Before California Love • 3

It was still early in the morning and your alarm hasn’t gone off when you heard rustling noises outside your bedroom door. You checked your phone for the time, it was only 8:10 and you still have a little under an hour to sleep. Heechul steps into your bedroom and jumps on your bed. “Good morning, sleepyhead! Time for breakfast!” he exclaimed. “Ya! Heenim, it’s still too early! I want to sleep some more!” you yell while pushing him off your bed. “Breakfast is ready, brat! I had a hard time cooking so you better get your ass out of that bed in five minutes,” he ordered.

You bolted out of your bedroom and into the kitchen because the thought of him cooking in your kitchen is worse than someone breaking into your house. “Whew! I thought you made a mess! How did you do all of this while keeping my kitchen in order?” you asked in disbelief. “I had it delivered, you fool,” says Heechul with a sheepish grin. “Nobody else cooks in my kitchen but me! Oh, and Kyuhyun when we ask him to cook anju for us.” “I wouldn’t be surprised if I see Lee Donghae making a smoothie in your kitchen soon,” he mutters under his breath. “WHAT?” you ask. “Nothing. Let’s just eat.”

You head out for work as planned. Your job as a photographer for a magazine isn’t that hectic, so you’re able to do some freelance work from time to time. The weather was nice so you decided not to take your car and took the train instead. Today’s shoot is for Mouse Rabbit’s online menu, a cafe owned by Yesung, one of Heechul and Donghae’s closest friends. You arrive at the cafe to find Yesung preparing the food and drinks that need to be shot. You’re quite good friends as well so he gave you a quick hug as you walked up to him behind the counter. “Ah! There you are! I thought you wouldn’t show up today!” he says as he breathes a sigh of relief. “Why wouldn’t I show up today?” you ask.

“I thought you signed an exclusive contract with Haru & One Day since you’ve been doing their product shoots since last year. You know how Donghae can be possessive sometimes.” “Oh!” you laugh as you try to hide your confusion, “I don’t know that side of Donghae, I’ve worked with him for Tempus and Haru shoots but he never asked me to sign an ~exclusive~ contract.” Yesung hands you a cup of iced coffee and proceeds, “That’s good to know. I might need you again next month for another shoot for Armoire.” “No problem! Just let me know in advance so I can fix my schedule. Let’s begin?” you ask as he leads you to an outdoor corner where he and Jongjin, his younger brother, set up a nice flat lay for the shoot. “Time to work!”

The day went by quickly, you’re almost done with the shoot when you heard a familiar voice from behind, “What is my photographer doing here?” You look back and see Donghae walking towards you, followed by Jongjin. “Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that question? What are you doing here when you have your own cafe?” you respond, trying to cover your face with your camera to conceal your excitement when you saw that it was him. “He drops by sometimes to visit me but I think he came here today to visit someone else,” Jongjin says to you.

Donghae jokingly slaps his back and says “I was supposed to visit Yesung hyung because he said he was gonna be here but I guess I was an hour late.” Jongjin excuses himself and Donghae sits on one of the empty seats near you. You quickly wrap up the shoot and start to pack your equipment as he finishes the cup of iced Americano he’s drinking.

“Are you done? Let me help you load those to your car,” Donghae offers. “I didn’t bring my car today. I took the train,” you respond. “Carrying all these?” “It’s not that heavy. The good weather this morning made me want to walk around a little,” you explained. “It looks like it’s about to rain though, I should drive you home. Stay here and rest for a bit while I load these to my car,” he says without even asking if you’re okay with it.

You left the cafe as the sky started to get dark. He opened the door for you and you get in his car. He asked you to put your seatbelt on as he started the engine and drove off. He turned on the radio and an Arctic Monkeys song was playing halfway through. Your heart skipped a little upon realizing that it was your favorite band he was listening to and you tried to keep your eyes on the road in front of you as it started raining.

“Why on earth is he listening to my favorite band? He doesn’t look like someone who would listen to this kind of music. Did Wanderland change his taste in music?” you wondered to yourself.

The next song plays and you can no longer hide your disbelief when a Kodaline song starts playing. “Is this your playlist you’re listening to?” you ask Donghae. He looks at you briefly, smiles, and responds, “Yes, this is the playlist I listen to when I’m alone driving or working. Why do you ask?” “Nothing. It’s just that the two songs that played are by two of my favorite bands,” you say to him as if it meant nothing. You look at him as he is trying to stop a smile from forming on his face. He looks at you and asks, “Should we see if the next song is by your favorite band too?”