I wrote a one shot for ohsehunito enjoy it if you want it’s alright lol
A/N: 14k+ words. The shop is named Black Pearl bc obvi their song Black Pearl and after boba pearls bc I’m lame af. feedback appreciated
There is a coffee shop right outside of the northern area of campus where Seoul Arts is placed. The shop, Black Pearl opened its doors for the first time nearly fifteen years ago on a sunny, spring day. It has been rebuilt twice in its short history in order to make room for more customers; first, by expanding the ground floor, then, by opening and rearranging the basement, which had previously been used as a storage.
The hours and menu changed too, concerning that of a working college student, with multitudes of students coming in to finish projects, sit down and study or relax before they considered going back to their busy schedules. The menu had began with only serving coffee, but later branched out to boba and light snacks to fit the needs of those working late at night.
Needless to say, Black Pearl's main source of income is the college right across the street. For the arts students, Black Pearl has become the most popular alternative to the libraries.
Isabela, who is on her second semester, has only been to the coffee shop a handful of times. There has never really been any reason for her to go there. She had always appreciated the silence the libraries have to offer. She would never go there by herself and from the few times she has, she would go with her study group who had been forced to opt for the coffee shop because they couldn’t find anywhere else to study.
However, with midterms approaching quickly the library had been filled up completely, leaving her no choice, but to either head back home or find somewhere else to study. Just as she had made up her mind to start heading back home she heard a ping go off. She reached into her backpack to pull out her phone and saw it was from her roommate, Kai. Isabela had lived with Kai for the past couple of months, meeting him in her first semester's dance class she had taken as an elective only to find that he was extremely passionate about it. She had struggled finding an apartment close enough to the school, seeing as her home was quite a long train’s ride away. He had offered her a place to room with after his last roommate had decided to drop out of school and move back home. With the vacant spot opened she accepted. What’s the worst that could happen?
Don’t come home for another two hours.
The text read. Ugh, she thought, he must be hanging out with that boyfriend, Kyungsoo of his. Don’t get her wrong she loved his boyfriend to death he was like a nice older brother to her; however, she couldn’t stand always being sent away. Especially after what happened the last time she chose to ignore Kai’s text and walked into an interesting situation which made her blush at the thought of it happening again. Another ping went off.
Actually make that 3-4. Idk I’ll text you later.
Isabela stared at her phone and sighed, with nowhere to go she set out to the coffee shop.
When she entered the shop she realized that it was much quieter than usual; however, still flooded with people. The lights were dim and the scent of coffee overwhelmed her as she made her way to the counter. The barista came over to attend her, “What can I get for ya?”
“Caramel Macchiato ”she said. As the barista turned to start making her drink she started scanning the room searching for a place to sit, in every corner there were groups of people busily working or chatting away the day. There was a table near the entrance which she had set her eyes on; however, now had been occupied by two couples chatting lightheartedly. She then looked towards the window where a young man was seated. Wearing dark clothes and a beanie bundled up, staring at her while sipping his drink. She quickly turned away grabbing her drink and headed towards the basement.
Dammit she thought as she came into view with an overcrowded room she stood near the entrance waiting all of three minutes to see if any would move to make her way over. Impatient she made her way back upstairs and saw that the table near the entrance had become vacant, she quickly moved towards the table and set her bag down.
Finally, she thought as she took out her books. The coffee shop murmurs had transformed into a slight buzz as she started reading. She had forgotten her headphones so she had no choice but to put up with it. When she settled into the actual swing of studying she had realized the darkly clothed stranger had left his spot and had walked towards the exit glancing over and showing what seemed like a slight smile towards her as he left.
The next couple of days she had found herself spending more time at the coffee shop than she had imagined she ever would. It was quite soothing with the soft tunes playing in the background, mainly consisting of what seemed like a perfectly stereotypical coffee house. As she settled down at an empty table near a couple, she noticed a figure start moving towards her. She chose to ignore it until she heard a soft voice say, “Can I sit here?”
