Chapter Text
“Wow, it’s pouring rain.”
Jongin looked up from the spoon he was cleaning and groaned; indeed, the wide windows were already spattered with raindrops, the few people hastening by the café hunching their shoulders against the shower pouring down on them. “Great. I didn’t bring an umbrella.”
“Wouldn’t do you much good with that wind anyway,” said Baekhyun, leaning leisurely against the counter.
Jongin cast a glance at the only customer currently in the café: an elderly man sitting by the window, reading a newspaper that was spread out on the white tabletop.
“Oh man. Guess we won’t have a lot to do today.”
The cats certainly wouldn’t mind. Even Bambi, a brown tabby with spots on his forehead that left his face stuck in a constant frown, was brave enough to sit right in the middle of the counter and nudge Baekhyun’s shoulder with his nose until he petted him. Pan was sleeping on the customer’s table, every now and then stretching herself contentedly, her gray, fluffy tail swishing dangerously close to the cake.
“Maybe it’ll stop by the time we close up,” said Baekhyun. “Then we’d have few customers and get home dry.”
“Few customers?” echoed Yixing, who had been cleaning the litter boxes, judging from the plastic gloves he tossed into the trash. “You want us to go out of business?”
Baekhyun gave an impressively fake gasp. “Oh no, Boss! You must’ve misheard. Never in my wildest dreams would I ever wish for a quiet day at work.”
Yixing chuckled, puttering about at the cake display. Jongin wondered what there was to putter about in the first place; Yixing seemed to always find something to busy himself with, even when everything appeared in perfect order.
“Well, I do hope this gentleman won’t be our last customer today,” he said.
“Me too,” grumbled Jongin. “It’s boring if nothing happens all day.”
Baekhyun shrugged, as if to declare that he would in fact be perfectly fine with that, but before he could say anything, the tingle of bells accompanied by a few meows cut through the silence, announcing the arrival of guests. Yixing smiled and Baekhyun sighed.
“I’ll get it.” Jongin hurried to the door. Through the glass, he spotted an unexpectedly large group of people squeezing themselves into the entrance area, dutifully closing the main door behind them before stumbling into the café proper one by one.
“Hi, welcome to Planet Purradise!” Jongin greeted them with a smile. There were four men and two women, all of them wearing drenched raincoats. One of the men, the tallest of the group, immediately caught his eye, and he had to suppress a grin as well as the urge to turn around and look if Baekhyun had already noticed. It was Park Chanyeol, a regular at their café whom Baekhyun had been ogling for a while now. Perhaps this would spice up the dreary day.
Then Jongin’s attention was caught once more, this time by the handsome man at the very back of the group. He was shifting his weight back and forth awkwardly, hands in his pockets, strong eyebrows slanted and slim lips pressed together in a frown. His damp hair stuck up in all directions, giving him an uncanny resemblance with a hedgehog. Jongin averted his eyes so he wouldn’t laugh.
“There’s a table for six over here,” he said instead, gesturing for the group to follow him to one of the bigger tables in the middle of the room. “For those of you who haven’t been here before, please don’t chase, feed, or pick up the cats and don’t disturb them when they’re sleeping. Also, no pictures with flash. Other than that, please enjoy your time here. I’ll be right back with the menu.”
To his delight, Baekhyun had his back turned to the group, rearranging the cups on the shelf behind the counter. Bambi had already vanished into thin air; presumably, he’d run off to the cats’ quiet area.
“Hey, Baekhyun,” hissed Jongin, unable to hold back a giggle. “Guess what your study buddy is gonna hear about tonight.”
Baekhyun whirled around, his whole face lighting up, eyes sparkling with excited mischief. “Chanyeol’s here?” he whispered and craned his neck to get a glimpse of the new arrivals. “Ooh, okay. I’ll take it from here, thank you very much.”
With that, he brushed his bangs into place, swiped a couple of menus from the rack, and scurried over to where the group was getting comfortable in their seats. Chanyeol was standing, shaking his head like a wet puppy, and when he noticed Baekhyun approaching, he instantly plonked himself down on his chair with a sheepish smile. The rest of the group was busy chatting among themselves — all except for the hedgehog guy. He was sitting there quietly, hands still in his pockets, frown still on his face. His eyes were darting around the place, as if he were assessing it. Jongin hoped he wasn’t as snobby as he looked.
Baekhyun returned, a far cry from how relaxed he had been earlier. “Chanyeol wants his usual, the girls both ordered a latte. The others haven’t decided yet.”
