𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 | Seongjoong/Ateez ff

Chapter Fourteen

Seonghwa happily walked out of his apartment, a smile on his face and bag hung loose over his shoulder. He had work today, but the aveniments of the day before yesterday succesfully lifted his mood enough for him to be happy even with the bunch of rude customers he had to deal with everyday during his shift at the bakery.

He joyfully walked all the way to his workplace. The sun was already up in the sky and it painted everything in a warm morning light, warming Seonghwa's frame with its gentle rays.

He liked when they gave him the first shift of the day. The bakery opened at 7:00 and at that time people were either chill because it was morning or in a rush so they didn't have the time to stop and complain, so he was in a super good mood.

He entered the still empty stable humming a soft melody and he immediately started to set up the place to open up in half an hour. It was peaceful, he loved the ambience. The empty bakery lit up by the gentle rays of the sun that shone so prettily illuminated the pink painted walls beautifully.

The bakery was different from the others, we might say. Of course it offered countless baked goods like any other bakery would, but in addition to that it also offered the same services as a cafe, minus the table service.

Opening hours came around before Seonghwa could think about it, and he was already flipping the sign on the door from the basic "closed" to the lively and decorated "open". He stood behind the counter and waited for the few usual customers to drop by for their morning blast of energy, however the first face that popped up inside the place wasn't any of the ones he had learned to recognize over the years.

Only five minutes had passed since the bakery opened and a man was already walking through the glass door decorated with various stickers.

The man was tall, with a head of short jat black hair. He looked good, but he also looked exausted in Seonghwa's eyes. Seonghwa could see the hurt in his eyes and his prominent eye bags were a dead giveaway on how he was feeling, Seonghwa suspected he didn't even sleep. The man looked strangely familiar.

Seonghwa put on a polite smile when the man neared the glass counter with all their baked goods exposed for the coustomers and he almost wanted to jump over it and hug the poor man when he received a broken smile in return.

"Good morning and welcome to our bakery, what can I get you today?" Seonghwa recited like a melody. He was sure he could start dreaming about that sentence soon enough from how many times he was forced to say it on a daily basis.

"A large coffee is fine, thank you."

Seonghwa nodded and put the order in the system before he turned around to get the drink done. He watched from the corner of his eye how the man lazily dragged his figure to one of the small tables close to the entrance. Obviously it didn't take long for Seonghwa to prepare the drink, and in a moment he was already walking to the man's table with a gentle smile spread over his lips.

As he placed the cup of coffee in front of the man he sat down in the seat opposite of him. The man looked at him puzzled.

"I know it's not my place to say, but you seem pretty down. This one's on me." He was about to stand up again to walk behind the counter once again when the man spoke up, halting his movement.

"...Thank you. Life's been... particular lately."

A smile pulled on Seonghwa's lips as he sunk down on the chair once again.

"I'm Seonghwa."

"Mingi."

The man, Mingi, offered his hand with a faint smile. Seonghwa immediately shook it. He thought Mingi could use some company, after all Seonghwa knew all too well how it was to be down and not have anyone beside you, and even if he didn't know if Mingi had any friends that could be there for him now he didn't want to leave him alone drinking his coffee and all depressed on a table, since there weren't any customers at the moment.