Cinnamon Bliss | Seokjin

chapter iv. mortals

Time may have passed since then, but your memories remain. And it had always been so easy to come back to those moments when they had seemed to be engraved so deeply on every cell in your body and within every nook and cranny of your mind.

Your body shudders as you take a deep breath, and you open your eyes while snapping out of it, suddenly feeling angry at yourself for letting your mind drift away into the shadows of your past. It is not often that you find yourself dwelling too much into the past the way you do during these times, but the anguish sure feels stronger this year around for some strange reasons that it keeps making you feel restless to think about it.

When your eyes fall on the empty booth once again, you begin to wonder if it has anything to do with Seokjin and his little girl being gone. You realise just how different your life had been for the past year since you met them.

If you had only been living as if you were floating in space, existing without actually being present at the moment, their presence in your life had changed all that. You had started hoping again, to look forward to the day they would come in with their warmth and joy as they sit together, telling stories between their cinnamon buns and hot drinks.

You had thought that the reason why you had grown so attached to them had only been for the fact that you wanted to help them heal while giving you some sort of redemption for what you had failed to protect in the past. But what if they had been healing you at the same time in return without you realising it? That it had been them helping you heal slowly, and not the other way around?

Having these thoughts only makes you feel more lost, and you find yourself missing them even more. Pulling at your waist apron, you begin looking for a reason to step out for a short while, just to clear your mind before you would start breaking down.

As if fated, you glance out the full-sized window at the front of the cafe just in time to see Minhyun walking past, throwing a smile at you as he makes his way to the front door. He has always been the only one in your life who can truly understand your loss, and all about the pain that you still feel and how you would normally seem to others at this time of the year. It is no doubt has been one of the reasons why he has been coming to see you a bit more often, making sure that you are still holding it together.

On previous occasions, you have always felt like he was nothing but overbearing as he dotted you like you were a fragile little thing that could break apart anytime he looked away. This time, his presence is more than welcome. Seeing him entering the cafe with a mischievous glint in his eyes feels like a breath of fresh air and you simply cannot help but welcome him with a smile of your own.

Rising up from your seat, you rest your hands on your hips just as he walks up to the counter. "And what are you up to this time?"

"I'm here to bring you—" he stops to make a dramatic gesture of raising a bag of packed meal for you to see, showing you a big grin as he presents it to you by saying, "—lunch."

You raise your brows at him. "You do recall that it is my job to sell food, don't you? We do have plenty of delicacies here for me to pick."

"Ah, but do you have these juicy cheeseburgers? And how about your favourite fries?" he teases you while waving the bag right in front of your face, and the delicious scent of your favourite burger wafts through the air. "I even have a few cans of cold beer back in the car. I just figured I should keep it hidden from your customers. We don't want to have them steal your customers' attention from your mighty hot chocolates, do we?"

"You got some valid points there," you tell him, leaning forward to take the bag from his hand. "Aw—And you picked them from my favourite place."