Where Have You Bean? | Yong Hoon x Reader

4 | Just A Friend

YH: "I know how to dance! I could be an idol."

"Oh yeah? Prove it."

He cleared his throat.

YH: "Well, I'm probably better at singing than dancing though."

"Oh yeah? You're making so many claims today. But where's the proof?"

YH: "Arghh... I shouldn't have said anything," he covered his face in shyness and shook his head. "If you stick around, you'll see it someday," he laughed.

By now, there was a mutual understanding that you and K were new friends. It meant mountains of questions to be asked and boundless lands of a person's mind to explore. You shot questions at each other late into many nights, and still, this mutual thirst to learn more about the other could not be quenched.

When was the last time you felt so energized talking to someone about anything you wanted? The words you said were mainly unfiltered because you knew that K would not judge you; he seemed to accept anything you said with a nod, a laugh, or a phrase of agreement. He usually had something to add on so that the conversation flowed endlessly; 24 hours in a day just didn't seem enough.

While friendship was certain between you and K, could this relationship actually be worth questioning further? Spending your days studying K (disguised under your claims for studying for classes) had made you grow rather fond of him.

At first, it was difficult to differentiate whether it was the coffee or his presence that actually warmed you; however, from the distance created between you and him as he worked that vanished when you sat down together after-hours, it was now clear to you that it was really K who had the power to soothe you and his coffee was one of the ways in which he did so.

The realization that you needed K came unannounced, but the reality of it turned the wheels of your mind. Did you see him as just a friend, or did you see him as having the potential to be more than that? You toyed with the idea, but not so much in a serious manner.

Though he really wasn't that young, his youthful (basically cute) appearance complicated your vision to see him as a man, even though you found that he had mature thoughts just as any normal man would. He was fully aware of how others viewed him – child-like and adorable, one that needed to be cared for, and he played that up because he knew that it pleased people. He didn't mind it all that much, but in those moments he was alone or comfortable with you, he undid the top buttons of his collared shirt that confined him throughout the evenings he served people.

"Presenting yourself in a certain way is important," he had said. "A lot of people don't realize this, but it's a way of communicating with people. It's like saying 'I'm making the effort to serve you well.'"

Like the way he treated his guests, he made you feel significant like you were actually human, complete with emotions, history, pressures from your own problems. People tend to mind their own business as they go about their lives and hardly pay attention to others they don't know closely.

Every individual lives in a bubble that only merges with the spheres of significant others like friends and family, but keeps others separate. There's a disconnect, a lack of communication, a silence between strangers. But there was something special about K in his ability to break the silence to understand the voices of people who have yet to speak. Even though he didn't know what sorts of unresolved issues made your heartache, he knew they existed, and did his best to ease the pain.

YH: "How have you been feeling lately?"

It was a bit random that he should suddenly ask this question. The last time he did so was when you looked ready to pass out due to over-stress.

"Okay. Holding up," you answered nonchalantly.

YH: "Only okay? Holding up? Has there not been enough excitement in your life lately?"

You shook your head.

"Not really."

YH: "You should go out more. There's so much excitement out there for you to discover!"

"Have you any recommendations, Mr. Coffeeandexcitement expert?"

YH: "Haha, I do! You should go out with some girl friends. What do they call it..." he sucked in a breath through his teeth in thought. "Girls' night out?"

"Maybe I would if they weren't so busy all the time. Everyone's always working. Or they're studying super diligently."

YH: "You mean as diligently as you do?" He laughed.

You lightly slapped his arm for his joke.

YH: "So do you want to go out with me?" (im having flashbacks AHH, author nim is struggling)

Your heart skipped a beat. In the way that your bodies angled towards each other as you conversed, there had to be more to the relationship between you both. In the way that he lit up when he saw you enter the shop, there must've been more. Or in the extra kindness, he showed when he made you so many free lattes, decorated with images of shared thoughts, certainly, there had to be more.

While one's mind might try and reason one out of making decisions that could lead one down to dead ends, the heart will react however it may please. The heart is too honest to heed to the advice of the mind. Yours jumped at the thought of being together with him, you and K. So was it telling you that you wanted something more with him?

YH: "Oh, I mean just as friends," he added very quickly.

Ah, so this is the type of dead-end your mind tries to protect you from. You had only mused yourself with the idea of possibly becoming more, but to be friends was entirely fine too. It was totally fine. It was his presence that you liked, no matter what role he played in your life now. You simply enjoyed being with him; you didn't have to complicate things by making it more than it had to be.

YH: "If your girl friends are busy, I'd be happy to go out with you. I'll be your girl friend for a night," he laughed.

"Down with that," you chuckled.

After he took a sip of his foamy beverage, a white fluffy moustache rested above his lips and you giggled at how silly it looked.

YH: "My dear friend," he said with a fancy accent. "Be prepared to come with me to enjoy a night of classy living. And just to be sure, when I say classy, I MEAN classy – complete with fancy attire and sips of delicious drinks along the way in special glasses fit just for the occasion. We're going to live on top of the world."

You weren't sure how fancy he truly meant considering how he was just as rich as you were. Nevertheless, you were excited for the night to come, the night that you and K could have a "girls night out"– just as friends.

And in any case, gentleman or not, with your boyfriend still occupying the back corner of your mind, it was difficult to fathom that you could actually see K as someone who could be more than just a friend.

.☆。• *₊°。 ✮°。