⟢ cafe.

@✧ choi eunae [h] Had it been rude for Midam to stare at Eunae for so long? Perhaps it was. One could say he was entranced by the young lady before him, and for good reason. Her laughter illuminated her face, making her even more beautiful. The way her eyes sparkled and her smile widened was mesmerizing. The sight of laughter on her visage was enough for any conscious thought to escape from his mind.

"Oh yeah, I do weather," he blurted out, as if the realization had just encroached on his very sober mind. He paused for two seconds before realizing what he had said.

"I mean, yes, I'm a weatherman! It's...it's a great honor to know that people enjoy watching my segments." He almost wanted to bite his cheek for sounding so formal, though a bashful smile spread on his lips instead. "I've got a long way to go, but it's comforting to know people take well to my presence on the screen."

There were a few questions that didn't slip past the tip of his tongue, concealed by the sudden shyness that overwhelmed him in that moment, marring the tips of his ears a light vermillion. Had Eunae watched his segments before? If so, what were her thoughts?

He wondered if, by chance, they met again, he would ever pluck up the courage to ask her then. However, it was not the time to get lost in such thoughts as his ears perked in curiosity while Eunae recounted her life in the time they had been apart. A look of surprise passed his face before it turned to concern. Staring straight into Eunae's eyes, he dared to ask, "Are you okay?"

He wondered how he should answer Eunae's question about his own happenings, as his own life seemed stagnant. Instead, he shrugged slightly, "Worked on some research papers in uni, and then ended up at the local broadcast station where I...almost may have broken the toaster."

@✧ yoon midam Yoon Midam truly hadn't changed at all, at least not in how he always seemed to be around her, and that thought had her shoulders relaxing more as she stood before him. Perhaps the mess of her life didn't matter in that moment, because the one who had brought her so much good was smiling at her and things were bound to be okay, she was sure.

His response startled a laugh out of her. One that was loud enough to have her hand pressing against her lips immediately after, a soft pink dusting the tips of her ears in embarrassment. "Call me out much?" She teased in response, twirling a strand of hair around her finger. It was a nervous tick that she had never really gotten rid of over the years, but she cleared and took the offered chair across from him, "Ah, yes, we definitely do. I'm surprised to still see you here in Gohyang actually. My parents rave about your weather segment, though, so it seems you've been doing well for yourself."

She knew she was rambling, but it was hard to do that when she was avoiding any sort of discussion on what /she/ had been up to since they last saw each other. She glanced at the table for a moment and raised a teasing brow at the empty plate, deciding not to comment on it.

"I've...hmm, well..." Of course there was a rehearsed answer than she gave robotically to people when they asked for the same of small talk, but this was /Midam/. He deserved more than such a deflective answer. "Graduated, got divorced, made some music, played a few shows." She listed off, bull-dozing over the information regarding her relationship status. It shouldn't be something to be embarrassed about, but she could still vividly picture the Pinterest board of inspiration for her and her high school sweetheart, and it felt wrong to through her blunder in his face. "How have you been?"

@✧ choi eunae At that moment, he lifted his gaze from the flimsy menu to meet eyes with a pair of familiar ones. He knew those eyes quite well, he spent a good portion of his youth getting lost in them - and their owner, Eunae, was perhaps the reason why Midam realized there was a side to him that was a hopeless romantic. As it had been a while since he last saw her, the surprise came seeping in through what seemed like seconds stretched out to infinity. He did not rise from his seat for the first few minutes either, as he thought she was there for someone else. That is until he notices her strides towards his general direction.

He stands up rigidly, his lips forming a squarish, awkward smile at Eunae. He couldn't help but notice her beauty, even under the dim cafe lighting, she seemed to shine effortlessly. She was undeniably always pretty, but it was rare enough for Midam to get flustered, and she had done that without breaking a sweat.

"That's a paradox Eunae," he chuckles, somehow shy as he finally speaks to her. Had the shoulder angels and devils had dialogue right now, they would have certainly agreed on one thing; years of never seeing her and this was the most he could muster up? Yoon Midam may as well be a lost cause. Midam, too, realizes that and gestures to the chair opposite him - pushing it back so Eunae can sit. "Take a seat, we have a lot to catch up on."

After a brief moment of silence, he looks up from his empty plate, "So...how have you fared all these years?"

