a cup of coffee • kim doyoung

fifteen

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Kim Seyeon

Dongyoung sat attentively across the table while I gave a brief description of my project. Honestly, I pondered a lot before I asked him because, well, I was afraid it could get too descriptive.

"So basically," I started slowly while gathering my thoughts.

The project is a silent animation that features the male and female protagonists meeting in the restaurants for the first time. The female lead would always order ice coffee while the male lead would always serve it to her. One rainy day, the male lead served her hot coffee instead of in fear of her catching a cold, and that's when sparks started to form between them.

"Of course, I can't go into the details or it'll be a spoiler," I exhaled deeply, my heart pounding hard against my chest. Dongyoung sat there with his eyes furrowed, not responding at all. Oh no, did he catch on? I changed the storyline quite a bit though.

"Do you think it's bad?" I clenched my teeth in hopefulness. He sat up straight and tilted his head to the side.

"No, it's good, but..." Of course, there's always a but. His eyes focused on me and I couldn't help but feel utterly inferior. "Where did you get this amazing inspiration from?"

"Uh-" I sat up straight immediately, panic arousing in me. My eyes darted around the room, desperately trying to find an answer that definitely didn't exist in this room besides the truth. Then I noticed something in the corner.

"Ah, I saw a couple having iced coffee together and thought it was cute," I giggled awkwardly. Damn, was that the best solution you've got? Luckily, Dongyoung seems to have bought it, or he'd already figured everything out and just went along with it out of empathy.

"Then what are you going to name this animation?" He changed the subject.

"Huh." I slouched back into my seat, thinking. I was so caught up in my storyline and characters that I didn't realise - I haven't named my story yet.

"I haven't thought about it." I searched my mind for ideas, but my head was empty. I subconsciously asked, "Do you have any ideas?"

Dongyoung crossed his arms, biting his lip as he gave it a thought. I'm glad to admit, he looked rather hot sitting there like that.

"Why not A Cup of Coffee?" He said after a while, "Since they sort of bond over coffee."

Like we do too.

"Hey, that's not bad," I beamed in delight, "Thanks a lot!"

I flipped over my tablet and wrote the title down at the top right corner, totally dismissing his presence. Just then, I heard a snigger from in front of me and looked up in confusion. Our eyes met for a second and a wave of heat started rushing up to my cheeks.

"You know," he started. Looks like he didn't notice a tomato in front of him. "Why couldn't you show me your sketch then when that's what you're doing right now?"

I wasn't sure if I heard him correctly, but then it hit me a second later. I looked down at my tablet, my sketches fully exposed to the public, and to him. I didn't even rush to turn it back down again.

"Ah...I blew it." I buried my face into my hands in mortification. That's it. My secret has been revealed. It's time to move to Okinawa and start a new life with two cats named Louis and Leon, maybe a dog too. How am I gonna face him now? You really messed up big time, Seyeon.

Just as I imprinted my face deeper into my palms, I felt four cold fingers pry my hands away, and for a second I thought I saw an angel. Dongyoung smiled and laughed softly, his fingers gently letting go of mine. At this point of time, I wanna just buried my head into the table in front of me.

"What's there to be embarrassed about? Your drawings are nice!" His encouragement just makes it ten times worse. He slowly slid the tablet in front of him as I cringed in the process.

"It's not that..." I sulked and glanced at him admiring my characters. I don't know if he's acting like he doesn't know, or he's just plain clueless. I hope it's the latter.

"But are they gonna be faceless?" He looked up in genuine curiosity. Faceless...?

I jolted back to my senses and slid the tablet back to me, heaving a huge sigh of relief. I totally forgot I hadn't added faces to the characters yet. Wait, so I acted up for nothing?

"Of course not," I laughed, "I'm still trying to master their expressions so I'll add them in later."

"I see." Dongyoung nodded and looked back at the counter, "Well, good luck for your project. I hope I can be the first to see it." He smiled and stood up.

"I'll make sure to let you watch it right after the final submission," I returned the smile and gave a small wave as he made his way back to the counter.

Once he's distracted, I immediately buried my head into my bag, wishing I could just move into it. Moments from a few minutes ago replayed in my head over and over again, as if mocking my cloddish self. Then a thought hit me.

He can't still be clueless, can he?

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