The scarcely covered walls were casted in elongated shadows caused by a few lit candles. Nayoung took a deep breath while slipping out of her coat, the musky scent of cinnamon and apples lingering around her as she hung it from a hook. It was past midnight, hence her surprise when she saw that the living room was dimly lit and the television was playing softly in the background. Nayoung snorted at her friend’s awkward form on the couch; the way her neck was angled made Nayoung cringe. She tiptoed over to Yewon and adjusted her position to a more comfortable one. She also gently placed a blanket over her body, resulting in Yewon stirring from her steady nap.

“Youngie?” her drowsy voice caught Nayoung’s attention. She hummed in response while walking over to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. The warmth of the apartment was finally bleeding into her clothes, wrapping her in a blanket of comfort--just what she needed.

Nayoung stood with her back to the entrance when she noticed some shuffling sounds. Upon looking behind her, she noticed that her friend was in full winter pajamas, as if she was ready for hibernation. Nayoung chuckled, eying Yewon’s exhausted features, and turned to scan through the wooden box of teas on the counter.

“What happened to not staying out late?” Yewon said softly as she walked closer to Nayoung and thudded her head against Nayoung’s shoulder. The sleepy girl rubbed her face against the soft fabric of her sweater like a cat seeking for attention. Nayoung chuckled while removing the paper packaging from the tea bag, and rubbed the side of her head against Yewon’s.

“Go to bed, it’s already late,” she answered and dipped the bag of camomile herbs into the boiling water in her cup.

“Youngie,” Yewon instead whined and pulled back from Nayoung’s shoulder to sleepily lean against the counter next to her.

“I’m sorry,” Nayoung said back with a playful whine, and glanced at Yewon from the side. The latter stared at Nayoung’s red cheeks that were still flushed from the cold outside, bundled up because of the small smile that graced her lips but didn’t entirely reach her eyes.

“Are you alright?” Yewon asked with a careful voice. Nayoung remained silent, the same smile still in place; her hand reached for Yewon’s head, where her fingers tangled with the jetblack locks in an affectionate ruffle.

“Go sleep,” Nayoung answered before carefully taking her cup of tea. “‘Night,” she finally said with a smile and without another glance, left the kitchen to retreat to her room.

Yewon remained in the kitchen as she listened to Nayoung’s socked feet shuffling over the hardwood floor. Sighing, she pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders and observed Nayoung’s retreating back; her head hung low and her shoulders hunched, her playful air gone entirely.

“This looks cozy.”

Jongin mindlessly hummed in response as he scanned the area, but failed to find what he was looking for.

“Remind me why we’re here again?” Chanyeol interrupted Jongin’s train of thoughts, and threw a flirty wave with a satisfied smirk at the blushing barista behind the counter.

“Remember my little adventure of yesterday?” Jongin asked and rolled his eyes as he grabbed his friend by the arm and dragged him the other side of the counter.

“How could I, Jack? After you told me you’d never let me go, you found another Rose to fancy,” Chanyeol dramatically said and pulled his arm out of Jongin’s. The latter sneered at him but chose to ignore the comment.

“Well, the girl works here.”

At this piece of information, Chanyeol’s interest was peaked and his eyes shot around the cafe. “Which one?” he asked. “The cute one over here?” he pointed at the one he had waved at earlier. “Or the cute one there?” Chanyeol continued as he checked out another worker that was wiping one of the tables at the far end of the cafe. Jongin rolled his eyes once more but just as he was about to retort, a familiar dark bob caught his eye.

“Her!” he exclaimed, surprisingly relieved, and grabbed Chanyeol’s chin to turn his head to Nayoung, who had just then entered from the back room. She seemed to have spotted the two males as well because her eyes widened, her lips rounding.

“Kai?” Nayoung said. She was surprised to see Jongin as fast as the next day. When he had told her ‘I guess I’ll see you’, she expected for their next meeting to be in a week or two again, not her very next shift. Jongin didn’t seem to notice her surprise and waved before leading his friend to the counter.

“I thought it was clear you could call me Jongin now,” he laughed and nodded at Nayoung’s company as a greeting.

