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lily-blue · 1 year

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13 reasons why | reason no.10: they are enthusiastic about the holiday seasons

☆ characters: interim manager!soonyoung & rival!you (Eunseo - ‘97 liner) ☆ genre: coffee shop au, humour ☆ summary: you have always liked a good enemies to lovers story, but once your own y/n moments come knocking on your door, you come to realise that having a handsome rival is actually more tiring than it appears to be on paper ☆ words: 11,2k ☆ taglist: @dat-town, @soobin-chois

➼ chapter index

Even though working at your grandparents’ small bubble tea and coffee shop had started as a convenient part-time job beside your studies, the youthful atmosphere of the place and the freedom you had with the menu had grown on you through the years. Hence, when you had eventually graduated and gotten rejected by eight IT companies within a single month, you had decided to take on more responsibility in the family business. Your grandfather was nearing eighty-two after all, and your grandmother had always had a hard time not pampering him when he showed the tiniest signs of discomfort. With your chronic back pain that seemed to run in the family, you had never blamed the woman for spoiling the old man. Some days you wished you had someone who drew you hot baths and gave you amazing massages in the tub, too. Not that you wanted to picture your grandparents in a similar scenario.

Shaking your head with a carefree laugh, you placed the freshly made biscuits on a porcelain plate and carried the sweet dessert to the only occupied table in the shop. It was already past nine, which meant you were off the clock for the day, but as the granddaughter of the owners and the person who had spent almost every day behind the counter in the past six months, no one had the right to tell you that you weren’t allowed to have your friend over for some tea and biscuits while you were making the usual inventory rounds.

‘I was about to make some chocolate-banana biscuits this time, you know, nothing too crazy, but then I saw the caramel candies in the jar on the counter and I couldn’t help myself,’ you explained what had inspired your latest experiment with your desserts, pointing at the jar somewhere behind your back with your thumb from above your shoulder. ‘Feel free to say they taste like shit if they’re bad,’ you added with a sheepish smile like you always did when Hoyeon was about to have the first bite of your biscuits you couldn’t have taste-tested first. Unfortunately, your acne prone skin hated chocolate, so you tried to minimise your intake to zero.

‘Next time I’ll make sure to introduce you to Mingyu’s girlfriend. She’s a food critic and a really good one. I’m sure she would give you better feedback than I could ever do,’ the older girl said, even though she didn’t hesitate to take a huge bite from the biscuit. She was a huge supporter of your baking from day one, but because of her mild addiction to said dessert and the fact that she didn’t have a single rude bone in her body, she tended to compliment your biscuits even when they were too bitter due to the amount of cocoa powder you had used.

Still, you appreciated her gentle insights each and every time. You also liked watching her eat with such enthusiasm. Her facial expressions and exaggerated hums never failed to make you smile.

‘Oh? His granny finally found someone he actually likes?’ You inquired on your way back to the counter where you started to make a list of those ingredients you should have ordered some more of in the morning. You might not have known Mingyu super well - you could have counted on one hand how many times the two of you had spoken since Seungcheol had opened Coffee Carat -, but you were pretty up to date with the everyday happenings at the coffee shop on other side of the park because of your friendship with the owner’s fiancée.

Hoyeon liked talking about the guys like they were either her annoying older brothers or her precious babies. She was such a mom friend.

‘Nah, she’s the one who wrote that harsh criticism about our cupcakes. He took it a bit too seriously when he decided to change her mind about his baking skills,’ Hoyeon said, the amusement in her voice too obvious to miss. You had faintly remembered the day when your friend had told you about the article that had caused a temporary drop in the number of their customers, but since she hadn’t mentioned it ever since, you had assumed that the situation had been the exemplary case of “every storm runs out of rain”.

The thought that the tall baker had managed not only to score a date with the critic who had called his cupcakes average, but to successfully make it official with her in such a short period of time made you smile to yourself. You had always loved a good enemies to lovers story, so theirs only made you feel more certain that your Y/N moments were also waiting for you somewhere out there. Maybe, you should have gotten out more often.

Speaking of which….

‘Are you excited about Saturday?’ You asked your friend, stealing a quick glance at her from behind the counter. The closer the official date came, the more anxious you felt because of the biscuits you had promised to bake for their wedding, but to your surprise, Hoyeon rarely spoke about the big day recently. If you hadn’t known better, you would have thought that she had completely forgotten she would get married in three days.

‘I am, but not as much as I expected to be,’ she confessed as she shoved another piece of food into her mouth. She looked unbothered. Hell, she sounded pretty unbothered, too. You could have never. ‘Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I’m not happy or that I love Seungcheol any less, it’s just…’ she tried to put her thoughts into words that you could understand, so you didn’t push. Instead, you gave her as much time as she needed while you checked the storage room. You would need to order more recycled plastic cups from Rina and twelve bags of tapioca pearls, too. ‘We’re already living together. It doesn’t feel like such a big step.’

You nodded with a low hum in the back of your throat. What she said made perfect sense, actually.

‘You really are like a married couple, hah?’ You teased, relieved that their relationship with Seungcheol was as good as ever, hence you had been worried for no reason. You didn’t particularly like being wrong, but situations like this were obviously exceptions.

While you were talking about when you should have arrived at the venue on Saturday with all those sweets you planned to bake for them, you started to pack the unsold pastries into plastic containers. You were at the third box, a little bummed that you had so many cupcakes left that no one had wanted to buy, when Hoyeon made a light-hearted comment on how you might have also found someone at their wedding as her fiancé still had handsome yet single friends despite many of them getting in a serious relationship since the coffee shop had opened two years ago. Her silly way of advertising her boys plastered a small smile on your face.

‘I heard Joshua is off the market again,’ you chirped in, putting the full containers aside and turning towards the machines you had to scrub clean. ‘Too bad, I could picture myself going home from the party with him,’ you admitted, finding it almost amusing that usually, by the time you heard about Joshua’s break-up, he was already with another girl. It was like some higher power didn’t want you to shoot your shot with him at all, although the guy matched your ideal type nicely. He was attentive, always made sure to compliment you when you met and hadn’t belittled your effort when he had accidentally gotten to know that you had failed as a web developer before you could have started your career.

‘Argh, let’s not talk about those two, Seungcheol is already out of the game and if they don’t break up until the day after our wedding, Jeonghan can boss us around for a whole week. The both of us,’ Hoyeon complained, her mood getting sour only momentarily, until she shoved another chocolate-banana and caramel candy biscuit into her mouth.

