"Um, hey, I'm Taehyung," Taehyung introduced himself awkwardly, debating on if he should offer a handshake or not.

"I'm Kang Sarang," the woman replied in regained composure.

"Do you come here often?" Taehyung asked.

"This is my third time here."

"Ah."

"I visited the one in Daegu a few months ago."

"Oh, I see. I personally prefer that over this one. It was more lively."

They fell in awkward silence as their eyes darted around, meeting every once in a while and exchanging forced smiles.

"So-"

SLAM

Taehyung's skeleton nearly jumped out of his skin as Sarang abruptly stood up and slammed her hand on the table, earning some frightened and curious glances from the workers and other customers.

"I'm going to say this once and only once. Got it?" Sarang whispered in a cold voice.

Wanting to run away as soon as possible, Taehyung nodded obediently.

"My girlfriend will be picking me up in a few minutes. Just name the amount you want to keep your mouth shut," Sarang said in a threatening manner.

It took Taehyung ten whole seconds to absorb everything she said.

"Oh- you- oh!" Taehyung broke into a genuine grin.

" What ?!" Sarang snapped.

"Me too. I mean, I'm gay!"

Then Taehyung realized he said it a little too loudly and the audience was even more interested in them.

"Oh," was all Sarang said before falling back on her chair.

"Yeah. Same boat," Taehyung replied, shrugging.

Their quietness made the customers resume whatever they were doing.

"My mom would ask for details so if you're unfortunate enough to meet her, just say that we talked about trivial things but couldn't find common interests, okay? And both of us left the cafe at 4:40 pm," Sarang explained carefully.

"Yeah, no problem, I'll keep that in mind," Taehyung responded, relieved.

"Oh and," Sarang said. "Don't worry, I'll buy myself flowers on my way home."

Taehyung chuckled uncomfortably as he facepalmed himself with a wall in his mind. He glanced around quickly to look over Seokjin and his heart did a double flip when he found the man walking towards their table with a tray holding a mug and a plastic cup.

"Enjoy your drink," Seokjin said with a chirpy smile.

Sarang returned the smile.

Taehyung made a fool out of himself.

"You too," he said.

But Seokjin was kind enough to cover his mouth to let out a ring of chuckle before returning to his work. Taehyung placed his chin over his palm and sighed in Seokjin's direction as the latter returned to the counter before attending to some other customer.

"I will be leaving now," Sarang announced quietly as she stood up and shouldered her bag.

"4:40 pm okay? And I will be buying myself some sunflowers, so remember that as well," Sarang said with an air of professionalism before sailing out of the cafe, her heels click-clacking loudly against the tiled floor as she left.

Taehyung felt the ball of unease untangle as he relaxed into his chair and took a sip of the hot chocolate, relishing the taste of sweet, warm cocoa and cream, before brandishing his phone.

Taehyung : Guess what?

Taehyung exited the Twitter and opened the camera app to take a picture of his drink and then the interior of the cafe. Twenty clicks later, Taehyung heard a TING and reopened Twitter.

Jungkook: what

Jimin: Aren't you supposed to be on a date?

Jungkook : oh yeah

Jungkook : he got stranded I bet

Jungkook : poor taehyungie hyung wyah

Taehyung : What is "wyah"?

Taehyung : And yes, I did get stranded.

Jimin : Oh no :(

Jungkook : why r u sad he's literally gay

Jimin : Still it feels bad

Taehyung : It was kind of a mutual agreement.

Jungkook : what does that mean

Taehyung : My date has a girlfriend.

Taehyung : Basically we were on the same boat.

Taehyung : We agreed to make up a story for our parents.

Jimin : So you guys left

Taehyung : She left. I'm still in the cafe.

Jungkook : good riddance come over my place my roommate's not at home

Jimin : You're going to hang out without me? -_-

Jungkook : but you don't like playing video games baby🥺

Taehyung : Translation: You suck at video games.

Jimin : -_-

Taehyung : Anyways, I can't come.

Jungkook : why

Jimin : Good. Strand that brat.

Jungkook : hyung :((((

Taehyung : I have work to do.

Jungkook : what work

Taehyung : Work.

Jimin : Are you stalking someone?

Taehyung : Um.

Jungkook : hyung ffs stop putting a period after everything nobody does that

Taehyung : No.

Jimin : No.

Jungkook : hyung :((

"Hey..."

It took a moment for Taehyung to process the sweet voice and the sweeter lips that curved into the sweetest smile. Seokjin was occupying the seat that was left empty by Sarang. His work clothes were gone and in their place were a loose lavender shirt and a pair of white pants. With his soft brown hair and softer doe eyes, Seokjin's entire existence screamed BABY BOY .

"Hi! I mean, hi- hey," Taehyung stumbled over his words and kicked himself in his mind as he straightened up and returned Seokjin's smile.

"That was a pretty short date," Seokjin commented. "Doesn't it give you deja vu?"

Now that Seokjin mentioned it, there was definitely a quiet layer of deja vu underneath his current rapid, muddled thoughts about Seokjin. In fact, the deja vu emerged from the bottom and crashed into Taehyung like a riptide.

Years ago, he had first encountered Seokjin in a similar way.

He was waiting for a person at the cafe near his university, and at his neighbouring table, Seokjin was waiting for someone as well. But neither of their someone special arrived, standing them up on Christmas Eve. Taehyung remembered feeling a fist clench around his heart so tightly that he had to double over and bury his head in his arms on the table. He remembered feeling a tap on his shoulder and the cute brunette from the next table was sitting with him, his eyes reflecting the same emotion as Taehyung.

"It does," Taehyung said quietly as his lips tugged at their corners at the memory.

"You gave me the flowers you bought for your date. I remember they were white roses," Seokjin mused, chin on his hand.

"You said they were your favourite," Taehyung recollected.

"And you still remember," Seokjin said before averting his eyes to the table, a faint blush caressing his cheeks and eartips.

"Just like how you remember I don't like coffee."

Taehyung just couldn't control his smile as he gazed at Seokjin with a faint ache in his chest. Something about meeting Seokjin again made him feel like he was living anew but dying at the same time. There was just something about Kim Seokjin...

"You look good in that shirt..." Seokjin mumbled quietly with a bashful smile.

"I look better without it."

Taehyung's eyes widened and he clamped a hand over his mouth.

"It just came out," Taehyung explained hurriedly. "I um watched a movie last night uh with Jimin and Jungkook! You remember Jimin and Jungkook? Yes, so um it was a famous line uh um from the- the movie."

Taehyung's subconscious self slapped his conscious self very, very hard.

"O-Oh," Seokjin stuttered but his face was glowing red and- wait, was he eyeing Taehyung's chest?

"Right," Seokjin said, bit his lips and then let out an unnatural chuckle. "So what movie was it?"

"Oh uh um it's called The uh Fall of Aphrodite," Taehyung managed to answer.

"Oh, I'll check it out-"

"It's very old!" Taehyung interrupted loudly, startling Seokjin.

"Oh-"

"And it's in Ancient Greek so..."

"You can speak Ancient Greek?"

"We downloaded subtitles from a shady website," Taehyung lied through his teeth.

"Right." Seokjin didn't sound convinced.

"Um..." Seokjin looked down on his lap and bit his lips again. "I'll be going then..."

"Bye..." Taehyung waved awkwardly as Seokjin stood up and left but not before offering one of his good boy smiles.

Taehyung buried his face in his hands and screamed.

Then realized he was in public.

And screamed even louder in his head.