Chapter Text
Kim Gyuvin was a month away from starting his university freshman year. While most of his friends were out travelling and enjoying their freedom before being locked down by university assignments and projects, Gyuvin chose to work full-time at his family-owned café to earn some extra pocket money. To be completely honest, working was never his thing, being the only son to parents who are co-owners of South Korea’s largest search engine company, he was spoonfed everything he wanted. But he wanted to have a taste of adulthood and reality, hence why he’s hit with the smell of coffee at 11 in the morning.
Gyuvin’s morning was dull, as usual. Up until now, he’s faced with sleep-deprived workers, university students with piles of files in their arms, and occasionally couples and high schoolers. But today, on the 1st of February, at exactly 11:56am, the café doors opened to a being so majestic and mythical that he questioned reality. Was he in a lucid dream?
The man, wearing a long black cashmere coat, walked into the café with an immaculate aura that turned heads, including his and his workers’. His hair was blonde, and it was slicked back with gel, and Gyuvin could see every strand of hair on his head. He had minimal makeup on, but still doesn’t change the fact that his visuals were as if the Gods spent decades sculpting his face to perfection. His red bottoms blessed the floors as he walked towards the cashier with his hands in his coat pocket.
He gave Gyuvin a soft smile before looking through the menu, and Gyuvin could die at how good his cologne smelled. Gyuvin just wanted to hug him tightly and inhale all of his scent until there was nothing left to smell—
“ Hello?” The mythical being in front of Gyuvin spoke, a look of confusion on his face. His workers were eyeing him from their stations, giggling quietly.
Holy, even his voice sounded good— wait. Shit, was he staring too much? He swore everything was frozen, and he definitely did not hear him talking.
“ Sorry, what can I get you?” He finally snapped back into reality, flashing his customer smile to the cute man.
The man cleared his throat. “ Can I have a strawberry latte to-go?” He asked politely. “ And can you add strawberry drizzle with a few slices of strawberry slices?”
Damn. Gyuvin didn’t expect this beautiful stranger with a face so fierce it would scare away a literal tiger, would be this obsessed with strawberries. It was the first time he’s heard the word ‘strawberries’ being used so much in a sentence.
Nonetheless, he nodded. “ Alright. Cash or card?” He asked, and Ricky handed him a black card. As expected. While he was dealing with the payment, he took the chance to start small talk with him. I mean, a beautiful man like this comes by once in a blue moon. Even if he embarrasses himself, at least he talked to him. “ You must love strawberries.”
The man giggled, and Gyuvin felt literal butterflies flying around in his tummy. “ Yeah. Doesn’t suit me, huh?”
“ It’s cute. And interesting.” He said and handed him his card back. “ Can I have a name for the order? We’ll call you when your drink is done.” He asked as he took a cup and a marker pen.
“ Ricky.”
“ Rwik, okay.” Gyuvin said and wrote ‘rwik’ on the plastic cup, with a ‘<3’ beside his name. Ricky gave him a smile before walking towards one of the empty seats, sitting down to wait for his order.
“ Someone’s lovestruck.” The barista teased Gyuvin. “ You were stunned, literally.”
Gyuvin gave her a dirty look. “ What? He’s hot.” Gyuvin said, leaning on the counter. Just then, the door opened to another handsome man, not enough to leave him stunned though. But he went straight towards Ricky’s table with a wide smile, instead of the cashier. Gyuvin and his two workers made eye contact, before the two showed Gyuvin a thumbs-down. Boohoo, Gyuvin’s LAFS ( love at first sight ) is sadly taken by an equally handsome man.
In a few minutes, Ricky’s order was done. Instead of calling his name, Gyuvin went to deliver the drink to his table. “ Your order, Mr. Strawberry Lover.” He said with a smile. Ricky replied with a “ Thank you, Mr. Cashier.” Gyuvin was obviously flirting, but the man next to Ricky didn’t seem to mind. Instead, he was eyeing Ricky and Gyuvin with a knowing glare. That somehow made Gyuvin relieved, thinking that the man was probably just a friend. The two then got up to leave, and Gyuvin’s few minutes of thrill was over.
What’s sure is that he’s definitely marking this day on his calendar. He will also be telling his friends about this encounter.