“Okay.” Jongin got to work. Meanwhile, Baekhyun kept chattering.
“I guess it’s someone’s birthday today. Chanyeol recommended the place, so they came here to celebrate. Birthday child seems to be a fan of cats.”
“Figures.” Jongin looked over to the group and saw Xiu, a beautiful, white cat with blue eyes, had already curled up in one of the men’s lap. He was cooing and ruffling the fur between her ears. “Is it the guy who’s all over Xiu?”
“Could be. He kinda looks like a cat.”
Once Jongin had drawn cute cats on the lattes with steamed milk and placed a paw-shaped marshmallow on top of Chanyeol’s milkshake, he handed the tray with the drinks to Baekhyun. By the time everyone’s orders were placed and Jongin and Baekhyun brought them over to the table, the man with Xiu on his lap had a plastic crown on his head, held in place by a rubber band, and the others were singing Happy Birthday. It sounded like his name was Minseok.
Walking past the table a couple of times, Jongin inadvertently caught the names of the others too: the woman in the knitted top was Seulgi, the one with the long braids was Sooyoung, and the man next to Minseok was Jongdae. Only hedgehog guy’s name remained a mystery. Probably because he was still busy frowning and eyeing the place in silence. At least his hair was gradually settling down, its fluffy texture lessening his likeness with a hedgehog and taking away some of the sharpness in his glare.
After two more polyphonic versions of Happy Birthday, the old man left the café. Jongin was glad Baekhyun took on the task of occasionally reminding the group to keep it down so as not to disturb the cats, if only for the sake of exchanging a few words with Chanyeol.
Soon, new customers arrived — two women and a little girl. Since Yixing was on the phone and Baekhyun was making another espresso for someone from the group, Jongin greeted the guests.
When he turned around to walk back to the counter, he almost bumped into hedgehog guy.
“Whoa! Excuse me,” muttered Jongin and took a step back. Why was that man just standing next to the table?
“Oh, n-no problem,” hedgehog guy stuttered. To Jongin’s surprise, his cheeks were flushed pink. He gestured awkwardly toward his chair. “I guess my seat got, uh, occupied.”
A collective giggle went around the table. Peeking around the back of the chair, Jongin spotted a small, orange cat with lynx-like ears enthroned on the seat, kneading happily at the cushion. He did his best to stay serious.
“Ah, yes. Luobo knows how to get what he wants.”
The others were all looking at either hedgehog guy or the cat, still snickering and making no move to be helpful. Jongin supposed he had told them earlier not to pick up the cats. And so he stepped closer and gently lifted Luobo from the cushion. The cat let it happen without objection, slumping over Jongin’s shoulder and starting to purr when Jongin scratched his neck.
“Sorry, he’s a bit playful,” said Jongin and smiled at hedgehog guy. “He’s our youngest.”
“Hey, just like Sehun,” exclaimed Sooyoung, and the group burst into laughter once more.
“Shut up,” snapped hedgehog guy, whose name was therefore most likely Sehun. His face was a much deeper shade of pink now. The frown had reappeared, only to dissolve into a bashful smile as he met Jongin’s gaze.
“Uh, thank you,” he said, his pretty eyes scrunching up a bit, and suddenly Jongin was feeling somewhat shy himself.
“Of course,” he mumbled, bowed, and walked over to the counter, hiding his flustered state by nuzzling Luobo’s fur.
For the next couple of minutes, he wondered if Sehun’s perpetual frown was an attempt at acting cool or if he just usually looked like that. It would be a shame if it was an act, Jongin thought to himself; someone with such a nice smile shouldn’t conceal it from the world.
A shrill shriek pierced through the peaceful ambiance. The clatter of metal sounded as Baekhyun dropped the cutlery he had just dried. Jongin whirled around and saw Koko, a chubby calico cat, dash toward the counter and then make a sharp turn for the quiet area. It was hard to tell what had happened, since pretty much everyone in the café looked startled, except for Chanyeol and Jongdae, who were giggling again. It couldn’t be too serious, then. The little girl with the two women had to be the one who had screamed, judging by the high pitch and her wide eyes.
Yixing and Baekhyun were picking up the cutlery from the floor, and so Jongin grabbed a cookie from the dispenser and went over to the girl. “Are you alright?” he asked, smiling sympathetically at her.
She stared at him, eyes widening even more. “Um, yeah.”
When he handed her the cookie, her face lit up and she stuffed it into her mouth, no trace of shock left.