You shook your head with a smile.

‘You should really stop making these bets. They just aren’t worth it,’ you advised, unsure whom you should have felt more sorry for. It might have been Joshua’s inevitable heartbreak on the line, but regardless of your conflicted feelings about the morality of these games, you were aware that whoever was the subject of them, they also knew about the competition. On the other hand, was it really worth risking giving so much power to Yoon Jeonghan for the mere possibility of controlling his life for a week? Highly unlikely.

Yet, they did it each and every time.

‘But they are,’ Hoyeon argued, telling you about that one time early into their relationship when Seungcheol had still lived with Jeonghan and Joshua and he had won the right to send the boys away from home without giving them any explanation. She claimed those had been the most peaceful movie night dates they had before her fiancé had found a nice apartment for them and Kkuma.

Once the biscuits were gone, Hoyeon offered to help you with cleaning the customer area and you accepted her help with a grateful smile. She didn’t have to, you would have gladly kept her entertained while closing the shop, but she did every time, the sweetheart she was.

Right on time, about an hour after Coffee Carat had closed its doors as well, Seungcheol knocked on the door of Freefall to pick up his fiancée. Before leaving, he asked you whether you needed any help with your old machines or if you had any boxes or sacks that were too heavy for you to carry from one place to another, but you just waved him off with a smile.

‘Eyes on the road!’ You said them goodbye, asking Seungcheol to make sure they both got home in one piece despite the late night traffic.

Closing the shop, you headed home ten minutes later. The small studio apartment you rented two corners from Freefall greeted you with silence and a sweet smell you couldn’t have described in any other way than home.

The traditional wedding ceremony didn’t last longer than an hour, and while both Seungcheol and Hoyeon (and their parents) looked amazing in their hanbok, you were grateful for it. As much as you loved reading about love, you had always had a hard time sitting still for a longer period of time. You would have hated it if they had thought you didn’t enjoy their big day - because you did! - just because you had your own shortcomings and more frequently than not, you felt antsy when you didn’t have anything productive to do.

Munching on your lower lip, you leaned closer to the myriad of desserts that were placed on one side of the venue, so that you could read their funny descriptions that had been written by Hoyeon and smell-test them before choosing which ones you would have liked to try.

‘You should try those! They might not look as fancy as the shortcakes, but those biscuits are fantastic. I’m telling you, I’ve already eaten like,’ the boy in the elegant, white shirt and deep orange dress pants claimed, counting on his fingers slowly with his eyes focusing on nothing in particular. ‘Six or seven. And I keep coming back for more!’

You took a moment to observe his features: the bright, genuine-looking smile on his face, his almond-shaped eyes that were barely visible due to how excited and happy he appeared to be and his fluffy black hair; a few stubborn strands were covering a part of his forehead. He looked handsome in an adorable way you had never before considered manly. Until now.

‘Aren’t you afraid I’ll eat all of them if they are really that good?’ You teased, paying close attention to his reaction. Despite assuming the best - you doubted either of the newlyweds would have invited douchebags for their wedding unless they were family -, you didn’t know him. And you didn’t feel like engaging in anything but a short conversation with someone who got offended easily. Your jokes could get pretty controversial after three tequila shots.

For a couple of seconds, the two of you were staring at each other with intent. Then, the boy shrugged nonchalantly and reached for a cinnamon biscuit that was one of the most basic flavours you had prepared for today. Initially, you had intended to bake your most special creations for the party after the ceremony, but on Thursday morning Seungcheol had dropped a sly comment on how obsessed Hoyeon was with this particular flavour and you couldn’t not have made five dozen of them when they were the bride’s recent favourite.

‘I don’t mind sharing, especially with someone so beautiful,’ he said, and instead of lifting the sweets in front of his mouth with his bare hand, you were surprised to realise that he was using a textile napkin to hand it to you.

‘Smooth, aren’t you?’ You asked, but accepted the baked good with a soft smile on your face, biting off a huge piece of it, not shying away just because it wasn’t too lady-like. If the boy couldn’t have handled this much, he wouldn’t have survived seeing you munching on burgers or pizza happily.

Gosh, were you already thinking about spending some time with him in different settings? Well, he had indeed passed the vibe check so far, but it wasn’t like you had known him for longer than two minutes. It must have been the wedding’s doing; it was messing with your head, making you borderline desperate.

Luckily, the boy couldn’t read your mind.

‘With so many couples around, you kind of have to be,’ he explained with a smile as he took a banana-chocolate and caramel candy biscuit in his hand. ‘You know, so that you could play it safe and say you didn’t mean that way when the other person’s partner shows up to punch you in the face out of freaking nowhere,’ he added, coaxing an amused scoff out of you with those exaggerated hand gestures he was making.

‘That’s alarmingly specific,’ you joked, wondering if he had accidentally hit on someone with a girlfriend or a boyfriend in the past few hours or if he was talking about a past incident. For some reason, maybe because of the soft, rose-tinted patches on his neck, the possibility that he was talking about someone else or making the scenario up didn’t even cross your mind.

The boy’s embarrassed chuckle was adorable.

You reached for a caramel-apple shortcake next.

‘So… you didn’t mean it that way?’ You inquired after the first bite, the flavours dancing in your mouth, making it impossible to suppress the pleased moan that scratched your throat. It escaped the same moment you started your question, turning your cheeks the same colour as the boy’s neck was dressed in.

‘I mean, you’re drop dead gorgeous, so if you, by any chance, happen to be single, then I was definitely flirting with you, yeah,’ he admitted, ears burning by the time he stumbled over the last couple of words. So awkward. So endearing.

‘Good to know,’ you said with a hint of a smile in the corner of your lips before you took another bite from the shortcake and finished it by shoving the third in your mouth. Delicious. Should you have tried another flavour, too?

As you were contemplating which one you should go for, the mango-orange or the last piece of strawberry-crackers, you could feel the boy’s piercing eyes on you, but it wasn’t creepy or unpleasant. You did put more effort into your posture, though, straightening your back and tilting your head sideways just enough to give him a better view for the crook of your neck, but that was your business and no one else’s.

‘You didn’t like them?’ It was a half-question, half-statement, and you needed a few seconds to understand what he was talking about, but when you shifted your gaze from the table to his face and saw how fixated he was on the biscuits, it became crystal clear.

You shook your head, careful to not mess up your elegant, loose bun with the sudden motion.

