Lu Han waited, like he did every day. He waited in the usual spot by window in the small café that was so close to his university, and as he waited, he was nervous, though he really shouldn’t be.

This wasn’t a meeting of opposing forces, and it wasn’t like he was meeting a lover of any sorts. Luhan was just meeting a friend; a friend whom he may or may not have developed feelings for.  He didn’t mean to start crushing on the barista who stood just a couple inches shorter than him, and Luhan certain didn’t mean to find his company the most comforting in the morning, or anytime.

A conversation with this friend and a cup of specialty coffee that the boy had brewed specially for him, and Luhan was soaring through the clouds on this natural high of his presence. It was intoxicating; it always had been. The blonde noticed how welcoming the barista’s smile was the instant he walked into the remote café for the first time—maybe it started then. Maybe this was love at first sight?

Though Luhan, who wasn’t a native to this city, had an affinity for great tasting coffee, he found himself coming back to the café at the same time every day to catch the barista on break.

The savory coffee always tasted better when the barista was sitting across him, laughing and smiling cutely with gums and slightly crooked teeth. And his brown eyes glistened with happiness, and the sun always seemed to shine down perfectly in a way that lit up his usually spiked back red locks. And Luhan realized, one day as they were sipping cappuccinos and snacking on a turnover, as he studied all of these heart throbbing features, he was indeed in love with Kim Minseok, the barista master.

So Luhan found himself waiting on this fateful day, like he did every day. He found himself waiting in the usual spot by the window in the small café that distinctly smelled of everything warm and Kim Minseok. Luhan was waiting because he was so desperately in love with the barista, and the only way to make the gloomy December day better was if he heard;

“Good afternoon, Luhan! I’m so glad to see you today!”

Luhan looked up and couldn’t hold back the wide, ugly smile that the barista unknowingly knew how to coax out of him. The gloomy December day suddenly seemed…brighter.