coulisse • lookism

cafe [DG/JL] - ii

In the next moment, you smack your forehead with your free hand.

"Sorry, I must have lost my mind for a second," you say with a nervous laugh. "I'm talking nonsense. Of course I know your name is actually Kang Dagyum."

DG's face is wiped of all expression, his eyes not moving from yours. "Who is Lee Jihoon?" he asks, his voice returned to its normal register.

He sounds calm, but it's the calm of a river in the dead of winter; every word courses with the ever-present threat of ice cracking open under your feet, and it's impossible to know how viciously deep and violent the waters will be until you're dragged bodily into the freezing current. You don't want to talk about Lee Jihoon in the least---but at the same time, it feels like something scary might happen if you refuse to say anything.

"Just..." You pause awkwardly. Who is Lee Jihoon? How on earth should you answer this question?

In the end, you settle on, "An old friend."

DG stares you down, one brow faintly raised. "I look like him?"

"Well, no..." You almost can't stop the instinct to chew on your inner cheek. God, you really don't want to have this conversation. "Actually you don't look anything like him."

"But I remind you of him?" DG continues doggedly.

The desire to escape the room slowly rears its head; the back of your neck is beginning to get hot from the rising anxiety.

"Just slightly..." Uncomfortable, you glance away from him, your eyes automatically falling to the hand on your wrist. As if realizing that he's still holding onto you, DG slowly lets go, naturally bringing his hand back to his side. The slide of cool, calloused fingers across the thin skin of your wrist leaves behind a tickling sensation; you have to actively stop yourself from rubbing at your arm.

"I apologize," he says, once more perfectly polite. He leans back a little in his chair, as if to give you space. "Unfortunate past encounters have made me too wary." Then he pauses, seeming to study you a little. "Though I've never been mistaken for someone else before."

"No, I suppose not," you reply, glancing at DG's super-famous, superstar face. Even before his face had become known to the entirety of Korea, you doubt that anyone with working eyes could have been so blind as to mistake that prodigiously beautiful face for someone else's.

Anyone other than, obviously, you. Because you've apparently gone and reattached your eyes to your ears.

Relieved now that you no longer feel as if you're being interrogated under gunpoint, you add, "I'm sorry, too. I didn't mean to alarm you; it was just that, for a moment, you happened to sound similar to someone I haven't seen in years. Please don't mind it."

Picking up his melted café vienna, DG peers at the dregs in the bottom of the cup thoughtfully. "You must have been close?"

You smile dryly at him, although you know he can't see it through the cough mask you wear for work. "I'm sure he wouldn't have thought so." But you quickly bring the conversation back on track, gesturing towards the clock on the wall with a tilt of your head. "By the way, it's 6:40. I just came by to check in on you, since you normally seem to have something to do at this time."

DG flicks out his phone and glances at the screen. The glow of its light illuminates the slopes and plains of his face for a moment, and you suddenly gain a new awareness that---DG is here. In your cafe. Sitting right next to you.

Looking astonishingly good-looking.

And nothing, you remind yourself, like Lee Jihoon.

Tucking your hands together, you turn away politely, giving DG privacy to go through his messages. His brows furrow for a moment before he puts his phone away and begins to briskly gather his belongings.

Though you had looked away, you couldn't help but to see a number of missed call notifications out the corner of your eye. So you already have more or less an idea of what's going on---but you still prompt, "Is everything okay?"

"Seems I'm a bit late for work." He sounds distracted.

You blink at him. You'd heard on some small newscast that DG had recently become the CEO of a midsized entertainment company. Could CEOs even be late for work? Didn't they make their own hours?

Then again, you also owned your cafe, and you could hardly open and close the shop whenever you wanted. Why couldn't CEOs have working hours too?

More important is that he is supposed to be somewhere. At least you haven't woken him for nothing. Imagine if, after all this fuss, he didn't even have anything to do or anywhere to be? How embarrassing would that be?

You are quickly pulled from your wayward thoughts when DG gets to his feet. He seemed slender on screen and even from across the counter---but when he stands so close, you realize that he only appeared slender because he's so very tall. In reality, he is solid and broad-shouldered, looming over you in both height and breadth.

"Thank you," he says at last, "For waking me. I appreciate it."

Even if you had closed your eyes you could have felt him looking at you, heavy and pensive. Forcefully interjecting cheer into your voice, you chirp, "Of course. I should at least be able to do this much for my most loyal customer."

You shift under his intent gaze, but manage to push on with your best customer service eye-smile.

"Good luck with work today! I'll see you tomorrow." It comes out sounding more like a question than you intended for it to.

"Yes." He sends you a glance over his shoulder that you can't quite read. But before you can think about what he might mean by it, DG leaves the cafe in long, loping strides that you must try your hardest not to find familiar.

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[ cafe • 2 / ? ]

I know their past, but, not gonna lie, I have NO CLUE where to take this from here on, so suggestions of what you wanna see with DG would be nice~ (no promises though)

Comments are well-loved!