Chapter Text
Gi-hun stumbled toward the cafe, nervous to look at his watch. He had woken up more than ten minutes past when his shift was supposed to start and he knew his co-worker wouldn’t be happy with him. Realistically, he knew that Sae-byeok wouldn’t stay mad at him for long, but he didn’t like to disappoint the young girl. Especially since she and Ji-yeong were kind enough to give him this job at their shared coffee shop because they knew he was struggling to get a job and keep it.
What the two girls had failed to prepare for, was Gi-hun’s inability to get up early in the mornings. Working morning shifts really wasn’t for him, but he would take what he could get at this point. After his mom passed, motivation for work was really hard for him. He knew that his co-workers were aware of this. They wouldn’t hold it against him, but he couldn’t help feeling extremely guilty for every shift he showed up late to.
Once he pushed open the door, he walked to the front counter, slipping behind it and avoiding eye contact with Sae-byeok, he went to the back to grab his apron to complete his uniform. He then heard her sigh in annoyance at his tardiness. He did feel guilty, but the exhaustion was slightly distracting him from the feeling.
As he peeked out of the door separating the back from the front counter, he made eye contact with Sae-byeok as she shook her head lightly while leaned against the counter with her arms crossed over her chest. “You’re seventeen minutes late Gi-hun,” she scolded the older man, the lack of bitterness evident in her voice.
He brought a hand up to brush through his hair while explaining, “I didn’t sleep well last night I just-”
Interrupting him, she said “I don’t really want to hear it,” she started cleaning off the counter with an old rag, muttering about how the closing shift last night didn’t clean properly.
Gi-hun chuckled a little and he took the rag from her hands and cleaned off the counter for her. If he could remember correctly, Sang-woo was working the closing shift last night and he was known for not fully cleaning everything. He remembers when he would work shifts with Sang-woo, the man always impatient to get home. It has been a while since they’ve worked together, thanks to Sae-byeok. Ever since he and Sang-woo ended their relationship two months ago, they haven’t worked a single shift together. Thanks to that, he had been taking up morning shifts to avoid the other man.
He tried to think about something else by glancing at the clock which read 5:48 AM. They had twelve minutes until they opened and he had a feeling he was not going to have a good shift today. He did typically enjoy his shifts with Sae-byeok, the girl was like a daughter to him and he loved spending time with her. But today she seemed a little more frustrated than normal, so he was prepared to take on a lot of the hard work for the day so she could relax.
He brought his hands up to his face and took a deep breath, preparing for the day's work.
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Gi-hun walked toward the front door as the clock struck 6 AM. Neither he nor Sae-byeok were awake enough to deal with angry customers wanting their coffee to be made perfectly, but they wanted their money so they would deal with it.
As he flipped over the sign to signify that they were officially open for the day, he saw a man already walking up to the door. He groaned in annoyance, upset that he wasn’t going to get a couple more minutes of peace and quiet to prepare himself. He walked quickly to get back behind the counter before the man got inside. Once he made it, the bell on the door told him that the man was already inside the cafe.
Gi-hun glanced up to take a look at the man, to see if it was any regular of theirs, but he did not recognize him. The man’s hair was neatly laying against his forehead, and he was dressed in nice clothing; a dark blue button up, which hugged tightly to his arm muscles, was tucked into black slacks, also hugging tightly to his muscular frame.
Gi-hun’s eyebrow furrowed in annoyance at the man’s put together appearance. Who the hell can be this put together at six in the morning- let alone look so awake before their coffee.
He ignored his annoyance and tried to muster up a friendly voice as he greeted the man, “Good morning, welcome in sir,” he tried to let out a small friendly smile which he was sure didn’t look enthusiastic.
Once the man came up to the counter fully he returned the greeting, “Good morning, having a good day?” His voice was insanely smooth and Gi-hun could swear he felt his heart flutter a little bit.
The man’s eyes didn’t leave Gi-hun’s once as he replied, “Mhm, what can I make for you today?” His eyes traveled to examine the man’s appearance once more, avoiding the intense eye contact. He knew that it was considered rude to not ask how the other man’s day was- but he couldn’t really care enough.
“Plain black coffee please,” the man’s face was still stone cold, displaying no emotion, “large please.”
Gi-hun resisted the urge to roll his tired eyes at the disgusting order. He himself preferred sweeter drinks, especially if it was coffee. He really disliked the bitter taste of coffee and enjoyed trying to mask the flavor with all sorts of syrups and sugars. Gi-hun nodded at the man though, “Alright that’ll be 4,000 won,” he hesitantly added, “can you give me a name for that order?”
The man nodded as he pulled out his wallet, handing Gi-hun the money while stating, “In-ho.”
Gi-hun took the money and nodded, “Alright, give me a couple minutes and I’ll have that ready for you.” He watched as the man simply walked towards one of the tables in the corner to wait for his beverage.
As he started to work on the drink, he couldn’t help but allow his eyes to wander back over the man. He watched as the guy scrolled on his phone, not bothered about anything else going on. Gi-hun felt a little guilty as his eyes traveled across the man’s body, admiring the muscles that caused his clothing to be tight. He felt himself lick his lips as he averted his eyes in guilt, it wasn’t fair of him to look at this stranger in this way. Shaking his head, he finished making the coffee and put the lid on the top.
Gi-hun walked toward the man slowly, “Sir, your coffee is ready.”
In-ho glanced up and nodded while standing up, taking the coffee from Gi-hun’s hand, their finger’s brushing against one another. “Thank you,” the hard voice said.
Before In-ho turned around to head out the door, Gi-hun pretended not to notice the way the shorter man’s eyes traveled up and down his body not just once, but twice.