His POV

I sip my coffee from my seat in the small and lively coffee shop, my gaze on the woman currently smiling behind the counter.

I don't know why I always come here of all places, and I especially ignore why I always spend that time staring at her, the dark liquid in my cup taking its time to lower, the heat never lasting for quite as long as I would need it to.

I don't know why she has my attention, she just does.

She exists to live, and I exist to be her victim, my soul a soft clay that she can shape to her heart's desires.

Or that might be my reality if I was the one actually interacting with her.

Jin, my bodyguard, walks over happily with a large blueberry muffin in hand and sits in front of me with a soft hum, our weekly visits here not bothering him in the slightest, which shouldn't come as a surprise, not when there's so much food to his disposal.

"Y/N's so sweet, she gave me a nice little discount since I'm always kind with her, but if you want my opinion, I think my blinding smile simply finally charmed her. Maybe she'll declare her love for me the next time we come here?" he muses before taking a bite of his food while I clench my fingers around the coffee cup.

"Y/N?".

He nods his head, uncaring that bits of food spill onto his black suit when he wipes his mouth. "We shared our names just now, she said that she likes knowing the names of the people she sees regularly, so I told her mine and then she told me hers. I think I made a new friend, today feels like a good day-"

"Did you tell her my name?".

Jin laughs and points at me like I just said the joke of the year, a sight that makes me frown, the worsening narrowing of my eyes not bothering him in the slightest when he exhales in amusement while I keep glaring at him.

"No, don't worry, I wouldn't dare. I told her that it would be better for her to not interact with you when she can avoid it, I know you don't like it when strangers talk to you- hey, where are you going?".

"Out, we're leaving" I state before walking past the counter, eyes straight on the door that I push open while the annoying man hurries in stuffing himself with the muffin before running after me, a quick wave of the hand to Y/N before he's out and by my side.

"That was a short break" the man pouts but I ignore him and get inside the limousine that awaits in front of the building while he runs to take the wheel with a disappointed sigh. "Really short. I couldn't even enjoy the taste of the muffin".

I turn my gaze to the window that allows me a sight of her as she stares in our direction from the large storefront, confusion on her face at how quickly we came and left before she shrugs it off to instead focus on wiping the counter.

"It's because you talk too much. Let's go".

"Yes, yes. If I didn't know you that well, Taehyung, I'd almost believe you jealous, isn't that funny? You, jealous? Pah, now I'd love to see that in person".

"Shut up and drive" I utter lowly, and he listens in silence, the rumbling motor coming alive while I take in as much of her grace as I can, and when we drive away from the coffee shop, my heart stings like it's prickled by hundreds of needles, all of that, just from being unable to see her anymore.

Who is she to captivate me as such?

Y/N, who are you?

"Jin, call Yoongi and let him know that I want the incoming meeting to happen sooner. I'm not in a mood to be working until the evening today. If the clients can't make it, cancel everything" I ask him after a few seconds and his gaze briefly meets mine in the rear-view mirror to see if I'm serious.

I am serious.

"Awww, again? Namjoon spent many hours working on this project for you, you know?" he comments lightly as he searches for my personal assistant's number on his phone from the window support once at a red light.

"Then tell Yoongi to do a good job to convince them. I want them in the meeting room in one hour at most".

A sigh. "Yes, of course. I'm sure Yoongi will manage, they were already desperate when they came to us last month so they should accommodate to you without making a big fuss, but please don't make a habit out of this, it's such a waste when you have your sudden whims".

I tsk my tongue and look the other way. This wouldn't be happening if he'd told her my name, why did he tell her to avoid talking to me? Because I hate everyone?

Now, because of him, I'm going to have to go back later to fix that problem, because the simple thought of her sleeping tonight with the knowledge that she can't talk to me makes my blood boil.

"You know what? Make it thirty minutes. And tell Yoongi to put some whiskey in my coffee, I'm pissed".

At these words, Jin gulps and decides to simply focus on his current tasks, which are to drive and tell Yoongi absolutely everything that I said, but with more tact.

'Oof, what'd you do to piss him off this time, Jin? Whiskey at one in the afternoon? You've done bad this time, buddy. I'll see what I can do on my side, but do try to avoid making him blow up before I'm off work, yeah?'.

"Shut up, you are not helping" Jin answers through gritted teeth, and when I huff a tiny smile, he squeezes the steering wheel tighter between his fingers. What the fuck did he do wrong?

This is the kind of situation that makes him hate his job.

For just a tiny little second.

