Abditory (l.jeonghyeon)

8; Broke kids

"You sure you can close the place by yourself?" Sung Hanbin asked, worried that I might do some stupid shit again.

I nodded, holding back the yawn that made my eyes burn out with exhaustion. "Don't mind me. Go enjoy your night, tell me what happens with him tomorrow, alright?"

Hanbin shined a grateful smile, his whiskers digging into his cheeks as he left the shop on a happy note. Every Friday night, it's a routine for Hanbin to leave early, all of his friends from other schools and his crush gets together to go for a drink, just party their stress away till dawn. I wished I could do that, but the thought of having alcohol burning down my system made me cringe in pain. Hanbin had invited me on multiple occasions, even his friends tried to get me but I always declined.

I should start going out more...

Today, he left earlier than he usually does. One of his best mates, Yoon Jongwoo came back from his tour with a gold medal and a scholarship and the news itself made him jump in place.

I stretched my arms up and sighed, the sound of my shoulder bones and spine cracking echoed throughout the room. Time to clean up the shop and get my ass home so I can watch my adult coco melon.

The tunes of Trance and I Know being mashed up together abolished the calm and soft atmosphere the cafe was meant to bring. I would turn the colour of the lights to red or purple but I held the urge back, I didn't want people to mistake the place for a nightclub. The last time I did that, some drunkards nearly broke the glass slides and Hanbin was a dead cell close to ripping my throat out.

I hummed along to the rap as I finished washing the cups and glasses, swinging the trash out without it hitting me in the face again and wiping and mopping the entire place up. I took my stress out on cleaning, the pressure of peers and parents set on me, that stupid bar of being the best in the family tire me. It was peaceful to do it alone but not when it was broken by a late-night customer.

And the customer being the gremlin I wished I didn't have to see.

Jeonghyeon slid his hands into his cargo pant pockets as I opened the door for him, a mischievous smirk up on his sharp face. He wasn't the same guy I meet in school, seeing him in black cargo pants and an MMLG sweater than his school uniform made him look like a completely different person.

"We're closed," I grumbled, not opening the door properly for the gremlin and he tilted his head, his baseball cap hiding most of his features behind a curtain of shade, leaving his pink lips behind. Why do they look so soft?—

what the actual fuck did I just think of?

"Wouldn't hurt a little to make your classmate something, right?"

"It hurts my pride"

He nudged my head back with his fingers as he walked in, taking the surrounding in. "I'm just helping you train your barista skills, Taehee. You can't be going around making grass lattes every time right?"

"I might actually put weed into your latte next time—Lee Jeonghyeon, keep that remote away"

He didn't keep it away. Jeonghyeon turned the warm yellow lights into green, the colour I held back from putting on. An excited grin burst out of his face when he figured out the settings, giggling like a small child was given a toy to play with. The lights blended with every song that came, matching the colour of the album cover. I closed my eyes in regret when I realized I was playing my edit playlist, most of the songs switching between red, orange and purple.

Jeonghyeon removed his cap and slid his hair back, a few strands falling back to his forehead. It gave me war flashbacks to last week when I first met him, kicking a ball to his head and now he's in my cafe. Look how far we've come....take me back, please.