summer lovers | seonghwa.

六つ - six.

THIRD POV.

stepping inside of the bustling cafe, the door bell chimed which alarmed the workers who were cleaning the side booth tables. they nodded and greeted the girl who entered, exchanging smiles as the chatter began to rose up again. like as expected, everything in that shop smelled like coffee grains and pastry. there was a distinct similar smell just like in san’s grandma's house but maybe that was because of the boy’s strong colonge that filled the room.

as soon as you got into the cafe, your eyes would first land onto the counter that was right in front of the double glass doors. behind the counters were the menu boards hung on top, being in half slanted position and beside the cash register, a huge glass casing showing various types of pastry being displayed.

the girl resumed the search, clutching the short strap of the pink lunch box tightly in her hands. she turned her head to every corner trying to search the mullet man without realising the fact that she was half blocking the entryway. she knows he's in here and definitely near. he's cologne just gave it all away.

or maybe she's just imagining things to think he's here.

but that thought got tossed away once she realized the familiar back of the boy she recognized for several years. the height, the broad shoulders, the black hair sticking out from his black hat that covered the collar of his attire.

he had his back facing her from the counter.

a smile sprawled across her face and she skipped her way to the front. she looked down and there, a tiny bell that you would see in every hotel counters. there was a sticky note pasted onto it as it stated ‘ring for service’ and without thinking, she did what the little sticky note told her to do so.

“hello! welcome to– AERA?!”

as soon as he turned around and laid his eyes on the unexpected visitor, the cardboard cup and black marker pen in his hands almost flew off before he caught it with his grip. a worker who was beside him smacked him on the back of the head and glared.

“dumbass, how many times do i have to tell you its sunrise cafe?!” the little man scolded. although he was wearing the same exact attire as san’s, the difference between them is the fact that his hair was bleached and dyed into an icy white colour. the name tag on his chest spelled out as 'joong' and aera could've sworn she heard of that nickname before.

san bowed giving an apologetic smile at the man who's shorter than him but 'joong' only shook his head before taking the pen from his hand and smacking it across the boy’s upper arm.“hey! i said im sorry!” san pouted rubbing his upper arm.

“you've said that for like the hundredth time and its been just a day, how can someone forget a short simple greeting especially the name of your own workplace?!” joong exhaled rubbing the side of his temple with his thumb and index finger.

“i swear i didn't forgot! this woman just scared the shit out of me!”

joong looked at the girl who was on the other side of the counter. dressed in a pink dress, hair in a high ponytail and holding onto the lunch box for dear life. his eyes scanned through her before his eyes landed on hers which made him retreat back his gaze away, pulling the man beside him closer by his sleeve so they were on the same level.

“i dont know what you're talking about but she's decent looking” he whispered with his hand covered over his mouth. san threw a harsh slap onto the other male’s chest and aera could've sworn she saw the joong guy stumble a bit. she did have to agree, both of them must've known each other before san started to work. no employee would be in the right mind to exchange slaps and threw harsh words at each other playfully especially when you're new around.

plus the name joong just... sounds oddly familiar.

“what the hell are you two doing?”

then from the side, another male popped up from the kitchen. his hat was nowhere to be seen, showing his white lilac ish hair. it was parted in the middle and he had those transparent glasses on.

“woo?” aera read out his name tag. the boy turned and nodded.“welcome to sunrise cafe pretty lady~” he greeted, singing and dragging the greeting as if it was a carol.

“whats up with the short names” aera pin pointed and joong scoffed, almost letting out a small laugh but instead a small 'ha!' blurted. “its for work purposes sweetheart everyone here has it except for this guy who's name is very short, lazy and generic.”

aera furrowed noticing san’s small name tag safety pinned on the left side of his chest. even if joong’s statement is mean you cant say anything about it. san’s name is pretty short.

“anyways, aera why are you even here? where's grandma?” the mullet boy asked in the meantime fixing his hat, pushing it back a bit so his almond eyes could be more visible to the girl.

“she told me to send this to you” finally she brought up the lunch box onto the counter giving it a small thump. she could place a bet, whatever inside that box had turned cold from all of the walking and talking.

and waiting.

“oh, my lunch! but i told grandma to send it to me by herself. how on earth did you find my location plus how could that old woman leave a girl out, wondering the streets all alone?”

joong who had his arms folded the whole time scoffed again.“youre talking as if human communication hasn't been done before, look at her, she's a grown ass woman, stop saying things as if she's like five”

“i have to agree with hongjoong hyung with that one plus you wouldn't let your old grandma walk all the way to here” woo said.

“shes my fucking grandma, that crazy woman could run up a mile with inhumane speed without taking breaks!” san retorts rolling his eyes.

just as they were about to bicker again but this time with woo, aera gasps and slaps the counter hard. pointing a finger towards at hongjoong finally realizing who he was.

“youre the school president back in highschool! hongjoong!”

the three quiet down and hongjoong lets out a smile, looking down shyly.

“stop making that horrendous face” san gagged at hongjoong and the white haired male slapped his back, hard.“i thought you noticed from the start” san said to aera.

she shook her head a 'no'.

“and you're that girl san lik–mfhngvv”

“ANYWAYS! aera since you're here, let me get you a drink then we can talk more a bit later– fuck stop biting! espresso?” san asked after wrapping his arm around hongjoong’s neck with his other hand covered the male’s mouth who's letting out muffled screams.

dumbfounded, she nodded and san shouted. “ORDER FOR NUMBER 12!”

—

A/N :

hello guys ! merry christmas to anyone who's celebrating it and happy holidays. just wanted to say thank you so much for reading and adding summer lovers to your reading list to those who did. i never imagined i would get people to read the story honestly. i had writers block here and there and had the the thought to fully delete it whole but thank god i didNT.

anyways, seonghwa will be in the next chapter so make sure to check ! oh and just a heads up, i will try my best to include every ateez member in the book, everyone of them has their own story and they'll link with each other somehow at the end. but hey! aera finally met hongjoong and wooyoung.

i promise its a rollercoaster ride during in the middle of the storyline but since its still the introduction, i wanted it to start off fresh and sweet first.

dont forget to share and vote ! love you guys ❤️