She looked up staring at the bright face of the stranger that she had seen earlier that week. His complexion was milky which served to bring out his eyes that curved into dark crescents as he looked down at Isabela inquisitively. Isabela couldn’t deny he was kind of cute. “Sure”
The boy sat with her in silence sipping his drink. Isabela stared back down at her notebooks and started writing away. Isabela had never seen a drink like his before seeing as the only drink she ever had was a caramel macchiato with extra froth on top. She leaned over to pick up her drink and sipped it carefully before setting down.
“What is that?” the boy asked.
“Caramel macchiato,” Isabela responded almost startled, as she continued writing hoping there wasn’t a follow up question.
“Is that all you ever get?” he asked. Isabela nodded flipping the pages in her notebook trying to concentrate on the plot of her story. She had major writer’s block the past couple of months. That was until she had come to the coffee shop, for some reason the atmosphere got her creativity flowing and helped her finally picked up writing again. She was extremely grateful for the coffee shop inspiring her, and wasn’t going to let some stranger come in and ruin her flow.
“This is taro milk tea, it’s really good. Especially if you ask for boba in it. You should try it sometime” he said enthusiastically. Isabela slightly scoffed before the silence returned. The boy finished his drink, stood up and quietly said a goodbye before he left.
The next day Isabela came back in to a slightly more crowded shop. It had rained all last night and carried on throughout the next morning. Luckily the rain had brought more people ordering to go than sticking around. She settled down in the same table she did the day before and soon found herself facing the same figure approach her.
"Can I take this seat?” the boy asked as he began sitting in front of her before Isabela could nod. Today she had found herself reaching what seemed to be a climax in her story. She clicked the pencil around in her hand before she set it down and sighed in defeat before reaching over to take a sip of her drink.
“Caramel Macchiato again?”, the boy teased. “You’re no fun”
Isabela set down her drink to stir it before responding, “Yeah? Is there something wrong with it?”
The boy had taken his drink and shrugged bringing his mouth closer to the straw sucking slowly and chewing through whatever was inside it.
“Isn’t that a little bland? You know getting the same thing.” the boy asked.
Isabela raised a brow before the boy retorted, “I mean if it’s what you like that’s cool and all, but you should try something different you know? To add a little spice to your life” the boy commenced to giggle holding the straw in between his teeth. Isabela stared down at her drink then back at the boy, she had to admit, his smile was cute, very bright almost contagious.
“What are you drinking?” she responded eyeing his orange drink.
“Thai milk tea with boba, and if you recall yesterday I had taro milk tea, you know, a little variation”
“that’s hardly different”
“Well it’s better than you”
Isabela resisted the urge to glare at the boy, remembering that they don’t actually know each other.
They sat quietly next to each other, Isabela soon finished her cup before it became cold and started flipping to the end of her notebook where multiple scribbles and marks were made to help her get her ideas in order while the boy slower with his own cup played with the straw.
“Want to try it?”
Isabela frowned at him as she looked at his drink.
“Don’t be so sensitive, I’m not going to hit you with the plague” the boy says now nudging the cup over to her across the table.
Isabela hesitates as she takes the cup to her hands. Why am I doing this? I’m exchanging spit with someone who’s name I don’t even know yet. Still feeling doubtful she lifts the cup to her mouth, lips closing around the tip of the straw and sucks.
“So?” the boy asks licking his lips waiting for her response.
“It’s…sweet.”
“It’s good is what it is.”
“Oh!” she had received a small round pearl inside her mouth nearly choking as she begins chewing feeling the texture roll across her tongue somehow capturing the taste of tea infused inside. “What are these?” she coughed, only now noticing the bottom of the cup had multiple of the little pearls that nearly killed her.
“Boba!” the boy shouts excitedly, laughing at her expense.
“Hm.”
