#trsr

He had collected the order of all nine of his members, none of them too complicated - but the task felt overwhelming without one of the older members whom he had grown so dependent on over the few months they had spent together.

The bell above the door chimed, and that’s when he saw her. She was behind the counter, tying her brown apron with a little frown of concentration, and when she looked up, Junghwan swore the world tilted a little.

She looked up, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as she greeted him with a smile. For a moment, Junghwan forgot what he was doing. He wasn’t Junghwan the idol, he wasn’t Junghwan the youngest member on errand duty—he was just a teenage boy who suddenly couldn’t breathe properly.

“Hi! What can I get started for you?”

Junghwan blinked. Oh, right—the list. He scrambled to pull it out, nearly dropping it in the process. His ears and cheeks flushed bright red as he read out each drink, trying not to trip over the words, and careful not to slip up and mention the names written messily beside each drink order.

She just nodded, tapping it all into the register with practiced ease.

When she handed him the receipt, their fingers brushed. Junghwan froze.

“You’ve got a lot of drinks,” she said, smiling playfully. “Big study group?”

He hesitated. He wasn’t supposed to say too much. “Uh… something like that.”

Her smile lingered anyway, and he felt his heart trip over itself.

While he waited, he pretended to scroll on his phone, but his eyes kept drifting back to her—how focused she looked steaming milk, how she laughed with her coworker. It was ridiculous, he thought. He was standing there, waiting for ten beverages, and the weight of the upcoming schedule was pulling at him, but all he could think about was how much he wanted to come back tomorrow.

When she finally slid the multiple cup holders across the counter, she added a small cup on the side.

“This one’s on the house,” she said with a wink. “You looked like you needed it.”

Junghwan glanced down. A simple iced latte with a heart doodled on the lid.

His ears burned again. He mumbled a quick thank you, clutching the cup like it was something precious of extreme value and not just a cup of cold coffee.

As he stepped back out into the street, he realized he didn’t even like coffee. He had purposely ordered a hot chocolate, as the coffee the older members usually drank was too bitter for him.

Nonetheless, Junghwan made a promise to himself as he walked back towards the dance studio - tomorrow, when they had practice again, he would volunteer to go on the coffee run just to see the cute barista again. Maybe next time he could get her name…?