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The tiny bell above the doorframe rings when I walk into the shop, its familiar scent of freshly baked bread and Korean-Italian cuisine making my stomach growl in hunger. I had spent my whole Sunday on studying and working on my assignments and before I realized it, the night sky was already welcomed. I'm having dinner at my favorite cafè for tonight alone, unfortunately, because my roommate is too busy on his work to eat anything more than a bowl of instant noodles.
I admire the display of various types of baked goods, smiling at the way each one has its own cute nickname. I load my tray with the love of my life—chocolate cheese bread that's shaped in the form of a sun—and order a plate of my usual tomato cream pasta. Earning odd glances from the customer behind me, I don't get a receipt for my order. I simply thank the cashier and sashay towards a table for two by the window; it's the seat I like most in the cafè. I get to watch the city nightlife of Seoul unfold as I eat.
Halfway through my sun bread, the doorbell rings again and in walks a figure I know too well. He's dressed in an oversized hoodie and a beanie covers his head. I stare at him in disbelief, my mouth still opened from anticipating another bite of bread. He has to take a second glance at me, one eybrow cocked in surprise.
"You again?" he mutters, loud enough for me to hear. Also probably loud enough for the whole cafè to hear. Geez, Lee Donghyuck.
"I had to see you the entire day yesterday and now I have to bump into you here, too. You must be doing this on purpose." he says to me after he leaves the counter, walking up to my table with an unamused expression. Not waiting for the invitation he isn't going to get, he takes the empty seat in front of me.
I set my bread down, clearing my throat. "For your information, I got here first. And the only reason we spent so much time together yesterday was because you dragged me to dinner, remember? And if you're so unhappy to see me, why are you sitting down for a meal with me?"
"So you can pay for me." Donghyuck says casually.
I chew my bread, chuckling. "Wrong girl for that, pal. I don't pay here. This place feeds me for free."
Donghyuck furrows his eyebrows. "Do you have any idea how wrong that sounds?"
"What are you thinking—"
"Donghyuck!" a man in a flour-dusted shirt approaches us with a smile and my pasta in hand. He sets the plate before me, then accepts Donghyuck's respectful bow with a pat on the shoulder. I eye the two of them cautiously.
"Sorry I couldn't meet you in my office," he chirps. "We're understaffed tonight, so I had to man the kitchen."
"It's fine. I came here to have dinner too anyways." Donghyuck smiles. See how sweet he is when he's talking to someone who isn't me?
The cafè's owner, whose nametag reads out Taeil in sloppy handwriting and a smudged smiley face, grabs an empty chair from the next table and positions it opposing the window, which means he's in between Donghyuck and I, looking at each of us with a grin.
