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It was just a normal day for Joshua as a cafe owner. Since his cafe was on a busy street in Seoul right next to a well-known clothing store, he got many customers who wanted to rest after shopping for some time. Since one of his employees was sick and couldn’t come in to work, he decided to take his job as the one to get the customers’ orders at the register because he mostly just helped with little things around the cafe and didn’t have anything to do except sit in the staff room or watch how the employees were working and if the cafe was doing well or not.
Today was an especially busy day at the cafe. It was a sunday, the weather was good and it was a nice day but the main reason was that they had special pastries that were special to sundays so they always got the most customers on sundays.
After Joshua got another customer's order and pointed to a table for them to sit until their name was called out, he shouted for the next customer loudly to be heard in the noisy cafe. “Next customer please!” He opened a new tab that he used to write down new orders and lifted his head up from the screen. “Hello, welcome to the Carat Cafe! How can I…” His voice quieted now as he watched the man standing in front of him.
He had black, long hair and was wearing a full black outfit with some black fancy shoes that Joshua was sure cost as much as the rent of his apartment. He quickly stopped staring when he noticed he was just checking the man in front of him out for a good while. “Uh, yeah, how can I help you?” His voice was quieter as his face turned red when the man in front of him tried not to smile.
“I’ll get an iced americano and a pastry of your choice. I’d like my order to be prepared by you if possible, Joshua.” Joshua tried to calm his breathing now but failed when he heard the man say his name. Then the confusion hit him. “You- why do you know my name?” Even though he asked the duration all serious, the ma. in front of him chuckled at him and pointed at his shoulder. “Your name tag. The one that is pinned on your shirt.”
“Oh” Joshua said, embarrassed.
Now he was sure that his face was looking like a tomato. “Can I call you by your name or would you rather something else?” The man asked. Joshua just let out a silent yes and nodded, because he knew he couldn’t speak to that man now, and finally let out a shaky breath before asking.
“Can I get a name for your order, sir?” The man chuckled at his stuttering voice but still replied after thinking about it for a second. “You can just write Jihoon. I would rather you call me Hoonie, though.” The man, now Jihoon since Joshua got to learn his name, winked at him and waited for Joshua to type his order.
After that was done, Joshua pointed at a seat that was the furthest away from the register but Jihoon didn’t look satisfied with the seat he chose. Instead of the furthest one, he sat on the table that was right in front of the register and watched as Joshua left the register to go prepare his order for him. When Joshua was finally done with the drink, he went to the kitchen and took out the cheesecake that was only available for an hour because of how popular it was.
Normally, it was only sold on Sundays but only at a specific date and time since it was the best selling item and there were people who just came to Seoul to try their cheesecake. So it wasn’t supposed to be sold during this time but he was the owner, who was going to stop him? He got the cheesecake and walked up to Jihoon’s desk.
The customers who passed by while bringing the plate to Jihoon and saw the cheesecake were confused but couldn’t say anything since many of their customers were now regulars or already knew that he was the owner. He placed the cheesecake in front of Jihoon along with the iced americano and sat in front of him. The two man talked as Jihoon ate and Joshua supplied the drink he got for himself.
This just became their thing as a few months past by. The weather got colder as their bond got stronger and they got closer. Jihoon would visit the cafe every morning to grab a drink except a few times, the longest time Joshua didn’t see Jihoon was for a week, because of his job. Or that was just what Jihoon had told him.
Every time Jihoon would come to the cafe, Joshua would take his order which was usually an iced americano with something else that he made Joshua choose for him and they would sit and talk together about anything that was going on. It was mostly Joshua talking with Jihoon listening and nodding along.
During the last few months they spent together, Jihoon kept disappearing out of nowhere more than usual. It took him a few days, a week or two weeks at max to come back and act like nothing happened. He also kept using his job as an excuse. Joshua was curious about his job but Jihoon refused to talk about it no matter how hard he tried.
It was just a normal day for Joshua. They had a bunch of new hot coffees and other drinks to try since they’ve just released a new set for the upcoming winter. Since they have made a whole new menu, tons of people visit the cafe everyday to try these menu items. Today was a busy day once again, just a bit busier than usual because it was a sunday again.
Joshua locked the door of the cafe with trembling hands and put the keys in his jacket pocket. He breathed to his hands a few times to at least help them stay warm but when he was unsuccessful, he put his hands in his pocket and scrunched his nose. “It’s so cold.” He mumbled to himself and walked even faster.
As he stood on the road that led into two different parts, he was undecided. One of these two roads was the one he walked on every day after closing the cafe. Even though it was further away from his house because he had to follow two other roads to get to his house, it was much safer than the other option.
About the other road, it was a lot quicker since it led straight to his house but it was a bit crammed and dark compared to the other one. Joshua despised this road as much as he could because he was always afraid of the saying but he was just too cold. The tip of his nose was numb and his hands were shaking from the cold.
He just turned to the road that he stays far away for all this time and started walking towards his house. He quickly mumbled to himself some songs while watching the dark sky. It was in the middle of the night with the stars out and he was walking in a road that lead to somewhere Joshua didn’t recognize.
