INDEXChapter 12
Junho walked into the coffeehouse, caught glimpse of Hyekyung, and walked back out.
It was too late, though; Sungmo had already seen him and was mouthing something and waving both hands. Junho closed his eyes and envisioned huge streaks of dust and grime on the glass doors obscuring his vision. But nope, the doors were so clean that you wouldn't even know they were there if it wasn't for the peeling stick-on letters declaring "Cup-Cup Coffeehouse."
Kyunghoon popped his head out the door, said "What are you waiting for?" and dragged Junho in against his will. Junho and Kyunghoon were suddenly standing in front of Sungmo, a bunch of girls, and Hyekyung. Junho's hand automatically went behind his head and he ran his fingers through his hair.
"Just getting to know your beautiful little lady here," Sungmo grinned and gestured to a girl that looked to be all crimson cheeks and not much else.
Struggling to keep even a crumb's worth of his dignity, Junho sputtered, "Beautiful?! Hardly. She could at least wear some makeup to cover up those dark circles under her eyes or...or that huge zit on her nose...or to just cover up her...her ugliness!"
Hyekyung's hands flew up to her nose.
"HEY! I don't have a zit!"
"Yeah, you do!"
"No, I don't! Maybe I should call you Pinocchio instead of Rumpelstiltskin!"
"You have pet names for each other? That's so cute!" Kyunghoon chortled.
"Aww!" All the girls cooed together.
"It's NOT cute," Hyekyung and Junho both said at the same time. Each shot the other a dirty look for daring to even think the same thing.
"It's like they read each other's minds! They're so, like, meant to be!" Gyuri squeaked.
"Shut up," Somin said, seeing Hyekyung's expression of horror. She couldn't help but mutter, though, "It is pretty cute..."
Hyekyung snatched up her cup of Venetian Cappuccino. "Oh, I've drank all of my drink. I guess I'll just get going."
"Oh, don't be ridiculous. Stay around for a little while. Junho will buy you another one." Kyunghoon had always bragged that he had a perfect poker face, but he couldn't help the smirk growing on his face.
The girls acted like they were watching a drama when the two main characters finally get together. Squeals and comments like, "This is so romantic! Oh, I'm so jealous of Hyekyung for getting a boy like that! If only I could have a love like that!" filled the coffeehouse.
Seven sets of eyes gazed expectantly at Junho (and many more were peeking at him surreptitiously). Only Hyekyung looked at the floor, her head deliberately turned away from Junho. She pulled at her hair, unraveling one of her braids. The loose hair fell in front of her face, covering those dark circles that Junho had pointed out.
Hyekyung was quiet, and even though Junho hadn't known her long, he knew that when she was quiet, something was wrong. Junho squatted a bit so he could look up into the darkness that hid her face.
"I'll buy you one if you like."
"You don't have to..."
Junho cupped his hands and leaned in to whisper, "Can you just order one so that we can get this over with?"
"Okay...a Venetian Cappuccino."
Junho didn't even take a second to realize that he had never heard of a Venetian Cappuccino before. He strolled over to the counter and said in a loud, clear voice, "One Venetian Cappuccino, please."
And in a voice just as loud and clear, "What the heck is a Venetian Cappuccino?"
Junho was still, stuck in the pose of machismo that he had been striking a second before.
Hyemin came over after hearing "Venetian Cappuccino" in a voice that most definitely was not Hyekyung's. She had been ignoring the little scene that had been going on over there, but at hearing those words...
"I'll take care of it," Hyemin told her coworker. She turned to face this stranger boy who knew about Hyekyung's Venetian Cappuccino. "A Venetian Cappuccino? For you?"
"No, for...this girl over there."
"Ah."
Hyekyung really screwed it up this time...She's always made a fool of herself, but now she's bringing this poor boy into it?
Hyemin made a hot cocoa and with a little bit of frustration, snapped the lid into place. The boy didn't meet her eyes as he took out his leather wallet from his back pocket.
"No."
He looked up. "No?"
"The girl you're bringing this for always gets them for free."
Hyemin saw just a second of confusion before the boy was once again looking at the floor. He then quietly took the cup and walked away as the coffeehouse suddenly became noisy again.
Strangely, though, the corner that Junho returned to was not noisy. Junho ignored the gapes that he was getting and headed straight to Hyekyung. He wrapped her small hands around the cup and said, "Be careful. It's hot."
"Thank you," Hyekyung said softly. She finally looked up so that everyone else could see her face. "I need to be going now. Junho, maybe you want to come with me?"
Junho raised his eyebrows, but he needed to get out of there.
"Sure. See you guys later."
The two walked out of the coffeehouse, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Even so, all of the coffeehouse was watching. And all of the girls noticed how his hand rested on her back - comfortably, tenderly...and perfectly.