused face plastered on.

“I want you to work with for me.”