chenle loves watching movies. he especially loves romantic and sentimental ones, his favorite movie of all being notting hill (1999). as silly as it sounds, he's always been waiting for that someone to just stumble upon his life. being the hopeless romantic he is, fantasizing of experiencing true love.
not long after he graduated uni, chenle opened a cafe by the coasts of an island. he wanted a calm and peaceful life, away from the big noisy cities. the cafe was named after his mother whom he loves dearly, and the concept, a book cafe as she loves reading books. from the outside, you could see huge glass window panels with white wooden frames, allowing sunlight to come shining in so clearly into the cafe. "lili's books&coffee." on the inside, the interior design is simple and comfy. customers would come in, have their drinks, and if they're not reading, enjoy the sea view from the windows.
this might come as a surprise, but he handles the cafe all by himself. yes, he is the barista, the waiter, the cashier, and the owner. a one-man show. it's not tiring for him at all, he loves his cafe. he would take days off and close the cafe whenever he wants to, but after all, he's still young. for someone his age, opening a cafe alone is amazing enough.
on rainy nights, chenle would stay and watch the rain after closing hours. he's quite fond of rainy weather. it just brings him some sort of tranquility. but one night, as he was sitting on one of the sofas and watching the night rain as he usually does, someone came running in with semi-wet hair and clothes. he went up to her with a slight concern on his face. "are you okay?" he asked. "yes, i'm so sorry for storming in your cafe like this. i was just taking a stroll around town when it rained." she replied. "it's fine, don't worry about it." she notices that they were the only people there. "are you perhaps, closed?" she asked. "as a matter of fact, yes." " well i better get going then." the girl said as she turned her back on chenle, heading towards the door. "or.. you could stay here for a while until the rain stops...?" "would that really be okay?" chenle gave her a little nod with a faint smile. "you don't have an umbrella anyway."
chenle took her to the sofa he was sitting on just now. he took off his plaid outer and put it over the girl's shoulders. "i'm chenle. nice to meet you" he said as he handed her a cup of hot coffee. "hi chenle, i'm harin." said the girl with a big smile curved up her face. "i actually just moved here." "welcome to the island then! you're gonna love it here." said chenle. "i sure hope i do." they both laughed as they cupped their coffees. a couple of hours later, the rain finally came to an end. but they got so immersed in talking to each other they didn't even notice how much time has passed or that the rain had stopped.
after they did realize, harin quickly got up and started walking towards the door, when chenle stopped her. "let me take you home." "it's okay," "no, it's not okay, for me. it hurts my pride as a man to let you go out there alone at this hour. just give me a few minutes to close up the cafe." he said and harin sat back down to wait for him.
chenle locked the doors and they walk to his car. "where do you live?" "i live in _________ apartment" "oh, that's the same route to my house." chenle smiled. after an 8-minute car ride, they arrived at harin's place. they bid their goodbyes and harin turns away going inside the elevator. chenle then drives away from the apartment complex. "that was.. odd." he thought. and as for harin, she had already got in her house but she'd been smiling from inside the elevator. both of them doesn't know what had just happened between them, but they definitely felt a connection. it was like they had known each other for 2 years, not 2 hours.
