Chapter Text
It’s his third day on the job. It’s a Monday. Heeseung stirred the hot coffee in the mug carefully, trying not to make the spoon clink too hard on the ceramic. He called out the name of the customer, twice, as his voice was too quiet the first time. It was constantly a blur. Ringing in an unnecessarily complex coffee order at the counter, then trying not to burn yourself at the coffee machine, and desperately trying not to slip on the melting ice you accidentally drop as you scoop it into a drink. He could feel the eyes of the other baristas glancing at him once in a while, evaluating how much progress he’s made in his training.
The café was otherwise a comforting place, if you weren’t behind the counter. Heeseung found the job listing online when he was desperately hunting for employment. The name caught his eye “Whole Latte Love”. It’s a funny enough pun, and it’s displayed in a bright neon sign in the front. The inside was lit similarly, beaming fairy lights of all sorts of vibrant hues were everywhere. The furniture were all wooden and had artistic motifs carved unto them by hand, the mugs were also sourced from local potters, and there were an abundance of plants. It felt like the home of a forest fairy who occasionally plays in a band performing at Glastonbury. A hodgepodge of whimsy and fluorescence.
Then he found out it was within walking distance to his apartment. He simply never paid attention to the place as it wasn’t his cup of tea, or you can say his cup of coffee. But he felt like it was a place with an odd familiarity to it, so he went and applied without thinking.
So here he is, holding back his tears again because a customer glared at him for taking too long to make her pretentious frappuccino concoction. Heeseung sighed and apologized for the wait, before turning back to make the next order. It’s a rush hour. That was the third customer of the day who did that.
“Hey, Heeseung, can you make this order for me? I’m kinda overwhelmed right now.” The manager, Sunghoon, whose in charge of training him pointed at one of the receipts. His other hand busy pumping shots of various syrups into multiple drinks.
“Sure, no problem.” Heeseung held the receipt in his fingers. A chocolate frappucino with an extra pump of chocolate syrup, extra whipped cream, and two pumps of mint syrup. Heeseung rushed to grab a cup.
As he was pumping in the mint syrup, he thought to himself.
Who would like something like this?
Heeseung stirred the drink carefully, making a spiral motion for the whipped cream on top. Right, extra whipped cream. He added some more just in case, not wanting to get an unhappy customer again.
“Can you call out the names for my order too?” Sunghoon placed five drinks on a tray at once with inhumane speed. Then he handed the receipts to Heeseung. Heeseung nodded, following his orders.
“Somi, Arin, Wooyoung, Chungha, Yujin, and-“ He paused, before looking up.
“Sunoo.”
Their eyes met. The other customers walked over to the counter to grab their drinks sitting on the tray. Heeseung was only holding one order in his hand. And it was his.
“Umm…” Sunoo looked down and pointed at the cup.
“Right, here you go. Thank you.” Heeseung snapped out of his trance and swiftly gave it to Sunoo. He felt their hands brush, but Sunoo pulled away immediately.
There was an awkward pause. Heeseung could feel his hands sweating, wanting to go back to his work, but unable to look away at the same time.
“…you work here?” Sunoo said, his tone low and flat.
Heeseung stuttered, “Y-yeah, I just started.”
Sunoo nodded and walked away.
“You doing alright? Your face is kinda pale.” Sunghoon grabbed his shoulder. Heeseung held the side of his face, cold sweat began to run down his cheeks too.
“Wanna take a break?”
“Yeah, can I?”
Sunghoon ushered him into the break room, calling out one of the other staff to cover for Heeseung. Heeseung sat in the flimsy folded chair, the air conditioning cooling down his face profusely.
“You know that Sunoo guy?”
“Huh? You know who he is?” Heeseung snapped his head at Sunghoon.
“Yeah, he’s been a regular here for a year. I saw you talking to him earlier.” Sunghoon smiled, “Then you’re sick all of a sudden, what, do you like him or something?”
Heeseung went silent. His face immediately dropped and a gloomy scowl washed over it. Sunghoon looked at his expression and blinked. Straight away, he knew he said the wrong thing.
“I think I’ll be going back to work now, let me know when you’re feeling better.” Sunghoon let out a low whistle and walked away from a distraught Heeseung.
Heeseung and Sunoo have been broken up for a year.
**
It was his first day on the job, around three years ago. Heeseung was fresh out of college. He stood in front of the sky scraper like a deer in the headlights, anxiously adjusting his tie to pump himself up before entering the glass doors. It was his first official job. He had been interviewed a week earlier, where he tried his best to hold in all of his mumbling and stuttering to put forward the most confident and self-assured persona he could conjure up. Somehow it worked, he was hired.
There was nothing special about this manufacturing company, nothing special about his position of being an administrative staff, it was the most ordinary job, however they were the quickest one to call him back. And there he was, stepping his oxfords unto the white tiles. Looking around for someone to help, anyone.
