Song: You Are Not Truly Happy by Mayday

Pairing: Xiulay

Word Count: ~1100

Suggested By: fuling

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“Why does he always order two cups?” I asked as one of our regulars walked away from the counter. 

I had only been working at the café for a few weeks, but the guy currently leaving the counter came in quite often, and every time, he ordered two cups of coffee, but only ever drank one.  The other he always placed across from him on the table, leaving it there untouched until he rose to leave, at which point he placed both cups on the return and left.

“Who?”  Chen asked, turning around from where he was busy organizing cleaned cups.

“Him.”  I said with an incline of my head towards the table where the guy, who was a little bit shorter than me with short dark hair, had settled.

Chen’s eyes followed my nod.  When he saw who I meant, he let out a sigh.  “Ah, Minseok… yeah, he’ll always order two.”

“But why?”  I asked, watching as Minseok stared at the steaming extra cup of coffee across from him.

Chen sighed again as he returned to stacking the cleaned glasses.  “Because he is waiting for someone.”

“Who?”  I asked, confused.  Minseok had been coming at least once every week since I’d started working, and based on Chen’s voice, he’d been coming before I’d started as well.  That meant that somebody had been standing him up for months, which seemed a rather horrible thing to do.

“Someone who can never come.”  Chen said softly as he glanced back at Minseok’s table in the corner.

My eyes widened.  “You don’t mean…”

Chen nodded sadly.  “His boyfriend died unexpectedly earlier this year.  Biking accident in the rain.  They used to come here often before it happened.”

“I see,”  I said softly as I watched Minseok stare out the window of the café, slowly sipping his cup of coffee before my eyes trailed to the cup across from him  It looked so lonely, steaming for someone who would never come.

---

He always ordered the two cups of coffee with a smile.  Once I knew who the second cup was for, that was probably the saddest part.  The fact that he could smile while he ordered it.

I came to hate that smile.

It couldn’t possibly be real, not when Minseok knew that the second cup of coffee would never be drank, and after looking at it for so many times as I handed him two steaming cups of coffee, I just couldn’t do it anymore. 

“That’ll be $2.70.” 

“What?”  Minseok asked, eyes widening as he looked up from his wallet in surprise.

“One small coffee, for here.  That’s $2.70.”  I explained patiently.

“Oh, but I ordered two.”  Minseok said, looking at me confused.

I nodded.  “Yeah, but you only ever drink one.  I feel bad making you pay for two.”  It wasn’t the truth, not entirely, but it seemed an adequate explanation, or so I thought.

“Someone is coming today.”  Minseok said back to me after a momentary pause.

It took me a couple of seconds to think of a response to that, but I did.

“Then they can order it when they get here.”  I knew I was being unfair.  I should have just given Minseok his coffee and let him go on his way, but I was so tired of it, of watching him sit alone in the corner of the café, waiting for someone who would never come.  It was too hard to keep watching that.

“Please, I need that cup.”   Minseok whispered, smile faltering, starting to reveal something else underneath.

“Why?”  I asked, wondering if he’d say it.  If the wall would keep falling or if the smile would win out.

“Because I need to pretend that he’s coming, just for a while.”  Minseok whispered quietly, smile disappearing completely to reveal someone who was sad and broken and desperately clinging to the one thing he thought he needed to have.  The same thing I was slowly becoming convinced I shouldn’t give him.

“And how long are you going to keep pretending?”  I asked.

Minseok blinked, clearly surprised, and then his surprise gave way to anger.  “What’s it matter to you?  Just give me the two damn coffees already.”

I shook my head.  “No.  I don’t think I should.  I don’t think he’d want me to.” 

“And how do you know what he’d want?”  Minseok said back, tone rising.

“Because I know that if he loved you, he’d want you to smile again.”

“I smile all the time.”

“No, you don’t.”   He never did, not really.

Minseok opened his mouth to say something back, but then, he closed it for a few seconds before letting out a frustrated sigh. “You know what?  Forget it.  I’ll go somewhere else.”  He turned and left before I could think of anything else to say back to that.

“Why’d you do that?” Chen asked, moments after Minseok had disappeared.

“I don’t know.”  I said softly as I watched Minseok disappear down the street outside.  It hurt me more than it should have to watch him go.

---

Minseok didn’t come back for a month, a whole month.  

It didn’t take me nearly that long to realize why I hadn’t wanted to make him that coffee that day, not that realizing that made me any happier because I was fairly certain that the likelihood of Minseok ever returning to the café was virtually zero, meaning that me caring about him, perhaps even liking him, was completely pointless.

However, I was wrong, on both counts.

Like I said, Minseok came back after a month, a few minutes before my shift was going to end. 

He walked in slowly, nervously, as if he was unsure of what he was about to do.  When he finally reached the counter and opened his mouth, his tone was the same, quiet and hesitant.

“Two small coffees please.”

I sighed as I hit the button on the register.  “One small coffee.”

Minseok shook his head.  “No, two.  Someone else really is coming today.”

“Who?”  I asked with a sigh, wondering what he’d try to come up with this time.

Minseok looked down at his feet for a second before looking up slowly.  “You.”

I stared in shock.

“If you want to…”  Minseok said a light blush arising on his face that broke me out of my stupor.

“I would love to.”

“Really?”  Minseok asked.

“Yeah, I really would.”  I said, smile forming on my face.

“Great.”  Minseok said with a smile.  It was small, but it was absolutely beautiful.

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Continuation for this posted as Chapter 14: Fix You.  Warning Broken!Xiuhan