matcha latte // seokjin • book six in the BTS series •

- one -

—  

"you can bite my lip when i kiss you."

— 

C A R A M E L

The bustle of Seoul electrifies him.

On the warm, bright mornings, Kim Seokjin gets to breathe slowly. The smell of fresh coffee beans grinding loudly and the loaves of bread rising slowly and bacon and eggs being fried have a special place in his head. The quaint, large restaurant was his dream, and he could see himself spending the rest of his life here. 

A large clatter jolts him out of his daydreams. The sounds of the falling and subsequent destruction of an article of crockery had become customary ever since a tall, bubbly part-timer made her imprint on Jin's earnings. She pops her head from behind a large refrigerator and gives a sheepish grin. He sighs, and motions her to clean the mess; the tragic loss of precious china yet again making him second his decision to hire her.

"I'm sorry, sir, I really am," she splutters, bowing thrice. "You can take it out of my pay."

"That would mean you won't get paid for this month, since you have the worst case of butter finger-ism I have ever seen," he replies, busily cracking eggs and whipping the froth in. 

"Well, that will be problematic," Mi Kyung— whose parents, after years of fanatical obsession with Kim Mi Kyung and watching just about anything with her in it, honored their first born with her esteemed name— muses, finger rubbing her chin. "I do believe, though, that you are," she flits in front of him, batting her eyelids, "extremely wonderful and will therefore excuse my preposterous behavior."

Jin laughs. "No can do, kiddo. You're going to have to work overtime," he bustles, pouring the batter onto the steaming pan.

She huffs, grabs the napkin and begins cleaning the tables. He grins at her restlessness. It would do her good to actually work for once. He was aware of her truancy at school, and wanted to give her a chance to discipline herself.

Half an hour later, an array of breakfast dishes are set aside; pancakes, bubbling soups, fresh kimchi (which he had fermented to a sour perfection), tea, muffins, and everything in between. The first wave of customers herd in; businessmen and desk-workers, stressed before the day has even begun. It is Jin's job to offer them a warm meal before they set out to conquer their private grievances.

He merrily asks them about their lives and jots down their orders simultaneously, all the while glaring at Mi Kyung to steer clear of any and all fragile items— including the guests— who he was sure would have an impractical amount of liquids spilled on their shiny heads had she been given the ill-fated task to serve them. The daily waiters; a college dropout who scoffed at Mi Kyung's incompetence at any chance he got, and a young woman of twenty four; passed around the restaurant gracefully with perfectly balanced trays.