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The warm scent of coffee fills Haeun's lungs, making her wince a little.
She hates coffee.
At least the ambience of this pretty café makes up for it's coffee smelling air.
Haeun has never been here before, but Jinae has recommended this place to her multiple times, and what better time to come to a cozy café like this than a late Sunday afternoon. It's been a long day even though Haeun didn't do much: when she doesn't have a productive day, it often feels like it takes forever to pass her by.
"Hi there, how can I—" The barista starts speaking enthusiastically, as a barista should, but he trails off when he sees who walks through the door. "Oh, it's you!"
Haeun is equally surprised to see the boy in a brown apron at a little café, but she immediately starts their conversation with a rather irritated comment. "You seriously need to stop saying that! How do I know that 'you' means me?"
"Wait, what?" Jungwon tilts his head to the side and furrows his eyebrows together a little, as he struggles to make out the last sentence that left Haeun's mouth. She just shakes her head, holding back a smile. He is such a cat. "Anyway," He shakes his head, as if shaking away any distractions that Haeun had brought in by starting such a short lived, but chaotic conversation. "What can I get you?" The charming smile that he shoots her is so captivating, that Haeun forgets how to speak for a moment. She opens her mouth to recite her order that only consists of one drink, but she had revised it a million times anyway. Just to be sure.
Hold on.
Isn't he rich?
She closes her mouth again, confusing Jungwon with her random silence.
Jungwon is probably the type of rich that has so much money that they don't even know what to spend it on, considering the immense success of his father's company. He must be drowning in it—so why on Earth is he working in a tiny café, out of all the places that he could be at right now and all the things he could be doing instead?
"Aren't you like, rich or something?" Haeun blurts out, regretting her spontaneous remark immediately afterwards. I'm so insensitive. She mentally facepalms herself, wondering why she had even asked that. It's none of her business whether he is rich or not. She's not even in the place to ask questions like that.
"Haha, yeah I suppose." Jungwon chuckles, and Haeun almost melts in relief upon seeing that he doesn't seem offended by her question at all. In fact, he seems to quite like the validation. "I basically work here to soak up time. And to feel independent. You know, like I'm actually doing something useful."
"Oh, I see." Haeun lies. She doesn't see at all. If she had as much money as people like him do, there is no way in hell that she would be spending her time smelling coffee everywhere and preparing a million drinks per day and acting all enthusiastic and cheerful for customer service purposes. Gosh, she wouldn't even live remotely near the outskirts of a city like Jungwon does. She would be well into buying an apartment in London or New York or something, busting her money on the most random wants, so that people only know her as a spoiled brat.
Maybe that's why Haeun was never blessed with the fortune of money.
She probably wouldn't actually invest her money so poorly, but she imagines that's what she would do, because she has only ever seen rich girls her age act like they literally own the world and can do whatever they please.
Which then reminds her of why she has taken a liking to Jungwon: he isn't like that at all. Every time Haeun thinks of any other boy or girl who's family is so privileged, all she can think of is how snobby and spoiled they are. But it's different with Jungwon. He's such a humble person despite having so much. And even though him and Haeun don't really know each other that well, Haeun has seen his modesty through the three whole years that she had spent as his classmate. The only reason that she never really took notice of him is because he was never really there: he didn't make an effort to attract attention to himself, because he knows that he is just like everyone else anyway. So why should he be the special one?
"You good?" Haeun was so absorbed in her thoughts that Jungwon didn't want to shatter her delve into the subconscious, but at this point he is getting a little concerned. She has been standing there, frozen in time, for a good minute or so. Jungwon didn't want her to feel rushed with her order either, in case that was what she was thinking about, but it's probably about time that she actually orders something instead of just staring at the counter mindlessly and having conversations about random things before the mindlessness even started.
"Oh, yeah um...yeah." Haeun takes a second to blink away her thoughts, making Jungwon laugh a little at her tiny movements.
"Now would you like to order something?" He teases, realising that Haeun had been in the café for way over five whole minutes, and she still hasn't placed an order.
"A hot chocolate, please."
Jungwon looks a little disappointed. "Aw, not a coffee? A latte or something? They're so fun to make, because we've got an Autumn Special! A Pumpkin Spice Latte of course, but with a little extra ingredient—"
"I'm actually not a big fan of coffee." Haeun shrugs, though she is almost pulled into the temptation to try one due to Jungwon's irresistible barista-mode persuading.
Jungwon acts shocked for a moment, but then he leans towards Haeun a little, puts a hand beside his mouth and lowers his voice, as if whatever he says next is something that no one should hear. "I actually don't drink coffee either. I prefer iced-tea." He springs back into his original straight postured standing position, as if he were a soldier who has been caught slacking. "Don't tell anyone. Obviously." He then tries to wink, but fails miserably. He tries again, holding his right eye open with his fingers and blinking with his left. But of course, that doesn't really count as success.
He must know that he's adorable, even when he can't wink. That's kind of attractive— EW?
Haeun dismisses her unwanted thoughts about the cute boy, and just giggles at his entertaining, but somewhat unusual demeanor as he leaves the space near to counter to brew up her hot chocolate.
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