“Excuse me, can we get a free cookie as well?” asked Seulgi, eliciting another wave of giggles from the group.
Although Jongin wondered why she asked for only one, he bowed politely and fetched the requested cookie.
“Man, that scream scared the crap outta me,” said Baekhyun when Jongin came back to the counter. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, seems to be fine. Koko must’ve startled the girl.”
“’Kay.” Baekhyun sighed. “Anyway, did you see the hoodie Chanyeol is wearing? He looks really freaking cute in it.”
Jongin glanced at the group table, where Seulgi and Chanyeol appeared to be trying to each stuff one half of the cookie in Sehun’s mouth, and at the oversize, baby blue monstrosity of a hoodie in question. Then his gaze got stuck on the skin-tight sweater hugging Sehun’s broad shoulders. “Yeah.”
“Hey, Jongin,” Yixing piped up from where he stood at the sink, both arms elbow-deep in dishwater. “Could you get Xiu off that child?”
Shifting his attention, Jongin saw Xiu sitting on the little girl’s shoulder and pawing at her ponytail. That child seemed to have the worst luck.
“Sure.” Jongin hurried over to her. Although she wasn’t screaming this time but rather cackling with delight, this was only a second away from either the child grabbing the cat’s tail or the cat clawing the child’s head; better to defuse the situation early. And so he plucked Xiu off of her, ignoring the offended mrrp, and gave the girl an apologetic smile. A surreptitious glance to the side told him Sehun was watching. Jongin didn’t dare to prolong the brief meeting of their eyes, but he did cradle Xiu in his arms like a baby for maximum cuteness.
A while later, the rain had stopped and the group got ready to leave the café. Since he didn’t have anything else to do, Jongin joined Baekhyun in seeing them off. He picked up Luobo once more, who had been about to follow the group out the door.
“We hope you had a good time here,” said Baekhyun, and Jongin supported him with friendly smiles and nods, “and, of course, to see you again in the future.”
“Oh, definitely!” answered Chanyeol — which was fitting, as Jongin had the feeling he was the sole addressee of that last wish — and waved enthusiastically. “I’ll keep recommending this place too. See you next time!”
Jongin and Baekhyun bowed in unison, and Jongin caught one last glimpse of Sehun’s face; there was something written all over it, but it was hard to tell if it was relief or regret.
Once the group was out the main door, Baekhyun flashed Jongin a toothy grin. “Whew! That was something, wasn’t it?”
“Sure was,” Jongin mumbled. Luobo was getting comfortable on his shoulder, and so Jongin petted his soft fur some more instead of setting him back down as they walked back to Yixing.
“I gotta say, I was all for a quiet day, but I didn’t mind that one bit.”
Jongin snorted. “I bet. Now you have lots of material to distract your study buddy from actually studying with you.”
Baekhyun sounded pleased with himself as he laughed, “Well, I have to keep him updated, don’t I?”
Jongin wondered if anyone would be willing to listen to him musing about Sehun’s flustered blush and cute smile. On the other hand, it was unlikely he’d lay eyes on them ever again anyway.
Two days later, Sehun came to Planet Purradise again. Jongin spotted him first and embarrassingly couldn’t suppress a gasp; that was probably why Baekhyun caught on to him as fast as he did.
“I see how it is,” he whispered to Jongin with a conspiratorial wink. “Everyone else was working, and you were checking out the hot newcomer.”
Jongin scoffed. “Right, I think we all know what you were doing last time Chanyeol showed his face in here.”
Baekhyun rolled his eyes and nudged Jongin toward Sehun’s table. “You take his order.”
And so Jongin did. His hands were a bit shaky and he stumbled over his words once, but he managed. Sehun’s face, which had been stuck in a deep frown, brightened as soon as Jongin greeted him, and although his gaze remained restless, only sometimes fixing on Jongin, his low voice was soft and gentle.
“I’ll have a latte, please. You drew on it so prettily the other day.”
“Oh.” Jongin’s cheeks grew warm. “Coming right up. Um, I’m glad you like my— our latte art.”
With a bow, he excused himself and hastened off to make the cutest latte macchiato of his barista career. He even used cocoa powder to give the milk cat he’d poured into existence stripes and whiskers. It was a success, judging by the way Sehun’s eyes scrunched up joyfully when Jongin delivered the order.
