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Metro Mocha had always been known as the cozy little establishment on eighth street just between a family owned shoe store and the tiny bakery famous for it's French styled goods. The cafe was opened back in the early 90's and since then remained one of the locals favorite hang out spots.
The cafe's interior consisted of two large bay windows lining the off white walls which were littered with literature references, vintage band posters, as well as a bulletin board filled with flyers and adds, and even a few designated spots that held framed art work rented out by artists who lived in the area. It was a good way to get artwork seen by the public. This was something Dahee tended to take advantage of as she was an artist herself.
You could almost always find one of the girls' pieces hung amongst the rest of the art on the walls. She picked up the hobby years ago when she was given some supplies on her birthday and found that she particularly enjoyed the media of paint.
All of the cafe furniture was made of dark oak and littered with potted plants and floral printed cloth which complemented the wall hangings nicely. The only flaw in the entire cafe was the stained wooden floors which were known to creek beneath the feet of those unaware of which boards to avoid (but by now this excluded most of the regulars).
Overall, Metro Mocha was known to exude an upmost comforting aura onto any and everyone lucky enough to stumble upon its humble interior.
Lucky for her, today that included Dahee.
For the first time in forever Dahee felt she could breathe. Being at work was a good escape from her situation at home. Instead of being trapped in her own head all day long she was able to busy herself with a hundred different minuscule tasks and jobs around the cafe all whilst listening to her favorite music through her earbuds.
She didn't have to think about Soobin or Lina or the idea that they were probably together right now. No, all Dahee had time for was bussing her tables, sweeping the hardwood, and making coffee.
She only wished it could be a bit busier.
The cafe was quiet this afternoon staffed with only one other barista aside from Dahee and housing just a few customers at a time. The entire establishment reeked of rustic wood and expresso. It was a quiet day, over the only sounds aside from the soft melody escaping the antique radio behind the bar was the clacking of keys on a customers computer and the gentle steps Dahee was taking to make her way through the cafe.
Stopping to pick up a few mugs left behind at a booth in front of one of the windows, Dahee glanced out of the glass to admire the view of the city around her.
Buildings tall and wide were all around, lit up by the afternoon sun and complemented beautifully by the ideal mid-summer weather. Just across the street was another strip of establishments much like these: Locally owned and visibly aged.
As Dahee gathered the mugs into a corner of the table and began wiping the surface top down she continued to admire the view between glances, until her line of sight was suddenly obstructed.
A group of young men were making their way down the sidewalk in front of the cafe. They all talked amongst their group smiling happy as they conversed in two pairs and a trio in one case. Dahee smiled to herself as she noted arms draped over one another, friendly slaps on the arms amongst a couple, and even saw two of them holding hands and swaying their intertwined limbs back and forth with each step they took.
She sighed and forced herself not to look too closely at any of them. Friendship was always something the girl yearned for.
Dahee had grown up painfully shy, never really the type to go out of her way to make friends or introduce herself to new people. In fact, the only reason she ever became aquatinted with Soobin to begin with was because he made the first move.
Dahee's smile from before falters at the now bitter sweet memory of their introduction.
'Stop it.' She tells herself, pushing the boy out of her mind and gathering up the mugs from the table as she turns on her heels and heads for the back of the cafe.
Meanwhile, the bell above the door dings and in walk the group of seven chipper boys.
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As the group of seven entered the cafe they all subconsciously softened their previous tones noting the cafes odd lack of a crowd.
"Sorta dead today isn't it?" Seokjin mumbled to the others using the hand un-preoccupied by his soulmate to gesture to the mere three customers in the cafe.
He addressed the group as a whole though he was really only speaking to Namjoon and Hoseok seeing as they too were Metro Moca regulars unlike the rest of the group.
"Looks that way," Namjoon hummed his agreement, now dropping Jin's hand and instead looping their arms together. "guess that means faster service." he grins, now tugging the taller man towards the counter with him.
Hoseok chuckled, following the pair of men close behind after beckoning the youngest two, Jungkook and Taehyung, away from the wall of local art to order with him.
Lastly, Yoongi and Jimin trailed in at their own paces, stopping first at a bulletin board they spot hung on a wooden beam near the door to hang the last roughly made flyer they have.
With a hopeful gaze Yoongi pulls a pin from the board and sticks the paper amongst the rest of the random flyers and notes.
It reads :
Glancing over his shoulder at the shorter blond behind him he offers the boy a smile.
"We'll find someone for the third room soon," He says "and then we can both lay off on all the overtime."
