` (    FightMe  HongJisoo♥    )

Chapter five :
"Does this count as a date- HI JOSHUA!"

‘Um…’ Junghan hesitates, not knowing whether talking to this strangely good-looking stranger was a good idea.

What have I gotten myself into?!

‘Oh my god, isn’t that-‘

‘Yo Vernon in the house-‘

‘Shush, hyung! That’s Jisoo hyung and… Junghan hyung?!’

Jisoo stands still, eyes staring straight at the strange customer in front of him. The male before him sits straight, back stiff as he finds the words to say; the wide brim hat the male had on casts a shadow that blurs out his face, making it hard for Jisoo to focus.

‘Um…’ The male lets out a small sigh before throwing his fists onto the table, ‘You know what, sit down. I need to let this out one way or another so why not let it out to a stranger I just met.’

Jisoo lets out a light chuckle as he takes his seat, smile unfazed by the sudden change. Now that Jisoo is at the same level as the other, he can see the face of the owner of the shoulder length haircut the other had tied up clearly and wow.

‘So? Let it all out, I’m here to listen.’

‘Ok, you know the cafe called Junghan’s Cafe-‘ The other pauses before continuing, ‘Wait, of course you do! Everyone does. Right…?’

‘Uh, yeah…’ Jisoo hesitates, trying to remember where he had heard that name from, ‘Yeah! Of course I know it!~’ Jisoo says when he sees the others expression dropping; the other’s face immediately lights up when he hears Jisoo’s words.

‘See, we were like, the most famous cafe in town!’ The other exclaims in excitement; Jisoo swears the other is adorable, his smile eager like a child’s. ‘But then this cafe came along…’

The other’s voice lowers and Jisoo feels slightly guilty for it.

‘Literally, they stole all our customers!’ The male in front of Jisoo clenches his teeth, knuckles turning white and Jisoo can’t help but feel slightly intimidated. ‘Like what the hell, who let them do that?! They even copied our name!’

Now Jisoo’s just plainly amused because the other’s face is flushed red and Jisoo feels sorry for thinking that he looks like a really cute tomato.

‘Hey, they must have their reas-‘

‘I mean, if they had chosen an original name that won’t clash with ours, then fine, I’ll admit defeat. But they legit stole our name and customers! I should sue them.’

‘Okay, hey, don’t get too serious now-‘ (Well shoot, what am I going to do with a lawsuit on my hands.)

‘And guess what,’ Jisoo raises an eyebrow as he waits for the other to continue, ‘The worst part is, they stole my son as well!’

Wait, what?

I don’t remember kidnapping a child.

Shoot, did I kidnap one-

‘Chan was like, my loyal son and guess what, he betrayed me for them!’ Jisoo’s eyes widen because Chan?! ‘Wait, actually, not them, but him. That freakin’ Jisoo guy.’

Jisoo gulps.

‘If it wasn’t for him, everything would’ve been fine! I would have my loyal customers, my baby son, everything!’ The other lets out a harsh sigh, ‘Like, even my staffs are going crazy for the people here! If I ever find out who that Jisoo guy is-‘

‘Hey…’ Jisoo feels like this is a good time to come out. ‘I’m-‘

‘I swear I’m going to rip him apart for stealing my son and customers.’

Shoot.

‘W-What-’

‘I swear to go-‘

‘Are you…’ Things are finally making sense. ‘Are you Junghan?’

‘Yeah.’

…

Well things just got real.

‘I…’ Jisoo really doesn’t know how to feel about this. ‘I’m sor-’

‘Don’t feel bad for me,’ Junghan looks at the other straight in the eyes and Jisoo swears he can see how determined Junghan is. ‘Because I, Yoon Junghan, will hunt that Jisoo kid down, and get back at him for stealing my baby Chan and brain washing my staffs. As well as stealing my customers but you know, I’ll just get back at him for everything.’

Jisoo swallows slowly, unsure of what he should do now because his brain is telling him to run, run as fast as he can because this kid might really kill him and he sure isn’t ready to die.

‘Um-’

‘Would you guys want a cup of water?’ Mingyu interrupts the two, shocking Jisoo as he jumps up, clutching his shirt. ‘It’s on the house.’ Mingyu winks and Jisoo almost swear in front of the angelic looking male that isn’t very angelic in front of him.

