Chapter Text
He almost didn’t go. The location Elijah sent him was a solid twenty minute drive out of his way and there were very few things Yo Han deemed worthy of wasting his time — coffee and pastries not being particularly high on that list – but Elijah was . So he went, despite his misgivings, because Elijah so rarely invited him to anything and his curiosity was piqued.
His curiosity was flattened when he finally made his way from the office to the cafe. From the facade there was certainly nothing that merited all of the idling in traffic. What, exactly, was so special about yet another overpriced coffee shop serving the growing ranks of the petite bourgeoisie? Even the name, Indulgence , was pretentious and overwrought. He could only hope that the coffee would be better than the branding, or that there would be something here, amongst the gilded decor and tacky menu, that would be worth his time.
“Elijah,” Yo Han greeted his niece, finding her already seated inside with a cup of something milky and sweet looking in front of her, the milk shaped into a leaf. “That looks…well…indulgent.”
“It’s called the Hella Good,” Elijah answered, smiling over the rim as she took a sip. “And it is.”
“Right,” Yo Han said, giving minimal effort to keeping the skepticism from his face as he scanned the chalked menu board. He loathed dessert masquerading as coffee. “Is there anything here that I can order without cringing?”
“I’d recommend the Devil’s Cup,” a warm voice said from behind his shoulder. The voice circled around the table, entirely ignoring Yo Han in favor of greeting Elijah by name, as if they were friends.
The voice, as it turned out, had a pretty smile and an even prettier face, the first thing Yo Han had seen that afternoon that had been worth even a fraction of his while. The appeal of this out of his way, over the top cafe was becoming all too clear to him now, as he watched Elijah’s typically disgruntled, unimpressed expression melt into something almost affectionate.
In this, at least, Yo Han could not fault her taste.
“I’ll take whatever you recommend,” Yo Han said, angling his body between the pretty face and Elijah. The barista gave him a not very subtle once over while Yohan leaned in towards the man’s apron, eyeing the little bronzed nametag. “Kim Ga On.”
“Typically, one would order at the counter,” the barista pointed at the front of the cafe, his smile distant and polite as he took a step away from Yo Han’s prying eyes. “But since you’re here with Elijah, I can make an exception.” He turned away, apparently done with Yo Han once again, to wink at Elijah, who flushed an endearing shade of pink. “I’ll be right back.”
Bemused by the rare experience of being so summarily checked out and then promptly ignored, Yo Han watched Kim Ga On go, admiring the rear view and noting Ga On’s ability to navigate the throngs of customers in front of the register, half of whom were Elijah’s age and no less besotted.
“He’s too old for you,” Yo Han said, pulling out an overstuffed chair and joining Elijah at the table.
“It’s not like that!” Elijah swatted his arm, her cheeks still stained pink. “He’s just nice to me, that’s all.”
“I saw you look at his butt. Which is also nice.” Yo Han teased, craning his neck to find the butt-haver in question, who was currently occupied trying to decline taking a selfie with a pair of very eager teenagers, looking like cornered baby deer.
Elijah spared him a knowing look, taking another deliberate sip of her sugary abomination. “You’re too old for him.”
“You wish that were true,” Yo Han smiled, watching the crowds part for the coffee shop idol who was hand delivering him a cup of coffee. “Thank you,” he said, crossing his legs and taking the coffee from Ga On’s tray. He took a sip. It was better than passable, but still not worth any special effort. “It’s very good,” Yo Han lied, because the happy crinkle of Ga On’s eyes may have been.
“I’m glad you think so.” Ga On said, not looking entirely convinced by Yo Han’s review, his full red lips twitching with amusement.
“Ga On, this is my uncle, the one I told you about.” Elijah said, pulling Ga On down into one of the empty chairs across from Yo Han. “He’s kind of a coffee snob, so just ignore him.”
Yo Han wondered when, exactly, his niece had gotten close enough to a much older barista to be able to literally push him around at his place of work.
“I may be particular about coffee,” Yo Han put down his cup to reach across the table and offer his hand and his name. “But I assure you there’s no need to ignore me. Kang Yo Han.”
“Kim Ga On, though I guess you already knew that.” Ga On’s hand was warm and rough, his grip firm.
“And how do you know our Elijah?” Yo Han asked, smiling through narrowed eyes, running through the possibilities of what a twenty-something man wanted with a sixteen year old girl who was naive about the ways of the world.
Ga On seemed charming enough, but Yo Han knew enough of the world to know that no one was what they seemed. Elijah was his only family, his most precious person, and no matter the sweetness of Ga On’s smile, there was nothing he wouldn’t do for her – including running a thorough background check on the pretty barista as soon as he was at home and left to his own devices.
