Coffee Cups || k.th

dirty coffee cup

I skip happily down the street, my hands behind my back and my hair bouncing along. Gihyun happily opens the door for me, "Welcome, Hanji! But your shift doesn't start until half an hour from now." He follows me in.

"I know, I just felt like coming in early." I drop my stuff off inside the staff lockers. I pull my apron on and adjust my barista hat. "Today's gonna be a good day." I reassure myself walking out to meet the line of customers forming.

"Good thing you're here just in time for rush hour." Minyoung rushes to take everyone's orders. I smile taking my place behind the register, "How may I help you today?" I look up at the.....very handsome man in front of me. And to say he's handsome isn't even close to what he is. His skin is clear as hell, his hair is a flawless light brown, his jawline is so sharp I think I'd be able to cut myself, he's like the model in magazines or an idol. He taps his chin thinking, "What do you like?" His beautiful brown eyes focus on the menu.

"Well, I like the regular vanilla bean frappuccino." I point to where it is on the menu. He smiles at me and oh my gosh, my heart is melting, "Then I'll have one of those and today's special." He pulls out his credit card. The second ones probably for his girlfriend. A man that good looking must be take. "That'll be $10.47. May I have a name for your order?" I slide the card.

"Taehyung." He happily accepts his card back. I nod sending the order through, "It'll be ready in a few minutes." I turn towards the counter behind me and start mixing the drinks. After a few minutes, I turn back around to find him still waiting at the counter.

"Is there something wrong?" I set the drinks on the counter. He takes the toothpick out of his mouth, "No, I was just waiting." He looks at the drinks before sliding one towards me, "This one's for you." Whoa. Maybe I do have a chance and he isn't taken! And he's so generous, he bought a drink for me! "O..oh. Thank you!" I take the drink. I look around for a way to repay him when I see a small bag with a few cake pops and a bagel. I grab the bag and offer it to him. "Here you go."

"No, thank you." He shakes his head. "I can't accept that." He pushes the bag back towards me.

"B..but, it's the least I can do for you." I argue holding it back up. He hesitantly accepts the bag, "Thank you." He picks his drink up. I return to the next customer and start taking orders again until I realize he hasn't left yet. "Why are you still here?" I ask while working on orders.

"I don't have anything else to do today so I decided to hang out here." He throws away his empty cup. I open my mouth to say something more but I'm cut off by a customer snapping at me. I catch a slight glare from Taehyung towards the customer, but I decide to ignore it. I give a cheesy smile, "What can I get you today?" I try to politely speak.

"I'll have a Caramel mocha, and a toasted bagel." They say in a very snarky voice. I hold my hand out, "That'll be ten dollars and forty five cents. Would you like to donate to the kids funding association?" I gesture towards the small, almost empty box next to the register. "I have better things to do with my money than to give it some helpless kids. They can help themselves." She hands me a twenty dollar bill. I take a small breath, trying not to let my smile falter, "You could just give me a fifteen dollars bill, it'll be easier to break. Or donate to children who can't exactly find work because that's child labor and it's not their fault." I mumble looking through to break the twenty. "Excuse me? Would you like to say that louder?" She huffs.

"No, ma'am. I'm sorry if you're a- heard me wrong." I quickly fix my statement keeping my head down. Taehyung suddenly interrupts, "Actually, no need for any of that. I'll pay." He pulls out a wonderful eleven dollar bill. Is he serious? She looks at him in surprise, "No need." She waves his money away. "Truly, I insist. Let me pay, I'd like to." He forcefully hands me the dollar with a boxy smile.

"Oh, thank you so much." She takes her twenty back. I hand Taehyung the change back and turn around to start the order. After a few minutes I hear her hang her hand on the counter, "Come on. I have places to go, hurry it up." I 'accidentally' use an old cup from the trash can and quickly get the rest of her items as I wait for the drink to finish.

"Why don't you go ahead and sit down? I can bring you your order." Taehyung offers. She twirls her hair, "Aww, thank you." I thought she had places to go. After she finds a seat I turn back around, "A toasted bagel and a caramel mocha." I push the items towards him. "Thank you." He takes them turning on his heels and walking towards the table. I sigh leaning my elbow on the counter, "I bet he's gay." I pout. Gihyun copies me, "Why would you think that?" He asks.

"Because he's too perfect and nice and handsome." I lay my head on his shoulder. "Why can't all guys be like that?" He pulls unexpectedly causing me to bang my head onto the counter. He holds his hand over his heart with an offended look on his face, "What about me?" I smile playfully punching his arm. "I thought you were gay." Our manager walks out and we both turn out head pretending to work. We glance at each other quietly laughing.

Hours later the cafe is about to close so no more customers enter. I sit at one of the table, laying my head down. Someone takes the seat next to me. I smile looking up, "Ready so soon, Gihy-?" I freeze realizing I'm not looking at Gihyun. Taehyung looks at me confused, "Who?" I quickly shake my head. "Just a friend. But why are you still here? We're gonna close soon."

"It was getting dark and I didn't want a pretty lady like you to have to walk home alone. It could be dangerous." He smiles. I blush lightly, "Thank you, but I wasn't planning on going straight home." Gihyun suddenly sits down in the chair next to me, "Are you ready to party?" He smiles. Did Taehyung just glare at him? I give him two thumbs up, "Yep." I check my watch. Only two more minutes before freedom. "Where are you two going?" Gihyun answers before I even get a chance to open my mouth, "We're going to check out this new club that opened called City of Light. I heard they have RM rapping live on weekends." He jitters with excitment. "Well you guys better get going then." He smiles getting up.

"Okay, you can come with us if'd you like." Gihyun's too kind personality shines. Taehyung shakes his head, "Maybe later. I have work to do at the moment. But thank you for the offer." He waves as he leaves. The second the door closes Gihyun grabs my hand. "Let's go, slow poke!" He drags me into the back. "You can't go to a party dressed like that."

Who would've known Gihyun has a sense of style. He forced me to change into a tightish, lacy red dress. He practically yells compliments at me as we walk down the street towards the club. He pumps his fist in the air, "We're gonna get wasted tonight!" He woops. The scent of alchohal fills the air the second we walk in. People laugh drunkily dancing together. I follow Gihyun to the bar where he immediatly orders ten shots of wiskey. "Five for me. Five for you." He hands me one. I turn him down, "No thanks. You know I get drunk easily and I still have to take you home tonight." I conclude I'm the responsable one here. He pouts forcing the shot back into my hand, "Just a few? Please! It's no fun drinking alone!" He argues.

"Fine." I sigh taking the shot. The burn of the alchohal makes me cough a bit, it's been a while since I've gone drinking. I start feeling woozy after the fifth shot, wimp like. I've never had a high alchohal tolerance. I sit at the bar counter with Gihyun at my side, we both continue taking shots as though the world was about to end. Eventually, Gihyun is someone, dancing with something, oh wait, I think he's dancing with someone. I'm so confused. I lay my head down on the counter trying to think, I don't know what I'm trying to think. The seat where Gihyun was sitting has been taken by someone else. I look up to find a very good looking Taehyung. "You're pretty." I poke his face.

"Thank you?" He holds my finger keeping it from poking him again. He looks at all the empty shots next to me. "Aish, how much have you drank?" He face palms. I shrug, "I don't know." I smile bubbly. "Come on. I'll take you home."