Isabela goes back to flipping through her notebook and stares at her drink seeming more bland than she remembered. The boy sat back staring at her with excitement in his eyes before finishing his drink.
“I’m Sehun by the way” coming out almost as a question rather than a statement.
“Isabela”
Sehun seemed surprised, yet proud that he had received a response.
“Well I’ll see you tomorrow” he said as he got up and left.
The next two months consisted of Isabela writing in her notebook and Sehun complaining about how her drink choices never changed along with attempting to make her laugh about whatever was happening in his life. As he acted out every part of his story. Isabela had found out that Sehun too attended Seoul Arts being a year his junior. He majored in dance and had actually known her roommate Kai, who was indeed frequently attached with his boyfriend as Isabela had presumed. She had also found out that he was quite popular on social media for his photography which she had to say was some of the best work that she’s seen.
“You should come with me some time it’d be great, I can always use a new model!”
Isabela would laugh at the thought; however, she wouldn’t mind spending some time outside of her school work with someone else.
“I can take pictures of you and then you could write me one of those stories I always see you write about”
She looked at Sehun taken aback at the fact that he actually was interested in what she had been writing.
“I’m trying to write a book” she replied gently.
“Aww that’s so cool! Tell me about it!” Isabela had never met anyone take in such a particular interest as Sehun did in her story.
“It’s not much I might think about switching it up a bit because I keep getting stuck”
“But that’s still so cool! I wish I was that creative and could write, it must be amazing. You’re going to definitely have to let me read it before you publish it and become this huge successful writer”
Isabela giggled at his enthusiasm. Someone was showing genuine interest in what she loved doing the most and it felt good. That is everything kind of started feeling good when she was around Sehun.
Isabela then began sharing the plot of her story with him as they exchanged ideas and discussing all different types of turns her story could develop into.
As spring approached Isabela continued writing and coming into the coffee shop. She had sat down in a seat closer to Sehun than before when they first met and began sipping her drink until she heard the boy start giggling. She took a moment to look up at Sehun who had at this point burst out in laughter holding a hand to his mouth to try and continue his giggles.
Isabela began to feel confused and self aware.
Did he read what I started? What if he thought it was a complete joke? We’ve talked about my writing before, but I didn’t think that he’d be interested. What is he saw that I actually took him seriously? I hope he hasn’t read anything, it’s not ready yet.
The boy’s giggles began settling down as he began saying, “Y-you have a little something above your lip”
Isabela set down her cup and took her sleeve to wipe the top of her lip before looking up to check for approval of the whipped cream being completely gone.
Sehun laughed again and shook his head. Isabela swiped again lightly and found the boy smiling at her. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against hers. She felt both where the whipped cream had touched her lips as well as a soft warmth replacing where the cream had been. Isabela was both shocked and entranced as she began melting into the kiss that had came so sudden, it felt like soft waves brushing up against your feet as the water gently treads around your ankles. Sehun broke apart first and Isabela snapped back into the small chatter of the busy coffee shop, orders running, people bustling inside to stay outside of the rain softly pouring down now.
He sat back in his seat and smirked at her. “I got it” and licked off what was left of the whipped cream on his lips.
“You didn’t have to do that” Isabela said quietly trying to hide her cheeks as she felt a soft blush creep against her.
“I know, but I wanted to” he said beaming at her as he leaned forward and picked up her cup to take a sip. He shivered and licked his lips before saying, “I honestly don’t know how you drink this, it’s so bitter”
Isabela laughed at him noticing that he too had whipped cream above his lip. He stared at her curiously wondering what had gotten into her. “What are you laughing at?”
She continued giggling before she leaned over closing the space between them again kissing the whipped cream off his lips and smiling back at him. Thank god for her caramel macchiato, she thought to herself as she sat back in her seat and looked at the boy who was beaming now.
“You had a little something” Isabela said as he raised his hand to his lips trying to cover his disbelief and happiness.