‘Yeah sure.’ Junghan smiles, receiving the cup of water before pushing one to Jisoo when he realizes the other is frozen. ‘Um, yeah, so I’m done with that… You wanna talk about yourself too?’

Jisoo stops breathing for a moment as he silently panics, coming up with dumb stories to hide his identity from his possible murderer.

‘Uh… Yeah!’ Jisoo grins when he’d finally come up with something believable. ‘I’ve actually just move here from LA, and I’ve heard about your cafe a lot!’ 

‘Ahhhh, so you’re new around here! That’s why I haven’t seen you around before!’ Junghan sets his cup onto the table, interested in what the other had got to say.

‘Yeah,’ Jisoo plays with his hands, a little nervous that the other wouldn’t buy his story. ‘And I’ve always wanted to try out the cakes and coffee there, I heard it’s really good. Though I’ve always been really busy so I didn’t have any time to go there-’

‘Why are you here then?’

Crap.

‘I-I work nearby here, and I wanted some cake before heading home and I didn’t know the way to your cafe so…’ Jisoo mentally slaps himself for stuttering (Way to go, Hong Jisoo.)

‘Ooooooh, I see.’ Junghan pauses a little and Jisoo prays to God that the other still hasn’t figured anything out yet. ‘Oh my god! You know what, I’ve got a great idea!’

Jisoo looks at the other expectantly.

‘Let me bring you over there tomorrow!’ Junghan says, excitement clear in his voice and Jisoo can’t help but feel weird things in his stomach. ‘It can be my treat, I guess, a little something for listening to my rant! I swear, you’ll see, the cakes here may be good, but our cakes are even better!’

This is a bad idea.

‘Sure,’ (This is a really bad idea, Jisoo.) ‘That sounds great.’

‘Oh, it’s getting late so I should really head back before any of the kids burn down the cafe or chase away my customers.’

‘Oh my god, same-‘ Jisoo stops, ‘I mean, ahaha, that’s funny…’

‘It really isn’t if you’re the owner of the cafe.’ Junghan smiles his first smile that night and Jisoo feels like he was just blinded by the other.

I feel you.

‘I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then?’ Jisoo asks, trying to change the subject so nothing wrong would slip through his lips again.

‘Yeah,’ Junghan furrows his eyebrows, thinking for a moment. ‘Since you don’t know the way around yet, I guess I can wait for you outside here at around 7? Feel special I’m willing to go out here again with this stupid hat…’

Junghan’s last words are muttered under his breathe but Jisoo still manages to catch them.

‘Sure,’ Jisoo smiles, ‘I’ll see you then.’

Man, Hong Jisoo, do you have a death wish or something now?!

‘Oh! One last thing,’ Junghan turns around from the entrance, ‘What’s your name?’
 

‘It’s Joshua.’

The next day goes on a lot slower than Junghan had wanted; first thing in the morning when his left foot landed onto the cafe’s floor, Junghan was already bombarded with questions from Wonwoo to which he only waved off. Though when Seungcheol starts pestering him about ‘was the food good’ and ‘did you meet that Jisoo person’ and even ‘did you steal our son back.’

‘First of all,’ Junghan takes in a deep breathe, ‘He’s not our son, he’s my son.’

Seungcheol pouts, groaning as he waits for the other to continue.

‘And no, I did not meet that Jisoo kid, and the food is kinda good-’

‘Hyung! What about my food?!’ Junghan comes face to face with a pouty Minghao, eyes big and glossy and Junghan mentally kicks himself for letting the words slip his lips.

‘Oh my god, Minghao I didn’t mean that!’ Junghan hurries over to Minghao side, cooing at the other.

‘Tsk, whatever hyung,’ Minghao mumbles, ‘I have Jun hyung-‘

‘Who?!’

‘I mean, I’ve got work to do! Talk to you later, hyung~’ Minghao runs into the kitchen, escaping from Junghan grip.

‘God dammit, this kid.’ Junghan shakes his head, the gentle smile on his lips disappearing as soon as a nagging Seungcheol comes to his side.

