You tightened your apron around your waist and made sure your hair was tied properly before going behind the cashier to start your shift. Your day started as usual. You saw some familiar faces and some new faces. You felt your cheek getting numb from forcing yourself to smile numerous time throughout the day. You got one or two nuisance customers, but nothing was out of the ordinary. You slipped behind to the kitchen to eat your lunch with your friends when she whipped out her phone.
"Ahh.. I missed their live," your friend sighed. "Oh well, might as well see their MV right now when I get the chance," she decided and propped her phone on the chair in front of both of you.
"Whose live?" you honestly didn't understand any words your friends just said.
"GOT7," she answered. "They've just released their new album today, and I just missed their live." She turned to see you and saw that you looked at her dumbfoundedly. "Just watch their MV and you'll know what you've been missing in your life." She moved her phone to the middle so you both could see it clearly. Music started to play from her phone and one by one her phone displayed the members, singing and dancing on her screen. You watched carefully as you thought one of the faces was familiar. The scene was changing so fast that you believed your eyes might deceive you. But then, he stood at front while singing his part and you were sure it was him. Though you haven't seen him for ages, you could recognize him. It was him alright, Park Jinyoung.
Later that night in your room, your thought wondered to the days where you could see him in flesh. You both went to the same kindergarten and just a year together in elementary. Though you weren't neighbours, he lived close by so sometimes he played with you and the other kids after school. However, you never told anyone about one thing. After watching the MV, you started your own research to make sure that it was the Park Jinyoung, the one that went to the same school as you. You watched various variety shows where he would tell his childhood story or his past. Including his previous childhood crush. Where he would just give the candy to the girl he liked and then run away without saying anything. He never disclosed the identity of the girl, but he repeated the same answers couple times. You remembered that scene, because you were the girl. The one that he gave the candy to, without saying anything and he ran away before you could even say anything. There was no more story after that because your family moved after that. And you never saw him again. Until today. On your friend's phone screen. You still kept contact with several friends from the old school, but just one or two. But no one ever connected the dots. It was easily forgettable. He clearly had other crushes afterward as you weren't the one that he gave the Peppero to.
Didn't want to keep brooding in the past, you erased the memory from your head. Chanting 'You'll never see him again' or 'He has forgotten you already probably' repeatedly in your head. You tightened your apron, ready to face the first customer of the day, only to fail miserably. The very person that you wanted to avoid appeared miraculously in front of you. Though he had a cap on his head, covered by his hoodie and a face mask to cover half of his face, you could recognize those eyes. Or the wrinkles under his eyes that appeared whenever he smiled.
"Good morning," you tried to compose yourself, "What can I get you?"
"An americano, please," you heard him replying. See, you told yourself, he didn't recognize you.
You put in his order and gave him the waiting plate, "You can sit while waiting and please bring this back when it rings," you pointed to the waiting plate and smiled, waiting for him to go away, but he squinted at you.
"Have we ever met before?" he asked. You gulped and tried hard to mask your expression.
"Well sir, you covered your face with a mask, how can I possibly guess what's underneath?" you smartly answered and he chuckled and went to sit on one of the table, waiting for his order. When his order was finished, you handed him his Americano in exchange for the waiting plate. You thought you wouldn't see him anymore, since you never saw him since you started working at the cafe, but you were wrong. You saw him again three days later. The line was quite long, yet he still waited patiently until his turn. He repeated the same order and you repeated the same robotic reply. However, he pulled down his mask and repeated, "Now, think again, have we ever met before?" he asked, looking straight at you.
"I'm sorry sir, if you didn't have anything else to order, please move aside so I can assist the person after you," you mumbled a quiet sorry but wrote down on a piece of paper towel, not lately and handed it to him. You were sure he read it and he worked his brain while waiting for his order, but until he got his order, he couldn't figure out where you two met before.
A week passed and you thought you were saved. But again, you were wrong. He showed up during the hectic time, asking again, "Were you one of the staff at the filming set?" before you told him to stand aside again. You wrote down your answer on his cup, no. The next encounter he asked whether you were one of the staff from his previous company, and you wrote down again, no. You had a day off on the next day so you almost missed him. If only your friends didn't ask you to drop her an umbrella because she didn't bring one, you wouldn't bump into him. You were walking past him without knowing that it was him waiting in the line. You were about to walk out of the cafe when he grabbed your wrist. You were startled, even more when you realized who grabbed your arm.
"You're not working today?" he asked, didn't waste any second. You've recognized his voice by now so he didn't need to pull down his mask for you to recognize him.
"No," you replied, trying to yank your arm out of his grasp but it was useless.
"Then, join me." It felt more like an order rather than a request. You wanted to reply with some excuses but you came up empty. You sighed as you couldn't avoid the inevitable. He didn't wait for your answer. He held your hand as if you two were planning to come together. He let your hand go once you two were sitting across each other.
"I've been trying to remember where I met you, or when, but I came up empty," he confessed. It was understandable while at the same time, it was impressing that he could still figure out the little girl in you. You were chubby back then, with pigtails. But as you grew up, your face was a bit longer than it used to be. You slimmed down and dyed your hair as well. You weren't sure what gave you away the first time he saw you. Some of your old friends didn't even recognize you when you passed them. He handed you a cup of coffee, you didn't realize he ordered one for you. And the gesture reminded you of something that he used to do in the past.
"It used to be candies." It slipped through your mouth and your eyes widened in shock when you realized you said it out loud. Loud enough for him to hear it. He looked up to stare at your eyes, memories flashes through his eyes as your words registered into his brain.
"You...," his voice trailed off and you nodded. You could see he started to smile under his mask. "Really? Oh wow," that was he managed to say.
"It's okay. Now that you've found out about me, can I go now? I believe it answered your curiosity."
"No, please stay. Where were you back then? You disappeared after that. I started to think that it was because of me," he said sadly. You had no choice but to tell him about your dad. His job demanded him to move around a lot. Including what happened back then. He had to move to another country and you had to follow him. You've told the teacher but you told the other kids on your last day, but since he wasn't in your class, he didn't know about it. After that, you moved twice before coming back to Korea. But not until recently you found out about him and his old story. He just nodded his head sometimes when he listened to your story. You stopped talking as you ran out of story.
"So," he shifted in his seat, "What were you going to do if I didn't run away back then?"
"I'll say thank you, of course. I might tell you that the candies were sweet the next day," somehow you found yourself calmly reply. He stared at your eyes for a few seconds before he broke the silence.
"Are you seeing someone right now?" You shook your head. "Then, are you free next Saturday?"
"What are you going to do?" you eyed him suspiciously.
"Obviously not running away again after asking you for a date," he calmly replied.