@✧ yoon midam Even as she approached the cafe, Eunae knew this wasn't a good idea. She had foolishly agreed to allow a friend to set her up on a blind date under the guise of "moving on" as if she wasn't still mourning her less-than-stellar love life within the confines of her childhood bedroom. She could see her friend's point, though. Moving back home a wreck had not been on her bucket list of life experiences, and she was rather embarrassed she was still living with her parents. If anyone asked, though, she would say her mother insisted on letting her recover like the mother hen she had always been.

Exhaling a rather loud sigh, she shook herself from her thoughts, unwilling to continue spiraling while in public. She would likely end up turning around if she let herself continue. It would be rude to keep whoever the poor soul she had been paired with waiting, and she was blocking the doorway.

The smile she had finally been able to muster, though, began to falter once her gaze fell on a familiar face. It wasn't fear that settled in her gut. Instead a mixture of shame, guilt, and what she refused to acknowledge as yearning twisted her stomach into knots, and if not for the clearing of a throat behind her, she may have stood there forever.

She stumbled a bit to the side, out of the way while she looked around the cafe, hoping that the scenario building in her head was not in fact her reality. It had to be a coincidence that her ex-boyfriend happened to be sitting within the same cafe she had been sent to. The city wasn't overly big. How many cafes could there possibly be? And she had to admit, she remembered this particular cafe being one of her favorites when she was younger.

Eventually she decided she was being ridiculous, and even if she was meeting up with someone else, she could at least say hello to an old friend. They hadn't broken up on bad terms, if she remembered correctly, even if they had fallen out of contact. So with a resigned straightening of her shoulders, she approached his table and offered an almost shy smile in greeting. "Hey, stranger. Long time no see?"

@✧ choi eunae The scent of coffee beans, from the moment he stepped in, has set Midam alert. Back straight, eyes scanning from periphery to periphery, he tried to find a table where he could stand out from the get-go. One would say, with his looks alone, standing out wouldn't be a difficult feat. However that passing comment went through Midam's ear and out the other. He walks robotically to a table close to the door, overlooking the window, then he takes a seat and judges his surroundings quietly.

Awkward as he was outside of broadcasting hours, this level of rigidity wasn't normal for him. Though, those who were used to Midam's presence could tell that he was quite visibly nervous. For good reason. He had been set up on a blind date by a coworker, and now that he accepted he couldn't just backtrack on his decision.

Midam wasn't a stranger to romantic feelings or relationships, however there was an added stress to blind dates. In the worst case scenario his date would have grown cold feet and he'd be sitting at the cafe drinking two lattes that had gone cold. The best case scenario would be that the two hit it off and planned to meet again.

"Okay, stay calm. Greet them nicely and dont start yapping..." he mumbles aloud, glancing at the menu from the corner of his eye to deduce what he wanted to drink.

@✧ kwak eunji Checking the time on his phone for what felt like the thousandth time in the past thirty minutes, Minjun's lips settled into a concerned frown, brow furrowing as he glanced around the cafe again. His hot chocolate had long since grown cold, the rich liquid not providing the comfort it normally would on a chilly day like that day. He had scheduled a meeting with his friend Eunji to catch up, possibly see if she needed any more work done for her blog, yet he had been sitting in that cafe for nearly an hour.

Normally he wouldn't have needed to wait that long, a text with an apology or optional raincheck quick to not make him waste his time, yet there he sat without an inkling of what was going on. Even the cafe employees were beginning to pick up on his abnormal behavior.

Before the looks cast his way could turn pitying, though, he rose from his seat, raised his cup in their direction with a pleasant smile, and walked out as if he hadn't been sitting at that tiny table for much longer than anyone needed to. If he had at least brought his laptop along, he could have feigned working on editing for clients that had been finished for a while now. He worked with children, faking being busy could be on his resume at this point.

And instead of venturing back to his own residence or even his parents', he trekked his way to Eunji's home, sipping at his cold beverage with his signature pout lingering on his lips. He would have to convince the blogger to make him something or order takeout if his fears for the state of her fridge were anything to go by. Although he was worried for his friend, he was also sure she had just gotten caught up in work again. It was a common enough occurrence that he didn't feel the need to call the police or an ambulance. One day he might eat his words, but today, he felt, was not that day.

Sighing like one of his students, Minjun raised his hand to knock on her door loudly. "Yah! Kwak Eunji you better open this door right now and answer for your crimes!"