“Jongin,” Nayoung repeated, an awkward smile settling on her face. When she felt an elbow nudge her, she shot her coworker, Sunhee, a look. The latter caught on and lifted her hands in surrender before waving at Chanyeol again and taking her leave. His smirk settled again as he moved to lean against the counter in a flirty attempt.

“What are you doing here?” Nayoung asked Jongin, still a little agitated and surprised. Jongin chuckled and looked up at the menu that hung above Nayoung.

“Well, I was hoping to get me and my friend something to drink. If that's okay with you,” he said with a playful grin when he looked back at her, and motioned with his head to his taller friend. “This is Chanyeol,” he said and grabbed the taller’s arm to focus his attention to Nayoung.

Somewhat whining as his eyes were dragged away from hip-swaying Sunhee, a grin soon found his lips when he looked down at the other worker behind the counter, and greeted her.

“You must be Nayoung,” he smiled at her and took her hand to shake. Nayoung nodded and allowed him to take it. However, she expected anything but him lifting it to his lips and placing a small peck on the back of her hand. Her wide eyes shot to Jongin, who simply rolled his as if it were something he was used to seeing, and didn’t comment on the matter.

“I thought I’d check up on you since it was pretty cold yesterday,” he instead said, but subtly sidestepped Chanyeol so Nayoung’s hand was freed.

“Shouldn’t I be the one that is worried about you, though?” Nayoung said and eyed the red striped bomber Jongin was wearing. “I see you found a replacement,” she said with a nod at his jacket.

Jongin laughed and straightened his shoulders. “A lot more comfortable.”

“I can imagine,” Nayoung said and laughed, but was soon interrupted by another presence.

Baekhyun had hopped into the cafe from the back and stopped next to his coworker. Seeing that she was having a conversation with the customers, he politely greeted the two behind the counter, but soon focused on Nayoung again.

“There’s a change in the schedule so you should check it out ASAP before our sleeping dragon changes his mind again,” Baekhyun said with a playful grin and nudged her. He threw in a haughty wink at the customers before returning to the back again.

Nayoung laughed at the thought of an agitated Yixing, but made sure to make a mental note of the changed schedule. If it worked out in her favor, she would have more time to study for her test next week.

“Sorry about that,” she apologized to the two men, but they didn’t seem to mind.

“Who was that?” Chanyeol all but interrupted Jongin who was about to speak up. His question remained in the air for a moment as his eyes lingered on the closed door to the back room.

Nayoung raised an amused eyebrow at his tone. “My co-worker. Why?”

“Name? Age? Relationship status on Facebook?” Chanyeol instantly began firing questions, not taking any heed of Jongin’s continuous stabs of his elbow into his ribs.

“I’m not exactly authorized to share that,” Nayoung said, her arms crossed in front of her chest. She was not about to share private information with some stranger that would earn her friend another stalker to deal with.

“Not even with a friend?”

“We’re not friends.”

“A friend of a friend?”

Instantly, Nayoung met eyes with Jongin. Were they friends now they had shared a night locked up in a supermarket? Could one label two strangers as close companions after such an experience, even though it were a mere two hours, and other meetings existed of the simple clerk-customer conversations?

“If you’re that curious, go ask him yourself,” Nayoung said to evade the question, not looking at Jongin as she did. She wasn’t about to risk getting into an awkward situation because of this.

Luckily, Jongin simply chuckled and let the subject be. Chanyeol’s interest didn’t fade. Nayoung noticed this because of the thoughtful pout gracing his full lips, but he didn’t push the matter any further. Instead, he got his wallet out and mopily ordered a hot chocolate to go, nudging for Jongin to give his order as well so they could leave as soon as possible.

“One hot chocolate and one caramel frappe, coming right up,” Nayoung said with an awkward beam, focusing more on Chanyeol than the other because she could still feel her heart race inside her chest. Chanyeol nodded and with a last lingering, and quite desperate look at the backroom door, he handed her the money and sulked over to the pick-up area.