“She didn’t tell you?” Ga On seemed surprised, turning towards Elijah, who studiously avoided looking at them both. Ga On shot him an apologetic look, as if he now fully understood the gravity of the mysterious situation. “Ah, well, you see I’ve been helping her study math for the CSAT.”
That, of all things, was not what Yo Han expected to hear.
“Oh really?” Yo Han said slowly, thinking about the year’s worth of tuition he had recently dropped at Stanford University for Elijah’s sophomore computer science classes. Classes that required math prerequisites well beyond the level of the CSAT that Elijah had taken when she was 14 years old.
He put his hand on the arm of Elijah’s wheelchair and pulled, forcing her to meet his eyes. Her face was panicked, her mouth moving silently around please . Yo Han smothered a laugh, biting the corner of his lip before smoothing out his expression and turning back to a bemused, expectant Kim Ga On.
“I see. That’s so kind of you. Please let me know if there’s anything I can do to repay you for your time.”
“Uh, no need.” Ga On looked back and forth between them, clearly trying to puzzle out the script of their silent family drama. “Elijah’s really lovely. She’s a great student.”
“You have no idea,” Yo Han murmured, taking another sip of his mediocre coffee to hide his mirth. “She’s always been somewhat of a prodi–
“Ga On! Could you bring me a piece of cake? Pretty please?” Elijah almost yelped, flinging out a hand to not so subtly pinch Yo Han’s arm. “I need some sugar before I can even think of studying again.”
“Sure,” Ga On said, still looking at them with open curiosity as he stood back up. He nodded his head towards Yo Han. “Two forks?”
“Why not?” Yo Han said, licking his lips. “I feel suddenly compelled to try everything this café has to offer.”
Ga On’s cheeks darkened. “Right. Ok. I’ll be right back.”
“You’re the best,” Elijah called after his swiftly retreating back before turning to Yo Han and hissing, “Don’t say a word!”
“How could I not?” Yo Han sipped his coffee, thoroughly enjoying his afternoon. He pursed his lips and cooed, “My precious niece is struggling with her studies and needs tutoring from the local barista. She couldn’t even tell me she was having such a hard time. I have to be concerned.”
“Shut up,” Elijah complained, looking downcast at her slowly dissolving milk-foam leaf. Yo Han wondered if that was another of Kim Ga On’s special talents. “It just happened, okay? The first time I came here, he heard me cursing out one of my assignments for mathematical foundations of computing and he offered to help.” She flicked her gaze up at Yo Han. “He assumed I was in high school and was upset about exams.”
“And you didn’t feel the need to correct him?” Yo Han questioned, curious as to why his typically strong-willed and prickly niece would accept help she didn’t need.
“He was just so nice about it.” She traced idle patterns on the table, looking wistfully at the front of the shop, smiling faintly when Ga On waved and pointed at a towering piece of chocolate cake. “No one has ever offered to help me with school before – they always offer me help with this,” she pointed down at her wheelchair, “ or treat me like a helpless child. Ga On took me seriously from the moment we met. So I just…let him help. I thought it would just be the one time, but I kept coming back. And now I don’t know how to tell him the truth.”
The confession makes him ache, his amusement cooling as he thought about how lonely his niece must have been to accept help with math she had mastered at the age of twelve just to have the company of a kind man with good intentions.
“Please don’t tell him,” Elijah begged, curling his fingers around Yo Han’s wrist. “I’ll tell him, soon, I promise.”
“Tell me what?” Ga On asked from behind Yo Han’s chair, his hand slipping around his shoulder and placing a monstrous piece of cake in front of them both.
Yo Han looked in Elijah’s eyes, those eyes that reminded him of his brother, and became a co-conspirator.
“That I’m too old to eat all this sugar,” Yo Han said, dragging his fork through the cake and popping into his mouth, enjoying the way Ga On watched him lick the fork clean. “But I’m making all sorts of exceptions today it would seem.”
“Here, have another bite.” Elijah shoved another forkful into Yo Han’s mouth. Ga On’s expression was teetering from confused amusement towards wary concern, as if he suspected that he was an unwitting pawn in a game for which he did not know the rules. While Yo Han chewed his way through another bite of too much chocolate ganache, Elijah turned on the charm, giving Ga On her most winsome smile, the one that made her look so lovely Yo Han almost always forgave her anything. “Yo Han, Ga On is studying for the bar exam.”
Yo Han swallowed his cake along with Elijah’s change of subject. “That must be difficult to do while working.” He smiled to show that he meant no offense, even as his mind turned over what he knew of Kim Ga On, an attractive man who worked in a coffee shop, offered free tutoring to teenagers, and was attempting the bar exam in his late twenties. Yo Han suspected there was a backstory, a derailment of plans or perhaps some precipitating event that had changed the course of his life. He was surprised to find himself interested, wanting to know more. “My younger colleagues tell me the exam is quite challenging.”
