Let Me (JayB FF)

CHAPTER 4 - A TRIP TO THE PAST

"Welcome!" Elle gave her greetings as someone walked into her cafe. She bowed and when she straightened up, she realized who just came in into her cafe. It was one of the idols that came frequently to the place where she used to work as a part timer when she was still in college. Her customer bowed back to her and started to walk inside. He must've forgotten, she told herself as she tried to look calm as well as tried to hide the hint of recognition from her face. 

"Excuse me, sir, you have to order at least a drink first before you can go inside," she told her customer as he tried to talk inside without ordering anything. 

"Ah, sorry," he looked flustered and began to walk back to the counter. "Umm.. ice americano and one ramyeon, please," he ordered after scanning the menu in front of him. She told him how much it was and received the payment. She then told him where he could sit and how he could borrow or buy a book here. He sat on one of the sofa and started to look around. A few moments later, his friend, or maybe his manager, came and sat with him. He started to look around for books and read it while eating and drinking. He was a bit confused when he received his ramyeon. He saw that it was different from his friend/manager's but he didn't say anything and kept eating. They spent for almost two hours before leaving.

"Thank you, please come back again," she said automatically when they were leaving. He doubled back at her when he was about to leave. There was a puzzling look on his face, but before he could ask anything, his friend/ manager called him out and he had to leave. After that, Elle didn't expect him to return, but the following week, he showed up again. This time, it was him alone.

"Do you have ice mint choco latte?" her customer queried when he came for the third time for the past two week.

"I'm so sorry, no, we don't have it here," she answered ruefully. 

"Okay then, ice americano. And one spicy ramyeon," he continued. After a short pause, he asked again, "Do you always add egg and leek on all ramyeon?"

"Umm.. not always," she answered reluctantly. Her answer seemed to satisfy her customer for now, but she felt anxious. Did she accidentally let out her identity by cooking it the way he usually had it? She started to feel shiver running down her spine, sweat cascading down her back as her customer started to take a closer look at her.

"Do I know you?" he narrowed his eyes on her as he tried to remember her.

"Umm.. ," she bit her lips, totally didn't know how to respond, but she decided to be honest at the end. "I knew you, but it's not like we're friends or anything. Do you remember 'KBK'?" she told him the name of her workplace back in the day. He nodded, then a minute later he realized who she was even before she revealed her identity to him. 

"Wait, noona? Are you the noona that used to work there as part-timer?" realization dawned on him and she had no choice but to admit the truth. She nodded curtly. 

"Really?" he looked surprised. "Oh wow! How long has it been? 8 years? 9 years?" his eyes started to lit up.

"Yeah, maybe around that long," she agreed even though she didn't bother to count. In her mind, that was a chapter of her life that she has closed and stored away for so long, hidden at the back of her memory. 

"Wait, weren't you a music major? Why do you work in a book cafe now?" he started to bombard her. She had to applaud his good memory, considering that she only mentioned the fact in passing when they were chatting long time ago. She didn't expect him to remember all the details about her.

"I was," she answered reluctantly and when she glanced up, he was staring at her, as if he was waiting for another explanation. She shook her head, "The rest is history. It's a long and boring story anyway," she smiled awkwardly, trying to ward off his curiosity. He didn't answer her. But instead, he glanced around, noticing that the cafe was empty. No one else in the cafe aside from the two of them.

"Well, there's no one else here," he pointed out. "So why don't you join me and you can tell me that story of yours? I will be the judge whether it is long and boring like you said?" he invited her. She hesitated. It would be weird to refuse since there were only two of them in the cafe. After a short pause, she sighed and had no choice but to oblige. She walked around the counter and put up the closed sign on the door before joining him when she delivered the food and drink.

"Thank you," he thanked her as she put down the food and drink. "So, how are you?"

"I'm good," she replied curtly and he raised his eyebrow at her short answer. 

"Oh come on now, don't be like that. I remembered you were the talking type back then. You were closer to Jackson, Bambam and Mark hyung because you were a foreigner too," he said. Again, she had to applause him for his good memory.

"What should I say then?" she really didn't know what to say.

"Then how about from the beginning?" he offered. "From how come you still live and work in Korea?" he gave an idea and she sighed.

"After I graduated, I got a gig at other country," she started. "I met my husband then we had our kid. My husband was a Korean, so we decided to go back to Korea again," she summed up her life story in a few sentence.

"So you're married now," he repeated. "How old is your kid? A boy or a girl?"

"I was. My son is 7 years old now," she answered both his questions.

"Was?" he raised his eyebrow, noticing the mismatch in her story. Automatically, he looked down at her fingers, realizing that she didn't wear her wedding band, but as he looked up again, he noticed it was attached to her necklace.

She noticed his gaze so she continued, "My husband diagnosed with cancer not long after we came back here, and despite of all treatments, he didn't survive. So, I decided to just stay here so my son could still see his grandparents. TMI?" she squirmed in her seat and tried to hide the awkwardness with her chuckle but it made Jaebeom suddenly feel bad for poking into her life. 

"I'm sorry to hear that," he quickly apologized.  "I .. I poke in the wrong place," he stuttered as he felt sorry for asking questions that ended up digging her old wound again.

"It's okay, it's been awhile now, so I'm good now," she dismissed him, but the tight smile on her face said otherwise.

"Then, is he at school now? Your son, I mean," Jaebeom tried to divert the conversation to the other direction.

"No, he's at home now. I have a granny next door that volunteers to look after him until I got back after closing this place up," she said.

"Can I play with him someday?" he suddenly asked.

"Umm.. I don't see why not, but aren't you busy?" she was surprised to hear his question. Why would he want to play with her son? 

"I have some days off," he shrugged. "And it would be good to spend it doing something productive but not work."

"Well, you're welcome here..," she didn't know what else to say aside from letting him be. After all, he might not walk his talk, considering how busy he was. However, she didn't want to reject his offer because she thought it would be rude. After all, she was sure he was just offering out of his kindness. But, once again, he managed to surprise her when he started to walk his talk.

He became her regular customer in no time. Every time he got a day off, he would come by. He would just reading and eating in the cafe. Sometimes he would wait until she locked the place up and accompanied her back home. He would eat dinner with them sometimes and even played with her son. Sometimes he even just popped up at the cafe and announced that he would bring Ji-hoon out to play. He would bring him out to buy some ice cream or just play in the playground. When she looked at him playing with Ji-hoon, it was easy to forget that he was an idol. For Ji-hoon, he was his mom's friend, but she knew that he wasn't a regular person. She had to remind herself numerous time that he was an idol. He's out of her league.