Matt had this effect on people and though he was aware of this power, he always left his admirers hanging, to Nayoung amusement.

“I guess that’s my cue,” Jongin interrupted her thoughts, and pulled her gaze towards him. She managed to show him a smile and nodded. She was at a loss of words, to be quite honest.

Until a few days ago, the handsome stranger that visited the cafe every morning was still a stranger, one that Nayoung could admire from the sidelines which she quite enjoyed doing. Now, after a few verbal meetings, she wasn’t sure how to act or what to say anymore. She realized that they found themselves in the gray area between acquaintances and friends, and Nayoung didn’t know which way to go, or which way Jongin was leaning towards. Had he been less devastatingly handsome and nice, Nayoung would’ve been able to manage.

Right now, however, she wasn’t so sure.

“Have a nice day,” Nayoung decided was the most neutral greeting. Jongin’s lips tugged into a smile before he replied.

“You too. Take care of yourself,” and with that, he waved and moved to join his friend at the end of the bar. They received their drinks soon after and Nayoung was left staring at them as they exit the cafe.

She had no time to recover from the surprise meeting because the sound of the back door opening caught her attention, before Baekhyun appeared next to her.

“My my, Youngie. What handsome friends you have,” he said, not even covering the compliments for Jongin and Chanyeol. His eyes followed the two making their way to school through the large window facing the campus. “Especially the loud one,” he muttered afterwards and nudged his friend with wiggling eyebrows. “Care to hook a dear friend up?”

Scoffing, Nayoung lightly shook her head before burying her face into her hands.

Take care of yourself, Jongin’s voice still echoed in her ears and Nayoung felt her cheeks heat up. Baekhyun’s eyes widened when he saw this and cocked his head as he was trying to peek through her fingers.

“Youngie, are you alright?” he asked, but Nayoung heard the amusement in his voice and chose to ignore the poking fingers in her sides. She couldn’t, however, zone out his annoyingly piercing voice that sang through the nearly empty cafe.

“Choi is in love!”

Checking her phone for the time, Nayoung was happy that Yixing had allowed her to leave earlier than the end of her shift. It was nearing six and the young woman was on her way to a dinner date. She hadn’t seen her father in a few weeks, so the two had decided to meet and catch up on the missed time together. Nayoung lived an hour away from her father’s home, and today she counted herself lucky that the distance wasn’t that big.

She smiled to herself when the white, brick walls of her old house came into view and she couldn’t help let out a sound of excitement. She picked up her pace to get to the front door as soon as possible and searched for her keys in her bag. When she went to unlock the door, she found that it wasn’t locked in the first place; Nayoung quietly slipped into the house, wary of the situation.

The hall was dimly lit. She could hear voices in the other room, one belonging to her father and the other somewhat familiar but she couldn’t quite place it.

Her father’s eyes lit up when he noticed his daughter standing in the doorway to the living room.

“Nayoung, my dearest!” he exclaimed and lifted himself out of the old armchair. He approached his daughter with open arms, ready for her to step into them. Nayoung gladly obliged and instantly felt nostalgic when she was locked against his chest and his familiar scent hugged her. It had been way too long since her last visit and Nayoung regretted it every day, but she needed her time.

For now, she left her past behind and savored her father’s warmth. He let go too soon for her liking, but the wide smile that greeted her when she got a good look at him was more than a great substitution.

His graying hair sat in subtle waves on his head and framed a perfectly aged face; signs of crow’s feet formed the corners of his eyes, but didn’t make her father look any older than forty, to his own amusement. Nayoung returned his smile, too absorbed in her father to notice the other man in the room.

A gentle clearing of the throat effectively caught her attention.

His brown hair was covered by a snapback that sat reversed on his head, fitting the casual look that he was trying to portray. Nayoung always loved the way his body looked in an oversized hoodie, and was a definite advocate of black jeans and sneakers; he looked just as she remembered him, and boy did he manage to make her heart race once again.

“Minseok,” Nayoung’s voice came out as a whisper, barely audible, but the man heard her, for a smile formed on his lips and his eyes lit up.

