Work Text:
“Maeum- ssi , I want to borrow some more comic books. Can I visit the cafe after work or should I go another day?” Junyeong asked as he was getting ready to leave for the day.
“You can go after work. Actually you can just come with me. I was just about to leave,”
Junyeong nodded his head, a small smile forming on his face. ‘ Yes! I have more time to spend with her, ’ he thought.
They got off the taxi once they were about 5 minutes away.
“You can’t drive down the alley since it’s too narrow. We’ll have to walk the rest of the way. Is that fine with you?”
“I’ve been here before so I know. It’s fine. It’s just a 5 minute walk,”
They walked slower than usual. Was it because they wanted to stay together for longer even if it was just a few minutes more?
“So.. Why a comic cafe? Your family could have opened any other store. Why a comic cafe?
“I don’t know if you remember, but in our first interview with Neon, I said that webtoons helped me through hard times. My parents were also aware of that fact so they decided to open a comic cafe, hoping it’d help other people like it helped me,”
“That’s… very nice of them,” Junyeong said after listening to why her family owned a comic cafe. ‘Her parents are warm-hearted too, ” He smiled to himself, realizing why Maeum is the way she is.
‘Wait. No. I was almost beaten to death by her father. And her mother and sister didn’t help either. Do I really want to go back to that place? ’
Junyeong stopped in his tracks, pondering if he should go or have Maeum pick any and give it to him tomorrow.
“Why’d you stop? We’re almost there,” Maeum walked back to him, tugging at his sleeve as a way to tell him to start walking.
‘Why does she keep making my heart flutter? ’ His hand made its way to his chest.
‘Calm down Goo Junyeong. You have to stay professional ’ He told himself.
Just as she said, they reached in a few minutes.
“I’m home!” she yelled as she pushed open the doors to the cafe, Junyeong following from behind.
To her surprise, the store was empty. “Oh. Why isn’t Nuri at the counter?” She asked while walking around the empty store.
“Junyeong- ssi. Sit here while I find out why she isn’t here,”
Junyeong nodded, taking a seat on the familiar couch. Maeum left in search of her sister.
A few minutes go by and she’s back.
“So where is she?”
“She went out with her friends and told my mom to take care of the store but then my dad came home so my mom had to distract him so he wouldn't find out about my job. And that is why the store is empty,” She said all in one breath.
“It's good to know that she's fine. Now drink some water. You said all that in one breath. You must be out of breath,” He pulled out a water bottle from his bag, opening it for her.
“Thank you,” She said while accepting his water bottle.
‘She looks pretty while drinking water too ,’ he thought to himself. His feelings for her grew by the second. Anything she did, he fell harder for her.
Was it even possible for someone to like another person this much?
Junyeong tried brushing away his thoughts, and asked “What do you recommend from all the comics here?”
“What genres are you interested in? I’ll give you suggestions based on what you like,”
“I like… ” he paused to think, “ anything you like ,”
‘If I want her to like me, I have to show her that I’m interested in her,’
“O- Oh. What do I like? Ummm that’s a bit hard to answer,” she was a stuttering mess. Her cheeks were red and anyone could tell she was shy. Junyeong had no idea such words could make someone shy and stutter.
“Just what do you like reading in your free time? Or what comics were the ones that helped you through your hard times?”
“Ahh. That’s what you meant. Yes. Um. I like reading romance comics in my free time. They also helped me when I had a hard time. All the heart fluttering scenes made me forget about my pain. It did make me feel a bit lonely since I didn’t have anyone who could do those sweet acts to me,” She said with a smile on her face, a bit embarrassed of sharing that fact with him.
“Which romance comics were your favorite? I’ll read one of them,” He offered.
“I have a lot but for now I’ll give you one. It’s called ‘A Business Proposal,’. This girl goes on a blind date for her friend but the man at the date is the new CEO of her company. The main couple have such cute scenes together. The second couple too,”
She explained as she led him to where the comic was.
“Can you show me some of the scenes? I’m a bit curious now,” He asked as he followed her.
“Of course I can! Wait a minute,” She searched for her favorite chapter while he waited right by her.
“This one! She accidentally kissed him when she was drunk and he was telling her how his lips were expensive and all and wants her to pay him back. But you see she doesn’t know how, so suddenly he leans closer and says, “How about I pay your lips a service?”. My heart exploded while reading this scene. I want to experience this at least once in my life,”
Maeum looked up to Junyeong, shocked at how close they were. She took a step back, only for him to take one closer.
“Maeum- ssi. How about I pay your lips a service?” His arm found its place on the shelf behind her, leaving her no way to get out.
His gaze dropped from her eyes to her lips as he inched closer to her. “Hmm? Can I?” His deep voice asked as he was one breath away from her.
All Maeum could do was nod her head. She had never been this close to anyone. Not even her past boyfriends.
Making the first move made his heart explode. The lips he longed for were finally against his. Maeum slowly gave in as her hands dropped the comic to grab a fistfull of his shirt. She savored the kiss as her hands moved up his shirt to the back of his neck.
“Junyeong- ssi… ”
He pulled her closer, leaving no space between them and for once, he no longer felt empty. This kiss, her, everything in this moment made him feel complete.
He swallowed his name and kissed her harder, tongue tracing against her lips causing her to open up.
Her gasp makes him go weak. They slowly pulled apart. Their pants filled up the silent cafe.
“Maeum- ssi, ever since the day you came into my life, I’ve learned to appreciate the little things in life. You and your words, your actions, just everything about you made me a better version of myself. Your existence itself makes me want to live longer and stay with you. I like you. I like you so much that I want to continue working with you, spending my free time with you, doing everything I can with you,”
Junyeong’s confession took Maeum’s breath away. No one has ever told her anything like that before.
“Junyeong- ssi, I like you too . I don’t know if you noticed but I’ve been trying to spend more time with you through work. I brought you along to other artists' houses so we could spend a few minutes alone while going there. I, too, started seeing things in a different light after meeting you. Your existence just makes me happy and I like that we’re working together,”
A loud bang could be heard behind them causing them to pull apart to find the source of sound, only for it to be her sister and mother.
“It is not what it looks like,” Maeum tried explaining while getting closer to her sister and mother.
“Sure it isn’t,” her mother and sister said in sync as they walked back out of the cafe.
“It isn’t!” She yelled. Junyeong smiled at the sight of her bickering with her sister and mother.
“I didn’t think we’d get caught so soon. It’s only our first day,”
“It’s our first day?” he asked with a confused face.
“Yes?! You confessed. I confessed. We’re dating now,” She said with a straightforward face.
“Okay. Does that mean I can hug you, hold your hand, and kiss you whenever I want?”
“Mhm. I’ll do the same to you,” She replied as she got closer to him, wrapping her arms around his neck while he wrapped around her waist.
“Thank you for accepting my confession,” he whispered, hugging her tighter as if he didn’t want the moment to end.
“Thank you for accepting mine,” Maeum whispered sweetly into his ears.
He pulled away and pointed to his cheek, “I want a kiss here,”
“Where?”
“Right here. On my dimple,”
“Did I mention how much I love your dimples? They’re so cute and I want to kiss them everytime you smile,”
“You can do that whenever you want now,” he smiled brightly at her as she kissed his dimples.
He cupped her face and pulled her in for another kiss, not knowing her father was watching from the door.
“On Maeum! What are you doing!”