‘I had more than enough of them while I was perfecting the recipe,’ you explained before you added as a clarification: ‘I made them.’

You didn’t mean to brag. In fact, you were determined to keep your voice nonchalant as if it hadn’t been a big deal, because you had already known he liked them enough to praise them in front of a stranger. You didn’t want him to think that you were full of yourself and found joy in deceiving him, even if only temporarily. However, the way the boy’s eyes lit up after your claim indicated anything but.

‘Really? Thank God Mingyu isn’t single anymore!’ He exclaimed, a relieved sigh escaping from his lips as he made a show out of wiping the nonexistent sweat off his forehead. He was so dramatic, but more entertaining than annoying.

‘Why? Afraid of a little competition?’ You teased, the thought that you should have gone easy on him and admitted that you weren’t interested in the baker anyway crossing your mind for a split second. But then again, where was the fun in that? It wasn’t like you were hurting his feelings on purpose. You didn’t even try to make him jealous, to be fair.

Whether it was your raised eyebrow or the tension in the air that grew with every second you spent in silence after your playful question, but the boy’s eventual reaction was everything a good comedian needed: wide eyes, parted lips and big hand gestures.

‘Hah! Not a chance! I love a good competition,’ he claimed with pride in every single word, fist tapping his chest multiple times in a manner that reminded you of gorillas from that one Disney movie about a kid who had grown up amongst them. Tarzan. The resemblance really cracked you up. Especially when he caught himself and let his hand fall back beside him with a pout. ‘Is there a competition, though?’

‘Why? Would you like to win me over?’ You pushed, just a little more, while you lifted the strawberry-cracker shortcake without whipped cream on the top in front of your lips.

‘I mean, this whole conversation already makes me feel like a winner, but…’

His unfinished sentence and the smug curve of his lips made you smile like a Cheshire cat, but you felt like he deserved to see your amusement on display after all that teasing, so you made no attempt at hiding your happiness from him. Coming to a wedding without a plus one was indeed a whole different experience. And not in the lonely, lowkey depressing way you had previously expected based on the number of couples who had been sat at the same table your name tag was on.

Speaking of name tags…

‘You could start with telling me your name,’ you suggested instead of calling him out on his lame pick-up line or whatever his comment had been supposed to be. You weren’t sure what it said about your personality and preferences or maybe, about your sense of humour, but you didn’t find his flirting too cringe just yet.

‘Soonyoung,’ he introduced himself eagerly and you told him your name in exchange with a less wide but equally genuine smile.

‘Well, Soonyoung, let’s drink some and hit up the dance floor,’ you suggested, grabbing one last shortcake from the table (the mango-orange one, obviously) before you led him towards the bar at the end of the food section. You hadn’t drunk more than a glass of champagne so far, but you were determined to catch up with the rest of the guests before you embarrassed yourself in front of everyone dear to Hoyeon and Seungcheol. You see, you loved dancing, you always had fun moving your hips and limbs for mainstream, upbeat music, however, you wouldn’t have called yourself particularly talented.

Still, you loved dancing. No one could keep you off the dance floor when the opportunity to shake your booty presented itself. Your friends’ wedding couldn’t have been the exception. You just needed a shot or two first.

‘You should be careful with this one. Our Hoshi is a lightweight. Like, light. His drunk face is literally in the dictionary, check it out when you hit up “feather”,’ Yoon Jeonghan warned you as soon as you reached the bar with Soonyoung; the name Hoshi vaguely familiar from your friend’s stories.

‘I am not,’ Soonyoung insisted and you shifted your gaze from the blacked-haired boy to the blondie before you decided to not care too much about which one of them was right and asked for eight tequila shots from the bartender - two from each, silver and gold, for the two of you.

Waiting for the drinks, you listened to Jeonghan’s stories about their bi-monthly dude nights with the guys and tried not to let your confusion show when he yet again warned you about Soonyoung’s drunk antics: some sort of tiger agenda, whatever that meant.

‘Okay, now how about I tell some stories to Yoohyeon noona about your sappy ass whenever you hit your limit, hah?’ Soonyoung threatened, but before he could have spilled the beans to the blonde girl who sat beside Jeonghan, your shots were served and you pulled on his sleeve to gain his attention.

‘I’m pretty sure she knows about his sappy side,’ you tried to keep the peace as you handed the first shot to Soonyoung and poured a bit of salt on his empty hand.

You both managed to drink three shots in a row before they hit, so you gave the remaining two to the couple and pulled Soonyoung towards the small crowd in front of the DJ booth. To say he was an amazing dancer would have been an understatement. He moved his body like he was made of liquid - and not the way your body was also 60% of water - and did it so effortlessly, you started to wonder whether you were the one who couldn’t hold her alcohol instead. Why did your arms move so awkwardly compared to his?

Whatever. The music was exhilarating, the crowd wasn’t suffocating and Soonyoung didn’t show any interest in anyone else around while he was with you, encouraging you and even joining you when you started to perform silly disco moves from the last century. It was easily one of the best days of your life.

‘Food break?’ The boy asked you before you noticed that you were actually out of breath and you nodded, letting him wrap his pretty, long fingers around your wrist before he elbowed his way through the mass. How could someone’s hold be so firm but gentle at the same time? Should you have asked him whether he had visited a nail technician before the wedding? He had such pretty hands!

‘Drinks, too,’ you shouted, so that he could hear it despite the music and based on how he shot you a smile from above his shoulder and squeezed your wrist simultaneously, you were pretty sure you had succeeded.

You ended up at one of the tables where the guests could comfortably eat and converse, far enough from the dance floor to protect your voice from the aftereffects of constant screaming, and ate some real food while you shared funny stories of your lives with each other and how the two of you had gotten to know the newlyweds. Of course, as the afternoon turned into early evening then midnight, the two of you talked a few words with almost everyone from the guest list, but you spent most of your time on the dance floor, in each others’ arms, as you blended into the crowd after each necessary break.

If you had been a more chaotic drunk, you might have shed a few tears of joy because of how freaking comfortable your high heels were.

‘Afterparty at mine?’ Soonyoung asked between two upbeat songs, his warm breath fanning over your neck, making you shiver because of the thin layer of sweat that coated your skin.

You looked around to check your surroundings; you weren’t sure why you felt the need, but it came naturally as though you had been seventeen again, hesitant to leave your friends behind because of a pair of pretty eyes and a smile that turned them into tiny crescends. It wasn’t like you were responsible for anyone in the building other than yourself nor had you come with another person. Not to mention that Soonyoung wasn’t a complete stranger, either. As it had turned out during the party, he was actually close friends with many of your own friends and acquaintances.

