When The World Stops

Reminisce

A-Rin was dressed like normal but maybe with a little more effort put in her appearance, she applied some light makeup, not wanting her dark circles stealing all the attention and a light tint to her lips. Wearing eye liner was a pain in the ass but she found herself struggling with it anyway before squeezing into her usual black jeans, ripped at the knees and an oversized grey turtleneck to beat the cold. She walked out her room, feeling more confident about her appearance drawing a whistle from her brother who lifted his head from his lap top. 

"Your mic is on." She teased watching his eyes immediately flick to the button. You know you have some serious trust issues when you don't trust the mute button. 

"Works everytime." She snickered earning a glare from her brother. "I'm going to deliver the painting, make sure the door is locked and I'll be back in a while." She said slipping on her black ankle high boots and grabbing the painting safely snug beneath layers of brown paper and bubble wrap. 

The days were simply getting colder and greyer, the wind seemed to freeze everything in its path. A-Rin shifted the weight of the painting carefully from both hands to one hand so she could dig her phone out her pocket seeing if Namjoon replied to her messages. Usually he would within a span of three hours or so but she heard nothing from him since yesterday making her overthink. Did she accidentally say something that insulted him, did he feel like he was forced to talk about things that hurt just because she did? God this sucks.....great, he still didn't reply to her messages. Waiting for her signal she figured she would send just one more text. 

'Is everything okay?'

Her signal. Being as careful as a mother with a stroller she crossed the road to the cafe which was conveniently placed right opposite to the crossing in the corner. A smile dusted her face thinking about how her work would be taken in. Would they like it? did I get the colours right? did I varnish every spot? what if it didn't complement the interior of the place? Okay so maybe there was a tinge of fear somewhere in the excitement. 

"Good morning, what can I get you." A woman probably her age asked her, hands beautifully folded on the counter behind which she stood. 

"Well, I came to deliver a painting-"

"Oh, you must be A-Rin-ssi!" Her voice raised an octave making a few of the customers and waiters stare at her in surprise. "Boss told me about you, follow me." She said lifting the barrier and letting the girl in with her painting. A-Rin stared in  awe of all the equipment to press the best decoction, an array of syrups and cups of different sizes were artistically held in small baskets. She followed the waitress out the door and into the kitchen where in the middle stood Tae-Ho, teaching a fresher how to apply the frosting to make it look like cute little flowers. He looked from his work and smiled at A-Rin who looked back at him amused. She laughed a little watching him smack the back of the head of the boy who messed up for the hundredth time. 'Yah, Focus, you're too young for that pretty lady there." The boy put his face in his arm embarrassed, face pink. 

He removed his apron and hung it on a hook and walked towards her, hands in his pant pocket. Unlike the other day, he wasn't dressed like a businessman, he was almost dressed like a normal guy, A cream sweater tucked in his black trousers accentuating his waist, feet snug in brown leather loafers. 

"Hi." she said once he stood an arm's distance from her. He smiled "Hi." 

A-Rin cleared her throat pushing her hair behind her ear (she let it down) and lifted the painting slightly. "Where do you plan of hanging it?" She asked. Instead of just telling her, he decided to make her heart skip a beat by taking her hand in his warm ones and drew her out the kitchen, out the billing area and into the place with all the books, warm couches and Christmas trees. "Here" he said stopping in front of the fireplace, chin jerking to the empty space above it.