Like music to his ears Jimin grinned broadly at this. He loved his job at the movie theatre, especially seeing as it gave him free access to all the popcorn and movie posters a boy could ever dream of. But these shifts he had been picking up for another coworker had begun to wear him down more and more.
Not to mention he and Yoongi were still barley scraping by between the two of them, their lower middle class jobs, and the high monthly rent. To be honest this extra room they had lying around was starting to break the bank...
"I can't wait." Jimin chirped earning a prompt :
"Me either." From the latter as he too was sick of spending all his time at work. Yoongi worked heavy hours as a mechanic at a downtown auto shop. He too loved his work, although, he wasn't sure his poor hands could take much more of the vehicular tourment they'd been enduring.
Now stepping away from the board the boys began taking in their surroundings as they made their way up to the counter to join their friends.
"It's cute here." Jimin observed, his eyes bouncing around every inch of the cafe's interior and earning a nod of agreement from his dark headed friend.
"Nice and homey isn't it?" Namjoon says quietly over his shoulder as he and Jin stand in front of them in line.
They nod with soft smiles of admiration.
"Jin found it when we first moved down here, he wouldn't shut up about the place for weeks until he finally dragged me down for a mocha."
"And?" Yoongi chuckled, his brows arching in comical question.
"Let's just say the place is well named." Namjoon winks.
Jin turns to them, both hands now holding two hot mochas as he scans the cafe for good seats.
"I love when it's empty like this," the man is practically giddy "OH! Quick! Let's grab the booth window!"
And they do, the couple walking in fast paced strides towards the largest seating area in the joint. Walking so fast despite having any competition to get there before in the first place.
The sight lures laughter from Jimin and Yoongi for a moment before their attention returns to the counter.
Hoseok is off to the side with the younger men clearly imparting his wisdom onto the two when it comes to what is and isn't worth trying.
Behind the counter is a girl with short black hair sporting an apron with the Metro Mocha logo on the front along with a few coffee colored splotches. She smiles at the two of them, tucking a few strands of hair out of her way and beckoning their orders with a couple bats of her eye lashes.
"Anything in mind?" She asks sweetly, her voice coming out in a pitch almost too high to sound natural. "We've got lots of great options~"
The boys both look to one another and share a knowing smile before brushing off the girls' attempt to charm them with ease.
"Black coffee is fine," Yoongi says as he fishes his wallet out from his back pocket. "Grande."
"Alrighty," she smiles with force, jotting down the simple order onto a note pad and then turning her attention to Jimin. "and for you..?"
She offers a flirty tilt of her head.
"An iced latte please, with whipped cream if possible?"
"Of course!!" The barista is all too happy to take down the order and open the register to receive the payment, not missing the chance to "accidentally" brush her fingers along Yoongi's wrist on the slim chance that he may be fated to her.
To her dismay, of course, he was not.
She sighs at this, but her forced smile never falters. Instead she glances over her shoulder just as a coworker emerges from the back. She wastes no time in pushing the note pad against the girls chest and forcing her to tuck it beneath her arm.
"Make these will you?" The barista says, or rather, orders the girl.
Reaching up and removing an earbud from one of her ears, Dahee looks slightly surprised at this sudden request. After all she was told she was on cleaning duty today. But, she doesn't hesitate when it comes to the opportunity to further busy herself and rather than arguing or giving the request a second thought she just pops back in her earbud and gathers her long hair away from her features into a ponytail before getting to work.
At this, the barista from before promptly leans her weight against the counter and attempts to spark up conversation with the men. But her attempt is futile as both boys have found their attention completely captivated by the girl pinching the small note pad between her fingers and looking over their order.
Both men watch as she begins gathering what's needed for their coffee and prepare to watch further as she prepares the beverages until a jealous coworker decides she'd rather they wait somewhere else if they were just going to ignore her attempts at chit chat.
"I'll bring it over when it's ready." She says sharply, sliding in front of the men and obstructing their view of Dahee.
"Sure," Yoongi grunts, feeing for some reason especially bitter because of this. "Sounds great."
Tossing his arm over Jimin and snapping the younger from his own daze Yoongi ushers them towards the booth as the barista now tends to the remaining trio of the group.
Jimin scratches his head lightly, feeling foggy minded for reasons he couldn't explain.
"That was-"
"Weird." Yoongi nods.
However, before the pair can really discuss the occurrence they wind up roped into conversation with their friends and simply share strange looks with each other both silently noting the affair between themselves.
The men did their best to entertain the conversation at the table though their attempts fell short as both of their eyes inevitably trailed away and fell back onto the short statured figure working behind the bar.
There was something inexplicable pulling their gazes towards her.
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𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳!
-💖𝘓𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘹𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