Once his shift ended, he went home and went straight to his room. He plopped onto his bed and opened his phone, then went to Instagram where his dead group chat awaits him for its revival.
two baddies, where’s the porsche? (6)
gyuvinkim_
guess what
ggeonzz
you finally beat up that karen?
gyuvinkim_
no what????
ggeonzz
ok then im not interested
gyuvinkim_
fuck you
anyways
THE HOTTEST GUY JUST CAME TO MY CAFE
h4nyujin
GAY GAY GAY
sungha0bin
Yujin don’t be mean😡
Anyways, who is it?
taeriihii
omg teaaa
who who
turning into an owl fr
jiwoongkim
Cute
h4nyujin
GAY
taeriihii
SHUT UP TWERP
gyuvinkim_
his name’s ricky
istg he’s like an actual model
he had blonde hair and holy he was hot as fuck
i swear he came in with runway bgm playing
and he smelled so fucking good
ggeonzz
runway bgm being the cafe’s sound system btw
u’re overreacting
gyuvinkim_
geez pessimistic fuck
but I SWEAR HE’S SO HOT I WAS ABOUT TO BUST THEN AND THERE
h4nyujin
EW
taeriihii
any other information?
sungha0bin
Wait
Ricky?
As in
Hold on
@shenrickyshim
This Ricky?
“ Holy fuck.” Gyuvin cursed as he pressed the username. It was him. The Ricky from the café. 30.7k followers and 204 following. Damn. His feed came straight out of Pinterest. It was focused on a few monotone shades, and there were more pictures of artworks and views than his own face. There were also a few group photos, and the equally but not as handsome man that was with him in the café was in most of them. That man is apparently his cousin, Zhang Hao, who is also Hanbin’s — his childhood best friend’s — boyfriend, which also explains how Hanbin knows Ricky. How small the world is.
Here’s what Gyuvin gathered from stalking his page. He’s 20, the same age as him. He’s from Shanghai, used to go to an international school in Jeju-do, and is soon majoring in fine arts in the same university he’s going to be in a month. He’s hella loaded, though it’s unclear what his family does. He models sometimes, not often. In short, he’s perfect. Too perfect to be associated with Gyuvin. Dreams of him hugging said man? Crushed.
Nevertheless, he didn’t hesitate in following him. I mean, the man had 20k followers. He probably won’t even notice Gyuvin following him. Gyuvin, with 204 followers and 83 following, and 3 posts. Gyuvin was nothing compared to him.
That’s funny. His followers went up to 30.8k after he followed him. The number seemed oddly familiar though.
two baddies, where’s the porsche? (6)
gyuvinkim_
he’s perfect
taeriihii
well shii he is beautiful
he looks gay to me
jiwoongkim
And what are you going to do with that information?
taeriihii
nothing! heh
h4nyujin
GAY
ggeonzz
can we kick yujin out of the group?
but are you sure he’s real
he doesn’t look real
the matt guy looks real though
he’s cute
h4nyujin
GAY
taeriihii
someone teach the baby other words
gyuvinkim_
IM TELLING U THE FIRST TIME I SAW HIM I THOUGHT I WAS DREAMING
sungha0bin
He’s a cool guy! Haohao brought him to our hangouts a few times before
He’s way different than what he looks like
Want me to set you guys up?
gyuvinkim_
NO
ME SCARED
ME NOT SUITABLE
BYE
With that, Gyuvin swiped away his Instagram tab, and went to scroll through Tiktok. Though that didn’t help him to stop thinking about Ricky. His for you page was filled with strawberry delights, and cats. Ricky loves strawberries, and oddly yet cutely resembles a cat. Drowning at the frustration of a stranger infiltrating his peaceful mind, he threw his phone to a side and finally went to freshen up.
Meanwhile, his phone awaits a notification he’d never expected to get.
shenrickyshim started following you. now
—
Ricky came back to his penthouse after a long day. His cousin, Zhang Hao, somehow can’t be left alone for a day, so when his boyfriend couldn’t be with him today, Ricky was his victim. Ricky’s heels still ached from all the walking they did in the mall, but at least it was a walk of retail therapy. Seeing the shopping bags scattered on the floor gave him a sense of relief.
