#leehayi

"Are we finally going home now, Hayi?" He asked with a hint of tiredness on his voice. They had already roamed the shopping district for like 5 hours, hopping from one shop to another shop, stopping here and there to take pictures. Honestly, who didn’t even feel tired though.

“There's still one place left to go", she smiled. Her shopping bags dangling from both of her fingers. 

"WHAT?!" He gave her ridiculous look. Hanbin didn't understand how she still had some energy left after her haul.

"I promise, this will be our last stop, okay? Please..." this time Hayi gave him her innocent puppy eyes that Hanbin usually couldn’t even say no. But it didn’t work. Hanbin was too tired to care about her. 

Don't get him wrong. He loves her okay. She is his best friend since he can remember. They were probably 2 years old when Hayi moved to the house beside Hanbin. Her mom was really friendly and introduced her family as the new neighbour to Hanbin's family. His mom was around Hayi's mom age so they hit off immediately and ever since that day, they became best friend also. Hayi means a lot to him. She is also the one and only that knows Hanbin's secret. Not even his family know about it. 

Lately they've been busy with college and part time job so they never hang out together anymore. So, when Hayi asked him to accompany her to go shopping, he said yes right away. Thinking that maybe he could spend quality time with her. He kinda regretted his decision now.

"You also said that since the last five shops. "Okay it will be our last stop"  then you keep going to another shops. Let's go home, I'm tired!" He said mimicking they way Hayi talked. He had already annoyed because there's seem no end for this shopping trip.

"No... No... Hanbin, listen to me, I SWEAR TO GOD this is our last stop, okay. And it will be only a coffee shop that really popular on Instagram lately. All my friends are talking about it and they also post a picture while in there. The place is so aesthetic and they have nice coffee! So, please..." she pleaded this time. Her voice was panicked that Hanbin might reject her offer.

Hanbin only sighed this time. He knew Hayi too well that this girl was so stubborn. She would do anything to get what she wanted. A habit from the only child of her family.

"And you bring that cool camera of yours. It will be such a waste if you don’t take pictures of that coffee shop"

"YAH! I almost run out of my photo film already! You took pictures for every 'cute' place you visited!" He emphasized 'cute' word. She was forcing him to take picture for every places she thought it's cute, when Hanbin himself thought that the places were not even worthy.

"I promise this time, it will be a good place, Hanbin. See..." She showed a picture of the coffee shop that she found from the internet to Hanbin. 

Hanbin, being skeptical as he was, didn't believe that picture. Hayi always showed him pictures of places that she wanted to go. Some of them didn't even look similar to the pictures. It irritated Hanbin.

"Beside, I'll pay for the coffees and cakes as a sorry"

He only shrugged as a response. Well, he couldn't say no to free food. He had already hungry since the last two shops, but he couldn't say anything to Hayi when that girl already moved to another shop.

Their walk to the coffee shop only took ten minutes. The place almost hidden among other building. If he didn't know that it was a coffee shop, he might think it's an ordinary house. 

They were kinda confused with how to enter the place because the door was almost invisible. It's actually painted in white, the same as the wall. It's really embarrassing moment for both of them. Not until a smiley guy, which he assumed was one of the staff of the cafe, finally opened the door for them.

When they entered the place, he was shocked to see that the place was exactly the same as the picture. The interior was really similar to ordinary house with zen design. The walls were painted in white while all the furniture in this place were in black and white or wood texture.

There were sofas and coffee table right beside the door, it's almost like his own living room. And if you went a little bit further to the cafe, it also had outdoor place for smokers with zen garden and small pebbles around it.

There's long common table right in front of the  order table. The order table itself was a long table that connected to the coffee bar and cake dome.

They chose to sit in the corner of the room, close enough to see the menu behind the bar. Hayi sat there first while Hanbin order the coffees. He knew Hayi long enough to memorize her preference of coffee.

The girl loved iced americano with less sugar and two extra shot. She loved her coffee bitter. It's the exact opposite with Hanbin. The guy didn't really like coffee. He'd rather choose cookies and cream blend than coffee. Blame his childish tongue.

He made his way to the cashier to drop his order. There was the same guy who opened the door for him and Hayi before. Hanbin assumed that guy was also around his age. He had kind smile and blonde hair.

“Welcome to The Halcyon. What do you want to order?” He asked. The smile never leave his lips.

Right when he opened his mouth, a deep husky voice distracted him. There he saw the cutest guy he’d ever seen in his life. The barista was slightly taller than him. His hair was brunette and pushed back so Hanbin could see his nice forehead. He only wore a black polo with brown apron, the standard uniform for barista, but he could be effortlessly handsome in that simple cloth.

The barista called the name of other customer once again and when the customer came to the bar to take her order, Hanbin could see the guy smiled to her while saying thank you. His smile was so blinding. The guy had uneven bunny teeth but that made his smile even cuter if that even make sense. Hanbin was dazed off for a while until a voice, too cheery for his liking, called him back to reality.

“Sir?”

Ah, that blonde cashier guy.

“Ah yes… Hmm… One iced americano with less sugar and two extra shots. One carrot cake. And…” Hanbin suddenly couldn’t decide what he wanted. Too distracted by the sexy back of the barista. The guy was making another coffee for another customer. His move was smooth but agile.

“One cookies and cream blend and one chocolate brownie”, he was surprised that he could finish his order.

“Okay, it will be 20.000 won. And with the name of…?”

“Kim Hanbin”, he said his name too fast and gave the cashier the exact amount of money. He really needed to come back to his seat to calm his beating heart because that barista called another customer’s name again.

When he was back to his seat, he saw Hayi’s scowling face. The girl wasn’t busy with her phone, which was unusual because Hayi always playing with her phone if she’s waiting over something.

“Why did you take a really long time to order?”

