Nap of a Star || Yeonbin

2

"Dad?"

He looked up to see Soonja at the door. She wore a worried look on her face and it only worsened once she saw her dad sitting on the floor with tears running down his cheeks.

"Dad, what happened-why are you crying?" The younger one asked as she ran to his side and pulled him into her embrace. He instantly tried harder to calm down, forcing himself to breathe at a slower pace. He didn't want his daughter to see this side of him. He knew that showing emotion wasn't a bad thing. However, he only ever used to let himself show his full vulnerability to a certain person. He looked down at the floor, refusing to make eye contact with his daughter but he still held onto her as she still held onto him.

After a few minutes of staying in this uncomfortable position on the floor, he moved away abruptly. Soonja looked at him, confused. His eyesight got blurry again as he looked at his daughter's dimples that appeared as she gave him a sympathetic smile. He held his face in his hands trying to get certain memories out of his head. Once he removed his hands from his face and when looked at Soonja again- she was holding an old Polaroid in her hands. One he knew all too well.

"Dad...who is this?"

•.•.

Yeonjun had worked at his mom's café years back. He of course dreamed of a life where he had a strong education and wanted to be free of being money- concerned but he never said he wanted to go to college, fearing it would put too much strain on his mother's wallet and worry in his mother's head. His mother had tried to convince him many times that he should go to school, she always supported his wants. However, every single time he refused. He never told his mother his reasoning for not going to college. He just told the older woman that he wanted to take a gap year. But that gap year turned into two gap years and now that he's on his third 'gap year', his mom just stopped asking about college. Which he was extremely grateful for.

He never found working at the coffee shop boring. His friend from high school, Taehyun worked alongside him, also being too worried about money to go to college. Yeonjun knows that Taehyun could've easily gotten a scholarship to a good school if he wanted to but he never brought up the topic with his friend.

Taehyun and Yeonjun met when Yeonjun was in his third year of high school and Taehyun was in his first. To be more specific they met each other in after-school detention. They both had the same humor and similar goals so they were able to become friends rather quickly. Taehyun, only being a first-year student who wasn't the most popular soon became pretty well known within the school just because he was friends with a popular upperclassman like Yeonjun. Taehyun was grateful ever since that he had decided to punch a kid, because if he hadn't then he's sure that he would have never met Yeonjun or ever had the opportunity to talk with him.

Now Taehyun and Yeonjun worked the same shifts and stayed with each other after work so they could snack on some of the food even knowing their friend, Felix, who baked in the kitchen would be furious at them for not trying to save the treats for tomorrows work. Yeonjun and Taehyun also shared an apartment. Their apartment was right above the coffee shop, stairs right outside the apartment leading them next to the back entrance of the building.

They had fun. They had fun talking with the regulars who came in to ask for 'their usual' and they had fun watching newcomers walk into the café. They also had fun teasing Felix whenever his boyfriend, Hyunjin came to the business just to give Felix a thumbs up and order 5 different pastries. Felix always ended up getting them back in some way for teasing him though.