There was something about cafés that appealed to Junhyeok. It could be the cosy atmosphere, or the coffee aroma, or even the baristas working there, it was difficult to pinpoint. He glanced around Starbucks, watching as customers slowly filtered through the entrance. His eyes narrowed in on a couple sitting near the windows as they conversed. Junhyeok smiled as the couple exchanged shy eye contact and hesitant touches. They were still at the acquaintance stage of their relationship, he thought. Next, his eyes flitted to a lone woman sitting just behind the couple. She was engrossed in the book she had up her nose as she took a tiny sip of her iced americano. It was moments like this that had Junhyeok grinning at the serenity and warmth enveloping the café.

A light ringing of the bells signalled the arrival of another customer and Junhyeok turned his attention towards a young brunette walking towards the counter. She seemed to be around his age.

“Hi, may I help you?” Junhyeok questioned politely, trying to appear as professional as possible.

“Hi, may I get a Cotton Candy Frappe?” The lady flashed a small smile and handed a $10 note to him.

“Sure thing. May I get your name please.” Junhyeok had to admit, he was a tiiiiny bit interested in her and he was secretly thankful that his job entitled him ask for his customers’ names without appearing to be creepy.

“Honey.” Junhyeok blinked.

“Honey?” He double-confirmed as the lady nodded her head.

Junhyeok quickly scribbled down Honey’s name onto the plastic cup before accepting the $10 note and returning her the change. He managed to sneak a lingering glance at Honey one last time as she sauntered to the pick-up counter to wait for her drink.

~~~

“Excuse me?” Junhyeok immediately recognized her voice and turned to face a pissed off Honey. Uh oh.

“Y-Yes?” He stuttered out nervously and rubbed his beginning to clam up palms on his uniform shirt.

“What is this?” Honey shoved her drink in his face and pointed to her scribbled name. Junhyeok peered at his writing ‘Hoeny’ before his eyes widened and his expression slowly morphed into one of fear and guilt.

“Shit- I mean. Sorry, I didn’t realize- it wasn’t on purpose I swear!” Junhyeok shook his head and hands fervently to prove his point.

“Really? You didn’t mean it?” Honey squinted at him and Junhyeok thought it was adorable- No! What was he thinking! He mentally chided himself and flashed her a sheepish smile.

“I didn’t! I could buy you another drink as an apology?” Junhyeok pleaded. He couldn’t afford for her to bring it up to his superior and stand to lose his job. This was when he heard a laughter almost so pure and angelic, he couldn’t believe his ears.

“I was just kidding! Oh god. You should’ve seen your reaction!” Honey laughed, leaning against the counter for support. Junhyeok was taken aback for a moment before he caught on and proceeded to laugh along with her. He couldn’t believe she was standing here, right in front of him and joking with him.

“Anyway, my name is Honey.” She suddenly introduced herself and emphasised her name towards the end.

“I know.” Junhyeok smiled and pointed towards her cup. As if he could ever forget her name.

“No, not honey honey.” Honey giggled and motioned for him to pass her the marker in his apron pocket. Hani. She wrote out on a Starbucks napkin she grabbed earlier on.

“Oh. Sorry!” Junhyeok apologized once again. Dammit. Why did he keep screwing up in front of her?

“It’s okay, people usually tend to misspell my name as Honey anyway.” Hani grinned widely and shrugged it off. “I have to go now. It was nice speaking to you, Junhyeok.” She proceeded to walk towards the entrance before he could even respond.

How did she even know his name? Junhyeok thought for a minute before he glanced down at his nametag. Oh.

~~~

3 weeks flew by quickly and Junhyeok took notice of the little things he didn’t notice before. Oh, but it wasn’t little at all. He found out that Hani would come in on Mondays at 2pm, Thursdays at 3.45pm and Fridays at 6.15pm. She would order Cotton Candy Frappe on Mondays, Raspberry juice on Thursdays and a cup of their specialty Signature Hot Chocolate on Fridays. Junhyeok would be lying if he said he wasn’t looking forward to Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays.

