He rings the bell once and touches the screen.

Stop being a and go approach him, Park Chanyeol.

He smiles at the customer and bids the latter good bye politely with a ‘Thank you for coming, sir!’

No. No I can’t.

He cracks his neck then rolls his shoulders, eyes closed.

Nonsense! Go talk to him!

Chanyeol slams the unused silver chopsticks on the table in agitation.

If I do, I’ll puke right in front of him and he will hate me forever and I will die in shame!

He turns around and enters the kitchen place.

You haven’t even tried! It’s five minutes to closing time again! Don’t wait for him to shoo you again toni—

“Sir?”

Chanyeol yelps an unmanly yelp, and jolts, immediately standing up, causing the table, along with all the glasses on it, to shake and the fluids to spill.

“Oh my god—“ The young waitress exclaims, stepping back to avoid getting soaked as well. “Sir, are you okay?”

“I—“ Chanyeol panics and looks around, eyes wary of a certain figure he prays won’t show up at the current time. “I’m fine! I’m fine! I—I’m sorry for the mess I’ve done, oh my God.” Chanyeol began to hastily wipe the table cloth and fix the silverwares in an attempt to put everything back to normal and not make it seem like he just made a total idiot of himself. “I didn’t mean to—“

“Hey, Yumi! What happened?”

Chanyeol’s eyes widen, his heartbeat hastens, his breath hitches and he’s starting to feel dizzy.

“It’s nothing to worry about, oppah. Just a minor—“

Said ‘oppah’ averts his eyes to him. 

…

…….

???!!!!

He’s looking. At. Me.

Chanyeol’s going to puke. Feeling the bile threatening to rise up his throat, Chanyeol covers his mouth with both his hands, eyes wide as they look at the man walking hastily towards them with worry written all over his face.

“Sir, are you okay?”

Holy moly his pretty face is so close!

And he’s never been this close to him before.

No, Chanyeol is definitely going to faint before he can even puke. He’s sure of it.

“Sir—“

“I’m fine!” Chanyeol screeches before he realizes that he just yelled right at the face of the man he’s been having a crush on.

“Oh my god I’m so sorry!” He yells as he zooms out of the restaurant.

Chanyeol promised to never return to that restaurant ever again.

::::

People say that promises are meant to be broken. Well, Chanyeol never really meant that promise anyway. But he did make it up to a few weeks of not showing up in that certain restaurant. He still didn’t have a face to show to that waitress and the man he’s been crushing on since forever after what happened that night.

It’ll only take weeks and they would forget how he looks like already and he can show up again like a total stranger. He can go back to eating his favourite Kimchi Jjigae as he savours the sight of his crush working behind the counter.

Perfect. His plan is brilliant.

Chanyeol pats his shoulder twice with a triumphant grin on his face.

Stopping in front of the very familiar glass door, Chanyeol inhales and fixes his coat before confidently pushing the door open.

The familiar scent of his favourite restaurant reaches his nose and Chanyeol smiles. He’s so ready for yet another series of days subtly staring at the man behind the counter. Last time was a total disaster; he blew off his ‘college student’-cover up. Now he’ll just have to be careful to not blow off his ‘rich man-cover’.

With a whiff of confidence, he makes his way to the corner where his favourite table is. It’s the most convenient area because not only does he get to watch his crush but it also hides him from public view, making it more a convenient place for stalking.

Chanyeol cackles in his head.

That whiff of confidence cracks a bit as Chanyeol grumbles while taking a seat somewhere else because someone has already taken his place. It’s still too early for any customers to be coming in. Usually—or three weeks ago, he’d be the only customer for an hour or so. It gives him a sense of peace… while he stalks the guy at the counter.

One of the many things that he likes about this man is that he smiles a lot, white pearl teeth showing as he does, making it seem like there’s a light illuminating him. That’s how Chanyeol sees him every time he smiles, which is most of the time. It’s like the man is permanently glowing.

That morning is different though; the glow is not there anymore.

Chanyeol rests his face on an open palm, elbows on the table as he stares at his crush. He’s not smiling even though the sun outside is shining so bright and it’s too early to be upset. The man’s eyes do not shine like they do anymore; he keeps his stern look as he answers to the customers’ order.

He was gone for only three weeks, how did this much change happen so quickly?

“Excuse me, sir, here’s your order..”