“Are you a lawyer?” Ga On asked, his gaze flicking to Yo Han’s watch and then down to his shoes, both of which likely cost more than Ga On earned in six months.
“I was.” Yo Han reached into his jacket pocket and handed Ga On his card, more than a little charmed by the sudden sparkle in his eyes as he read Yo Han’s title. “I’m now a judge.”
“That’s impressive,” Ga On said, running his fingers over the business card as if to memorize the characters. “I’d like to end up there too, one day.” He looked up from his almost reverie, suddenly sheepish. “Sorry, I don’t have a card to give you in return.”
Yo Han leaned forward, tipping his nearly empty cup to Ga On. “Not a problem. After all, you have a very memorable face.”
“Ummm. Thanks, I guess?” Ga On’s eyes widened and then narrowed, the tips of his ears turning a bright, angry red. “I have to get back to work.” He turned his pretty, embarrassed face away, much to Yo Han’s chagrin. “Elijah, I’ll see you after my shift? We can walk through differential calculus again.”
“I’ll be here,” Elijah confirmed, smirking at Yo Han as Ga On started to walk away, his pace a little too quick to be anything but running away. “Swing and a miss! I guess maybe you are too old for him.”
“Are you in the position to be teasing me?” Yo Han said with a shrug, abandoning the last dregs of a mediocre coffee and tossing his fork on a plate of half-eaten chocolate cake. “Don’t you need to go review your calculus problems?”
“I know, I know.” Elijah held her hands up in surrender. “But I did bring you here so you could meet him.” She covered his wrist with her small hand and gave him a small smile. “I know how you worry about me and people you don’t know.”
“I worry about you with everyone,” Yo Han murmured, covering her hand with his own. “He seems like a good man –
“A good looking man,” Elijah interrupted, her smile slipping back into a smirk, as if she knew the contours of Yo Han’s thoughts, as if she knew his interest truly had been piqued.
Yo Han patted her hand and said, “Good looking or not, I’m still going to run a background check on him.”
“Ugh, you’re such a weirdo.” Elijah whipped her hand out from under his with a huff of disgust. “You could just come back and flirt with him again instead of abusing the court’s privileges.”
“Oh, I’m going to do that, too,” Yo Han laughed, relishing the irritated crinkle of his niece’s nose as he stood up from the table and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “Study hard, my dear, and I’ll see you later at home.”
“I hate you,” Elijah complained, hiding her face in her hands as Yo Han left her behind with an unrepentant wave.
He stopped at the counter he had yet to actually frequent, waiting until Ga On reluctantly came to meet him, shifting back and forth on his heels as though he was nervous. Yo Han hoped he was, hoped that perhaps his palms were a bit sweaty and his heart was tripping over itself as Yo Han smiled at him and dropped a 50,000 won bill into the tip jar.
“Thank you again for helping Elijah,” he said, grateful for things that Ga On didn’t, couldn’t yet know. “I think she likes you very much.”
“I like her too,” Ga On said warmly, before rushing to explain, “like a little sister! I promise.”
“I understand, though I appreciate the clarification.” Yo Han chuckled, leaning on the counter just far enough to remain an appropriate distance for a customer. He could almost feel the glares of Ga On’s gaggle of fans burning holes in his back. “If you like, I could help you study for the bar exam in return.”
“You would do that? For someone you just met, who isn’t a junior classmate?” Ga On asked slowly, as if he expected some sort of catch, as if he suspected Yo Han of having ulterior motives. “Why?”
Of which Yo Han was quite guilty. Yo Han liked that Ga On suspected him. It made the game all that more interesting.
“You can understand that I would prefer to chaperone Elijah for a bit. At least until I get to know you a bit better. I can’t be too careful when it comes to my only niece,” Yo Han explained, giving Ga On just enough of the truth to get his way.
“Of course. You’re welcome to join us for as long as you need to feel comfortable.” Ga On said with all sincerity, just as Yo Han believed he would, his earnestness and giving nature evident even from the first moments of their acquaintance. Yo Han appreciated those who were genuine in their kindness. It made them so much easier to lead to Yo Han’s conclusions.
“So it wouldn’t be a problem for me to spend a bit of time tutoring you in exchange, right?” Yo Han reached out to straighten Ga On’s name tag. Ga On watched his fingers almost until the point his eyes crossed, but he didn’t back away from Yo Han’s touch. Yo Han smiled, smoothing out Ga On’s wrinkled shirt collar and leaving his shoulder with a parting squeeze. “No doubt I have plenty that I could teach you.”
“...no doubt,” Ga On said weakly, a now familiar shade of red painting the tips of his ears and the ridge of his cheeks. It was quickly becoming Yo Han’s favorite color.
“Well, then,” Yo Han said, pulling away with a slow, lazy smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Kim Ga On.”