You could see Joshua sitting with Jeonghan and Seungcheol by the bar with only the latter two having their girlfriends close. They were drinking and laughing at something that made Joshua pout. If you had been less drunk, you might have been able to put the puzzle pieces together, but with your mushy brain, the only conclusion you could come to was that they looked lost in their own world. You didn’t want to disturb them.

‘Let’s go,’ so you said, not registering how utterly rude it was that you didn’t say goodbye to anyone whom you didn’t bump into on your way out or that you wouldn’t be able to apologise to the newlyweds in person for two weeks - they would leave for their honeymoon in Thailand and Laos early afternoon, which meant meeting up with you would be the last thing on their priority list. That, and you would most probably be sleeping out your hangover somewhere. Preferably, at home.

Or maybe, at Soonyoung’s place as you were heading there for the promised afterparty with a pleased smile on your face and feather-like kisses on your bare shoulder in the backseat of a cab you didn’t remember calling.

Did you have expectations? Maybe. Did the two of you lick into each other’s mouth as soon as the front door closed shut behind your back? Absolutely.

Yet, once you reached Soonyoung’s bedroom and you fell onto his bed, you knew having sex with the boy was off the table. If it hadn’t been, he would have hovered over you and kept kissing you instead of laying down by your side.

‘Can we not take a shower right now? I’m sooo tired,’ the boy mumbled against your upper arm, his nose nuzzling the edge of your shoulder. You couldn’t see his face from this angle, but you were sure his eyes were already closed.

‘I mean, sure, I guess,’ you whispered back, feeling the tiredness creeping in slowly. Maybe, it was for the better. Having a one night stand with one of Hoyeon’s boys wouldn’t have been the wisest decision of your life even though a part of you still craved Soonyoung’s touch despite how heavy your eyelids were.

‘Yey!’ Soonyoung’s arm knocked the air out of your lungs as it swung over your chest, his excitement absolutely beyond you. Still, it would have been a lie to say that you didn’t enjoy the way he hugged you close like you were his human-sized teddy bear. ‘You’re the best! The coolest person,’ he exclaimed happily, coaxing an airy chuckle out of you with his child-like behaviour. He was so ridiculous.

That night, you fell asleep in your sweaty clothes, atop of the softest blankets that would have felt like heaven over you, listening to Soonyoung’s endless chatter about how much he loved his mom, but how she would have forced him to take a shower immediately. At that point, it was lost on you why the woman refused to appear in your dreams. Certainly, you knew more details about her habits than you knew about your own parents’.

In the morning, you regretted not insisting on taking a shower before falling asleep. You also felt like you were about to get sick. Not because of how gross you felt or how bad both of you smelled, but because your throat was sore. Your body had definitely missed the warmth of a blanket over the night.

Was your head hurting because of the blinding light that came through the windows or was it your hangover? With your luck, it could be both.

Letting out a groan, you carefully lifted the boy’s arm off your middle and sat up, looking for your balance and the will to move. It would have been so easy to just lay back and stare out of your head. You could have even gone for a morning quicky with…

Yeah, it would have been wiser if you had just left.

Taking one last glance at the sleeping boy, you bit back an amused chuckle at the sight of his drooling face. Gross, but in some weird way, cute as well. Could you have developed a crush on someone so different from all the boyfriends you had ever had? Of course, it had to be one of Hoyeon’s boys.

Shaking your head, you pushed yourself up into a standing position, then left the flat without leaving as much as a note behind. If he wanted to see you again, he knew where to find you. It wasn’t like you were running away from him. But he had never asked for your kkt ID, either, or any of your other contact information through the night.

You refused to believe wanting some reassurance that the boy planned to stay in touch with you was a bitch move. You had every right to keep your walls up regardless of what you had done or hadn’t done a couple of hours ago.

What you hadn’t expected, though, was Soonyoung storming into Freefall three days later, before your grandparents’ bubble tea and coffee shop would have opened for the customers, accusing you of playing dirty. As you furrowed your eyebrows, confusion clearly written on your face, your fingers turned white around the orange white board marker in your hand. The door should have had the CLOSED sign on. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been standing on a ladder, finishing up the decoration for the Halloween season instead of standing behind the cash register in your uniform.

With your back to the front door, you took a deep breath and let your hand fall by your side; then you took hold of the ladder, so that you could climb down without breaking a bone. As you turned around and raised a challenging brow at the boy, you wondered how you could have missed the crazy glint in his eyes last time. Because as you were staring daggers at him, it was clear as day that he was nuts as hell.

‘Playing dirty? How so?’ You asked, linking your arms in front of your chest to show him he did not intimidate you, although your stiff posture might have looked defensive on second thought. Whatever. You simply raised your chin higher.

‘Carved pumpkins instead of fake pumpkins?’ He pointed at the scary-looking decoration you had put out the day before, the scoff that escaped his mouth mocking. ‘POPcorn maze in the customer area?’ He huffed, stomping his feet. ‘Pumpkin latte?’

You rolled your eyes at the last addition. Did he really think he had any right to call dibs on serving pumpkin latte in October? And since when had he worked in a coffee shop to begin with? Wasn’t he a choreographer at his bestie’s workplace or what?

‘What does any of these have to do with you?’ You inquired, scolding yourself mentally for assuming that he had been hinting at your night together (and the way you had left) when he had walked into the shop. Clearly, it was all about your handmade decoration that had been inspired by the moodboards you had seen on Pinterest.

As far as you were concerned, he had no idea who he was screaming at like a child.

‘I’m the manager at Coffee Carat until the owner is on his honeymoon. You know, the coffee shop you’re stealing your ideas from,’ he accused you, his stupid index finger pointing at you like he knew no manners. Based on his complaints about his nagging mother, you would have thought she had raised a decent son. What a waste of looks!

‘Not that I owe you any explanation, but I found these ideas on the internet. Also, thinking that pumpkin latte is something you owe is really entitled of you,’ you said. The longer he was staring at you with those vengeful eyes, the more frustrated you felt. ‘There’s still half an hour until the shop opens, by the way. So, as the manager of this shop, I need to ask you to take your baseless accusations somewhere else, Kwon Soonyoung!’

Even from the generous distance that separated the two of you, you could see it in the boy’s eyes when the realisation hit him: those chocolate orbs became twice as big as their usual size and it seemed he had momentarily forgotten how to blink.

