The cafe wasn't the worst place to get some work done. higher ground was a big enough place that even at peak hour, there were some booths in the back that were secluded enough to get some relative peace and quiet. And it wasn't peak hour right then anyway - the sun had finally started coming down from its noontime position in the sky, gently reaching its mellowed afternoon rays into the cafe and putting the current time at about 3 in the afternoon on a Tuesday.

Jaewon sat at one of the window tables with his lecture notes spread out over the wood surface, half a mug of coffee sitting cold among the sheets of paper and scattered stationery. There were always tests to be studied for in his course -- their professor was a hardass and made it a point to test them every single week. Not little pop quizzes either, but graded tests, and he'd told them imperiously that only half of the weekly tests would be taken into consideration at the end of the semester to account for 20% of their total grade - but he wouldn't tell them exactly which tests. It wasn't even actual term time yet but the same professor had at least had the courtesy to upload the syllabus and the first term's worth of notes to the university portal, so Jae had downloaded them and printed them all out like only a kid with no friends would. He did really want to graduate, though, and his convenience store shift didn't start til 10 at night. So here he was at a cafe, studying in the middle of July.

He wasn't here just to stare at notes and nothing else, though -- Jae wasn't that much of a good student. The studying was a good excuse to come down to the cafe, but his real passion lay in drawing. Most times he'd lay out his study material, then spend half the time observing people and sketching them in his blank-paged notebook, both cafe-goers and whoever or whatever went by outside the huge windows. Also it was nice to sit by the window and bask in the sun like a cat. The boy might have been unaffectionately nicknamed "ice prince" by most of his peers, but he did enjoy the way the sun filtered in through the glass while the cafe's air conditioning made sure he wasn't actually sweltering in the summer heat.

The notebook was open to a sketch of the barista, his head lowered in concentration and hands expertly flexing as he pulled a shot of espresso from the shiny chrome-plated machine. As Jae continued to draw, filling in the man's blissful expression with gentle strokes of his pencil, the barista looked up and caught his eye, jerking his chin at him rakishly with a lazy grin. Rolling his eyes, Jaewon averted his gaze and put the notebook aside, picking up a highlighter instead as he pulled a sheet of definitions closer. He was a pretty frequent patron of the cafe and Lee was always finding some way to tease him about being alone all the time. It wasn't the worst thing that had ever happened and Jae came back all the time anyway because the cafe atmosphere (and the good coffee) was worth it, but he did rather wish the barista would just leave him alone. Sighing (a little dramatically perhaps), Jaewon uncapped the highlighter and began to doodle a rose in the margin of his paper. Perhaps he would go get a refill.

@ open! // come harass my child