It wasn’t the last time Sehun visited the café either. In fact, he became somewhat of a regular over the course of the following weeks. He always sat at the same table in the very corner, always ordered a latte, and always seemed a little nervous, which, Jongin assumed, was the reason for his constant scowl. Jongin wondered if he came here for dates and was just getting stood up all the time; then again, he didn’t look like the kind of guy anyone would stand up. If Jongin had been any braver, he might have asked Sehun directly already, but as things were, that was out of the question. Sehun might misunderstand it as Jongin hitting on him, which would then potentially rob Planet Purradise of a regular customer. Although, of course, it wouldn’t be much of a misunderstanding.
Every time Jongin approached Sehun, be it to greet him, to take or deliver his order, or to see him off, he had half a mind to ask for his number or at least start a casual conversation. And every time, he got cold feet.
The most memorable interaction they had since Jongin helping Sehun to reconquer his chair came on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Jongin was waiting for the coffee machine to finish up, letting Koko play with his shoelaces. Since no one was looking, he took out his cell phone and surreptitiously checked it under the counter.
“Excuse me?”
Sehun’s voice came so out of nowhere that Jongin promptly dropped his phone. It missed Koko by a few inches, but he still jumped and scrambled onto the counter. Sehun jumped too, backward in his case.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” sputtered Jongin and quickly rubbed Koko’s favorite spot behind his ears to calm him down. “It’s alright, he just got spooked… What was it you wanted?”
“Uh,” Sehun mumbled, his eyes darting back and forth between Koko and Jongin, “I-I just wanted to ask if you have a restroom?”
“Sure, it’s over there—”
Jongin had barely finished his sentence when Sehun was already hurrying away. “Oh man,” he sighed and watched a purring Koko settle down in a sun-warmed spot on the counter, right next to the golden lucky cat. “That could’ve gone better.”
Then again, it could have gone worse too. Putting aside the awkward situation, Sehun was pretty cute when he was flustered. Maybe it had been worth it just to see that side of him again.
“Here.”
Jongin flinched and turned to find Yixing offering him his phone.
“I think you dropped this,” said Yixing, his tone sweet but his eyes knowing.
Jongin gave a strained laugh and pointedly slipped the phone into his pocket. “Thanks.”
Later that day, after Sehun had left, Jongin and Baekhyun were standing behind the counter, Baekhyun pouring three orders of hot chocolate, Jongin preparing the whipping cream that would go on top.
“So how’d it go today?” asked Baekhyun.
Caught off guard, Jongin took a moment to come up with an answer. “What do you mean?” he eventually asked lamely, earning himself a playful punch to the shoulder.
“C’mon, you know what I mean.”
“Alright, but I don’t know what you wanna hear, it went the same as always. I guess he asked me where the restroom is.”
Baekhyun’s keen eyes were scanning Jongin, no doubt searching for any hint of a lie. “How come you haven’t asked him for his number yet?” he then wanted to know. “I mean, you’re as whipped as that bowl of cream.”
Jongin raised his eyebrows at him. “You think I’m unprofessional enough to just ask a customer for their number?”
“Know what I think?” Baekhyun was grinning, teeth gleaming. “You’re a little scaredy cat.”
Jongin kicked Baekhyun’s butt, almost causing him to spill the chocolate.
“Hey, watch it,” exclaimed Baekhyun. “I’ll totally tell Yixing if you ruin my drinks.”
“What about you, then?” Jongin retorted. “You and Park Chanyeol have been gawking at each other forever and nothing’s happened.”
Baekhyun shrugged, his face calm and transparent. “Well, to be honest, I just don’t have much time for love. What with my studies and all. Of course, I wouldn’t mind something happening either. I guess I’ll just leave it to destiny.”
“You mean you want him to come on to you first,” grumbled Jongin.
Baekhyun didn’t reply, but the corner of his mouth twitched.
Almost a month had passed since that rainy March day on which Sehun had first set foot into Planet Purradise. It was a busy Friday, people crowding in and out of the café all day long, to the point where Jongin and Baekhyun had to turn several of them down because all the tables were full. With the dimming sunlight, people were finally beginning to disperse. The silverware glistened with rays of gold, and the shyer cats were coming out of the woodwork. A light spring drizzle studded the windows with drops and trickles of water, and even the last customers left in a hurry.
It was about an hour before closing time when the bells chimed, heralding the arrival of a guest. Jongin recognized Sehun before he had even entered the second door.
“Is he Chanyeol’s stand-in or something?” mumbled Baekhyun. “Chanyeol hasn’t been here in weeks, but this dude shows up, like, every other day.”
