chapter five

Your hands itch to hold onto my hips, I wait for you to do it while I button your shirt back up. There is a smile, soft and hesitant as you whisper my name thrice under your breath. Once into the air, twice into my hair. A kiss to my forehead and handprints imprinted on my skin, once again I feel like I'm floating, walking on thin ice as I thank God for not letting you say it for the fourth time.

Please break my heart, please love me, please want me, please hurt me. Do whatever you want w me, just let it be me. Right now, before, after let it be me and not him. 

-

His phone dinged again when he was just about to turn the damn recorder again. He sighed annoyingly but opened her messages again. 

JAEMINMIN: How old are you? 

MINYOUNG-JAE: i'm 26 

MINYOUNG-JAE: and u

JAEMINMIN: I'm 26 too. 

MINYOUNG-JAE: cool

JAEMINMIN: What are you doing?

MINYOUNG-JAE: got off work a couple minutes ago 

MINYOUNG-JAE: hbu 

JAEMINMIN: Oh nice! I'm still at work :( 

MINYOUNG-JAE: i see 

JAEMINMIN: Are you part timing? Or do you work full time? 

MINYOUNG-JAE: part time 

MINYOUNG-JAE: wait where r u from

JAEMINMIN: I'm from Seoul itself. What about you? 

MINYOUNG-JAE: same 

JAEMINMIN: Great! 

MINYOUNG-JAE: yeah

MINYOUNG-JAE: do u work part time too

JAEMINMIN: No, I work full time :)

MINYOUNG-JAE: i see 

MINYOUNG-JAE: well jaemin, it was nice talking to you i*

MINYOUNG-JAE: gtg, ttyl 

Now, Young-Jae was very social and updated but Minjae wasn't so to say she was struggling would be an understatement. She was switching between twitter and g****e, constantly looking up what 'hbu' 'gtg' and 'ttyl' meant. She was really going through it.

With that last text, Young-Jae turned his notifications off and started recording again. He wanted to leave her on read after the first few texts but he figured it would be a little too rude since she jus sincerely wanted a friend so he kept replying out of politeness. 

"Now Young-Jae, focus! There are people waiting to cum!"

Young-Jae's hands were fisted at his sides digging into his pockets. She was testing him, the gorgeous girl who so happened to be his boss. The past two hours were torturous for Young-Jae, he was constantly going back and forth between other customers and her since today seemed like the most appropriate opportunity to check out all the new drinks that were to be served next week in a fancy party for which the place was booked. 

She wouldn't usually visit the shop two days in a row but she too was desperate to even look at him again because god damn he was gorgeous. And so here she was, sipping on the chamomile tea as she scanned him up and down hoping he would just take the damn shirt off. Her face scrunched up in disgust and she clicked her tongue softly placing the cup back on the table along with the other tasteless tea flavors. 

"Min Young-Jae!" she called for him, struggling to hide the mischievous glint in his eyes from Joon who sat across from her marking the total sales of every branch of this same coffee shop in Gangnam. He knew her well, he knew she didn't really need to come here by herself but Minjae had decided to torture Young-Jae no matter how beautiful he was. 

"Yes Ma'am?", he gritted through his teeth, hands clasped behind his back with the small notepad in his hand. Taking orders wouldn't have been his duty only if his beloved friend  Seok-Min had the decency to come to work today instead of that fucking date. 

"Is this the kind of tea my customers drink?", she scowled at him, tsking when he closed his eyes in a quiet sigh. Now Young-Jae was a very patient man but his patience was running thin. If he could, he would pour that hot tea over her head in a second. He brought a hand to his nose-bridge, pinched it, and craned his neck up to look at the ceiling. 

"How do you make this tea? What do you think must be going wrong?", she asked. This time was genuine, the tea was horrible. She wasn't gonna serve this to the family of Joon's fiance that's for sure. Right, it was Joon's engagement party here next week but she had planned to keep it a secret. From Joon, not from his Fiance, she had a soft spot for that boy. Taehyung was his name.

"W-Would you like to watch me make it?", he questioned, worried that he might be fired and as it is he was already short on cash. She nodded glancing at Joon who only shrugged without even looking up. Honestly, his opinion wouldn't change her mind anyway so he didn't bother. 

"Lead the way," she cocked her head to the side when he nodded softly, still with his hands behind his back, a soft smile slowly making its way on his face as she cursed at Joon's back being salty since he deprived her of attention. He huffed shortly and placed the notepad on his counter, slipping the apron around his waist. 

"I want to hear you say the instructions out loud while you make it," she challenged crossing one leg over the other and her arms across her chest in an upright posture, completely professional. He nodded hesitantly and cleared his throat while gathering the ingredients finding it very difficult to focus when he had so much to, well, look at. 

"Alright, so first, we take uh, around two teaspoons of chamomile and uh," he nervously fidgeted around looking for the mint sprig only for her to snort at his behaviour and hop down from the countertop. She picked out the mint sprig from behind the teapot and added it to the chamomile in the teapot. 

"Here, listen close okay? You better be ready for a very long day if you can't even make chamomile Tea," she grumbled on stretching her fingers before she got to making the tea. 

"Like It hasn't already been long enough," he mumbled but she caught onto it, raised a brow and scoffed when he closed his eyes nibbling on his lower lip in fear. He just couldn't control his damn tongue.

"Are you saying that I'm pestering you?", she asked chuckling lowly. Had it been somebody else she would've fired them right away? As of now, her grip only tightened slightly on the little spoon in her hand while he slowly opened his cat-like eyes and avoided her gaze. 

"Torturing would be a better word," he whispered in hopes of staying alive so he could go home and cut his tongue for being so sharp. What was wrong with him? 

"Glad you understood my intentions," she grinned sarcastically, being done with the tea, and turned around to lean against the counter. 

"E-Excuse me?" he gaped folding his arms across his chest, eyes traveling from her bosom to the teacup when she cocked her head towards it. 

"What can I say, I'm a bit of a sadist," she joked again enticing an awkward throat-clearing from her before he etched his fingers towards the teacup, delicate fingers working on placing it on the saucer and pushing it back towards her doubtfully.

"Why are you giving it to me? I made it for you to taste and learn," his lips parted in realisation and he gulped softly before placing the white and golden teacup against his pink lips she craved to feel against hers, against her body. 

Young-Jae swore it was the best tea he ever had in his life. The taste was immaculate, almost mocking if compared to the tea he had just served her. Truth to be told, he was completely inexperienced in teas and coffees but he didn't think being a barista would require him such hard work. He would've just crawled his way through work in a Starbucks if he knew better. 

"Now, tell me why was making this so difficult for you? All you needed to do was pour in the ingredients and get it done with," she sighed, slightly annoyed but keeping her anger at bay.

"I-I'm a bit inexperienced," he admitted still scared of getting fired. She stifled a giggle and nodded sternly before turning around to walk to her table with him following behind after a simple curvature of her index finger almost imagining it around the tie he wore today.

"Joon? Cancel all schedules for the next two days as well as today. I'm gonna have to train our head Barista Young-Jae here," she stated seriously but both of them knew it was just an excuse. Anyone could tell. Well, anyone except the pale boy who stood behind her slightly relieved that she didn't fire him. 

How cute, she thought to herself. He had actually believed her excuse.