He rummaged through one of the shopping bags and found the cup. The cup of strawberry latte from the café with the cute cashier. The cup that he washed after finishing it, to bring it home. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t want to throw it away. Maybe it’s because of the cute way the cashier wrote his name? Yeah, that’s definitely it. He placed the cup prettily on the shelf where he stored his wine glasses.
What Ricky remembered about him was that his name was Gyuvin. He saw the name tag hanging loosely on his t-shirt, and he somehow remembered it. Besides his name, he was also tall, and had a small face and soft puppy-like features. His fluffy hair made him even cuter. Like a toy poodle. A cute, tiny, puppy.
Ricky smiled to himself as he laid on his couch, staring at the ceiling while his mind replayed the short encounter in the café. How does a stranger stay in his mind for so long? It wasn’t like this with his ex-boyfriends, or the short flings from clubs. He brushed the thought of wanting to ruffle the cute cashier’s hair. He’s probably straight, anyway. He stopped daydreaming about said cute man, and went to tend to his phone that was vibrating non-stop.
aliens (3)
z.han.ghao
I SWEAR HE DOESNT WANT ME ANYMORE
mattseok
LOLLLLL STOP
shenrickyshim
woah what’s going on
z.han.ghao
HANBIN HATES ME
mattseok
nah he’s just overreacting
hanbin’s not replying to him despite being online lol
shenrickyshim
we all know the man’s downbad for u ge
he probably left his chat open
z.han.ghao
nvm he replied lol
ANYWAYSSS
guess what
mattseok
OOO IS THIS ABT THE CAFE GUY
shenrickyshim
how did u know.
z.han.ghao
check my spam lol
i posted u washing the damn cup
shenrickyshim
YOU’RE CRAZY
z.han.ghao
ITS FUNNY
ALSO
cute cashier’s apparently my binnie’s childhood friend
mattseok
wait fr???
holy world is so small
z.han.ghao
yep
and he talked abt ricky in their gc LOL
shenrickyshim
wait rlly?
what did he say
z.han.ghao
idk he’s not telling me
mattseok
how cute is this dude to make ricky so whipped
z.han.ghao
wait
@gyuvinkim_
stalk away
mattseok
he look like a damn puppy
z.han.ghao
IM SAYINGGG
Ricky tapped into the handle. 204 followers, 82 following. 3 posts. 2 highlights. His feed was rather normal. All three posts and his highlights were of his friends and family, and his peculiar looking dog, which was also his profile picture. He looked cute even in the photos, though cuter in real life. Ricky learned from stalking his page that the cute cashier loves mangoes. There were mangoes in almost every single post. Ricky could also tell he was rich, judging by his mansion of a home, the amount of charity galas he attended, and the designer clothes. It wasn’t obvious, you’d have to be well-versed in fashion to know it was designer. Lowkey, just his taste.
He was hesitating on whether to follow him, but before he could even think, a notification came through.
gyuvinkim_ started following you. now
Holy shit. Was he caught? Did he accidentally like a story or a post? He definitely didn’t. What the hell does he do now? How did he find him?
aliens (3)
shenrickyshim
uh he followed me
mattseok
UH???
that’s actually crazy
he just found u like that
z.han.ghao
binnie sent him ur ig lol
shenrickyshim
oh
well wtf do i do
do i uh
um
wtf
mattseok
girl what’s up with you
shenrickyshim
IDK
mattseok
follow him back???
or does mr.influencer wanna stay lowkey
shenrickyshim
i’m not like that hello
z.han.ghao
AHHH DO I SENSE A LOVE STORY
shenrickyshim
no wtf
he’s just cute
that’s it
mattseok
his friend’s cute tho
ggeonzz
he’s private ughh i wanna stalk
Ricky rolled his eyes at his unhelpful friends. Sure, he has quite a number of followers compared to his friends. But following Gyuvin back won’t mean anything… right? Okay, chill out Ricky. Think of it as… a fan! Yes. Following back a fan. Yes, that’s it.
With that mindset, Ricky followed him back. Funny thing is, his follower count went up to 205. Obviously. But the number seemed oddly familiar.
Little did they know that this would be the start of an irreversible change of events in the peak of their lives.