‘You…’ he mumbled, his gaze sliding to the displays on your left and the boards above your head you still had to finish. ‘The biscuits…’

It was hard not to find the situation ridiculous, but you refused to acknowledge the comedy in his taken aback features that slowly morphed into something indecipherable. Was he happy to see you again? Was he mortified that he had accused you of stealing ideas that weren’t even his to begin with? Did he feel regret for acting so rude?

If any of these cases was true, he didn’t admit it. Instead, he let out a puff of air and linked his arms, checking you out from the top of your head to your torso - the last part of your body he could see from where he was standing.

‘If you think I’ll go easy on you just because you’re pretty and fun and smell like candies, you’re dead wrong,’ the boy said with his chin held high, making you scoff with his claim. You genuinely didn’t get what his deal was. Why did he take his time to come over to your shop to scream at you when he was only an interim manager and your coffee shops weren’t even competitors. Freefall mostly lived off on its bubble teas and biscuits while Coffee Carat served more quality coffees and amazing pastries.

Not to mention that you were close friends with Hoyeon, hence with Seungcheol as well. Had he not put two and two together considering that the two of you had met at their wedding? Or did he seriously believe that you were the kind of person who would have used their absence to your advantage and undermined their business? With what? Halloween themed decoration? It made no freaking sense.

You were about to tell Soonyoung that there was something seriously wrong with him when he spun on his heels and turned his back to you. He walked out the door without a proper goodbye - you couldn’t help but wonder whether it was his way of showing you how it felt to be on the receiving end of such an unpleasant exit -, the echo of the door sliding back into its frame filling the quiet atmosphere.

It took you longer than you would have ever admitted aloud to put yourself together once the silence sat on your chest. However, the time was ticking and you still had things to do before you opened the shop, so you willed your limbs to move.

You knew you had done nothing wrong or malicious when you had decided to change up the interior design of Freefall to suit the holiday season. You refused to let Soonyoung convince you of anything that suggested otherwise.

The following dawn, as you were walking to your grandparents’ bubble tea and coffee shop from your flat, you took a detour. You didn’t mean to spy on your rival, but last night you had been too tired to check out what Soonyoung had been so upset about and you would have much preferred knowing what you were up against. After all, that grown ass child had acted like he was about to march into war. It was both scary and ridiculous.

You considered yourself a laid back, chill person in your whole life. You weren’t one who got easily intimidated, either. You hadn’t broken down and thought that your life had been about to end when you couldn’t have secured a nice office job with your degree. Yet, you felt a tad bit jittery when you put the edges of your palms on the window of Coffee Carat and peeked into the building.

‘What the…’ you breathed, barely able to comprehend all the changes the interior design had gone through since the wedding. Instead of the usual, light brown and beige colours, the shop was dominated by dark grey and orange. There were (hopefully) fake spiderwebs around the windows and the coffee machines. The boards had the same skeleton and pumpkin drawings you had finished the day before just before opening and there was a POPcorn maze on one side of the customer area, the kpop version of it just like in Freefall.

Ever since Seungcheol had opened the shop, you had never seen Coffee Carat looking this… this during any of the Western holiday seasons.

‘A-ha! I knew it!’ You heard a familiar voice from behind you and your entire body tensed as you had thought you still had time. Why was he here so early in the morning when even the place’s owner preferred to show up later, a mere hour and a half before opening?

You should have still had time.

‘What? I didn’t do anything,’ you protested, mentally cursing yourself for sounding so lame. Because really, hearing these cheap lines, even you wouldn’t have believed yourself despite knowing more than anyone that this wasn’t what it looked like.

To make it worse, you spun around with the speed of lightning, like touching the window had burnt you: like you had been caught red-handed, when you hadn’t been. You had never stolen a single thing in your life, stealing stupid decoration ideas would have been the last thing you would have started your criminal career with.

Soonyoung narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to the right. Fists balled up, you wished you could have wiped that stupid frown off his face.

‘I’m off to work,’ you claimed, hating the feeling of powerlessness and the palpable tension in the chilly, morning air. You craved to be in control.

So you bid your goodbye with mocking respect and turned your back to the boy, determined to get to the pedestrian crossing before the lights turned red again. Obviously, it was too far for you to succeed, but at least Soonyoung didn’t follow you. He seemed to be more than content with the reaction he had coaxed out of you.

That and with those smug accusations he screamed after you.

‘If you weren’t guilty, you wouldn’t run away. You’ve just proved I was right all along.’

You hated him for his confidence when it was clear to you that he was wrong and you hated yourself even more for giving Soonyoung fake evidence that only fueled his desire to destroy you in this ridiculous, coffee-centric Battle royal you had no intention to play.

The first week while Hoyeon and Seungcheol were away was both heaven and hell. On one hand, your childish competition with Soonyoung helped your creativity: you came up with new recipes every other day, you went as far as carving little skeleton bones from the jellies you put into your bubble teas and you managed to organise a daily lottery in which the more receipts a customer had, the bigger chance they got to win themselves a handmade keychain or bracelet and other boba-themed prices. Due to your immense effort, there were more people in the shop during the past days than in the previous months combined and that was huge. It was freaking awesome!

On the other hand, you hadn’t felt so emotionally and physically drained since your uni days. It was hard to have a new, original idea every day; not to mention the extra hours you needed to spend on turning each one of them into reality. Because those cute keychains and bracelets didn’t create themselves. The jelly didn’t become bone-shaped overnight on its own. Not to mention how tiring it was to banter with Soonyoung each morning before opening just for him to shop up after closing as well, bragging about their sales.

Of course, you could have locked him out, but as much as you didn’t want to admit, the boy’s extremes inspired you when you let your last remaining brain cell spread its wings in his company. Usually, you were carving jellies by the time he closed the shop on the opposite side of the park, so it wasn’t like you had to stand or move your stiff limbs around too much. You just sat still, like you did at that moment, humming along his endless chatters with your gaze fixed on the fruity goods.

‘It’s a Korean-Italian fusion Mingyu came up with. It was sold out in an hour,’ he claimed with his whole chest, sliding a familiar food container towards you with two slices of creamy cakes in it. At first glance, they looked like classic tiramisu, but they were orange-coloured and smelled like vanilla and pumpkin instead of freshly brewed coffee.

