𝗚𝗢𝗧𝟳 𝗜𝗠𝗔𝗚𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 𝟮

philtre ; jinyoung

He sat, waiting, watching as the snow fell, enveloping everything in a white blanket, delicate snowflakes dancing in the air, jumping, leaping over one another. Anybody else would have found this beautiful but as he gazed out into what seemed like an endless expanse of white, he could hear every single distinct tick of the clock behind him, counting down to the minute when she would come back.

If she ever did.

Flashback

The door to the café tinkled gently as he stepped in, the form-fitting sweater he had on fit for the spring time, since it was still cold outside. He felt the slightest smile grow on his face as he inhaled the familiar scent of coffee being ground and brewed. He loved this place, the utter constancy of it, like clockwork. No matter what happened in his day, he knew at least that it would begin with a decent cup in this café.

The matronly owner smiled gently over at the counter as he approached.

'The usual again Jinyoung?' she asked, eyeing him over the top of the cashier as he laughed, nodding, handing her the money.

'Yes aunty, always,' he was so used to coming here that he felt comfortable calling her aunty and she seemed not to mind.

She shook her head, still smiling as she punched in his order of an iced Americano, as he left to take his seat next to the window, in a way it was his spot. How many countless coffees had he drunk here? How many people had he seen pass by as he sat, sometimes working on music, sometimes reading but most of the time just sitting back and thinking.

His footfalls stopped midway as he saw a slender figure sitting in his seat, her hair thrown behind her as she rapidly typed something in her laptop, clicking her mouse mercilessly, darting it back and forth on her mousepad.

He couldn't help but fight the disgruntled feeling that was building up in his chest, but he took a deep breath, turning around to sit in the next seat. This had happened before. No matter how consistent things were, sometimes there were things that were still beyond his control. There had been times where his seat had been taken and he had had no choice but to deal with it.

So dealt with it he did, still determined to enjoy the morning, sipping on his Americano but his eyes kept straying back to the figure in front of him, as he heard faint snatches of her voice.

She was not the most remarkable looking girl. Above average perhaps, but Jinyoung had worked with prettier ones while he had been casted in dramas, but there was a certain aura she exuded that made him unable to take his eyes off of her.

Then, just as he was devising a plan to figure out who she was, she breezed out of the café, leaving the seat empty, her sudden departure taking him by surprise.

Slowly, he stood up as the matron, wiped down the table she had left.

'Who was that?' he asked quietly, as he took his seat.

'That girl? She's always been around, she comes here nearly as often as you do,' she replied.

'Why haven't I seen her around?" he inquired.

'Well, you know you and your irregular working hours, I guess you both never really had the chance to bump into each other. Funny... both of you always order the same thing too. Iced Americano,' she clucked her tongue, laughing at the coincidence before heading back to the counter.

Jinyoung sat there, silent as a statue as he watched the condensation dripp on the side of his Iced Americano, thinking... just thinking about the girl.

Your POV

'God,' you sighed, burying your hands in your hair, resisting the urge to tear them out by the roots, as you analysed the newest round of stats that had been sent via email to your phone. Were you ever going to get done with these?