Eventually, he found Mr. Park, the administration supervisor, who led him to the elevator, and all the way to his desk. It was located in the very corner, cramped, and dingy. But Heeseung’s name was written on a small name plate. And that gave him a sense of pride. He sat down on the stuffy chair and stared at the computer screen blankly, letting the day sink in.
The moment he finished his first pile of work, Heeseung tried to find his way to the office kitchen. When he arrived, most of the higher-ups were huddling around in their own cliques, some sitting down to shove their lunches in their face, others standing around and convening. Not a single face he knew was there, and not a single soul went to greet him either. Not that it was expected of them to wave towards the new hire, yet Heeseung felt a hint of disappointment for it. He tried to brush it off.
Considering the fact that he forgot to pack any food for himself, and he was in no mood to walk to a chain restaurant that day just for some grease on a plate, he was only hoping for some coffee to accompany his cigarette break, forgoing his usual favorite of chamomile tea in order to get a more intense hit of caffeine. He needed it to sustain himself from falling asleep on the first day of the job.
He fumbled around the corners of the room, bowing politely to the others, before speeding towards the coffee machine as soon as it was unoccupied. He grabbed a cup and waited as the black liquid poured slowly. Suddenly, he felt a brush against his shoulder. Before he knew it, Heeseung had reached his hand out and prevented a mug from falling to the floor and breaking into pieces.
“Sorry, sorry! My hand slipped, thank you…” A pair of dainty hands grabbed the mug back from Heeseung’s grasp.
The man was the same one who had been assigned as Heeseung’s desk mate. He was quite short, with a round face and upturned eyes. His gaze was sharp and cold when Heeseung first sat down at his desk, then suddenly his whole face warmed up as soon as he smiled and introduced himself.
“It’s alright, umm…”
“It’s Sunoo.”
Kim Sunoo. That was his name. The one he said earlier when he gave Heeseung a firm handshake.
“Right, Sunoo.”
“You’re Heeseung, right? We’ll be seeing eachother a lot.”
“Hmm, yeah.” Heeseung glanced at the coffee machine. Why is it taking so long?
“You know, we went to the same university.” Sunoo took a sip of his coffee, before saying the exact name of the college Heeseung went to. Heeseung raised an eyebrow, he didn’t know who Sunoo was.
“Really?”
Sunoo nodded. “I knew about you from some friends. You were close with Jay, right?”
“Oh, you know Jay?”
“Yeah, I hung out with him sometimes. You were the guy he always said goodbye to before he left to go out with other people.”
He found the idea of being recognized by a stranger perplexing. If he recalled correctly, he spent most of his college years keeping a low profile. Jay was practically his only friend. It was hard to socialize when you’re stuck in a major your parents forced you to take, all the misery was eating away at Heeseung. But somehow Sunoo remembered him.
“Guess I was.”
The coffee machine dinged, Heeseung grabbed the mug and took a large sip.
“Well, thanks again for saving me there. I would probably die of embarrassment if I broke a mug on my first day.” Sunoo huffed. “I’m gonna go to the back, now. I really need a cigarette.”
Heeseung looked at Sunoo. “You smoke?”
“Mhm.” Sunoo smiled. “Wanna come?”
Heeseung followed after him. They went downstairs using the emergency stairs and went out the back door to the parking lot, where all the smokers took a break from the mundanity of an office job by inhaling a cigarette or two. It was quite empty that day, only around two other people dozing off. Sunoo took Heeseung to a secluded spot, a small walk away from the door. They both crouched down and set their mugs on the ground, before standing up again to lean on the hard concrete walls.
“How did you find this place already?”
Sunoo reached for the pack of cigarettes in his pocket. Placing one in his mouth. “I scan buildings for smoking spots before I even submit my resume.”
“Are you an addict?” Heeseung said dryly.
“More or less.” Sunoo shrugged. “This is also your first day and you’re accompanying me, so you’re one too, I assume?”
Heeseung chuckled, not denying it.
The wind was cold. Heeseung reached into his own pocket, before realizing it’s empty. He had forgotten to bring his own pack of cigarettes. Sunoo glanced at him, noticing his wide-eyed expression.
“Need one?” Sunoo pulled another one out from his pack.
Heeseung sighed. He didn’t like smoking from other people’s packs, as no one ever liked the same brand he liked. But he had no choice that day. “Yeah, thanks.” He accepted the offer.
Once Heeseung placed the cigarette between his lips, Sunoo pulled out a lighter. He leaned his face towards Heeseung’s and raised his hand slightly, blocking the wind from putting out the flame he lit in-between the tip of their cigarettes. Heeseung leaned forwards as well, making sure his roll was lit properly, and to take a good look at this man.
His dark and wavy hair was swaying slightly from the wind, his long lashes fluttering as he’s looking down, his amber eyes being amplified in colour by reflecting the fire, and he smelled like vanilla perfume despite all the smoking.
The sky was dull and grey, the same grey as the puff of smoke coming out from Sunoo’s pink lips.
You’re the only pretty thing about this place.