“I was kinda confused what to order and beside, you also took a really long time for shopping. So it’s equal”, he made up immediate excuse. He tried to act indifferent as if nothing happened.

“We’ve already been best friend since 2 years old and you forgot my coffee preference? What a bad friend.” He knew she only was joking when she said that. There’s no harm behind that words. “Anyway, did you see that barista? And no, please don’t turn around right away because he may think we are talking about him.” she continued with hushed voice.

“Yeah I saw him”, he said nonchalantly.

“Oh my god, he is so cute. I saw his smile to other customer and it was the sweetest smile I’ve ever seen. And oh, his voice! Damn, I love that kind of voice!” she continued rambling about the nameless barista. Hanbin didn’t listen to her anymore, too busy to care that his best friend also having a crush on his crush. It wasn’t the first time for this case to happen, but Hayi didn’t have to know that.

“Can I get our order instead when he calls your name?”

“WHAT?” now he paid attention to her.

“Huh? I said, I will get our order instead”, she clicked her tongue and continued “So I can see him that close… and maybe get a smile?”

He wanted to say no and be selfish for the first time since he saw that guy first. He wanted to get their order so he could see his smile up close. But his heart also saying that there’s no way this guy would like Hanbin. He’s not that kind of guy. Hanbin was 100% sure that this guy was as straight as a ruler and there would be no chance for him.

While Hayi, Hayi was the prettiest girl for Hanbin. He knew he didn’t like girls in that way, but for Hanbin, Hayi was gorgeous. She had long black hair with big round eyes and cute lips. She could be a dork and still looked beautiful. Any normal men would fall for her charm.

Hanbin ever thought that if one day his parents forced him to marry, the only girl he could think of was Hayi. Hayi probably would understand her best friend’s situation and agreed to marry him. There’s no way he came out to his parents. Beside, his parents already knew Hayi for too long and they would be happy if he ended up marry her. The thought of him and Hayi would have family together is so gross for Hanbin.

So he agreed. He gave up his crush again for the nth time. He always let Hayi win.

“Kim Mambin-sshi”, the barista called, but Hanbin was too tired to even care because in the end, Hayi would be the one that took their order and met him (and probably will date him in the future).

The guy called his name again but this time Hayi heard it and she immediately went up to the bar to take the order. Hanbin saw the barista guy also gave Hayi his sweetest smile and thanking her. He didn’t know if that guy was naturally kind or it’s just obligation.

Hayi went back to their seat with happy smile on his face. She kept talking about her encounter with that cute barista. All her words went blur for Hanbin. He didn’t pay attention and only gave nod and shrug as a response. Hayi was ecstatic to notice Hanbin’s drastic mood change.

It was late and Hanbin just wanted to go home. He wanted to forget his crush to the cute barista when Hayi suddenly said something that made Hanbin wanted to explode. She asked Hanbin to send a note for that barista. Hanbin wanted to scream at her. He really wanted to tell her that he’s also having crush for that guy. But in the end, he didn’t do that. He tried to fake his reaction instead. And being the best friend who always supporting her, he only could give small words of encouragement. The words itself could lit up Hayi’s mood.

“Please write my name and my number in the napkin”, she said while giving Hanbin her pen.

“I just write your name and your number? That’s it?”

“No, dummy. Write something. A message. I don’t know, maybe something like ‘Hey, if you’re not gay, my friend thinks you’re cute. Here’s her number: 010-0923-1996.’ Whatever you want, Hanbin.”

“Fine.” He wrote the exact same words as what Hayi had told him and also wrote her name.

“Wait, did you really write it?” her voice full with shock after she read what Hanbin had written on the napkin. “Are you crazy?”

“Why? You are the one that told me to write this!”

“Yeah but I didn’t think you would do that for real!”

She looked at the napkin once again and laughed. “Well, it’s okay though. It’s a funny message even though I’m sure he is straight. C’mon, let’s go home!”

Hayi stood up from her seat and gather all her belongings including all her shopping bags while Hanbin walked to the bar again. He read and reread the napkin. He was contemplating to do something crazy. He usually let his crush on someone aside, but this time, he felt the urgency to do something or he might be going crazy instead. The cute barista was one of a kind and he was different with any guys that Hanbin ever met before. He probably would never meet with this guy again later. This was his only chance.

“Fuck it”, he thought. So, he grabbed a pen near the cashier and wrote something under Hayi’s message.

‘And if you are gay, here’s mine: 010-1022-1996. The name is Kim Hanbin by the way, not Kim Mambin’

He folded the napkin neatly so the message that visible in the front was Hayi’s message, but if the barista unfolds the napkin he also could see Hanbin’s message under it. He gather up his courage and walked to the barista. The guy was talking to the cashier guy and immediately stopped when he saw Hanbin was standing in front of the bar.

“Can I help you, sir?” He asked politely.

It was the first time Hanbin heard his voice beside calling other customer’s name. He liked that voice already.

“Umm… My friend wants me to give you this”, he handed the napkin and say thanks. He left the cafe right away because he couldn’t stand his wildly beating heart. He also missed the face on the cute barista when he unfolded the napkin and saw their messages.

---

One week later Hanbin received a message from unknown number. At first he was confused because he didn’t remember he gave his number to stranger. The sudden realization hit him and he almost screamed at his room.

“Hey, Kim Hanbin not Kim Mambin. I’m the cute barista from the cafe you were asking out last week. We should go on date some time, I know this delicious Mexican restaurant near Hongdae. The name is Kim Jiwon, by the way :)”

He never expecting he would get a message from the cute barista, let alone knew his name. He had given up and thought that maybe, just maybe, the barista already contacted Hayi and asked her to go on a date. But here he was, reading and rereading the same message for hundredth times and couldn’t stop smiling.