My being one of the most successful and wealthy bachelors this country has ever seen has its advantages, and him being one of my closest friends is one of those. He can hate working for me from time to time, because at the end of the day, his affection will never run out of fuel.

And he does get to see interesting things when he follows me around.

"Oh look Taehyung, a fat squirrel, it reminds me of- oh. It died. Never mind".

I roll my eyes before closing them for a short nap that only serves to bring her face back to the surface, and when my heartbeat slows to a comfortable and peaceful pace, I inhale deeply in face of these strange feelings.

I will definitely have to go back to her before she ends her shift. I cannot accept that she does not know my name but knows Jin's.

He should not take more space than I do in her life, I have remained on the sidelines for long enough.

That changes now.

Your POV

When we close the shop for the day, I heave a sigh of relief, glad that the last rush of customers is finally behind us and over with because I'm really tired, today felt like it would never end.

My three coworkers exit the work area to instead sit at a table to talk between themselves and I start gathering the dirty dishes in the sink to fill the dishwasher before getting started with cleaning the few workstations, something that we should be doing together under normal circumstances.

But sadly, their lounging in the seating area to relax after talking all day with the customers is nothing new and I don't think it will change anytime soon. Their laziness is unlike anything I've ever seen before and the shop's owner is never here anyway, so who's to make them stop?

"You know that very handsome man who always comes here once a week with that chatty model? Well I heard that he's actually the CEO of Gold Label, you know, that company that's at the head of most of the prestigious bars, hotels and cruises available around the world?".

"Whaaaat? No way! Why would such a man come to our stupid coffee shop? The coffee isn't even that good, but he is handsome though! I wouldn't mind having him in my bed at the end of the day...".

"Geez, you already have a different guy every single day, leave us some of the good bits too".

"No way, it's not my fault if they all want a taste of me, find your own toys!".

"Speaking of toys, I got this new one and-"

I tune out of their conversation and sigh as I scrub the coffee machines properly, water boiling before pouring into empty cups to clean the filters as well, something that depends entirely on me because the girls never do this step when they find it in them to help a little.

Sometimes it really feels like I'm running this shop on my own, but at least they do the minimum required of them so I'm not really doing everything on my own, it just feels like it.

I think back to the two men the girls were talking about with a tired exhale, my body at its limit.

I only really know Jin since he's always the one standing by the counter to talk to me while I work on their orders, but even with our weekly chats, I can't say that I know much about either of them.

The mysterious silent one whose name I will probably never learn because he apparently doesn't like being bothered by strangers does have something to him that always makes me curious, a sort of pull that I can't explain, but with what his friend told me today, I don't expect much out of this.

I'm sure Jin warned me for a reason so I don't want to risk it, even if only to be polite. It's safer to interact through the friendly man while he takes care of the silent one, that way, everyone's happy and I get to keep my job.

I hum as I begin wiping the countertop with a wet towel to remove the coffee stains and bread crumbs hiding in the corners. If what Rina said is true, that they are indeed from such a grand company, it does make me wonder why they come here of all places.

While I try my best to offer the best drinks I can manage to the customers who come here, I really don't feel like I'm doing that good of a job because no one's shown me how to do my job ever since I started working here.

Most of what I learned had to come from YouTube videos and even then, there is only so much they can teach when the coffee machines aren't from the same company, something that hadn't crossed my mind at the time when I began hunting for more information after a terrible first day of endless apologizing.

Honestly, that man, Jin, has been an angel ever since they began coming here. He's patient and even guided me a few times when he saw me confused about some complicated requests, something that my boss would scream at me for if he ever saw that happening live.

Hana has tried to show me how to do the more complex recipes once or twice but... she goes so fast that I can't even try to learn by copying her moves so the teaching was in the end a failure and none of the girls appear interested to help me, so I really had to pick up details left and right to make it to where I am now.

I sometimes find myself wishing I could complain to my boss and ask him to do something about them, but if I'm being sincere about this whole thing... my working here is enough of a miracle as it is and I can't afford being kicked out for speaking up.

Fairies are not allowed to be independent without an owner to back them up after all and my boss is the only one who didn't request that I show him a proof of ownership before hiring me, so while the pay isn't all that great, it does allow me to pay the rent for the one room I could find downtown, another place that didn't seem to care much before giving me the door key.

It's not ideal, sure, I hear many stories that give me goosebumps, some of them even taking place near where I live but I don't have much of a choice, it's either that or living in the streets and that sounds less than safe for someone like me.

Anything is better than that wretched place where I used to be locked in cage without ever being allowed a glance at the outside, and I will do everything in my power to avoid getting caught by them again, because for once in my life, I am finally able to enjoy the freedom that this world has to offer even if it's limited and I don't want to lose that.

