#cutae

You were surrounded by lush green trees, fresh air with beautiful scent, you felt like you were in utopia once you were there. You headed straight for your hostel, you managed to pay for a month by borrowing a little from your best friend, Lisa. She was extremely happy for you because she knew how difficult your life was and you finally got what you wanted. Your hostel was pretty close to your university, so you could save on travel.It was quite surprising that you could do so much in a week’s time.

Now you had to find a job. Classes started on Monday, so you had the weekend to look around and see what you could do to support yourself. You walked around your neighborhood and noticed there were a lot of cafes, probably because of the number of hostels and the universities in the vicinity. The aroma from the cafes made you realize you were hungry, you stopped by a burger joint to grab a quick bite. Once you were done you checked with the place if they were hiring people but tough luck. You asked a couple more places but nothing seemed to be working out. At last you arrived at this very fancy cafe, which was due to open on Monday and was looking for people. Since you had previously worked in a cafe, you were hired as a part-time server. Everything seemed to fall in place! This place really must be utopia!

Monday was just orientation, you could meet the professors to have a one on one if you wanted, sign up for clubs. You decided to look around the university and head to work. Cafe Max agreed to pay you on an hourly basis and this worked well for you because of your class timings. Since it was the opening day, you could never tell how many people would show up. The cafe was jam packed and there was a lot of work to be done. At the end of the day you were so tired that you just wanted to crash. You had only four hours of class in the first half of the day, so you could work during the second half. Weekends were an off from college, so you could work longer hours.

You headed to class the next day, made few acquaintances,attended the lectures, headed to work after. Your whole week pretty much went like that. On Saturday when you went to work you got to know from your manager that there are few events every weekend like dance-offs, busking, game nights and so on conducted in the evening hours. This weekend the cafe was hosting a game-night; Every weekend it would be someone’s responsibility to host an event and ensure it carries on smoothly.It was an extremely busy day and as evening came you could see a lot of people gathered up for the event. So many of them took part, it was so lively and nice.Once the event was over, you headed to your hostel feeling content and happy with your current life.

Almost a month went by, you had the same mundane routine. You hardly made any friends because of your busy schedule, you hardly spoke to your parents, you were never really that close and the closest you had to a sibling was Lisa with whom you occasionally spoke. You were starting to feel lonely, your utopia didn’t seem so perfect after all! Lisa advised you to sign up for clubs or classes outside college which meant more expenditure which you really couldn’t afford. Going back home wasn’t an option either.

Despite that you carried on with your life still hoping for better, hoping you would have someone to keep you company, because you did not know how long you could carry on like this. The only time you had fun was on weekends at work during the events. You had gotten excellent at hosting the busking event, usually you got students from your college to sign up to earn extra. People would usually donate a lot to the buskers, they would also participate for fun. This Saturday you were hosting the event once again, Sheri from the university was gonna sing tonight and she was a hit with the audience.

Tonight you had a request by someone named Taehyung who wanted to sing Lay Me Down by Sam Smith.  It is a very difficult song to attempt and you thought this stranger would ruin the mood set by Sheri.However was very insistent.You didn’t want to disappoint him so you added him in between Sheri’s lineup.

When his turn came you called him, “ Taehyung, you’re up next”.

He started singing, “ Yes I do, I believe…..” You were stunned, you had never heard such a beautiful, husky, deep voice in your life and when he reached the Chorus “ Can I lay by your side, next to you, you” you had goosebumps.

He was already very attractive, caramel coloured skin, brown hair complementing brown eyes, sharp eyebrows, coral lips but his voice made him seem immortal. The whole cafe was mesmerized by his angelic voice, you didn’t want him to stop. But to yours and everyone else’s disappointment, he had to leave. You noticed he was with a friend, Jimin, a guy you knew from class.You thought you would get his number from Jimin, so he could participate more often.

You were walking towards your hostel after wrapping up everything, you couldn’t get Taehyung’s voice out of your head, you wanted him to be a regular busker at the Cafe. You reached your hostel, took a warm shower and slid into bed. Tomorrow was Sunday, you get off two Sundays, so you could sleep longer. Your head was ringing with Taehyung’s voice and surprisingly it helped you sleep better. Usually you would drown in your loneliness, but today it was different.

You woke up fresh around 11 a.m. unlike other days where you would wake up with sore eyes from crying the previous night. You decided to text Jimin immediately.

“ Hey Jimin, this is Y/n from university, I work at the cafe your friend Taehyung sang at last night. Everyone loved his performance! Would like to know if he would want to participate more often.”

To which Jimin replied, “ Hey Y/n I am so surprised to receive a text from you, you hardly speak to anyone. Would you like to come and hang out at Papa’s Burgeria for lunch around 1:00? Taehyung will be there too! You can tell him yourself. He is very shy, so this would boost his confidence”.

You were so antisocial that you would have refused the invitation but there was something about Taehyung that made you want to go. After debating a lot with yourself ,you responded, “ Sure Jimin, Thank you for the invitation”.

This is the first time you were going out with someone from university, you were so nervous but also happy because you never had company in so long. You got dressed quickly and headed to the Burgeria .You saw Jimin already there with  group of people. You went and joined them and introduced yourself as Y/n and everyone responded with bubbly and welcoming greetings.His friends Irene, Joy, Taehyung and Yeonjun were kind and y’all casually spoke about how you all got in, what is your daily routine like and Jimin then mentioned that Taehyung would also be joining us at Uni. This was the first time everyone was meeting Taehyung.