Ignoring him, Jongin hurried to the entrance. “Hi,” he greeted Sehun, who was wearing that quirky smile Jongin had come to recognize. He looked especially good today, the gray turtleneck and sleek skinny jeans showing off his unfairly flawless proportions, and a few fringes that had escaped the sunglasses in his slicked-back hair gracing his forehead.
As always, he chose his seat in the corner of the room.
“The usual,” he said and placed his phone on the table. The screen lit up momentarily, showing a picture of a dog, white and fluffy as a snow cloud.
“Sure,” said Jongin, and then, reflexively, “Is that your dog?”
He instantly grew tense, fearing he had overstepped an invisible boundary, but Sehun only chuckled, soft and low.
“Yes.”
Jongin gave an awkward smile, then bowed and escaped to prepare a medium latte macchiato, still somewhat shaken by his own forwardness. He had barely turned on the machine when he already regretted just walking off like that — this could have been the precious opportunity he’d been waiting for, the chance to open a nonchalant conversation. However, there wasn’t much he could do about it now other than making Sehun’s coffee.
“I’m an idiot,” he mumbled to himself.
As he was almost finished and about to pour the milk, he hesitated. Maybe there was something he could do. His heart starting to pound in his chest, he tilted the pitcher.
By the time he brought the cup to Sehun’s table and placed it in front of him, his pulse was racing with giddy but nervous anticipation. There was a moment of silence; then an unexpectedly loud guffaw escaped Sehun.
“Well, that’s cute,” he laughed, leaning in to examine the latte adorned with a drawing of a white, fluffy dog.
A sense of accomplishment bloomed in Jongin’s chest, easing the tension. He grinned and shrugged. “Thought you might like it.”
Sehun’s glinting eyes caught Jongin’s. “You been working here long?”
“A couple years now. I heard they were hiring from a friend back when I was working at a regular coffee shop. This is honestly so much better.” Jongin reached out his hand to Pan, who was sitting on a nearby table, and gently petted her thick fur. “Having cats around is de-stressing for both the customers and us servers.”
“De-stressing,” murmured Sehun, gaze now focused on Pan. “Sure.”
This was it. They were finally talking. Had Jongin known it could be this easy, he would have done it long ago. Indeed, he could hardly remember why he hadn’t.
“So you work here full-time?” asked Sehun. He leaned back, crossing his legs, and took a sip of the latte. When he placed the cup back on the table, the dog had warped into a shapeless mass of white.
“No, only part-time. I study dance, and I’m not exactly rolling in money, so…”
“Dang, that’s impressive. Like, hip-hop or something?”
“Jazz.”
Sehun’s eyes were back on Jongin; in fact, they trailed down and up his figure, causing Jongin to self-consciously smooth out his apron.
The tinkle of bells sounded. For a moment, he considered checking on the newcomers, then he decided to leave it to Baekhyun. There were no other customers, after all. The door clicked open.
Sehun was still staring at him, a pensive crease in his brow. “So are you—”
“SEHUN?”
Jongin jumped. All of a sudden, Sehun was surrounded by Chanyeol and two of the people who’d been at the birthday party one month ago; Jongin was fairly positive their names were Jongdae and Seulgi. Sehun sat bolt-upright in his chair, his stoic composure replaced with fidgety glances at his friends.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he spat through gritted teeth.
“Getting a coffee, what else?” said Seulgi.
“What about you though?” asked Chanyeol and gave an incredulous laugh. “What happened to being terrified of cats?”
Sehun’s face grew pale. “Shhhh!” he hissed.
“Terrified?” echoed Jongin blankly.
Sehun’s attention flickered to him for a second, and he giggled nervously. “C’mon, you’re exaggerating.”
Jongdae snorted. “Shut up, you literally cried before we came here for Minseok’s party. We had to fucking drag you here.”
Sehun punched Jongdae’s arm and gave the others poorly concealed hand signals, but it seemed to have little effect.
“Or how about when you flew out of your chair when that orange cat came near you,” Seulgi chimed in.
“Or how you scared off that other cat ’cause you squealed like a baby when Jongdae tried to make you pet it,” offered Chanyeol helpfully.
“Can I get you guys anything?”
The collective focus shifted to Baekhyun, who had appeared behind Jongin and was smiling pleasantly with a notepad in his hands.
“O-oh, sure,” stuttered Chanyeol and scratched his neck. “We know you’re closing soon, so we just wanted to get something to-go if that’s okay.”
“Sure thing. Please follow me.”
