Minho's car made many noises especially on cold mornings, but a flimsy rattle was not normally one of them, and it was driving him crazy.  It was like a loose piece of plastic flapping around as he drove, but he had thoroughly smacked every panel to try and shut it up, to no avail.  Finally, while sitting at an empty red light on his way to school one day it became unbearable.  Parked at the light he got out of his car and wretched open the passenger side door and started smacking the expanses of plastic.  He opened and closed the glove box, he re-rolled the widow down and back up, he wretched the passenger’s seat back, and suddenly froze.  Underneath the seat was a book he had never seen before, the paper cover was wrapped around the seat bar and making the terrible noise while the car idled.  He picked up the book at looked it over wondering where it could have come from.  Then with a burst happiness he remembered Taemin had dropped his bag, this had to be Taemin's book.

A beep from the car behind him startled him lout of his happy thoughts.

"Hey, buddy. Do you need a push?"

"Ah, no, I got it, sorry, sir!"

Minho tossed the book back on top of the seat and hurried to drive his car out of the way.  He went through classes with the book burning a hole in his mind. It was only Tuesday, so Taemin wouldn’t even know where it was until two more days from now and he hoped the boy didn’t need it.

Finally, when he was back home and able to look at it more closely he realized it was a fiction, and nothing he would need for work.  Minho opened it and tried to sooth the bet cover over the binding from where it had been mutilated in his car.  As he flipped through a few of the pages, and tiny piece of thin brown paper fluttered out.  Minho's cursed realizing it was probably Taemin's book mark and he had just lost the boy’s spot.  He picked it up and flipped it over, it looked like a napkin, and on one side there were numbers.

His numbers. The ones to his phone number. The one he had written down for Key, the day they came in together.

Why did Taemin have it? Had Key gotten it for Taemin? Or had Taemin taken it from Key? Minho's heart raced in his chest at the idea hoping wildly it was the latter. 

But then why had Taemin never called, and why had Key been the one acting flirty. It didn't really make sense.  Either way, Minho sat dumbfounded on his couch with the book open in his lap and staring at his own phone number. 

It was as if something in his mind was trying to find justification for everything. But one thing was clear. If Taemin had held on to it, he had some sort of interest in Minho other than seeing him as just the guy who makes his coffee. 

~*~*~

Thursday finally came and Minho had spent the last 48 hours thinking about the perfect snack for the day.  He decided to try the whole blueberry and star thing again but needed a sure fire shot.  So he made an angel cake cookie, and cut them into stars.  While they baked he whipped up a blueberry jam filling.  They were delicate, thin, and so flawlessly star shaped, both with the white color of hot stars and the inky black of night all mixed into the jam.  They were perfect. Minho set two of the prettiest ones aside in the back fridge on one of the last remaining un-cracked plates before opening for the day.

It was busy but nothing like it had been.  One of their other regular patrons said that the other coffee shop that wasn't part of a chain had a gas leak and had been under reconstruction for the past few weeks and finally was going to reopened next week. He told them they would probably see a decline in business, like it was a bad thing, but both Amber and Minho let out small sighs of relief. 

About a quarter to 4 the shop was slammed.  Minho saw that almost all the tables were taken, but Taemin's was still open.  He grabbed the book and cookies from the back, and quickly made a mocha decorating the foam with a star and set them out at his table. 

Amber and Minho worked together in perfect sync and blazed through the line that had managed to sneak out the door.  Minho glanced at the clock every so often and with every minute after 4 and Taemin's absence made his heart sink.  But while he was in the middle of a large order the door chimed and the familiar chestnut haired boy squeezed in.  Minho watched him look around the shop, trying to find an open spot and saw his face change from mild annoyance to pure surprise when he looked at his regular table.  He stared at it for a moment before searching for Minho. 

When their eyes met Minho smiled wide at him and gave him a thumbs up, trying to say, go sit down, with the little gesture.  He burned his finger on the steamer several times after that and bumped into Amber almost every other step.  Eventually she got mad and when there were only a few people left in line, told him to get out of her way.  Her tone made her sound mad, but the knowing look she threw in Taemin's direction reassured Minho that she was fine.

He took off his apron and left it behind the counter before making his way through the busy cafe and over to Taemin's little table.  Some one had taken the extra chair so Minho crouched with his elbows on the table and startled Taemin a little. 

"Sorry, I thought you heard me coming." Minho was beaming up at Taemin, but the boy was looking every where but at him.

"Uh, no, it's okay."

"I found your book." Minho pointed at the book laying forgotten on the table.

"Yes, thank you, I was worried I left it somewhere."

"I may have lost your spot though."

"What?"

"Your bookmark fell out."

Taemin's eyes grew almost as wide as the little plate still sitting in front of him with the cookies untouched.

"M-my bookmark?"

"Yep, and you know, it still works, the numbers haven't changed or anything, but I did add something."

The internal debate that waged war in Taemin’s mind was plastered all over his face. His lips moved but no sound came out, unable to justify what he knew Minho had seen. Defeated and embarrassed Taemin carefully opened the front cover to reveal the tattered little napkin and pulled it out. Minho watched his dark eyes scan over the familiar numbers and then read over the new word scribbled in black marker at the bottom. 

"Minho," hearing Taemin say his name made Minho's heart flutter.

"You know, I only gave it to your friend, because he said something about hanging out later, and I thought you would be there. But since he never called, I thought maybe he lost it...But if you had it this whole time, I figured maybe since you hung on to it, maybe if you knew my name you would use it." Minho felt the words tumble from his mouth and his cheeks burn pink as he watched Taemin.

Taemin stared at the little napkin like if he looked away it might disappear.  Tears sparkled in his eyes barely noticeable to everyone but Minho.

"I go to school in the beginning of the week, and work the other days, but I usually have Friday nights off."

Taemin nodded and bit at his bottom lip, but continued to nod not trusting his voice.

Minho reached over and touched Taemin's trembling finger's. With his free hand, Taemin wiped away his tears and pulled out his phone.

"I haven't taken a picture for the website yet."  He set Minho's phone number out of the shot, but kept their hands linked in front of the plate and snapped a picture. 

"Will you ever tell me where to find this blog? I've looked for it and it seems whenever I bring it up you avoid the subject."

Taemin blushed and gripped Minho's finger's just a little tighter.

"I'll tell you after our first date, that is if you'll take me on one?" he whispered. His shyness made Minho fluster too, feeling his cheeks redden.

"Of course."