Like A Forest Fire || Bbangsaz

III.

The next time Minji walks into Starbucks, Hanni's so startled by it that she bumps straight into Danielle as soon as she catches sight of Minji at the door.

Danielle frowns at her. "What are you doing?"

"I need to-" Hanni points over her shoulder. "I just- I need to go- backroom. Get... coffee... beans..."

"What the fuck are you babbling about?" Danielle says, blocking Hanni's path to the door.

"I just-"

"We've got more than enough coffee beans, we're a freaking Starbucks." Danielle won't step aside. "Break's not until 12, Pham. Get your ass back to that register."

"But I-"

Danielle turns around and Hanni curses under her breath, running a hand through her hair and taking a deep inhale. For fuck's sake, she tells herself, find your chill.

"Hanni."

She spins around. Minji is standing in front of the counter, smiling at her.

"Hi," Hanni squeaks out, before coughing and running her hand through her hair again.

"So," Minji says, leaning a bit forward against the counter. "What kind of bra are you wearing today?"

Hanni pretty much chokes on her own breath. "W-what?"

Minji's smile only grows wider at Hanni's immediate embarrassment. She doesn't say anything else, though, just stares at Hanni with that smile on her face that's making Hanni's head spin - which makes is why it takes her a moment to they're in a fucking coffee shop and she's supposed to be the barista.

"Can I-" Hanni coughs again. "-help you?"

"Oh, I'm sure you can.." Mini says and Hanni's eyes go wide at the obvious innuendo.

She has to dig her fingernails into the side of her thigh, because this girl is flirting with her so hard that she can barely keep her thoughts straight. "A cappuccino?" she breathes out, trying to keep her voice light.

Minji smiles. "Please."

Hanni takes one of the oaper cups, writes the order down and scribbles 'Minji' on it without thinking, until--

"Do you remember all your costumers' names?"

Hanni looks up again. For a moment, she gets caught on the heavy dark of Minji's hazel eyes, the curve of her lips, the teasing smile , the line of her neck-

Minji's lips part slightly, and she just keeps staring at Hanni, while the faintest blush starts to work its way up her cheeks. Then, she tugs her bottom lip back with her teeth as she breathes out, sort of abruptly, sort of bashful. "God, your eyes-"

Hanni snaps out of it right away, quickly looking down, trying to ignore the heat that rushes through her chest at Minji's words.

"Coffee," She mumbles. "Im just - yeah."

She pushes the paper cup away from her in Danielle's direction, before turning around and trying to figure out how to keep busy while Danielle is preparing Minji's coffee. She pulls a cupboard open and starts to mess up the creamer packages, just so she can organize them again. She blushes as she tries not to think about Minji staring at her back, staring at her-

"You go to university here?" Minji asks.

Hanni turns again, trying very hard not to make it look like she has no idea what to do with herself. "Yes," she says. "Uh- you too?"

Minji nods. "Creative writing major."

Hanni's not able to hide her surprise. "Really?" she says. "I'm doing English literature. What year are you in? How come I've never seen you around?" Minji grins and Hanni suddenly realizes that these are pretty much the first full sentences she's managed to get out without stumbling over her words. It immediately makes her flush again. "I mean- not that we, you know, should- uh- see each other, or... I mean, on campus, of course, not like seeing each other, not like that-"

"I dont have that many classes at the moment," Minji says with a soft smile, saving Hanni from being even more of a complete idiot. "I have to write a lot, though. The amount of assignments is insane."

"What do you write about?" Hanni asks, before she can stop herself.

Minji doesn't waste a beat, before saying with a smile, "Anything that interests me."

Hanni's pretty sure she can feel her own voice fall a little lower as she forces herself to breathe out, "Like what?"

Minji thinks about it for a moment. "You know - things that people talk about in cafés. Cities. How the sun is going to die one day. Girls with pretty eyes. The middle of the universe. Being young." The corner of her mouth curls. "You know, stuff like that."

Hanni stares, she can't stop.

There is something in her chest that tightens and untightens with every stretching second that Minji doesn't take her eyes off her and Hanni is not sure if she is joking or not, but it doesn't even matter, because wow.

"There are plugs right in the corner, over there."

Minji's expression shifts into confusion as soon as the words leave Hanni's mouth and Hanni swears at herself internally, because damn it, why must she always make suck a fucking fool out of herself?

"If you ever want to write here some time," she adds, breathlessly. "There are plugs right by that table in the corner - so if you... need a place to work, or... or something. You can always plug your laptop in."

Fuck, she's blushing really hard right now and Minji just smiles as she realizes what Hanni's trying to say and Minji is not able to stop looking at the red of Hanni's lips and-

"One cappuccino for... Mingi?" Danielle's voice cuts through the tension abruptly. "Mingi?"

"It's Minji." Hanni blurts out, before she can stop herself, turning to Danielle.

"Oh." Danielle glares at her for a moment before saying, "Sorry, one cappuccino for Minji?"

Minji walks over to the other side of the counter and takes the cup from Danielle, thanking her with a brief smile. Hanni watches as she turns the cup around and looks down at it. She chuckles, before walking back to Hanni.

"Didn't you forget to write something down on this?" she says.

"I, uh-" Hanni stammers, not sure what to say.

"It's okay," Minji says. "Guess I'll just have to come back some other time again. Maybe bring my laptop. I heard that there are plugs in the corner."

She grins and turns around, walking out of the door without saying another word, leaving Hanni a little hot and unfocused.