Cinnamon ☕ || EXO-CBX k.ms

Chapter 4

"I hope you're not going to be shy all night" he suddenly announced, eyes glinting as he stared at the girl in front of him.

"What!? Why!?" she yelled, quickly moving away from him.

Xiumin laughed at her sudden shouting and flashed her a grin.

"Calm down. It's just hard to speak when you refuse to look at me" he replied.

"Oh" Hyewon muttered in embarrassment.

She draped the blanket over the seat and placed the cushion at the opposite end. The few candles lit up the dim room but she shivered as a rush of cold hit her back.

"Are you cold?" Xiumin questioned, looking at her in concern before he tunred to the blankets strewn across the seat.

"It's going to get colder, so you might want to move next to the fire" he muttered, pointing at a small fireplace next to the counter which had an old rug placed in front of it.

The pattern had begun to fade so the colours weren't very bright, but it had large splashes of red all over it.

He walked over to the ashes, creating a small flame within a few seconds and Hyewon followed him with the blanket draped over her shoulders. Heat immediately filled the room and she placed herself on the rug, pulling the blanket tightly around her.

It had a faint sweet smell and she breathed deeply as she watched the flames dance in the darkness of the room.

Xiumin was messing with the machines behind the counter, emptying out different sections but once he'd finished he chucked the apron onto the shelf and jogged over to her.

His arm brushed hers as he sat down and Hyewon glanced at the small gap between them. Her eyes lifted to his face and she tried to hide her staring as she examined his features.

Underneath he was wearing a grey woolly jumper with a pair of jeans and his blonde hair hung over his eyes slightly. He pushed it away from his face and she quickly glanced away as his doe eyes met with her.

A kind smile formed on his lips and he returned the same stare as Hyewon glanced down at the rug. 

"So..why are you here?" he asked, his voice echoing through the silent room.

"I'm on holiday with my friends" she answered briefly.

"How did you end up here alone then?" he questioned, staring at her questioningly. 

"I came for coffee to sober them up" she replied, giving him a look of annoyance as she remembered Chen's groaning earlier that morning.

"And you didn't drink?"

"Someone has to be the adult in the house" she sighed, shaking her head at the memory of chasing Baekhyun through the snow.

"I guess" he replied, letting out a deep sigh as he relaxed his body next to her.

They sat a silence for a while and she was glad that he didn't continue to make conversation but Xiumin's shoulder was soon resting against her and he pushed one of his legs under the blanket.

"W-what are you doing?" she muttered pulling away from his touch.

"It's freezing and you've got the blanket" he answered as he pulled part of it away from her to wrap around himself.

"Sorry" she muttered, looking at him with apologetic eyes. His chuckle soon filled the room and his stare pierced into her face.

"You don't need to apologise" he muttered through the silence.

"Sorry..E-erm I mean yes" she answered, chuckling at herself.

His grin widened as he looked at her flustered face, causing Hyewon's cheeks to burn red. She placed her hands against them, cooling them down and attempting to hide her embarrassment slightly.

"So...why are you working here?" she managed to muster up.

"Well, I used to come here with my family at Christmas time when I was younger and I guess the place grew on me. When I turned twenty I moved over here and opened up a cafe straight away"

"You must know a lot about the resort then?" she asked, looking around at the different paintings covering the wall.

"I guess you could say that. It used to be an old couple who ran it, but their kids took over after a while"

Hyewon thought back to the voice she'd spoken to over the phone when organising their stay. She did seem a bit younger than whom she'd expected to be living here.

"And how long have you been here?" she questioned, glancing at the boy as he shuffled next to her.

"About four years now, but I sometimes visit my parents back home" he replied.

"Ohh" 

The wind was whistling loudly outside and the light flickered for a moment.

The sudden darkness made Hyewon's heart drop to her stomach and she tugged the blanket further around herself, forgetting the man clinging to the other side.

.

.

"You okay" he questioned.

"Y-Yeah I'm fine" she answered, not noticing the stuttering in her voice.

"You don't seem it. You face looks like you've seen a ghost"

"It's only the wind." he whispered, smiling at her worried face.

His words somehow comforted her and she relaxed slightly, her side leaning against his arm. 

"So when do they start work here," she asked, glancing at the clock for a second.

"What do you mean?"

"The rest of the staff" she muttered.

He looked up at Hyewon in confusion.

"You know that they don't come at the weekends, don't you? I mean it they would have mentioned it"

She thought back once again to the woman on the phone, faintly remembering her talk about it.

"Shit" she muttered.

She looked over at Xiumin who lifted his head up in shock, clearly trying not to laugh.

"What?"

"Sorry, I just didn't expect you to swear" he answered, bursting out laughing at her expression as she pushed his arm.

"Stop laughing it isn't funny"

He tried to catch his breath, staring at her face in amusement.

"I-I thought you were miss innocent?" he teased.

Hyewon glared at him in annoyance.

"well I'm not" she yelled in reply.

He froze at her sudden remark and she sighed, tilting her head back to show her boredom.

"Let's play a game" he announced childishly.

"How old are you?" sh giggled under his breath, secret interest hiding in her question.

"23, why?'" he asked.

"Then what's with the game?" 

He shrugged his shoulders and smiled innocently at her. Hyewon returned the grin as her laugh echoed through the empty room.

"Fine, what were you thinking?"

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