“Yo, are you crushing on that pretty lady?” His colleague, Brian, nudged his side teasingly as he caught Junhyeok’s gaze lingering on Hani’s form every 5 minutes. It was another Friday evening and on Friday evenings, Hani tended to stay seated in the café until Junhyeok’s shift ended. Junhyeok glared at Brian and tried his best to fight the blush that was threatening to rise on his cheeks.

It was at this moment that Hani decided to turn towards him and make eye contact while giving a small smile, resulting in Junhyeok turning into a tomato. He quickly looked down and pretended to be busy all the while cursing his colleagues who were playfully whistling and coughing at him and his silly crush.

“Hey!” Junhyeok’s head whipped up in surprise as he saw that Hani had moved towards the table nearest to the counter.

“H-Hi.” He struggled to answer, mentally punching himself for the lame reply.

“Can I call you yolk?” Hani asked almost excitedly.

“Sure?” He nodded unsurely. “Why-”

“Hey Hey! I need to pee. Can you cover me for 10 minutes?” Another voice sounded from behind Junhyeok, causing him to groan internally at the interruption.

“Nope, I’m busy.” Junhyeok replied and smiled at Hani, preparing to continue their conversation.

“But you’re just flirting with another customer!” Sungjin whined and squatted down suddenly, clenching his face and wiggling his body.

“Okay, okay fine.” Junhyeok rolled his eyes, wondering why he was friends with Sungjin again. He watched as Sungjin made a dash toward the bathroom before he turned to look at Hani who was trying to stifle her laughter. He smiled at her futile attempts and shook his head, mouthing “I don’t know him” which broke her laughter free.

“If you were wondering, that was his ‘pee dance’,” Junhyeok quoted. “One of his many embarrassing moments.”

“Do I even want to know?” Her eyes crinkled up at the ends as she let out a small laughter again.

“He’s Sungjin. You can also call him Sungjina. He likes being a princess and all that jazz.” Wonpil introduced Sungjin to Hani first, followed by himself and the rest of the workers: Brian, Jae and Dowoon. They all replied with a nod or a simple “hey” while Brian winked at her playfully.

~~~

Do you know that feeling when you send a wrong or embarrassing text and you wish for nothing but to change your name immediately and migrate to the other end of the world because there’s no taking it back?

Junhyeok was currently experiencing that god-awful feeling as he stared at the text that read delivered at the very bottom. He scanned through his text repeatedly, wishing that Hani had miraculously lost her phone so she couldn’t read it. He had sent her a picture of a honey guide as well as a pick-up line that read: are you made of honey because you are beeautiful. - Junhyeok

Now, regret was hitting him at full force. Jae had already advised him, saying “The first text would make or break the relationship,” and he should think it through thoroughly before sending but he just had to follow through with Sungjin’s suggestion.

“Relax, just send her a simple pick-up line. It always works.” It would definitely work by making her think he was a creep. He sighed and continued staring at his work of embarrassment.

This was when the text’s status changed from delivered to seen. Junhyeok cursed once more and prayed that she wouldn’t block his number.

“Cheesy yolk.” Was her reply after exactly 3 minutes and 17 seconds of reading his text. He released a sigh of relief. Maybe Sungjin’s idea wasn’t as bad as he thought after all.

~~~

This was it.

Junhyeok forced a smile that made him look constipated as he was feeling the most nervous he has ever been throughout his whole life.

He watched as Hani grabbed her Cotton Candy Frappe from Wonpil and read over her name written on the plastic cup. Honey. As per usual. Junhyeok’s nickname for her was honey and it would never change. She was as sweet as honey, if not sweeter, and he was attracted to her like bees attracted to honey.

He watched in a daze as she walked over to him before leaning across the counter to cup his cheek and press her lips against his gently. This caused cheers to erupt from his colleagues and slaps sounded against his back. But it was as if the world was blurred out and all Junhyeok could see, hear, feel and touch was Hani, his honey. He gripped her waist gently as he responded to her kiss, not bothering about the customers he had to serve. Her cup was held tightly in one hand with the words scribbled across by a nervous Junhyeok with shaking hands a few minutes ago:

Honey,

Will you be mine?