bae lee

today was no different: he was there, sitting, though another figure had been attached.  his fixture had been decorated and he felt justified to stare, to wonder who she was, to be curious as to why he looked so uncomfortable and why she was so oblivious. his arms crossed, his legs stretched, all while his eyes narrowed and watched with care, watched with worry. even if they’d never spoken, he felt a shared kinship–felt like he was watching his sunrise be mottled with thick clouds, drenched in rain, soaked in thunder.

instead of watching gloom sweep over his landscape, he thought to take action. he stood, made sure his steps were slow, calculated; he made his way over to them with a faint look of disgust on his feature. they twisted just enough as he leaned in closer to her, studied her from that distance. then he leaned back and began.

“hey it’s you–didn’t we just sleep together last night? so nice to see you but–wow–you’re already on the next one, huh?” bewilderment crossed her face; she stared at him with an innocent confusion, though, in the moment, daehyun felt no pity, not even the most remote sense of sympathy. “i get that it was a fling but wow, you’re about to get it on with my own brother?! that’s a little low.”

the first words spoken by the man echoed brokenly through him, lost in the staggering situation he was currently in. almost before the sound of his voice ended, bailey regained his senses and choked on the other’s choice of reasoning, trying desperately not to spit out whatever that was inside his mouth. oh, how badly he wanted to fall on the floor and just burst out laughing. really? his brother? and as unconvincing as that sounded for him, the seriousness across the stranger’s features proved him otherwise, successfully dislodging the female's clutch from the still and fascinated dancer.  

bailey jerked awake to the sound of the male’s voice addressing him this time around, the lad's head craned to the direction of the other, finally gazing at the exact pair of eyes he had been staring at from afar for a long time. “wow, are you really talking to me now or am i imagining things?” seunghyun mindlessly uttered in a foreign language, still holding his americanized accent. “i mean— hey, it’s nice to finally talk to you in person and not just speak through our eyes.” he revised his words, mumbling in his home tongue, a smile tattooed across his once sealed lips.

The chime of the cafe’s bell signalled the entrance of a new customer. As if it was already programmed into her, a small greeting escaped from Wendy’s lips as she was busying herself with the coffee.

“Welcome!”

Once she was done, Wendy smiled proudly at the cup of coffee in hand, carefully bringing it to the customer who had ordered it. “Enjoy your coffee!” she chirped as she bent down to place the cup of coffee on the table. Straightening her back, Wendy caught sight of a man sitting at the far corner of the cafe, eyebrows furrowed as he looked through the menu. Bailey?

Wendy froze on the spot, not believing the sight in front of her. It’s been years since the last time she saw Bailey, and they haven’t been in contact since then. She stood there staring at the man, her surroundings fading into a mass of darkness for all she could focus on now was him. Her hands reached for the notepad and pen in the pocket of her apron, and she walked towards him feeling slightly nervous yet excited at the same time.

“Caramel macchiato, please.. make it foamy and more milk.”

“Wendy?” he asked rather incredulously, as if the beauteous sight in front of him was not enough of a proof that she is indeed the exact first love he had at eight. Gathering himself and his composure, he shut his once hanging mouth, straightening up his posture as he leaned at the back of his seat, crossing a leg over the other in an attempt to appear cool in her eyes. “You work here?” he asked rather dumbly, considering that she was wearing a uniform and a name tag too.  

Pursing his lips in thought, he nodded as response to her earlier recommendation, agreeing with her without any questions as it was clear that she knew exactly what he craves for every time he has his coffee. “I’m glad you haven’t forgotten about your first love and which dessert he likes the most. I’m touched.. but yes, New York Cheesecake with my Macchiato.” he teased her and sent a wink flying to her direction before chuckling to himself.

Damn, she’s still as pretty.. if not, even prettier. Her beauty could had competed with that of an angel — her eyes that gazed at him so tenderly, the pouty mouth she had going whenever he played a joke on her and the hearty laughter she had shared with him, everything about her defined Bailey’s signification of the word beautiful, and he hopes that not a single thing changed about her even if they are now ten to twelve years older. 

with a tap on the counter, a cursory glance around the store, and a glimpse at the watch wrapped around her wrist, a soft sigh made its way out of seolhyun’s lips. two twenty five. only five minutes have passed since the previous time she checked, but it felt like hours. now there are five more agonizing minutes left before her shift ends. don’t get her wrong, seolhyun loves her job, but it had been a very slow day at the café, and she much preferred busy days.

before moving to hongdae, she spent most of her free time staring at the four walls that made up her bedroom, so much so that you’d think she would be used to having nothing to do, but that really wasn’t the case. boredom, to seolhyun, was a brutal reminder of the past, like an old friend that she never wanted to encounter again, so she always tried to keep herself occupied. it was rather ironic, really, because more often than not, she spends so much of her time on just thinking of ways to occupy herself, she ends up using only the minority of her time on actually keeping herself occupied.

a little longer than five minutes later, a familiar figure enters the café, and seolhyun almost jumps up in relief. finally. the guy scheduled for the next shift was finally here. as he walks towards her, seolhyun puts on a polite smile and greets him, fighting back the urge to immediately scream in relief, before slinging her bag over her shoulder and then walking out of the store. she almost runs out and spreads her arms open to embrace the fresh air, but of course she would never do anything that would make her look foolish.

it was one of those rare days where her shift ended in the early afternoon, so she had the rest of the afternoon and the whole evening to herself. after walking in the vicinity of the café for almost fifteen minutes, seolhyun still hasn’t come up with a plan of what to do yet, and all she can do is just to absent-mindedly kick the stones on the sidewalk.

lee seunghyun walked leisurely over the streets of seoul, over the path to the unknown. his gaze was directed to the ground, the hood of his gray jacket covering his face as music blared from his earphones — too busy coming up with a unique video concept to care where his feet were leading him to. he was too engulfed in his own world, enjoying this little time he had to think and breathe.

however, his steps came to an abrupt stop when he felt something flew his way, hitting him right on aim. perfect shot, right on his head. bailey would had been laughing if he was a witness and not the victim. but damn, that really hurts. pushing the hood cloaking his head down, he instinctively rubbed the part that was hit, checking if any further harm was done.

“who the heck—” he uttered rather loudly for the unknown assailant to hear, but not loud enough to have everyone’s eyes on him. but like his steps, his words hang from his mouth as he caught glimpse of a familiar face from the crowd, double taking to see if he saw her right and suddenly forgetting his ability to speak.

bailey, wendy and seolhyun — the three kids that were bonded by their families that they had no choice but to befriend each other. while the three children were often together, especially during summer breaks when the then eight year old bailey would stay in korea with his grandparents, bailey never had any proper memories with seolhyun unlike wendy whom he had spent everyday with. and it had just been a day when he had an accidental meeting with wendy. who would have thought fate would make him meet seolhyun too?