stardust | park seonghwa ✓

09

"Used to it, I guess," he shrugs, then leaning in close to my ear as we approach the front desk. "Do you know why I was so eager on coming here?" he asks me, cupping his hand to cover his mouth as he whispers to my ear.

"No, why?"

The boy straightens his posture and grins smugly. "Hongjoong hyung works here," he cheekily mentions in a giggly tone, hopping to the counter eagerly.

"Hongjoong as in...?"

"Cousin Seonghwa's best friend Hongjoong? Yep, he's the man," San says, "it's a bit surprising isn't it? This cool guy working at a KFC store?"

"Oh yeah we passed by him once," I tell him, remembering that one time Seonghwa and I had passed the older music student that one day. "Never thought he'd be the one to work at KFC though, I've always thought he'd be more like a club DJ or something."

When we get to the counter, San only laughs at my previous statement and leans on the top of it, giving the rest of the staff passing by on the other side of the desk a click of his tongue and the raise of his right eyebrow in acknowledgement. They seem to know who he's looking for and what he's doing here and it didn't take long for someone's voice to boom from the back of the kitchen in an almost scolding tone.

"UM!!? Beomgyu, what did I tell you about leaving costumers unattende— San!?" the figure of Kim Hongjoong appears from behind the heating machines and he stares at the both of us, open mouthed. He was wearing a red uniform just like the others, a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his forehead and he looks pretty much worn out. There's a small rectangular badge on the right side of his chest and I feel myself twist my face, impressed. 'Kim Hongjoong, Elite Team' it reads. Forget about DJing, this is way cooler.

Hongjoong rolls his eyes when San answers him with a sheepish laugh but steps up to the counter anyway, tapping the screen of the monitor in front of him. "What can I get you today?" he sugar-coats his smile when he looks at San, eyeing him longer than when he looks at me. "And you too?"

"A bucket of original chicken please," San order, displaying his dimpled grin then turns to me, "I don't mind sharing but I might end up eating all of it, so what do you want?"

"A whole bucket? To yourself?" I ask him, bewildered when he nods to say 'yes'. "You eat a lot..." I begin to say, "but I eat more. Can I have the same bucket as him?"

"Sure," Hongjoong says, tapping the screen and making us hear the clicks of his nails hitting the monitor. "Drinks?"

"Medium coke," San and I mention at the same time and the older behind the counter shakes his head. "Seonghwa was right with the two of you being the same species," he mutters but loud enough for me to hear. Hongjoong lifts his hand and I am confused for a moment before San places a card on his palm and he slides it on the eftpos machine.

"Wait, Seonghwa's talked about me?" I ask, too caught up in my mind to argue with San about not splitting the payment and let the receipt get printed.

The blonde haired shrugs, "sure. He's mentioned you a couple of times. You're the girl he was with some time ago right? When I came across the both of you, I actually thought you guys only just started dating." Hongjoong lets out a laugh, amused at himself while I feel my cheeks burn at his last sentence.

As we wait for Hongjoong to get our orders ready, my mind repeats what Hongjoong had said. If he, Seonghwa's best friend, thought of that then what did the others think? When my eyes find more interest on the tiled floor, I could tell my ears were now blushing in a reddish colour so I drag my hands down the sides of my face. The thought of it makes my heart race a little, and even though he was a little out of my league, the little voice at the back of my mind tells he to let my hopes rise a little.