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Chapter 2 —
The café was almost empty.
Only the soft hum of the coffee machine and the ticking wall clock filled the quiet air.
Choi Da-eun stood behind the counter, still feeling the strange tension from the moment their eyes met.
The man who had just entered didn't look like someone who belonged here.
Too perfect.
Too cold.
Too distant.
He walked slowly to a corner table, every step calm and controlled, like someone used to being watched… and feared.
Da-eun picked up a menu and approached him politely.
"What would you like to order?" she asked gently.
For a second, he didn't answer.
Seo Do-hyun simply looked at her—
not warmly, not kindly…
just silently, as if measuring something invisible.
His gaze felt sharp enough to make anyone nervous.
Anyone except Da-eun.
She had lived a hard life.
Cold eyes didn't scare her anymore.
"If you don't want anything," she added softly,
"you don't have to stay."
A small pause.
Then—
"Americano," he said.
His voice was low, calm… and completely emotionless.
Not a request.
More like a quiet command.
Da-eun frowned slightly.
"Hot or iced?"
"…Hot."
"Name for the order?"
Another silence.
His eyes narrowed a little, as if the question itself was unnecessary.
"You don't need my name."
The words were cold enough to freeze the air between them.
Da-eun's expression changed.
Not fear.
Not sadness.
Annoyance.
"Everyone has a name," she replied calmly.
"And this café calls customers by their names."
For the first time—something flickered in Do-hyun's eyes.
No one spoke to him like this.
Not employees.
Not business partners.
Not even enemies.
Yet this small, ordinary girl… looked straight at him without hesitation.
"…Do-hyun," he said at last.
Just the name.
Nothing more.
Da-eun nodded and wrote it on the cup.
When she placed the hot Americano in front of him, their fingers almost touched—
—but he pulled his hand back instantly.
Distance.
Control.
Walls built too high to cross.
Da-eun noticed… and misunderstood.
"Don't worry," she said quietly.
"I'm not interested in rich, rude men."
A dangerous sentence.
The temperature around the table seemed to drop.
Do-hyun slowly looked up at her, eyes dark and unreadable.
"Then mind your own business," he replied coldly.
For a moment, silence burned between them like invisible fire.
Two strangers.
Already clashing.
Already impossible.
Yet neither of them knew—
this sharp, uncomfortable beginning
was the first step toward a love
that would hurt far more than hatred ever could.
Outside, the city lights kept shining…
unaware that fate had quietly started moving.
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