The group dutifully padded after Baekhyun to the counter. Jongin, meanwhile, was left behind with his mind reeling and a red-faced Sehun sitting in front of him.
“So… you’re scared of cats?” said Jongin eventually, just to say something.
Sehun cleared his throat and rubbed his knees awkwardly. “Um, I guess. Kinda.”
Jongin glanced at Pan, who was still sitting on a nearby table and watching them with slowly blinking eyes. All he saw was a ball of fluff with chubby cheeks and droopy ears. And yet Sehun’s gaze kept trailing over to her warily, as if to ascertain she had not left her spot. Jongin supposed cats did have a wild side to them too. But if Sehun was this scared of them…
“Why’d you come here so often, then?” asked Jongin, perplexed.
Sehun pursed his lips, his fingers tapping restlessly on his legs. “Um,” he said again. “Do you like dogs?”
Jongin blinked. “Sure.”
Clearing his throat once more, Sehun moved the tapping of his fingers to the table, close to his phone. “So would you like to walk my dog sometime?” he asked. “I mean, together, with me?”
He gestured toward the deformed shape in his coffee. Jongin’s heart skipped a beat, although bewilderment was still occupying the majority of his brain.
“Uh, sure.”
“Cool. So…” Sehun hurriedly unlocked his phone — he needed two attempts — tapped on it a few times, and handed it to Jongin. The screen read New Contact.
Jongin entered his name and number in a daze and gave Sehun back his phone. Just when Sehun had put some cash next to his coffee and got ready to stand up, a flash of gray shot past Jongin and landed on the table.
“Holy shit!” squeaked Sehun and jumped out of his chair entirely, taking a stumbling step backward as Pan gracefully arched her back and sniffed at his cup. “S-see you soon!”
With that, he turned and dashed out the door.
Jongin stared after him for a few moments. Then he shook his head and collected the money. Ten thousand won for a latte. He wasn’t sure if Sehun had meant to tip this generously or if he had left the change behind out of pure fear — however, it looked like there was a chance Jongin could ask him about it soon.
As it sank in, he couldn’t help the giddy wave of excitement fluttering in his chest. He went back to the counter just when Chanyeol turned to leave, the other two already at the door. There was a pleased smile on Baekhyun’s face and a dreamy look in his eyes.
“So?” he asked.
The door fell shut.
Jongin shrugged as he emptied Sehun’s cup into the sink, trying to act nonchalant but knowing he was failing miserably. “I got his number.”
Smugness sneaked into Baekhyun’s expression. “I knew it.”
“And what are you grinning at?” Jongin quickly asked back before Baekhyun could start teasing him.
It worked, as Baekhyun’s smile softened into something much sweeter, although still undeniably mischievous. “Well, Chanyeol may or may not have asked me to cat-sit his cat.”
Jongin raised his eyebrows. “Whoa,” he muttered. “About time if you ask me.”
“I guess. Now I’m actually looking forward to my study date tonight. I really didn’t feel like Plato, but now we’ll have other things to philosophize about and debate the probability of existence of.”
“Yeah, Chanyeol’s abs.”
Baekhyun spluttered but was immediately back to grinning like a Cheshire cat. “I was thinking more along the lines of chance and destiny, but that works too.”
“Isn’t your buddy sick of you babbling on about a guy he’s never seen by now?” mused Jongin.
Baekhyun waved his hand as though that were a ridiculous notion. “Oh no, he’s all about it. I’m pretty sure I haven’t even told him Chanyeol’s name, but he’s eating it up like some kind of TV drama. Anyway, you gotta let me know how your thing turns out, alright?”
“Okay.”
“Hey, guys, it’s almost closing time,” called Yixing, who was hurrying toward them, still bustling despite the late hour. Both of them snapped to attention. “If you’re not busy, one of you can do the litter boxes.”
“I did them earlier today,” Jongin said instantly.
Baekhyun sighed and trudged off to the side room without another word.
When Yixing was busy wiping the tables with a cloth, only pausing to give Luobo an affectionate cuddle, Jongin stole a glance at his phone. His heartbeat sped up and a grin spread across his face. There was a message by an unknown number that started with Hi! Sorry about earlier, I was just kind of nervous because…
He was about to click on it when swift steps approached. Hastily, he stuffed his phone in his pocket and began wiping down the counter so Yixing wouldn’t send him to the litter boxes after all. He would read the rest later.
Sehun was sort of a weird guy, Jongin thought to himself. A sweet, weird guy who was adorably scared of cats. And he had a dog.
And Jongin had his number.