Chapter 8: Usuals

For the billionth time, I look myself over in the mirror. This is at least my tenth time changing outfits. I pat down the hem of my dress and wonder whether I should change it again. The dress is made of some sort of blue linen with white lace accents on the shoulders and hem. I stare at my shoes—‘if I wear heels, will it make it look like I’m trying too hard?’

I frown and take them off, swapping them for a pair of flats. ‘He’s never liked heels anyway,’ I convince myself. I stand in front of the mirror again. I purse my lips.
“What should I do about my hair and makeup?” I mutter to myself. I tip my head on my shoulder and watch how my hair falls. I shake my head and go to my vanity desk.

“Should I curl it or straighten—or maybe waves?” I ponder as I lift the ends of my hair. I begin holding up strands and wondering whether I should tie it up all up in a ponytail or bun, or maybe just a half do? I grumble and cross my arms. ‘Why are there so many choices to make?’ I frown. I stare myself hard in the mirror. ‘What about makeup?’ I groan loudly and briskly shake my head.
To take some pressure off of my reflection I check the time. Hoseok should be here in fifteen minutes. I gasp and without further ado, swiftly do my makeup the way I usually do. I have to sacrifice my hair—it’ll just have to be left like this.

The doorbell rings and I immediately shoot up. He’s five minutes early. My shoes tap loudly once the floor changes from carpet to wood.
“Coming!” I yell as I run through the halls.
I come to a sudden halt when I read the door. I take a deep breath in a wait a minute to steady my breathing. I exhale and quickly touch up my hair before opening the door.

Hoseok stands in front of me with a nervous smile. He laughs softly as he drops his gaze, when he looks back up he’s still smiling.
“Hello,” he greets and politely tips his head. “You—” he nods nervously, “you look nice.”
He’s dressed in a clean pair of jeans and a blue collared button up. He’s dressed just like he was on our first date.
I smile softly and thank him.

“So where’s this same place?” Hoseok asks as we walk the streets. He glances down at me. The sunshine through the trees dribbles down on us, casting splatters of light and shadow. The light outlines the curves of his face.
I hum for a moment and look around, unable to meet his eyes. “It’s a café we go to pretty often during breaks and it was where we had our first date,” I explain to him. I purse my lips and nod.

The silence of our surroundings harmonizes with the light ruffling of trees, gentle footfall and whistling of birds. I breathe it in. Our pace is comfortable, matching one another’s strides.

Hoseok nods as he thinks through the information then glances in my direction again. “I asked you out first, right?” he asks unsurely.

I nod in reply. He looks somewhat relieved by the response. I giggle and ask why he looks so pleased.

He chuckles and rubs the back of his neck, exhaling gently. “I was surprised since you asked me out,” he bites his lip, “I was wondering if it was usually like that.”
I widen my eyes and wave my hands in denial. “I-it was a slip of the tongue!” I admit hastily. I feel somewhat blissful knowing he acknowledges this to be a date though. I do my best to keep myself from smiling.

He makes a comedic hurt expression. While I hastily try to back up my statement he bursts into laughter.

“It’s okay! It’s okay!” he insists after calming down, “It’s good, it’s good…” he trails off slightly and just smiles to me. “I’m glad,” he says simply.

That alone, with the look on his face, makes my heart skip a beat.

“We’re here,” I announce as we approach the café.

Hoseok tilts his head to read the name of the store, unfamiliarly reading it aloud. I’m unsure how to feel even as we enter and he curiously examines the interior. The largest walls are a creamy white, whilst the others are painted a deep red. Tables line one wall, a few others are laid out in open space, and there’s a corner with two couches, a tiny round table and a shelf of magazines. The store is neither full nor empty but has a relaxed amount of space in between customers.

The owner makes his way from behind the counter, a big welcoming look on his face. He opens his arms to us, greeting us warmly.

“It’s been awhile!” he says as he approaches us.

Hoseok turns to me in shocked confusion as I greet the owner. We used to go here so often that the owner has come to know our faces. He also knows of our occupation and very kindly takes care of any paparazzi. I don’t think he’s heard any news about Hoseok, since he’s treating us as normal. Though BigHit Entertainment has not stated his loss of memory as to not worry the fans, there are inevitably rumours and suspicions. The company had just said Bangtan would rest until Hoseok had enough time to heal. This was true, that they would let him rest, but Hoseok was insistent on practice hence his given schedule.

“Should we just sit here?” Hoseok asks gesturing to the table beside us after the owner had quietened down.

The owner turns to Hoseok in utter shock. “Wouldn’t you rather sit where you two usually do?” he asks in bewilderment. If the far corner table was free, we would always sit there. It was the best way to not be noticed by fans passing by the store.

Hoseok turns to me for help as he chokes on his words. I attempt to laugh it off, reasoning he was very tired.

“We’ll go to the usual table,” I tell the owner as I begin to guide Hoseok further back into the café.

The owner nods contently and makes his way back behind the counter. “I’ll take you both want the usual—” he then gives Hoseok a teasing look, “or would you prefer something new?” Then erupts into laughter at his own witty remark.

“He means good,” I explain as we take a seat.

Hoseok scratches his head and laughs awkwardly. “I didn’t expect we came here that often,” he replies absentmindedly.

I smile softly and hand him a menu. “Don’t worry about it,” I sigh.

He lifts his eyes from behind the menu and asks what his ‘usual’ was. “I’m curious,” he adds.

I motion him to show me his menu and he obediently lays it out on the table. I lean over and flick through the pages, thoughtfully reading through the headings.

“You can read upside down?” he asks after a moment as he realises how easy the task is for me.

I lift my eyes and nod proudly. His chuckle is warm and gentle. I then find his order and point at it, “Waffles,” I read to him, “with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and strawberries.”

He leans forward to take a closer look. His arm touches my elbow and I lift my head to see the top of his so close to mine. My heart skips a beat as I watch him read over the menu. He lifts his head. Our eyes meet for a split second before he hastily sits back into his chair.

He coughs into a closed fist, “I-I’ll just have that then,” he says. He presses his lips together then glimpses back up at me. “What will you get?”

I smile and point to something on the opposite page. “I usually get the crepes with bananas and Nutella,” I tell him, “I’ll get that.”

In the end we order our usuals as if nothing had changed. Yet something was amiss amongst the comfort because I knew very well that even though it was familiar to me, it was a new experience for him.

A/N: to celebrate 50 subs I was going to put out an extra 'behind the scenes' chapter but then we somehow got another 6 before I could even update with this ahahaha ♥ thankyou very much! The extra chapter will be little snippets of Hoseok's side of the story from previous chapters :) I was going to post it the same time I post this but I haven't quite finished it and... I'm impatient ahaha

The extra chapter should be out soon though... meanwhile I hope you enjoy this one ^^