‘I thought it’s sold out,’ you commented with a brow raised in challenge before you turned back to your jellies. Based on the sales of the last two days, you needed to carve at least one more kilo of these and it was already nearing eleven. You genuinely wondered whether the holiday season was really worth the hype.

‘Yeah, but then Mingyu made some more. Obviously,’ he replied, pushing the container closer to you, urging you to have a bite. And honestly, they looked mouth-watering.

‘Obviously,’ you hummed, putting aside your work for a moment, so that you could fish out the metal dessert fork from beside the cake and have a bite from the baker’s new creation.

You didn’t expect Soonyoung to stand up and walk towards the counter for a pair of plastic gloves, but you were grateful for it deep down. Even if you watched him with hawk eyes as he tried his best to turn your regular jellies into Halloween-themed ones for God knew why. Shouldn’t he have been happy that you allowed him to steal some of your time? Should you have been more wary of his skills?

‘What are you doing?’ You asked suspiciously, taking another, bigger bite from the creamy cake that melted in your mouth. It tasted like a pumpkin pie, but it was lighter like you were cutting bites from a sweetened cloud with distinct vanilla flavour. Genius.

‘Making sure you get in bed before midnight,’ he retorted and you scoffed without malice when his smile became bigger at the sight of his own work. He looked so proud of himself, you decided to let him have this moment and enjoy the sweet treat instead.

Once the dessert was gone, you got up from your seat and stretched your body. Then, you walked up to the counter and poured some tea for the both of you into porcelain mugs, but with lots of tapioca pearls.

‘Here,’ you said when you slid the brown mug closer to him and took a seat from across him with your own bowl of jellies in front of you.

You intended to work in complete silence, so that you could have finished for the day as soon as possible, but Soonyoung had different plans. Between two sips, he chatted your ears off about his best friend and the guy’s girlfriend who apparently worked for the same company the two of them did. He told you about this new project Jihye was working on on her own - the very first mini album she composed without Jihoon -, then made you promise that you wouldn’t talk about this top secret comeback to anyone you knew. As if he hadn’t been the one who couldn’t have kept his mouth shut! The audacity.

You rolled your eyes and refused to swear secrecy.

‘Do your grandparents know you work so late?’ He asked at the end, breaking the momentary silence and making you look at him with indecipherable feelings in your eyes.

You didn’t understand why he asked. Admittedly, you didn’t understand why he stayed after he had rubbed their new dessert’s success into your wounds; your pumpkin-chocolate biscuit had been a huge failure that day. In hindsight, you should have gone for a combination you could have actually taste-tested yourself. A lesson that had been relearned the hard way.

You missed Hoyeon so much.

‘No, they don’t. But it’s only because of the stupid war you started, so they don’t have to know,’ you said, intending to keep your messed up sleep schedule from your grandparents as long as possible. Normally, you didn’t like lying. It made you antsy because you were bad at remembering those details that made your semi-truths believable and often got caught at the worst moments possible. However, you told yourself no October lasted forever. Making them worried because of a couple of extra hours of work would have been useless. ‘It’s temporary.’

Based on your history with Soonyoung - short but impactful -, you expected him to push you a bit, maybe call you out on lying and neglecting your health. In response to these, you would have kindly told him that you had been through worse in university and once again reminded him that it was all his fault. But he remained silent and with that… with that, you had no idea what to do.

You glanced at him a little worried and seeing the pout on his lips, you kept staring, trying to figure out what could have been going on in his head.

You were aware that you weren’t subtle about where your focus lay, but it still took you off guard when Soonyoung noticed and he masked his emotions immediately. Within seconds, his almost sad pout turned into a smug grin and his eyes disappeared because of his fake happiness. You might not have been friends, more like frenemies, really, but for some reason, you didn’t like that he felt he couldn’t be himself around you.

‘Like what you see?’ He teased you, the pick-up line as old as time and twice as cringe, but you just shook your head and turned back to your jellies.

‘Just keep carving those jellies and sipping on your drink. You said you wanted me in bed by midnight,’ you reminded him with a small, hidden smile in the corner of your mouth. His red cheeks and slightly parted lips were enough to bring your mood back up. In fact! While he was trying to come up with a cool, sassy comeback, you mapped out whole ass dialogues in your head, entertaining yourself with your own hypothetical remarks that aimed at turning the boy redder.

Sure, their desserts sold better, their coffee tasted better, but at the end of the day, at least he couldn’t beat you in your own game. Flirting shamelessly while you were switching between acting coy and as though you were down to anything was your element. You thrived off his amused scoffs and unconscious stutters.

That day, only your endless banters were longer than the night itself. However, you managed to finish the rest of the jellies almost twenty minutes before midnight, which gave you plenty of time to get home before the clock hit 12 AM. You might have refused to let the boy walk you home once he figured out you lived close and failed to get under the sheets before the new day officially began, but you did text Soonyoung when your head hit the pillow. You fell asleep not long after, for the unmistakable sound of an incoming message wishing you sweet dreams.

During the second week, some days were spent in a good mood regardless of your sales, some days were horrible and you wished you had been able to act like you were the bigger person and never engaged with a lunatic (affectionate?) like Kwon Soonyoung. Because the dude had difficulties sensing your boundaries and you snapped easier when you were running on four hours of sleep.

The worst part was the immense amount of guilt that overwhelmed your sense whenever the silence embraced you after you raised your voice at the boy. It made you feel like you were one of those people you had never gotten along with because of your harsh humour: people who took every joke personally. Self-loathing didn’t match well with your usual vibe. On the other hand, it generously contributed to your sour mood hidden behind your customer service smiles.

A teeny tiny voice in your head told you that you should have told Soonyoung to stop with this nonsense. He must have already figured it out that you had never intended to copy their decoration and their damned pumpkin latte that he had never had an ownership over. So what was the point of fighting?

As you called for the customer who had ordered a large Cantaloupe milk tea and handed over the drink with a smile, the same voice, with a pinch of mockery to it, called you out mentally on how playful banters and late night snacks shared over personal anecdotes didn’t count as fighting. You frowned, knowing more than anyone that if you had wanted to shut the boy out of your life, you could have easily locked the door after the last customer left Freefall. Yet, you never did.

The realisation that you wanted the holiday season to end as much as you didn’t want the boy to go back to working as a full-time choreographer left a bitter taste in your mouth. What kind of insane person developed a crush on someone so impossible? Soonyoung had been making your life four times harder since your lives had crossed paths. You let out a dramatic sigh. You had never pegged yourself as a masochist before.

