chapter twenty one
***
after a few more moments of arguing, aera shoved her way out of the storage closet and made her way up the stairs of the café, retreating to her room and leaving jaebum tugging at his hair.
huffing, jaebum exited the closet, surprised to see that the small shop had nearly emptied out besides a couple chatting at a table near the front window.
"hey! im jaebum!" dahye charged over to him and wacked him upside the head with a dirty rag.
"you toy with my friend's mind and then you stick me to manage your shop while you bully her in the storage closet!" jaebum was met with a cold smack from the rag once again.
"hey! hey!" he yelled, blocking the attacks with his arm. "song dahye! let me speak!"
dahye stopped suddenly, slinging the cloth over her shoulder.
"go on," she ushered, curiosity getting the best of her.
jaebum coughed, shifting awkwardly when he realized that he had nothing to say. dahye rested her hands on her hips, tapping her foot impatiently.
"listen to me," dahye spoke through gritted teeth. "it's about time that you grow a pair and learn how to communicate. tell aera how you feel, jaebum. she doesn't speak your weird language of eye contact and banging her senseless!"
jaebum's lips parted. in all of his years of knowing dahye, got7's next door neighbor and jinyoung's girlfriend, she'd never spoken to him like that. it was no secret that she had a short temper and tended to be very straightforward, but her honesty really surprised him.
jaebum opened his mouth to speak but once again, he had nothing to say.
"go," dahye ordered, not-so-sweetly.
"i-" he stuttered. "can you-"
dahye nodded, dismissing him with a wave before turning around and sauntering back to the register, hopping over the counter easily.
jaebum bit his lip, spun on his heel, and raced up the stairs.