HEXELG

CAFFEINE & CODE
A GL slow-burn romance by HEXELG

She's just the barista.
She's the most feared CEO in the city.
Neither of them expected to become the most important part of each other's routine.

Rina Cha is shy, clumsy, and just trying to survive her shifts at Syntek Corp's elite café. Her idea of danger is spilling oat milk on a customer-not walking into the executive elevator and meeting Kira Yoon, the company's untouchable CEO.

Kira runs the tech empire like a machine-flawless, cold, and emotionless. She doesn't do distractions. Especially not flustered girls with crooked foam hearts on their lattes.

But somehow, Rina becomes her only exception.

Now, Rina is bringing Kira coffee every day... and something deeper is brewing between them. In a world of polished glass, power suits, and unspoken rules, can softness survive?

Or will Kira code her heart out of reach?

Caffeine & Code

Kira didn't have time for distractions.

She had a product launch in six weeks, a board meeting in three days, and a sleep schedule built on three hours and two alarms.

She watched the café security feed like it was a live drama.

The camera in the corner showed the usual: a sleek, open-concept coffee bar tucked inside Syntek's sky-high atrium. Customers came and went like clockwork. Orders were fast, efficient.

In the most inconvenient, unscheduled, utterly magnetic way.

On the screen, Rina was mid-conversation with a customer—smiling wide, hands flailing as she explained something. Probably overexplaining. She did that when she was nervous.

And then—of course—she knocked over a cup tower behind her.

She said it aloud before realizing she was alone.

Rina scrambled to clean up the mess, cheeks red, laughing at herself. The customer laughed too. No one was upset. In fact, somehow, it made the morning warmer.

Kira leaned back in her chair and stared at the monitor. Her fingers hovered over her keyboard, but the code she'd been writing blinked forgotten.

"You shouldn't be interesting," she muttered. "You're not even part of my department."

But Rina kept pulling her in. Her energy. Her softness. Her complete lack of awareness that people like Kira Yoon weren't meant to be spoken to with that kind of light.

Yesterday's napkin was still in her drawer.

A soft knock pulled her attention away.

Evelyn, her assistant, poked her head in. "Ma'am, do you still want the scheduled meeting with UI?"

Rina was drawing something in the foam of another coffee.

"No," Kira said, voice cool. "Cancel it."

"No." A pause. "The… other one."

Rina wiped her hands on her apron and peeked at the time.

She hadn't seen Kira today. No calls. No elevator visits. No surprise appearances with terrifyingly silent stares.

Maybe the heart yesterday was too much.

Or maybe—Rina swallowed—maybe she'd overstepped.

Just then, the café door opened. Her breath caught—but it wasn't her.

Just some analyst guy. Not green eyes. Not tailored suits. Not—

A quiet voice interrupted her spiral.

Rina looked up to see Ava, her co-worker, arching an eyebrow.

"What—no! Pfft. Thinking about coffee. And foam. That's all. Just... foamy thoughts."

Ava smirked. "You blush every time you say her name."

Rina groaned, turned around—then paused.

Because someone had sent a mobile order to the café terminal.

"Flat white. No sugar. Extra foam. No heart today."

The Feed