“The one and only,” Minseok smiled and stepped more into the room, opening his arms much like her father had done before. But unlike the older, Minseok was bolder and didn’t wait for the speechless girl to step into them. Instead, he gathered her into his arms into a firm but meaningful hug. He buried his face into Nayoung’s neck, making the latter shudder at the recognition of the move; Minseok had always been quite handsy and though Nayoung didn’t particularly mind his doings, she always felt a little unsure of how to take them.

Her teenage crush on the guy didn’t exactly help her in her judgement so she just let him have his way, thus Minseok remained oblivious of her constant internal battles.

Minseok pulled away from the girl, still holding her in his arms, and curled a lost strand of her hair behind her ear.

“Hello there,” he smiled at her and let his hand slide to her cheek, his thumb caressing the skin. Before Nayoung could lose herself in his touch, her conscious drove her feelings away and she stepped out of his arms back to her father’s side.

“Are you joining us for dinner?” she instead asked him, masking her nerves with a subtle smile. Minseok still stood with his hands awkwardly hovering in front of him where Nayoung had stood moments ago. Smoothly, he worked his hands into his pockets with a grin.

“Nah, I just dropped by to check on my favorite teacher, Mr. Choi.”

Jaejoon smiled at Minseok, patting his daughter’s hand that held onto his arm.

“We haven’t seen each other in quite some time so we were just catching up, for old times sake,” he explained and glanced at Nayoung. “We lost touch when we moved away, but Minseok used his keen ways to figure things out on his own.”

Nayoung didn’t need any more explanation to figure out how Minseok had found her father--to be honest, she didn’t bother. Her smile failed to disappear, though she believed Minseok could see the disdain in her eyes when he pressed his lips together, as if sealing them. The air around the trio shifted into a more uncomfortable one, so Minseok saw this as his cue to leave.

He slung his black messenger bag over his shoulder across his chest, readjusting it as he approached the Chois. He nodded at his old middle school teacher, who returned the move and went to the hallway himself to get his coat.

This, unfortunately, left Nayoung alone with Minseok and she wasn’t sure whether she was happy with this. Minseok took no heed of her discomfort.

“I’ll see you soon again?” he said with a hopeful undertone as he watched the woman crumble under his gaze. He took a step forward, resulting in Nayoung taking one back.

“Sure,” she managed to reply, but somehow she couldn’t help herself from eying the man in front of her. He still looked the same, though a bit more chiseled than before. However, his boyish charm remained, as did his casual style that she loved so much.

Minseok didn’t respond immediately after her reply; he seemed to be taking the woman in as well, his eyes shamelessly roaming her features all but subtly. Nayoung shifted under his gaze and felt her heartbeat pick up.

Stop it.

“Great,” Minseok said as a genuine smile appeared on his lips.

Nayoung sighed internally because Minseok couldn’t look any more handsome than he did right now.

With this, his hand raised and hovered above Nayoung’s head, as if deciding what to do next. After a second, he settled for her shoulder instead, squeezing it the slightest before sauntering out of the living room.

Nayoung listened to the two men in the hallway exchange their goodbyes before the front door opened and closed, allowing a cool breeze to make its way into the house.

Nayoung wished the man of her past didn’t affect her this much. Yet here she was, trying to catch her heart and breath after a single meeting with him after months of silence. It wasn’t fair how he always had her under his consistent spell and Nayoung had to make do with a few words she managed to muster up in his presence.

She was a different person now; Nayoung had found a way to cope differently with her feelings. But that didn’t mean that Minseok’s attention wouldn’t make her sway the slightest.

“Ready to go?” Jaejoon called for his daughter while wrapping a scarf around his neck. He watched her from the living room’s entrance, catching Nayoung’s attention. Her conflicting thoughts regarding her crush dissipated for the time being; she didn’t have the time nor the energy for it right now.

Not verbally responding, Nayoung joined her father in the hallway, shouldering her bag again before they exited the house and locked the door.

Today is about dad, Nayoung reminded herself, nodding as to confirm that Kim Minseok was but a mere extra in this day’s play, nothing more.