a cup of coffee • kim doyoung

seventeen

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Kim Seyeon

I decided to study in the library today, not because I wanted to avoid someone... okay it was totally to avoid someone.

The same scene of Dongyoung's fingers moving my hands away from my face to when our eyes locked kept replaying in my head like a broken video camera set on playback - and it's tormenting me.

"Am I supposed to add this scene in?" I mumbled to myself, "But then it'll be so obvious!" I screamed internally and dug my fingernails into my scalp, not even wincing at the pain. My phone buzzed at the right time and I picked it up instantly. It was from Mark.

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morrrrrk

where r u?

in the library
why?

okie coming

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I lied down onto the table with a long sigh. Now the puppy is coming and that's just gonna drain my energy even more. I slowly closed my eyes in hopes to catch some Zs.

Plop.

I opened my eyes a second after to find a red-haired boy sitting opposite me. Is he a superhuman or what?

"Did you fly here?" I asked, my voice cracking from my dry throat. I took a sip of water as Mark took out his tablet and laptop.

"I wish, then I don't need to walk anymore," he chuckled, before raising his head and continued, "But why are you in the library today?"

"Oh." I sat up straight as he widened his eyes at me. "I needed some quiet time to work on this. The cafe can be distracting sometimes." Pft, what an amazing lie.

"So was I distracting?" Mark pouted in fake sadness, but he probably knows my answer already.

"Yes, very," I replied blatantly as he sulked in his chair. I shook my head. There was a stream of silence as we worked on our own projects, but it wasn't long until my concentration got disrupted again.

"Actually, I wanted to ask, what's your relationship with Dongyoung?" He whispered across the table. I nearly choked on my saliva.

"Who?" I asked almost immediately, playing the simplest card when it comes to these types of situations. At least Mark seemed to buy it.

"You know, the guy who always goes to your table and talks to you?"

"That's you," I answered teasingly, with him gritting his teeth against the revelation. He went back to being serious.

"Not me. The cashier at the cafe, that dorky looking guy behind the counter." Wow, what a way to describe a friend.

"Ah, him?" I finally complied, looking up as if recalling a long-term memory, "Nothing much. He just serves coffee to my table and made small talk, that's all." I bit my tongue to prevent myself from spilling further. Was that too much information?

Mark nodded slowly while furrowing his eyebrows, but why was he suddenly asking this? Did he sense something? Did Dongyoung say something? Or am I just overthinking?

"Are you sure?" He leaned in, half his body resting on the table. I instinctively moved back. He continued, "You two seem awfully close."

I gulped. What if he did notice something? But still, I can't give in like this, especially not to him.

"How sure can I get? I barely know him," I defended flatly because Mark was practically lying on the table now. I'm surprised the librarian hasn't called him out yet. He retreated slowly into his chair, his eyes still narrowed onto me.

"I see, but if I find anything suspicious, I won't stand this betrayal," he said through gritted teeth, and that's when I realised where this has gone to.

"Yah, don't be ridiculous. If this is what you came here for, then I'm leaving." I spat out and got up, ready to pack my stuff. Mark's expression quickly changed.

"Ah fine, fine, I won't ask anymore," he muttered but was still furrowing his eyebrows at me. He really is one weird character.

We went back into the silent atmosphere and I stole a few glances at Mark from time to time. He was drawing diligently and actually making progress. Wait, what? So was all that drama in the cafe an act, or was my help really that superior? I would like to think that it's the latter though.

As I cleaned out Dong- I mean, one of my character's sketches, a thought kept flashing back to my mind.

As much as I was relieved that he didn't ask further, whether it was on purpose or not, but did we really seem that close? Now that I think about it, the table that I frequent is quite a clear view from the counter, which explains how he probably saw us, and the rest of them too. Gosh, if I faced this much questioning from Mark, imagine what Dongyoung had to face. Maybe I should switch seats.

"Oh, by the way," Mark asked again. He sounded excited this time. "You wanna hang with the crew next Wednesday? We're going to an exhibition."

"Next Wednesday?" I pondered for a while, "Isn't that Chuseok? I have to visit my grandma though."

"Ah, it's okay then! I don't think Johnny bought another ticket anyway," He sounded disappointed yet sarcastic, I don't know which one, but it still made me feel bad. Still, what could I do? I had to visit relatives on both my parents' side and maybe some distant ones, so I'm gonna be busy for those 3 days nonetheless. Wait, but did he say the crew?

I looked at the surprisingly hardworking boy in front of me; now I understand what Dongyoung meant. Is it too late to take back my refusal now?

Or maybe...

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