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qianoir · 3 years

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After Midnight 1 - On Melancholy Hill

𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠: college dropout!Ten (WayV) x fem!reader

𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: non-idol au, angst with fluff on top

𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: 13+

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬: cursing (censored), lying, family problems, mentions death of reader's father, romance

♡ 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1k

Preview < 1 < 2

7:00 PM

A fresh, black apron is thrown overhead the moment you enter Décalcomanie, your mom’s café, feet barely stabilizing shaky legs walking to the back room after a long day of dance class that you refer to as organic chemistry when your mother is present.

“Why are you so shaky?”

“I dissected a cadaver in ana-physio today and it kinda freaked me out..”

“Ah! My daughter is doing so well in school, you’re going to become the top doctor in Korea! I can’t wait to brag to all of my friends at Bible study this week.”

She glides past you with a smile and you have to fight the urge to eye roll in front of her cherished customers.

“Thank you for always working so hard for me. You make me so proud.” Her warm embrace taunts your second facade and a fake smile is placed onto the facade before her.

“Be safe when closing and text me when you get home!” And she leaves in her mid-40s to have the Friday night that the girl in her early 20s should be having instead. Unfortunately, hiding your academic identity from your mother forces the rejection of friendships with the possibility of your true major in dance getting back to her.

The longing feeling for friends presses solemnly at your gut as the elder customers exit the café and young adult students and lovesick couples flood in asking for more sugar than is provided in the ajummah favorite black tea. Every run to each table is accompanied by the slow setting sun, reassuring me of the calm night about to come.

An hour passed, not many people came in this late, except for the insomniacs and sorority girls, but they seemed to be either finally sleeping or out partying tonight.

It was now 11:55 PM and no one else had come into the shop for the past 2 hours, but the café was open until 1 AM. At least time is money, you thought, the time being spent leaning over the counter watching Mystic Pop-up Bar on your phone, obviously very fitting for such a night. That was, until the faint ring of the bell above the front door.

You look up and see the petite Chinese kid that always comes in at 12 AM, sharp. He rarely ever talks as you two are the only ones ever in the shop at this hour, but he is not a bother. To you, he seems like a chill person. The boy always leaves a napkin with some song lyrics scribbled on it, a different song each time. They always find way into the pocket of your apron after he leaves, searching for and listening to whatever song to which the lyrics belong when you get home before throwing the cloth out. He has good taste and you often wonder if they are left behind purposely.

The boy sat down at the table in the very back corner by a large window at the front of the café, as always, separate from the other customers who adored sitting at the pretty tables prior to his arrival. He looked up at the sound of footsteps coming to take his order, greeting you with a dashing smile as always again. His craving was spoken in a soft voice, neither a Chinese nor Korean accent present in his voice.

You turned back to whip up his request. One personal strawberry chantilly cake without the strawberries. Easy.

Plating the cute cake, you looked over at him. He was hunched over a storybook-looking journal writing an artwork of Chinese characters with a brush pen, filling you with the usual curiosity about for what reason he was learning Chinese when he was of the language’s origin himself. In the midst of admiring his hard-working strokes, your finger nearly sliced from the lack of attention, and the cake knife was immediately dropped on instinct.

The noise had the boy's eyes suddenly on you again. "Are you okay?" Words stumbled over your lips as you blushed in embarrassment.

"Yes, just got a little distracted.." you honestly assured him. He let out a small giggle then continued with his writing. You blew out a sad puff of air that had been unsettling your ribcage.

You placed the plated cake slice onto a tray and walked over to the boy, gently setting the cream dessert on his table with some napkins, careful not to touch his notebook. "Thank you very much." He says with another contagious smile before you scurry off back behind the bar, continuing the drama episode prior to the regular nightwalker’s arrival. You glanced up and saw the man nibbling on the cake- which was already almost completely finished.

"Is there anything else you would like, sir?"

"I don’t suppose you know Chinese, do you?" The boy laughed to himself, seemingly desperate to have anyone teach him at this point.

"Oh! I’m taking Mandarin at university, actually. I may be of service."

The boy's eyes widened. "I'm sorry! I didn't expect a real answer.. I don't mean to bother you.. but could you please help me understand the meaning of this?"

Peering down at the paper he showed you:

我们不曲终没有人散

夜未央心还澎湃

今晚没有人要醒过来

(Until our song ends, no one’s leaving. The night is not yet over, hearts are still surging. No one wants to wake up tonight.)

Wow that is some deep sh!t.

You translated the literal meaning of the words since you did not know exactly how they mean in a poetic sense. He understood and thanked you for the help.

It was nearing 1 AM and you went to clean up the café before the closing hour. The boy stayed a while more, writing calligraphic characters on his paper and doodling on napkins. He eventually left at midnight’s 50 minute mark.

When you got around to cleaning his table, sure enough, there was a napkin with lyrics forming a neat stanza. This time, the lyrics were in Chinese. And was that.. his number!?

Moonlight shines at midnight. Heartbeats start to rise. Creating a fluttering surprise. The midnight rhythm arrives. We do not know burnout. Bodies feeling like they’re flying. Touch me when the sun goes down.. Touch me after midnight..

(xxx) xxx-xxxx

ten lee

To be continued...

After Midnight by WayV

𝘲𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘳

#wayv #ten #ten x reader #x reader #wayv fluff #wayv angst #wayv imagines #nct fluff #nct angst #nct imagines #qianoir

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