slow down ➳ 이희승

𖥻 chapter eleven

"down bad."

꒰🏁꒱

"that's disgusting as fock!"

"no it's not!" ava argues, chewing on her inner cheek as sunoo places her coffee on the counter, sliding a small plate with two butter biscuits towards her. "in fact, it was hot."

"man licked your finger & you found it hot?" the blond shrieks, holding a horrified expression as he fixes his apron. he pauses his actions to look at her. "I am seriously questioning your kinks."

"you're questioning my kinks?" she exclaims and takes a sip of her drink, face morphing as the sweetness of the coffee triggered her taste buds. "wait, is it bad?" sunoo widens his eyes and awaits for a response. ava waves him off.

"it's been a while since I had frappe." she reasons, taking another sip as he leans on the counter, eyeing her with a lopsided smile. "i hate to admit it... but I missed you."

"aww~" ava coos & reaches her hand out to pinch the boy's cheek. "well~ I missed you too honeybun." she grins and pats his head, as sunoo grunts & pulls away. "aack, nevermind."

"good morning."

"oh? good morning!" sunoo shots up, immediately switching from annoyed to all smiley and cheerful, as he walks up the customer. ava stirs her drink & brings the straw to her lips once again as she glances at the man beside her.

oh great lord and santa maria.

if God has favorites, this man right here is surely one of them. tall, well built with sharp facial features and rich blond hair. he's sporting a black tee-type turtleneck with cream pants & white sneakers, fitting the vibe of the cafe just fine.

on his cute, upturned nose balance themselves a pair of specs, greatly complimenting his student-like aura, and ava is more than sure that she's salivating at his image.

girl, collect yourself.

"one iced americano, please." basic, but his handsome face & sweet voice make up for it. ava clears her throat & faces her front, acting as if she didn't basically eyefuck some stranger.

with her cheeks burning, the brunette takes another sip from her coffee and picks the cream with a straw, licking the tip of it before she throws another glance at the stranger.

he's looking.

oh dang! he's looking!

"excuse me." the blond man starts & ava almost chokes on her beverage as she covers it up with a cough. "yeah?"

"are you... ava yoon?" he asks and she suppresses a smile, nodding at him. "yup, that's me." she shortly says and he grins, a dimple suddenly popping up on his right cheek. shit!

"aaand you are?" she trails & extends her hand, expecting him to shake it. he does, after offering her yet another charming smile.

"I'm park sunghoon."

when sunghoon walked into the small cafe he's a regular at, he certainly did not expect a specific brunette to show up at this specific place. but there she is, enjoying her coffee while talking to the cute barista behind the counter.

he's glad heeseung had turned down the offer to go grab a coffee together.

"nice to meet you sunghoon." ava says and lightly shakes his hand, dropping it to her side as she fixes her shirt and adjusts herself on her seat. "do you... come here often?"

"ava, you're too obvious for your own good. and yes, he basically lives here." sunoo butts in, sliding sunghoon his order as he taps the table and points at the drink. "today is on me, hoon."

"but sun─" "no but's. now drink." he urges and turns back to ava. "so, back to our main point: you are disgusting. you hate him and he hates you, this is never gonna be!"

silence falls, wherein sunghoon steals a glance at ava. the brunette scoffs & makes a somewhat farting sound with her tongue. "it's not like me & him will ever be a thing, sun."

"as you said, we hate each other."

꒰🏁꒱

"is that what she said?"

heeseung says between huffs, sweat dripping down his body as he throws another punch on the black punching bag hanging from the ceiling of the gym, more sweat spluttering here & there.

sunghoon nods with a hum from his corner, a book on his crossed legs as he flips through it & glances up at the raven. "may I say, she looked hesitant herself while admitting it."

heeseung laughs heartily. "of course she's hesitant, girl is charmed & can't see it. or maybe she can, just that she won't admit it." he says with a cocky grin and punches the bag with force.

sunghoon sighs. "you are so full of yourself sometimes, you know that?" he points & shuts his book. the older grunts. "not again~" he whines and leans his head on the bag, lips pouty as sweat runs down his body like a river, making his gray tee look some shades darker.

"you're too stubborn to even listen for once!" the blond argues & stands up, walking up to him. "do you seriously think, that she'd fall for you after the way you've treated her?"

"the way I've treated her?" "yup, like some shit. hee, wake up!" he coos and attempts to knock on his forehead, but drags his hand away after having a better look at how sweaty it is.

"but that's how I've always treated the girls I liked, and you've never told me shit." "it's not like you'd listen anyway, you were too busy being the popular guy, that you never even hanged out with us. how much after you started dating that bitch, sam."

"that's when we all knew, we lost you for good." he finishes & heeseung rolls his head left and right, eyes clouding with sadness at the memory of her.

"you're toxic as fuck. please, change it before it's too late. and... maybe try to apologize to her. sunoo says she won't stop burying you alive and shit."

he chuckles and taps his friend on the back, grimacing at how sticky his tee is on him. "go take a nice bath as well, you stink like dogshit."

when sunghoon leaves, heeseung is left alone in the big room. he slowly takes off his boxing gloves, throwing them on the floor as he sits down & traps his head between his hands as he hides it on his lap, intertwining his fingers behind it.

he shouldn't be bothering with it in the first place. he despises her ─ as a matter of fact. but some little voice in him keeps echoing the words he has been fearing to admit to himself, and it makes him let out a long whine as his chest hangs in embarrassment.

you hate her, but you're down bad.

fuck.