‘Yo, c’mon, tell me what happened!’ Seungcheol complains. ‘You’re a lot happier than you usually are.’

‘Oh shut up, I’m always happy.’ Junghan rolls his eyes, though walking along side Seungcheol as the other continues cleaning the tables. ‘But yeah, I didn’t meet that Jisoo guy, but I did meet someone really cute though-‘

‘Was it the pink haired kid?!’

…

‘Okay, I’m sorry. You can continue.’ Seungcheol tries hiding the blush creeping onto his face (‘It’s from embarassment, not anything else!’).

‘Uh, okay…’ Junghan looks at Seungcheol suspiciously before letting it slide. ‘So yeah, this other guy is really cute and he’s nice, too. He listened to me talking about the whole Jisoo’s Cafe situation and you know, he didn’t complain like you people.’

‘I’m hurt.’ Seungcheol frowns, a hand clutching at his heart dramatically.

‘Anyways, he’s coming over here at 7 tonight, so you kids better behave.’ Junghan says cheekily before running off into the kitchen.

‘Yoon Junghan! I’m older than you!’

It’s 30 minutes ‘till 7 and Jisoo had never been so nervous in his whole life; all he is scared of now is being found out by Junghan and getting murdered right there and then. Though after confinding with Jun, Jisoo had finally made up his mind to goes with the plan, thinking that he can always reveal himself later on when the other had known him better.

Dressed in simple jeans and a white tee, Jisoo makes sure to leave the cafe an hour before, making his way back after awhile so that the other won’t catch him nagging the other kids. Sighing, Jisoo walks in circle in front of the cafe, constantly checking his phone to see the time.

Though after constantly turning his phone on and off, he realizes it’s already 7:20 and Junghan is nowhere to be seen.

Did he find out about me already?

Jisoo tries convincing himself that the other had just forgot about the time.

Is he coming up with a plan to murder me right now-

‘Guess who?~’

All Jisoo can see is darkness; he can feel a pair of hands pressed against his eyelids, preventing him from seeing who it is. Almost panicking because what if it’s Junghan trying to murder me, Jisoo calms down and places his hands on top of the others, asking aloud, ‘Who?’

The hands covering his eyes are removed as a head pokes out from behind, revealing a smiling Junghan, cheeks slightly flushed pink.

‘Hi~’ Junghan’s voice is weirdly melodic to Jisoo’s ears when literally seconds ago he was scared this person would be the person to take away his life.

‘J-Junghan!’ Jisoo turns around and gives the other an unexpected hug, body moving before he could think through it. ‘I thought you bailed on me!’

Returning the hug with a red face, Junghan chuckles and breaks the hug to look at the other’s face, ‘Sorry, I got caught up with the kids; Seungkwan mixed up the salt and sugar and Minghao almost went crazy on him so I had to stop them before Seungkwan gets kicked back to Jeju…’

‘Oh my god.’ Jisoo can’t help but utters as he laughs, holding onto his stomach as he couldn’t stop laughing.

‘Whatttttt! Don’t laugh, it’s very sad for me to manage these kids okay?!’ Though Junghan laughs along, voice light and cheerful as the two starts walking side by side.

After a 15 minutes walk and dumb conversations (‘Minghao makes the best cinnamon rolls but he doesn’t know how to come up with excuses.’ and ‘If you like bucket hats, don’t talk to me.’), the two arrive at Junghan’s Cafe, walking in with bright smile as their laughters are all that they focus on, unaware of all the eyes coming from behind the counters.

(‘It’s them! It’s hyung and Ji… Jisoo hyung?’

‘That’s right, Minghao, it’s them- damn Jisoo hyung is fine-’

‘Wonwoo, I thought you like that tall guy-’

‘Soonyoung, can you not-‘

‘Shut up! You guys are distracting me!’

‘You shut up! Seungkwan, go make the cake again before Minghao goes wushu on you - Soonyoung, c’mon go serve them!’

‘Oh right, I forgot-‘

‘Dude, that’s you job!’

‘Shush, Wonwoo.’)