Taking a new plastic cup into your hand, you reached for the metal ladle that you used for the tapioca pearls and poured a generous amount into the empty container to prepare the next drink: a medium sized Matcha milk tea.

‘Hey,’ you heard a faintly familiar voice from the other side of the counter. You stole a glance at the customer from above your shoulder and acknowledged his presence with a small nod before you turned back towards the tea you were making.

‘I’ll be there in a moment,’ you promised with your back to Soonyoung, silently wondering what he was doing at your shop so early. Even if it had been him who had opened the coffee shop this morning and Wonwoo had been the one who closed it, it was only 1 PM. He knew you didn’t sell anything at Freefall that could have been considered a nutritious, filling lunch.

Did he have his food container with him or something? It was true that you couldn’t have seen it from where you were standing.

Once the cup sealing machine did its magic, you called for the customer who had paid for the Macha milk tea, then turned towards Soonyoung with your palms on the countertop.

‘What can I get for you?’ You asked, your head tilted to the right, left eyebrow raised slightly. What you really wanted to ask was what he was doing here in the middle of the day when he had never once been at the shop when it was open for customers. You couldn’t help but feel alarmed due to the sudden change.

‘I’m sorry,’ he blurted out, his gaze weirdly fixated on the biscuit display and those colourful, plastic straws that were stuffed in a cylinder-shaped container next to the cash register. Your right eyebrow caught up with the other one, wrinkling your forehead in the process.

‘For what?’ You asked, his reasons genuinely lost on you. Sure, he had done many things in your short acquaintanceship that rubbed you the wrong way, but you were fairly certain that you had pissed him off just as many times in return with your snarky remarks. Neither of you had ever said sorry at those moments, but neither of you had been affected by the incidents afterwards, either.

If you wanted to be completely honest, his sudden urge to apologise was unnerving. It had a feel of finality to it as though he wanted to clear the air before disappearing on you.

‘For this whole thing. I got too excited about being the best manager and… I’ve never wanted to stress you out,’ he explained and honestly, it was too easy to admit that you missed the big hand gestures that usually accompanied his rambles.

‘Where’s this coming from?’ You asked, trying to keep your cool instead of overthinking what could have possibly been going on in his mind. With Soonyoung, it had never been easy to see the logic behind the word vomits that left his mouth. But you loved the challenge and had learned with time that all you needed to do was ask. He was chaotic by nature, but he had the patience to explain almost anything to you in detail two or three times in a row while you were willing to listen. Hell. You just had to ask! ‘If it’s because I screamed at you yesterday, it’s fine. I came in sooner today and made enough tapioca pearls for the day, no biggie. I was just tired,’ you reassured him with a pseudo-nonchalant wave of your hand.

In hindsight, you could see that you must have crossed a line last night when Soonyoung had accidentally dropped a 10 litre cooking pot’s worth of tapioca pearls on the floor while he had been holding the ladder for you behind the counter, meaning you not only needed to clean up the mess, but also remake the whole thing. (Not to mention the waste of ingredients.) Still, at that moment your frustration had felt justified, so you didn’t intend to apologise. However, saying that you two were fine was something you could do with your chest.

‘Actually, hyung said I should come over and apologise for my actions on my own if I don’t want him to drag me over here by my ear,’ Soonyoung admitted after the momentary silence, somehow turning it even deeper with his confession. For a second, you were seriously at a loss for words.

But then, you failed to contain your laughter. How was someone like him real?

‘So now you’re sorry or not?’ You asked, half-amused, half-bewildered due to the unexpected turn of events. You had already had a hard time keeping up with the apology, but finding out that it hadn’t even been his idea to begin with was seriously messing with your head. It gave you a whiplash. Should you have been angry with him that he had come here to give you an insincere apology? Should you have felt relieved that seemingly he hadn’t meant to change your dynamic?

‘Well, if I really stressed you out, then yes. Otherwise, not really,’ he said and lacking a better reaction, you let out a scoff-like chuckle. At least, he was honest till the end; it provided you some familiarity you could hold onto. It pulled you out from your messy thoughts and helped you get back in the game.

‘I mean, you can be a bit too much sometimes and you clearly have no idea when not to push someone…’ you teased because it was your thing from the get-go and it would have been such a shame to waste the perfect opportunity to shift things back to normal. ‘But I wasn’t too nice all the time, either, so I guess it’s fine. I enjoy our late night snacks more than I’d like to admit,’ you added with a tight lipped smile.

You weren’t proud of your mistakes, but you could admit it when you were in the wrong.

‘Me too!’ He exclaimed happily, drawing some of your customers’ attention at himself with his loud voice before he sheepishly lifted his hand to his nape and started to scratch it. ‘Though, I got fired an hour ago.’

You furrowed your brows and Soonyoung dived into the story without further interrogation. Lips ridiculously kissable and pouty, the boy explained that now that Seungcheol was back, his hyung didn’t need extra help at the coffee shop and that when he had been joking around, asking his friend what he would do without such a capable manager in the future, the older man had kindly declined his help and let him know that the mental health of his employees would always be more important to him than their profit.

‘It turns out, Mingyu was complaining about me to them throughout their entire honeymoon. Can you believe it?’ He whined, the flicker of hurt in his eyes faint but visible. It urged you to wrap him up in your hands and pull his chin atop of your shoulder, so that you could pat his head and comfort him with your closeness.

But there were already new customers waiting for their turn behind his back, hence you had to set your priorities as the owner’s granddaughter straight.

‘Go wait at that table,’ you pointed at one of the empty spots in the temporary POPcorn maze where people could enjoy good music and check out numerous different kpop albums’ photo books courtesy of your cousin. You had offered free drinks for her and two of her friends for a whole month in exchange for her collection, but Eunhye said she was happy to help. She had also said these albums only collected dust in her bedroom, so it was nice that she could share them with your customers. She was such an angel! ‘I’ll be there after I serve the customers.’

The promise earned a sweet smile from Soonyoung and it warmed your heart, but you had a job to do, so you quickly schooled your facial expressions and put on your customer service smile that was equally genuine, but in a different way.

As soon as the boy walked away from the counter, you turned towards the couple who took a step forward and took their order. You prepared them a medium iced tea and a large milk tea, then repeated the same process with four more people. You worked efficiently, hence it didn’t take that long. And you loved your job, so no matter how much you wanted to comfort Soonyoung at that moment, making sure that each and every customer got the best service you could offer didn’t feel like a bother at all.

