iced caramel latte ➵ yungi

iced caramel latte

"coffee...uhh...iced caramel latte.. one please," YUNHO stutters out, face burning a bright red from the sheer embarrassment he was facing in that moment, inwardly cringing at himself because of how awkward he sounded trying to read the korean off of the menu. it was the one thing he knew and wanted to drink, americano were too bitter, cappuccinos had all that froth on top of it, then there were all drinks listed that he couldn't even begin to picture.

one day at a time was the name of the store he had found himself in. the cafe's interior was deceivingly warm looking. he entered it because it was the closest one to his college campus except that's a lie, there's actually 10 all lined up on the same street. this one just happened to look the nicest and had a title that he could actually read.

yet the smiles on the workers faces that he should've known were only a front, the pastel pillows lining each chair made him feel sick to the stomach. the bright neon sign displayed what he presumed to be the cafe's name, plastered on the wall and shining a bright neon pink. except this time the fancy font it was written in was a script he was yet to be able to read.

a line of caffeine deprived, grumpy looking customers about 10 people long was ever growing, waiting impatiently for this ill-spoken idiot to finish ordering in their poor excuse of a language.

he needed a pick me up himself and yet he didn't just go down to the starbucks literally a few minutes away whose westernised and familiar interior and smell would've made him feel much more at home.

no. yunho had to make it hard on himself by choosing the small business that sold obscure drinks he couldn't even begin to pronounce.

"what size?" she replies, tapping her fingers on the device in front of her.

"what...?" if yunho could've slapped himself right then and there he would've. he should've at least tried to say that in korean but a response in english was just so much more natural for him. and it wasn't like it mattered at that point, he wasn't fooling anyone with his horrid pronunciation and accent. his mother tongue was so foreign to him at that point, he might as well have been speaking russian.

"what size." the barista replies in english, the smile that was once on her face when she saw the handsome stranger enter the cafe now long gone, already molten into a harsh, judgemental gaze.

"large..." yunho, for a 6 foot tall human, had never felt so small in his life. this barista who dwarves beneath him, managed to stare him down as though she was the lanky giant.

"cash or card?" she asks again, yunho not even bothering to respond this time and just pulling out the largest bank note denomination in his wallet to ensure that he gives her enough money.

who would've thought waiting for a drink could be so agonising? tapping his fingers impatiently on the side of the table, seconds stretched into hours and yunho felt like the entire room was just staring at him. thinking, wondering, how such a tall, good looking korean man had the language skills worse than a 2 year old.

yunho had been in the country alone for one whole week and yet, he still couldn't even order a simple drink from a cafe.

in retrospect, it was all probably in yunho's head, half of the people there probably weren't even awake yet since they haven't had their first cup of coffee. but that didn't help to settle his anxiety ridden heart one bit.