Philia [Taegi]

3. Stray Cat

The little bell rang as Yoongi stepped through the door. "Hello Yoongi, welcome back." he was immediately greated by Kim Seokjin's soft voice. "Hello." he said awkwardly, then sat down in the same chair as last time. "What can I bring you?" Seokjin asked, sounding very excited. "Eh, a magic muffin and a coffee." Yoongi ordered, too shy to ask for the menu again. "Sure." the barrister immediately went to work.
Yoongi didn't know why he had such a big urge to come back to the café but as he had stepped outside Namjoon's office and lid up a cigarette, his first instinct was to turn left and see if it was opened. To his delight, it was and empty just like the last time he went. To be honest, being there felt as therapeutic as his appointment with Namjoon, so maybe this was his therapy after care? His head was still filled with lots of thoughts from his session. Yoongi was quite surprised how quickly he had opened up to the younger guy, revealing his bad sleeping habits or more like the fact that he was basically not sleeping at all, as well as one-meal-per-day diet and that it took him all his will power to shower before his appointments. Yoongi also still thought about the whole adopting a cat thing and about what kind of job he maybe could go for. But there was something else on his mind too, for the past few days Yoongi had been getting a familiar craving, his mind longed for some distraction, something that would make talking to people easy again, something that kept the nightmares away.
His trail of thoughts was interrupted by Seokjin, who stroke up a conversation while preparing Yoongi's order: "How did your sister like the muffin?" Yoongi hadn't told the siblings Jennie's name, as it was too unique and recognisable and he had to learn the hard way that it wasn't a good idea to go around telling people about his celebrity sister. "She doesn't eat carbs." he mumbled, embarrassed, going back to figiting underneath the counter. Seokjin looked at him with surprise but quickly returned to his soft smile that made Yoongi feel at ease. Despite probably being the same age as him, Seokjin had this mature and soft aura, kind of like a grandmother if he really thought about it. Obviously, Yoongi would never tell him that. After he had received his order, the two continued their chat. "Did she at least enjoy the coffee?" Seokjin asked. "I think so." "Then you should bring her another one today." Yoongi smirked to himself. "You're just trying to sell more." "Of course I do. I am a business owner, after all." Seokjin shamelessly admitted. "Anyway, what else is new? What's on your mind these days?" Seokjin began to wipe the counter, even though it obviously didn't need that. The customer felt like he was back in Namjoon's office, and he didn't like to talk about his problems yet again. Last time he had felt like he was in a completely different universe, which was a feeling he hadn't had since he was clean again, but since he already knew so much about the Kim siblings, he felt a certain responsibility to answer: "My doctor wants me to get a cat." It was silly, but Yoongi still felt embarrassed to admit he had a therapist in front of Seokjin, despite being sure that the man wasn't one to judge. To his surprise, the barrister stopped in his trace for a second, then continued his work. Despite noticing Yoongi didn't question it further. "Well, that sounds like you have a smart doctor. Everyone needs a pet." Seokjin said, still not looking at his customer. Yoongi started to nibble on his lower lip, slowly drifting into his thoughts again. "You think so?" "Of course, I have a dog myself, and Jisoo has two cats. Obviously, all from a shelter." "You don't live together?" Yoongi asked surprised, for some reason, he had just assumed that Jisoo and her brother would be living together. "No, I already work with her. If I had to live with her as well, I would go insane." Seokjin joked, or did he? "Right...and where is she?" Yoongi started to look around. So far, he had assumed Jisoo was just in the kitchen, but now he realised that the woman wasn't actually there. "Oh, she is still asleep, I guess." the brunette shrugged. "But it's almost five pm." Yoongi questioned. "Yeah, she works nightshifts. Usually she still comes to the café in the afternoon but she must be really tired, so I let her sleep." Seokjin explained. "So she has a job on top of running a business?" Yoongi felt his heart ache. "We both do." the barrister said so casually, like it was the most normal thing in the world. Yoongi's eyes widened. "How do you do that? You must be working so hard." he could feel his inferiority complex skyrock, how could he feel so exhausted from doing basic hygiene things and having a conversation for an hour and these two managed to do all that. How couldn't he feel like a total failure when people like the Kim siblings existed? Seokjin didn't respond, and as Yoongi was about to ask more questions, the bell rang again. Surprised, Yoongi snapped his head around, a group of middle-aged women had entered the café, all chatting away. "Oh, hello ladies!" Seokjin completely switched from his prior kind of dull mood, back into his chipper self. "How are my beauties doing today?" he asked while walking over to the table the women had set down. Yoongi followed him with his eyes. Seokjin had switched so fast that it made him feel uneasy. He was very flirty with the women. Yoongi tried to remember when the last time somebody tried to flirt with him, it must have been ages ago. Obviously he knew that it was all for business purposes and it was probably a good sign that Seokjin didn't have to fake such a happy demeanour with him and could be a bit more himself, but still. Immediately Yoongi got the earch to leave, so he quickly finished his food, and left his money, with a big tip, laying on the counter before his server had even returned from taking the orders of the so called ladies. Yoongi really wouldn't call them that. They were loud, too loud, and he couldn't deal well with noise anyway, but noisy people were even worse. Outside, he promptly lid up a new cigarette, then headed towards the subway station.