Everyone asked Taehyung about his interests and he said “ I love photography and singing but I am very shy when it comes to singing for an audience”, to which Jimin added, “ Hey Tae, Y/n here says your performance last night at Cafe Max was amazing, everyone loved it. You should sing more often”.

“ In fact I think you should become a regular, the people loved you, I can arrange for you to sing regularly like I  have for Sheri, she is also from Uni,”  you further added.

Taehyung was so surprised, “ Really Y/n, Do you think I was so good?”

It was astonishing that Taehyung could doubt himself so much because when he sung it felt like honey was oozing out of his mouth.

You reassured him once more by saying, “ Your voice is nothing like I have heard before, I would love for you to sing at the Cafe regularly.”

Taehyung was so happy and excited with what you said, his reaction was almost like a puppy’s who had just been petted. He immediately agreed but he agreed to start slow, like two songs per evening instead of busking the whole night. After speaking for a bit more and exchanging numbers you all left. You had such a lovely afternoon after so long, you wish this could happen more often. You went back to your hostel and decided to tell Lisa. She would be so excited to know you made new friends.

Lisa was so enthusiastic to know that you were finally making friends and having fun, but Lisa thought you weren’t telling her the whole truth,” Y/n do you like this Taehyung guy, are you seeing him?”

Your face became so red,” No Lisa, why?”

“ Because you can not stop talking about him.” she giggled.

“ Aah, no Lisa I just met him today…”

“ Okay Y/n, if you say so….” and there was a long pause.

You wrapped up your conversation with Lisa and proceeded to carry out your tasks so you would be prepared for Uni.

All evening you could think only about Taehyung,failing miserably at your work.His caramel coloured skin, his dewy coral lips, his deep voice, Maybe just maybe you had a crush on him, but you quickly dismissed the thought.

Next Morning, you woke up feeling refreshed, attended classes and then went and spoke to your manager about Taehyung. He was more than willing to make changes, he also trusted you because you organised the event so well.

You carried on with your usual routine which now included meeting Jimin and his friends once a week at least.Busking happened every alternate Saturday so you used to meet Taehyung more often. His favorite singers were John Legend and Maroon 5,whose songs he sang more often. You recorded all of his performances because his was better than the original version to you and his voice helped you sleep better.

He would usually walk you to your hostel after work and sometimes you both used to hang around in the park opposite your hostel.

You really appreciated his company; conversations with Taehyung or Tae, is what you call him now, could go from very deep like “ Why is Y/n feeling sad today?” or  to something random  and light- hearted like “ Y/n I think there are Rabbits on the moon”.

Tae was very pure, his boxy smile, his childlike innocence, his offbeat solutions to problems were some of the things you loved about him.

Sometimes you thought that you like him more than a friend but you could never gather up the courage to tell him. You had also come to know that Tae was a very private person so you could never tell what was on his mind unless he chose to tell you.

On one of the nights when Tae was walking you he said nervously, “ Y/n i have something very personal to discuss with you”

You knew Tae was acting very distant lately and you were hoping he doesn’t tell you anything that would hurt you, maybe he had a girlfriend, maybe she was uncomfortable with Tae hanging around with you, all these thoughts were running in your head, but you had to listen to him because he was not someone to discuss personal matters so easily.

You asked him to spill the beans.

“ Y/n would you meet me tomorrow for dinner?’

“Ahh Tae, we usually do every Sunday, all of us, Jimin, Yeonjun, you, Irene, Joy and Me, Is this what you wanted to discuss?,”you really didn’t understand why was this so personal to him.

“No y/n”, he said nervously, “ Just you and me.”

“Tae, are you asking me out on a date?,” you weren’t really sure if this is what he meant.

“Yes y/n, I think i like you more than a friend should.” he played with his hair, which was a habit when he was nervous.

Your heart started pounding so loudly, you felt like the entire neighborhood could hear it.” Now is the time y/n, tell him how you feel,” you thought to yourself.

“Tae, I would love to go anywhere with you, I like you a lot too ,”  you blushed.

Tae was so delighted that you felt the same way!  

“Y/n let’s meet tomorrow at 7 pm, I have something planned for you”. Tae was almost going to tell you out of excitement where he was taking you, but he wanted it to be a surprise.

All he said was ,”Dress warmly Y/n,” after which he fled like he had just asked you to be his accomplice for a crime he was gonna commit.

The whole day went in deciding what to wear, Tae didn’t even tell you where you were going, he just asked you to dress warm. You took Lisa’s help and decided to wear a Purple pullover with black denims, since purple was his favorite color.

Tae was there at 7 pm sharp, wearing a yellow pullover with teal pants and a waistcoat, he looked very handsome.He blindfolded you and took you to the venue, the table started raising up and you immediately knew he had arranged for Dinner in the Sky. He removed your blindfold and you found yourself amidst stars, Taehyung being one himself. He knew you so well, he knew exactly what you would like.

Tae had  even prepared a song for you, “ Some people want diamond rings, Some just want everything, But everything means nothing,If I ain't got you.”

He ended the song by saying “ I purple you Y/n”, which had a meaning deeper than I love you,

“ Purple is the color of love, It means I’ll trust and love you for a long time”.

This was the first time Taehyung was so direct about his feelings, It put a huge smile on your face,“ I purple you too”, you couldn’t help but grin.

You could really not ask for anything else. This was one of the best nights of your life and there were many more  magical nights to come in your Utopia.