There were these bulky big containers with different colors just stacked up on top of each other. Standing next to these made him feel small. As he was staring at these big containers he didn’t notice he passed by some people who were standing and talking to each other.
Thinking that he would be all alone in this place, Joshua started to mumble some songs again. He stopped when he bumped into something. Someone, specifically. Joshua squeaked out and tried to get away from the person he bumped into but the man caught his arm and pulled him to a corner.
Joshua lost his balance and almost fell but managed to stand. He stared at these men with fear in his eyes. He was sure there were at least 10 people. “H-hello?” He managed to say with a shaky voice. The muscular man who seemed to have problems with his left leg while walking towards him.
“Who sent you here?” He asked, his hands behind him. “What?” Joshua answered. His voice was barely over a whisper. “I asked, who sent you here? Who’s man are you?” The other men behind him slowly raised their weapons, all directly pointed at Joshua. “Looks like you aren’t going to speak, hm?” He sounded like he was clarifying.
“I-l” Joshua tried to speak. He wanted to tell these total strangers that he was just passing by and he didn’t mean to disturb them but he was too scared to even speak. He looked at all of their faces and made a first with his hand. Of course he want going to throw a punch at the man standing in front of him.
“Do you reall want to face Jihoon? The Lee Jihoon? If I was you i’d speak but it looks like you are not going to. Not the best choice, if you ask me.” The man walked away from Joshua, back to his previous place. His back turned to him now. Joshua wasn’t sure who “Jihoon.” was but he just hoped that these men somehow knew the Jihoon he knew.
“Woozi. Shipment site right now. We have a little visitor that insists on seeing you right now.” The tallest of them all ended the call and continued to aim his weapon at Joshua along with others too.” Overbearing this, Joshua slowly slipped down and sat on the ground while pulling his knees to his stomach.
As he was trying to keep his tears from falling, he heard someone’s footsteps echoing from the containers in the dead silence of the midnight. Hearing the familiar footsteps and voice, Joshua immediately raised his head and got on his feet. “What is going on, where is our little visitor?”
When Joshua saw Jihoon walking towards him with his hands in his pocket, dressed in all black as he usually does with his long hair pinned to the sides, making his face look clear, he couldn’t help his tears from falling as he got up from the corner and ran to him. Joshua just threw himself into his arms, “Hoonie” He managed to let out while hugging Woozi.
The person who was known by everyone who stepped into mafia’s world that this team, known as SVT in the underworld, played with like it was nothing. They were on top for many mant years. Others have tried but no one managed to take their place, couldn’t even get close to their place.
Everyone knew SVT of course but they were careful around one member, specifically. Their leader, Woozi. His real name was known by all these people but no one even dared to say his name, scared to disrespect. No one tried to mess with them so Woozi’s real name was enough for anyone to go back to their own place, this one time was the exception though.
The people that he ran through aimed their weapons at Joshua. As they were shouting for him to get off Jihoon, Joshua’s body got weaker by every word. As his knees started to slowly drop to the ground, Jihoon raised one of his hands as a sign for his team members to stop and wrapped his arms around Joshua.
Slowly whispering confronting words to his ear while rubbing circles on his back with his fingers lightly. He tightened his arms when Joshua let out a painful sob, clutching to him for comfort. “He is not someone sent from others. And definitely not an enemy.” Jihoon said ona calm but also demanding tone.
“Drop your weapons. Put them away, you are scaring him.” Jihoon slowly took off his jacket and put it over Joshua’s shoulders to keep him warm. Listening to his order, everyone placed their weapons back to where they belong but didn’t dare to say anything. They all just stood still, their eyes still fixated on their leader and this man that appeared out of nowhere.
“Hoshi, get the car here and also make sure there is water and a warm blanket ready in there.” When Hoshi still didn’t move after Jihoon gave him an order, Jihoon looked at him and repeated his words while also adding something else. “What are you waiting for? Be quick.”
Hoshi immediately ran to the direction of the car after he finally came to his senses. He hadn’t seen Jihoon act this way to him or the members. Yes, he was a ruthless person as a leader but he had never heard him give someone an order that coldly. He was not the most expressive or loving person but he wasn’t heartless.
Jihoon was still holding that man in his arms when he was back with the car, just standing this time. He unlocked the door and they all got in. Luckily they had space for everyone. The ride was pretty quiet which was really unusual for them but it felt like it had to be quiet with how tense everything was right now.
After all this happened, Jihoon finally told them about Joshua and how they met. He also finally gave an explanation about him job to Joshua, something he was trying to stay away from as much as possible. Once Joshua met with all the members of the group, the members and especially Jihoon, of course visited his cafe all the time before they left for work.
Joshua’s presence helped Jihoon the most. Being a leader was not easy and he got annoyed and frustrated by anything all the time. But now with Joshua around, he was able to keep himself calm. The others were also grateful for Joshua for calming down Jihoon since they were the one to experience the aftermath of his annoyance.