I'll do anything to keep my freedom, I don't want to go back to that hell.

As I grab the mop and the bucket to fill with warm water and soap, the shop's front door opens and when the girls quiet down, something unusual, I look up, wondering if maybe the owner finally decided to come have a look at his shop for once, which wouldn't be such a bad thing.

That's what I hope for anyway, but when I instead see the familiar silent man who always lets a friendly Jin order for him standing alone in front of the counter and staring at me, I freeze, mop falling right out of my hand in surprise.

The loud clattering of the plastic handle hitting the floor startles me out of my shock and I quickly set the bucket down and turn off the faucet before straightening up, gaze falling on my coworkers who hurry up to their feet for a chance to flirt with him before he turns around and leaves.

Mitzi makes her way behind the counter and subtly pushes me to the side with her hips before leaning over the counter to show her unauthorized cleavage to him, the modifications she applied to the work uniform not the kind that any business owners would like to see on their employees, that speaks about how often he comes around.

"What can I do for you, handsome? We're currently closed but just for you, we'll make an exception and make you whatever you want" she chirps with what she considers a sexy wink, and I look up just in time to find the man's eyes twitch in disgust before I begin planning my exit to avoid interacting with him.

I have no idea why he's here when it's obvious that we're closed, the usually lighted open sign by the door now turned off the first hint to stop them from entering the shop, but I'm not ready to stay around long enough to find out when Jin's warning comes back to mind.

These three girls look more than willing to take care of this matter and I make it a point to ignore the stinging to my heart when I pick up the bucket and mop.

"Uh... hello? Are you not here for coffee? Or did you perhaps come back because one of us caught your attention? We can definitely help with that too~".

Taehyung ignores her and turns his gaze in my direction, but as he does so, it's to find me already on my way to the kitchen to flee this awkward atmosphere, so all he really gets to see is the back of my head before I disappear in the other room.

He tsks his tongue in annoyance, this has got to be the result of Jin's warning, right?

His bodyguard/worst best friend recently asked for a bonus to thank him for all his hard work enduring his mood swings without ever losing his cool, which he granted because he knows he's a piece of work, but Taehyung is starting to think that he doesn't deserve it anymore, why would he when I ran away from him because of what I was told?

"You better make it up to me, you piece of shit" I hear the man mumble under his breath and my eyes widen just as I begin washing the floor by the oven, whoa there!

Why is he so aggressive towards Mitzi?! Do they know each other? Is he one of her many victims?! But she didn't talk to him as if she already knew him so maybe he's a friend of one of her victims? Oh gosh, I don't want to witness that!

"Excuse me? What did you just say to- hey, you're not allowed in the kitchen- hey! Is he seriously ignoring me right now? Wow, what an asshole... whatever, he's not my type anyway, I like my toys cute and obedient, not this... angry".

"Right? He looked so scary too... I still have the shivers".

I turn around at the sound of feet rushing into the isolated room and when I find the very same man scowling at me as he walks over with large strides, I remain still and terrified as my heart attempts to tear down a hole in my back to leave me behind, why is he here?!

He stops a few inches away from me and I hold onto the mop tighter, was what he said to Mitzi actually about me?

Did I do something bad? Did I mess up one of his orders even though Jin's scrutinizing gaze made sure that everything was perfect? Has he had enough of my mistakes? Is that it?!

"It's Taehyung" he blurts out all of a sudden after breathing in deeply to calm himself and I stare at him in confusion as silence takes over in the air, the usually noisy air conditioner turning quiet for once, an awful timing, really!

"P-pardon?" I stutter out in response, completely taken aback by the suddenness of this name he has thrown at me, what am I supposed to do with it?

"My name. It's Taehyung. Don't listen to what Jin said earlier, you're allowed to talk to me. Only you" is what he says, and when I nod my head once, he hums, turns around and leaves the shop without saying one more word, his goal now achieved.

Mitzi, Hana and Rina all peek into the kitchen with a questioning glance once he's gone and I can only shrug at their silent wondering, because I have no idea what just happened here, or even why.

Did he really come here because of what Jin said to me earlier?

"What a weirdo. Oh well. We're leaving so make sure you finish every tasks before locking the door. We'll see you tomorrow, kiddo" the oldest of the three says before turning around to leave the shop as well and I wave them goodbye slowly until the door closes behind them.

... what the heck?

I stare at the mop in my hands, then resume washing the floor, the only thing I'd rather focus on right now if I want to leave this place before night falls.

Taehyung, huh?

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Jshskshksk this was so fun to write