Chapter 1

Never sharing her problems, never seeking for another person to relieve the burden on her shoulders, never. She kept to herself, crying by herself, withdrawing from the people around her whenever she feels sad. Always by herself, always alone. She's used to it when the person she cherished more than her own suddenly left. The person had brought her out of her little bubble but that same person made her close off - isolating herself - from the world.

It begun that day when she was casually walking to her workplace, a little café, just a few blocks from her place, thinking that just like any other day, she would work her shift, eat dinner at the convenience store and go home. The same routine would repeat every day, very mundane and simple. She was so lost in thought that she bumped into someone who was a little too hyper to be noticing where she was headed. The person next to her, looking very intimidating, apologized to her and helped her up while the person who actually bumped into her was jumping on the spot and dragged the intimidating woman away, rushing to the next nearest arcade.

Rude.

She brushed away imaginary dusts from her pants and flung her backpack onto her shoulder in an angry fit and winced when the thick textbook in her bag hit her back.

Dammit!

She inhaled deeply and decided to forget the little brush with one rude passersby and her intimidating friend before entering her workplace, putting on a stoic face just like any other day.

'Moonbyul.'

Her manager nodded at her as greetings and she responded by going to the changing room. Moonbyul. That's her name and that's the only thing that her co-workers knew about her - well, aside the fact that she's 23 years old a.k.a old enough to be working part-time without parents' consent. She never tried to fit in with the rest and didn't hang out much with the others and after being declined for the third time, her co-workers learned that she wouldn't go no matter what and so they stopped inviting, completely. Not that she would mind. Besides, she had no time to be hanging out and no extra money to spend; she's saving up to go to college.

And like any other day, she would change into her work outfit, serve coffee and refills with worn out smiles, clean up a few tables and when her shift ends, she would change back to her casual wear and eat dinner before returning to her silent and empty apartment and bury her nose into the same thick book she had in her backpack until she could finally fall asleep on her study table. Such was the life of Moon Byul Yi.

That day, however, something's changed. She didn't believe in fate until the same duo that bumped into her showed up at the counter, ready to order a very-complicated-tongue twister- beverage thingy that no one would bother to order.

'Excuse me?'

'I said, tall, ice blended mocha, decaf, extra milk, lots of caramel with a fusion of peppermint,' the hyper rude woman said excitedly in one breath, panting after she finished saying her order.

'I'll have normal ice coffee please,' her partner spoke up.

'Okay, your orders are tall, iced mocha, decaf, uhhh, what was it again?'

'Let me write it down for you. Sorry about my friend, she's a little high,' the not-so intimidating woman offered as she took a pencil and a memo from her purse.

'Please, thank you.'

Weirdo. I hope she don't come back here. Who orders that stuff anyway?

She looked at the note and passed it on to her co-worker who's working on the coffee machine while she worked the cashier. Somehow, they work well together even without saying much. She had been fired from a number of workplaces because her co-workers didn't like her attitude and some of them complained to the manager and she had to pack up her stuff more than often because of it. More than anything, she was very shy that she tends to be cold to people since she didn't know what she should do and when she handed the orders to the duo, she had an obviously fake smile on her face as she thanked them for their patronage.

She sighed when they went out of the café and noticed that her shift was up and she waited a few minutes for another person to switch with her before heading to the changing room. She massaged her shoulders and made sure to stretch her sore limbs before changing out of the stuffy outfit. Checking that her belongings were safely packed into her backpack, she nodded a good bye to her co-workers and went out the front door. Cold harsh night breeze attacked her immediately and she shivered, hugging her coat closer and tucking both her hands into the safety of her warm pockets.

Another cold night. Tonight let's eat soup.

Her thoughts were cut short as there was a loud thud coming from the dark alleyway she was crossing and she stopped, rooted in place with ears and eyes alert. This part of town was considered safe even at night so rather than fear, she stayed there in curiosity and waited to see if anything will happen. She knew she shouldn't take any risks but her senses were tingling and if she didn't check it out, she'll never be at peace of mind.

'Hello? Anybody here?'

There was shuffling at the shadowed part of the alleyway, echoing footsteps and slurred speech which led her into thinking that it was probably just someone drunk and wandering around so she began to retrace her steps back to track but a hand holding her shoulder made her flinch and shrieked out loud.

'Hey, hey! Relax!'

Hesitantly, she stopped screaming and turned around to see the same duo that had bumped into her, the duo who had come by the café she worked at and now here at some shady alleyway, only now the person talking to her was the not-so-hyper now but still rude one.

'Listen, I'm sorry if I scared you but can you help me lug her around?'

Lug her around? What on earth? Is she dead?

'Sorry, I believe the term is carry. She's pretty wasted and I'm not strong enough to haul her myself. So, can you help?'

'But I'm on my way to get dinner.'

'Easy! You help me with her and I'll buy you dinner. Deal?'

She would say no but her dimples distracted her and no one could ever resisted her with her puppy eyes and so begrudgingly - or not, since she's buying her food - she slung the drunk woman's arm around her neck and with guidance from the rude but cute, dimpled and puppy-eyed woman, they carried her over to an apartment which Moonbyul assumed to be the drunk woman's place. After safely 'dumping' her onto the bed, they went outside to the living room and discussed about dinner.

'I know I said I'll buy you dinner but do you mind just eating here? I don't want to give you some money and let you go yourself. She might not look like it but she's a great cook. I'll heat up some leftovers, if you don't mind, and we can eat together?'

Moonbyul, the awkward turtle, didn't know how to respond to it and carelessly nodded at the suggestion. Little did she know that what she just agreed on, it'll change her life around. They say, third time's the charm and when she look back at this when she's older and wiser, she would know that what seemed like a simple agreeing gesture sealed her fate. On that day, her whole fate was re-written and if she didn't know better, she would have been content with her life. From that moment on, her mundane and seemingly boring life was no longer as her little brush with the duo proved to be not little at all.

That day, she was just going to her workplace that was a few blocks from her apartment. That day when she bumped with an unlikely duo; one intimidating and the other plain rude - but cute! That day, her life changed.  At that time, she didn't know whether it's for the better or for the worst but one thing she's sure about was the accidental meeting may be the spice she had been looking for in her life.