Bittersweet Love // #KaoEarth AU

6

"Why are there black shadows under your eyes, Earth?" Boun greeted him when Earth just came into the dressing room to change to his work uniform. Boun grabs Earth's face with both hands and looks at the younger's eye bags closely.

Earth grinned awkwardly to his senior, "Nothing, Phi, just can't sleep last night is all," he replied.

Boun chuckles and lets go of the younger's face, "You better take care of yourself, Earth. You already have to study, and also working at the same time will take a toll on your body someday," he said worriedly.

"Yes, Phi. Got it," Earth said, giving the older a salute before he sauntered to the bathroom to fix his appearance.

He dab-dab some concealers to his eye bags to lessen the blackness. His white skin is sensitive; he can quickly get red when he is in the sun for too long if he doesn't apply sunscreen, and like right now, his eye bags are clearly visible due to that. So, he was always ready with a concealer and sunscreen wherever he went.

"Successful coverage," he mumbled to himself.

Earth gets out to the counter and prepares the necessities they need to open the cafe for the day. After that, he saunters to the door and turns the Close sign to Open to indicates that they are open. He went back to the counter, and not long a rush hour of the cafe started. People who go to work or morning class usually frequent their cafes to put some caffeine inside their stomachs.

"Welcome to Moonbucks. What can I get you, ma'am?" Earth greeted the middle-aged woman that came in with full office attire, not forgetting his trade-mark polite smile.

"I would like to order a tall-sized Caffe Americano and a grande-sized Caffe Caramel macchiato, please."

Earth rang the order up, "It will be 240 baht, ma'am. Anything else?"

"No, thank you," the woman gave him her credit card.

Earth sighed after the rush hour had ended. He sat on the tall stool provided behind the counter, eyes looking down to his hands. It was a bit freezing, and his hands felt cold despite the warm sweater he wears outside his uniform.

"Excuse me," a new customer has stood in front of the counter.

Earth blows into his hand quickly before standing to attend to the customer. He looked up and was shocked to see that his customer is Kao. Earth blinked a few times and somewhat came out of his shock.

"Yes, welcome to Moonbucks. What would you like to order?" Earth managed to utter after his stupor.

Kao's eyes weren't looking in his direction because the taller man was busy observing the menu on top of Earth's head.

It seems like the world was pausing, and he was the only one moving. Earth's eyes start to inspect Kao's face from where he stands. The three times he saw the older ones yesterday weren't this close and not this clearly either. 

Earth can see every change that overcomes the taller ones; he looks more...mature. Then, there are these airs that spoke charisma and charm. More so than before, the older one's playfulness seems gone and replaced with this maturity. His eyes started to feel hot suddenly; memories of the old days came back slowly.

"I want to order..." Kao looks down to the cashier to give out his order, but a surprised look across his face. "Earth?"

Earth blinked his eyes to erase any building tears that threaten to come out, then he also put on a surprising look, so the older one doesn't think it was strange. "Phi Kao?"

Kao smiled, and his hand went out automatically to Earth's head and ruffled it.

Earth was taken aback by the older's action; he slowly let out an awkward laugh, "You haven't changed that much, Phi," he said.

Kao pulls back his hand and gives Earth a smirk, "I'm more handsome than before, though, right?" When Earth stays silent, he laughs, "I'm so happy to see you again."

A hand placed on Earth's shoulder, "Earth, sorry, but other customers are lining up," Boun whispered to him.

Earth nodded when he realized people were lining up behind Kao. He looks at Kao apologetically, "Sorry, Phi, what would you like to order?"

Kao's eyes which were looking at Boun when they were interrupted, then looked at Earth, "Ah, I want a venti-sized Vanilla Cream Frappuccino, please," he said, taking out his wallet.

"It will be 160 baht," Earth replied, already memorizing the menu on the back of his head. Then his eyebrow rose when he realized something, "I thought you dislike vanilla, Phi," he added.

Kao chuckles, "It's not for me, and I already drink black coffee at home earlier," he answered.

Just then, Earth found out whose drink was Kao ordered for when arms wound themselves on Kao's left arm.

A petite young woman looking up at Kao's face, "Why did it take you so long to order my drink, Kao?*"

Making Earth look down in silence.

to be continue

* in English

a/n:
I'm at my relatives' house every weekend, so I can't promise more updates for both Saturday and Sunday—only once a day. That means today and tomorrow, and I will only post a chapter each.

Updated on the 20th of March 2021,

junijunipers.