//writer (1/2)
Who says fictions are only imaginations put into words?
Jaebeom is a writer of three best-selling novels. He has the fame, the wealth, and a supportive family. He’s happy with life, yes. But still, it has a missing piece. He cannot remember how long it has been since he has a partner in life - a girlfriend. Of course, Jaebeom cannot remember that because never in his life did he has a girlfriend. He doesn’t even know if it’s a girlfriend he is finding, or a boyfriend. Because once, when he was out of town, he saw a very stunning and very hot young boy, and Jaebeom thinks he was smitten that instant.
JB Lim, Jaebeom’s pen name, writes stories about the LGBT community. People around him knows he writes stories about them, because their editor forced him to. For the higher pay and greater benefits, Jaebeom agreed to it. He is no homosexual, but once, when he was out of town, his mind and heart thinks and feels different.
It has been over a year and a half since Jaebeom wrote a novel. His salary is not a problem since, well, he has three best-selling novels - and they still are. He decided to write another one by the end of the year, but he knows he needs an inspiration. So Jaebeom decided to take a leave for a month to go out of town, to go where he felt his heart first skip a beat.
After a three-hour ride, Jaebeom finally arrived in his destination. He settled first in a hotel near the cafe where he once saw his boy. Half an hour passed, Jaebeom has his bag unpacked and his laptop, paper, and pen already in the table beside a couch in his room. Of course, Jaebeom deserves only the best. His hotel room has the best view and his room is the second biggest, next to the presidential suite.
Jaebeom does not spare any time. He grabbed his laptop and head downstairs to the cafe where he first saw the boy that made his heart skip a beat. He opened his laptop and typed fast. He was unaware of the footsteps towards him.
Love comes when you least expect it. It comes like a snail that crawls, like a turtle that walks, but mostly, like a waiter in a cafe trying to reach a customer beyond the bustling crowd.
When he became aware of the presence of a person in front of him, Jaebeom looked up and saw his boy. His eyes flew to the boy's name plate and smiled as it entered his mind and engraved his heart. Park Jinyoung suits his new book’s main character perfectly.
“Good day sir, may I take your order?” Jinyoung asked. Jaebeom smiled secretly because even his boy's voice sounds heavenly.
“I’ll take a strawberry cake, and a strawberry frappe please. Thank you,” Jaebeom said in his most handsome voice. He isn’t being narcissist or anything, but his voice swooned thousands of girls already. But really, no one ever swooned him with a voice, until he heard his angel just now. Jaebeom felt his cheeks redden and as he looked up, he saw Jinyoung having the same color of face as his.
“I'll get back to you, sir,” Jinyoung said, and Jaebeom nodded. His eyes went back to typing the scenarios he had in his head.
On fine days, love is like a waiter that graciously place the customer's orders in their table. But on other days, love is a clumsy waiter that steps on a customer's foot and spills coffee on him. However, it was fate that it happen. Love is the customer who was stepped on and the waiter who spilled the coffee but the bolt of static electricity and the sudden rainbows over their heads made them blush from head to toe.
Jaebeom shifted in his seat and stepped one space but he felt a sudden pain in his foot and cold liquid over his head. He realized his foot was stepped on, and a drink was spilled on his head. He has a short temper. If it was anyone, he will go straight to the manager and tell him to fire the clumsy and stupid waiter. But it wasn't anyone. It was his boy who stepped on his toes and spilled his drink on him, so instead of punching him on the face, he smiled as he saw the panicked look on the waiter's face.
“I’m so sorry sir. Please don’t let the manager fire me. I'm really sorry sir. I'm so sorry,” his boy's panicked voice rang in his ears. The waiter pulled a bunch of tissues from somewhere and pressed them gently on the writer’s face and clothes. Jaebeom doesn't know how to respond because - one, he is still wet and sticky because of the sweet liquid; and two, his boy's face is so near his that he can actually say that they're breathing the one and the same air.
“It's okay, really,” Jaebeom tried to smile, but with his heart beating so fast like he ran a 1000 kilometer marathon, it turned into a smirk. But his boy is very panicked that he doesn’t seem to notice. He pulled a tissue from the waiter and dampened it on his clothes. However, it was really sticky that he decided to go back to his room to change.
"I'm so sorry sir. You don't have to pay for it sir and as an apology, I will give you free orders for a week,” Jinyoung said in one breath.
"So you're saying that I should be here for the whole week to get my free orders?" Jaebeom said, teasing tone in his voice.
“Omo, no sir. You don't have to. I..aish," Jinyoung voiced out his annoyance to himself and Jaebeom chuckled, because, shit, isn't he cute?
“It's my pleasure to be here everyday, Jinyoung-ssi," Jaebeom said.
“And don't worry. I won’t let your manager fire you,” he added.
He saw the waiter's face turn bright red before he exited the cafe, laptop in his hands, and a big bright smile on his face. After changing his clothes and settling in his room, Jaebeom grabbed his laptop again ang reread his first entries for his book.
Love comes when you least expect it. It comes like a snail that crawls, like a turtle that walks, but mostly, like a waiter in a cafe trying to reach a customer beyond the bustling crowd.
On fine days, love is like a waiter that graciously place the customer's orders in their table. But on other days, love is a clumsy waiter that steps on a customer's foot and spills coffee on him. However, it was fate that it happen. Love is the customer who was stepped on and the waiter who spilled the coffee but the bolt of static electricity and the sudden rainbows over their heads made them blush from head to toe.
Jaebeom reread his work, three times. He frowned. It’s not as if he was not satisfied with his work, with his choice of words. He frowned because his encounters with Jinyoung was pretty much the same with his work. He wonders if it was pure coincidence. Jaebeom begged to differ. It isn’t coincidence. It's fate that brought them together.
He adjusted his glasses and typed slowly. Trying to think of scenarios that will let the story flow fast for him and Jinyoung to meet again. A writer has his ways. Instead of the story itself, Jaebeom wrote down the plot for his story - its outline.
I. meeting with the waiter
II. disaster with the waiter
III. special delivery of strawberry frappe and strawberry cake on the same day
IV. how did the waiter knew where he lives? he stalked him from the cafe to his hotel room
V. what happened after the delivery? customer thanked him and invited the waiter inside. waiter disagreed, customer insisted - threatened the waiter to tell the manager to fire him. customer chuckled. waiter went in.