It was Freefall’s policy that customers had to pick up their order at the counter. It was a must because your shop didn’t have any waitresses who could have walked around the customer area without the counter being left unsupervised. However, once you prepared a surprise Taro milk tea with bone-shaped jellies and tapioca pearls for Soonyoung, you decided to make an exception for him.

He had just gotten fired. Despite knowing from the beginning that it was a temporary job, he deserved some pampering. He loved being a manager at Coffee Carat.

‘Just so you know, you’re always welcomed here. Even after closing time. Even if you’re not a crazy, Halloween season-obsessed manager anymore,’ you teased when you placed the cup in front of him on the table.

He looked at the drink with wide eyes then shifted his gaze to you with an amused glint in those brown sugar orbs.

‘I was never!’ He linked his arms in front of his chest, pseudo-offended, but untied them soon, so that he could take the milk tea in his hand. Such a weirdo!

‘Sure, you were,’ you indulged him and patted his shoulder once, twice, three times before you walked back to the counter.

You tried not to stare at him while you were waiting for new customers, but regardless of your efforts, you saw the smile on his face when he took the first sip and that smug grin, too, that he shot in your direction when he left the bubble tea shop. He seemed happier.

He hadn’t visited you that night, but he came back to Freefall after closing time frequently in the following weeks. Without the illogical rivalry between you, there were less banters and more meaningful conversations passed around that filled the tranquil, past-sunset atmosphere while you were cleaning the shop. You got to know how close his relationship was with his family members and in exchange you explained to him why you had felt the need to move out from home despite staying in the same city where your parents and grandparents lived.

Your values were similar in many aspects, although you had your fair share of differences. For one, he couldn’t shut up while you were watching movies together and it got increasingly worse when it was something he had already seen. When he was around, it was impossible to not hear a spoiler every ten minutes, which meant that after the third time his rambles had gotten you frustrated, you had needed to come up with creative ways to soothe your urge to strangle him in a spoonful of water. Chips and popcorn were a must on those nights. He needed his mouth to be full to stay quiet.

You realised you were hopelessly gone for him nevertheless when your gossip sessions with Hoyeon started to involve your detailed reports about your not-date dates with the boy. You liked complaining about him in an endeared way to the older girl (mostly because she knew him personally, hence she considered both of your sides when she expressed her opinion) and listening to the older girl’s predictions about where your relationship was heading.

‘When’s your next day off?’ Soonyoung’s question reached your ears, pulling you back to the present. You looked up at him from the coffee machine, wondering when he could have arrived and just how deep you could have been in your thoughts that you hadn’t heard the bells above the front door.

‘Hm…’ you pondered, thinking through your schedule. You had promised your grandfather to supervise the restocking on Monday, but you were supposed to be free in the afternoon. ‘On Monday. Why?’

You put back the clean water container into the machine and wiped off the stray droplets from the counter.

‘Seungkwan, Chan and their girlfriends are going to an escape room date on Sunday. Was wondering whether we could join them, but it’s fine. Maybe, some other time,’ he said and took the mop in his hands with practised ease, getting to work immediately.

You let out a hum, chewing on your cheek from the inside as you were contemplating. The escape room date sounded fun and there were still three days until Sunday. Maybe, you could have made it work.

‘I’ll speak with grandpa. I might be able to make it work, but no promises,’ you said, earning a happy squeal from the boy. Seeing his obvious excitement, you linked your arms in front of your chest and shook your head. ‘Soonyoung, I said no promises,’ you reminded him in case he had misheard you, not wanting to put him into an uncomfortable position by cancelling the program at the last minute. It was better to be safe than sorry.

‘I know,’ he claimed, turning back to his work and breaking the silence within the next ten or so seconds.

As always, time flew quickly while you were filling the silence with mindless conversations. You asked him about the new choreo he was admittedly struggling with and you let him taste-test the new biscuit recipe you had a hard time perfecting. There was nothing unusual in your interactions: they were borderline shameless, flirty and light-hearted.

No wonder you were taken aback when Soonyoung hugged you from behind when you were about to grab your padded jacket and turn off the lights.

‘I really like you, you know?’ He murmured into the crook of your neck, his weight on your shoulders not too heavy, but slightly unpleasant after hours of working behind the counter. You couldn’t wait to stand under the shower head and let the warm water work its magic on the knots around your blade bones.

‘I had a feeling, but it’s always nice to hear,’ you teased, your answer playful and lacking any malice. You were confident that he knew you weren’t disregarding his feelings. You felt the same way.

The palm that slid over your tummy sent a pleasant shiver down your spine.

‘Can I kiss you? I’d like to kiss you,’ Soonyoung inquired and you furrowed your brows due to his unexpected straightforwardness. It wasn’t like you had never kissed before, but neither of you had initiated anything more than reenergizing hugs and coy hand-holdings since your friends’ wedding.

You turned around in his arms, so that you could see his eyes.

‘Is everything okay?’ You asked, worry lacing your voice, and he shook his head, blushing. You raised an eyebrow to dare him to refuse to give you an honest answer.

‘Jeonghan hyung said you are out of my league. That I better shoot my shot before someone steals you away from me,’ the boy whispered, clearly embarrassed. If he hadn’t looked so vulnerable, you would have teased him how easy it was to manipulate him, to influence his decisions. Like when he had apologised to you because Seungcheol had told him so even though he hadn’t been sorry.

However, Soonyoung was clearly in a fragile state of mind, so you brushed aside the memory and cupped his cheeks gently.

‘And since when is Yoon Jeonghan a qualified relationship expert?’ You asked, shaking your head in disapproval. ‘Of course, you can kiss me,’ you gave him permission and a bit of extra push as well when he didn’t act on desires right away.

Soonyoung’s lips were fluffy albeit a little chapped. The press against your mouth light as a feather until he finally overcame his shock and reciprocated the kiss.

A part of you - a tiny voice suspiciously akin to Hoyeon’s - wanted to ask him about labels as soon as you came up for air, but then he leaned in again and your thoughts became scrambled like a poorly made omelett. The night didn’t stay on the path you would have preferred it to take, but ended up being just as delicious.

When you arrived at your place half an hour later, you weren’t just sleeping in your bed and unlike you, he didn’t leave in the morning. Instead, he took you on a breakfast date.

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#seventeen scenarios #caratwritersclub #hoshi x reader #soonyoung x reader #hoshi x you #soonyoung x you #hoshi #ssbyme #seventeen series #coffee shop au

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