Chanyeol flinches, eyes quickly averting to the man in front of him with a tray.

“Thank you,” Chanyeol replies, eyes back to the man behind the cashier.

It’s not Kimchi Jjigae.

Chanyeol stares at the foreign food in front of him. It’s Budae Jjigae. They gave him the wrong dish.

Chanyeol fidgets in his seat. He could endure this and just eat the food but then again someone could be waiting for this dish. Gathering his courage again, Chanyeol presses the red button on the center of the table.

A minute has passed. This can’t wait any longer, the food’s getting cold and none of the waiters came to answer to his call. He could go to the counter and ask the man behind it, Ahemm, his crush, to help him but that’s too much risk he’s not willing to take. He could end up embarrassing himself again and—wait.

Didn’t he take a three-week break from this restaurant to gather up his courage for emergency situations like this?

Right, Chanyeol thinks to himself as he nods, I’ll go there and casually talk to him and try not to puke in front of him and coolly tell him they served me the wrong dish.

Chanyeol pushes himself up, hands visibly trembling as he looks at the man he likes who’s still frowning.

No, Chanyeol, don’t do it. You had a hard time trying to make them remember. Who knows how much longer you’ll have to disappear for them to forget about your face.

Chanyeol stares down at his hands. He’s literally shaking. He needs to hold something.

Look at his face. He’s frowning, Chanyeol. He hates you already. Don’t go, save your life and just run for—

Chanyeol continues walking to the counter with wobbly legs, completely ignoring what his brain keeps telling him.

“Uhm… Excuse me…”

Chanyeol curses in his head at the way his voice squeaks at the end, feeling his cheeks heat up. Is he blushing? He must be blushing. He should just run away now before it’s too late.

It takes a fleeting second but time seemed to slow down in Chanyeol’s head as he stares at the brunette turn his attention to him.

Chanyeol gulps.

The brunette only stares at him, face devoid of any emotion.

And he waits and waits and damn it, he’s too nervous and he’s feeling sick again—

He smiles.

“It’s you.”

He’s smiling at me.

“I thought I’d never see you again here.”

He’s talking to me.

“So what made you finally come over to the counter?”

He’s asking me something.

“Erm, you might want to close that mouth,” the brunette says again, chuckling as he does.

Chanyeol’s heart leaps out of his chest and runs away screaming bloody mary—He’s even imagining things now.

“Park-ssi?”

Chanyeol gasps.

He’s still talking to me!

Chanyeol's  too busy gaping and trying to process the fact that his crush is talking to him and smiling at him to even try to understand what the latter had been saying.

“I-it’s not Kimchi Jjigae..”

Chanyeol’s eyes are still wide open, mouth still ajar as he lifts up the bowl in his hands.

“Oh, I see.” Chanyeol watches as the brunette’s eyes flicker down to his hands before it went back to meeting his’ again and smiles.

The brunette’s smile is so much more beautiful up close.

Damn, I should've done this earlier.

“I apologize for the mistake, Park-ssi. I’ll go have them change it.”

Chanyeol thinks he’s going to fall into coma the moment the brunette took the bowl in his hands, their fingers lightly brushing against each other. He’s too taken aback to realize that the latter addressed him by his family name, to ponder on why the latter know of it when they have never talked before this. Nor was he able to notice the blush that crept over the brunette’s cheeks and the way his smiles at that moment are by far the brightest he must have seen from the other.

Chanyeol stalks the brunette on most occasions but despite that he doesn’t know that he doesn’t know a lot of stuff about the brunette.

He doesn’t know that he’s the reason the brunette’s smile disappeared for quite some time because of him not showing up for weeks. He also doesn’t know that the brunette has already stalked his sns and actually stares at him whenever he’s not looking, or that these all happened before Chanyeol developed his little crush on the brunette.

But maybe, he’ll know these soon.

“I’m Byun Baekhyun by the way,” the brunette says with a smile that makes him glow like an angel as he hands the bowl of, finally, Kimchi Jjigae to the gaping customer.

It’s now Chanyeol that brushes his fingers against the other’s.

“Chanyeol. Park Chanyeol.”

Byun Baekhyun grins, he knows that already.

⛄⛄⛄

Author ‘s Note:

I’m seriously hoping this is fluffy enough.

Belated Happy Valentine’s Day! Keep loving ChanBaek! ❤❤❤