‘So, what do you want?’ Junghan fiddles with his hands as he watches Jisoo scanning through the cake menu, nervous because what if it’s not as good as he’d expected it to be-

‘What’s good here?’ Jisoo flashes a reassuring smile to Junghan when he realizes that the other is probably just as nervous as he is.

Thankful for Jisoo’s smile, Junghan smiles back (the fact that his heart is fluttering has nothing to do with this, nothing.) before pointing at the menu excitedly, ‘You should try the cinnamon rolls that I told you before! Minghao seriously makes the best ones. Oooooh, and the strawberry cheesecake too! A classic but our Seungkwan sure knows how to make it taste better than the ordinary~’

Jisoo keeps his eyes focused on Junghan rather than the menu; his heart melts a little when he sees the spark in Junghan eyes when the other is talking about what he’s truly proud of, smile never leaving his face (at the back of his head, Jisoo really does feel sorry.)

‘Joshua? You okay?’ Jisoo blinks when a hand is waving across his vision. ‘Is there something on my face?’

’N-No!’ Snapping out of his trance, Jisoo rubs his neck with an embarassed smile. ‘I mean, no. And yeah, that sounds good~’

‘What sounds good? The cinnamon rolls, strawberry cheesecake, blueberry cheesecake, chocolate cake-‘

‘Chocolate cake!’ Now that may have come out a little more excited than Jisoo had expected.

‘One chocolate cake coming up!~’ Soonyoung appears, shocking both Jisoo and Junghan; after earning a light kick from Junghan, Soonyoung quickly goes back behind the counter to continue spying on the two.

The time spent waiting for the cake is spent wisely by the two; Junghan finds out that Jisoo is a chocoholic who would literally go crazy because of it and Jisoo finds out Junghan hates candies. Soon the cake arrives, being placed onto the table with two spoon and Junghan reminds himself to kill the kids inside the kitchen because what is that heart on the plate.

‘The heart is totally just for decoration. It’s like that on every plate!’ Junghan manages to say, though facepalming himself when Soonyoung walks pass with a piece of chocolate cake, placed neatly on a clean plate.

‘I see…’ Jisoo hides his smile as he thinks he’d had enough of teasing the other for the day.

Taking a spoonful of the cake (3/4 chocolate 1/4 cake), Jisoo widens his eyes because damn, he is right, the cake here is great!

‘Woah, dude this really is good!’ Jisoo exclaims, spoon in his mouth and Junghan tries his hardest not to blurts out ‘cute’.

‘Seeeeee!’ Junghan bounces in his seat, overly happy with the comment.

‘Cute.’ Jisoo chuckles, devouring the cake to hide the blush creeping up to his cheeks now; face down and focused on the cake, Jisoo misses the sight of Junghan’s ears turning red along with his face. 

(‘Guys, take a picture of this, oh my god!’

‘Seungcheol hyung, are you ready to die-’

‘Shush, Wonwoo, this is for a good cause.’)

The evening goes by smoothly, the two enjoying additional cups of coffee to which had Jisoo amazed because wow, what does Junghan mean by Jisoo stealing his customers?! The stuffs here are great! The two stays by the cafe ‘till the very end of the night, just the two of them; the cafe closes down at 10 but Junghan isn’t ready to go home yet so he sends the boys off, getting his personal space with Jisoo.

It’s 11:30 when the two decides that it’s about time to call it a night, Jisoo standing a meter away as he waits for Junghan to lock the doors of the Cafe.

‘The things here are great!’ Jisoo starts, ‘I really don’t think that Jisoo is stealing your customers, like you guys are still pretty packed from what I’ve seen!’

‘Yeah… But we used to have even more customers! I swear there used to be a cue for our cakes and coffee!’ Junghan sighs, walking beside Jisoo.

Junghan had rejected it at first but Jisoo had insisted on bringing Junghan home since you showed me the way here, I gotta repay you somehow!

The two soon arrive at Junghan’s apartment, ready to part ways.

‘I guess, bye now?’ Junghan says, his words coming out more as a question.

‘Bye,’ Jisoo smiles as he brings his hand up, patting the other’s head because Junghan’s hair is way too irresistible. ‘I’ll see you around.’

Junghan doesn’t know if Jisoo means it or not, but he really hopes this isn’t the last of them.