The bell above the café door tinkles.

A figure in a black muscle tee, skinny jeans and worn black Converses stands in the doorway, a hand on the handle, silently reading the name of the café to ascertain if it's the correct one.

Byulyi pokes her head in, eyes scanning the people inside. The smell of brewing coffee and muffins makes water a little. She spots the head of fiery orange, Ronald McDonald-style hair and breathes a small sigh of relief, pushing the door open wider and stepping into the air conditioned threshold. She discreetly wipes the sweat from her hairline as she walks and dabs it on her jeans, which are clean for once. She stops at the correct table.

“Hyejin,” Byulyi says, “Your hair.”

Ahn Hyejin snorts in a very unladylike fashion and taps the table with long fingernails. “Hello to you too, Byulyi. I haven't seen you in a year, thank you for saying hi to my hair as well.” The girl beside her - who, admittedly, Byulyi did not notice - snickers softly, a dimple appearing in one cheek.

“Yes, hi, Hyejin,” Byulyi rolls her eyes, smiling as she takes a seat opposite the pair. “Who's your friend?”

“This is Jung Wheein. I think I told you about her before, um, really briefly last time. We moved from Jeonju to Seoul together. She's a theatre kid.” Hyejin pats Wheein's shoulder fondly and the brunette smiles, looking so squishy and fluffy that Byulyi immediately melts a little.

“Hi, nice to meet you, Wheein. I just have to say, I commend your ability to stay sane around Hyejin. She may be a psychology major, but I've never met someone crazier than her,” Byulyi laughs, and they shake hands.

“Oh, you haven't met me yet, I'm a lot crazier than Hyejin is,” Wheein admits brightly, laughing.

“True that. Don't judge your books by their covers, Byulyi, this puppy really knows how to blow a roof up.” Hyejin raises a hand as she speaks, signalling for a waitress to come over to their table. She raises an eyebrow at Byulyi. “I hope you know what you want to order. Tip, their muffins are excellent here.”

A waitress arrives promptly, pen poised over a clean pad of paper. Hyejin rattles off hers and Wheein's orders, which includes drinks, sandwiches and three types of cakes. Byulyi has to stop the waitress from moving away because she thought that Hyejin was ordering for all of them.

“One cup of black coffee, no sugar. And, uh,” she glances at the huge menu hanging above the counter and says, “a blueberry muffin.” Byulyi flashes the waitress a smile, and the woman looks a little flustered as she repeats their order and scuttles away.

“Always the lady killer, aren't you?” Hyejin whistles once the waitress is out of earshot.

“Too gay to function,” Byulyi corrects, leaning back in her chair easily. Outside of her studio and actually semi-presentably dressed, Byulyi doesn't look half bad. It's just that she has this odd liking of colourful stains and shirts that smell like coffee and paint when she's in her zone.

“Gay?” Wheein asks curiously.

“Yep.” Byulyi pops the p.

“Cool,” Wheein’s eyes are slightly wider. Hyejin snorts, and Byulyi cracks a smile; Wheein just seems so innocent.

“Hard to imagine that you're, like, an actual psychologist with a serious job and stuff, though. No offense, I know we just met like five minutes ago, but you seem too chill to be a psychologist. Uh, now that I know you're gay and all.” Wheein says honestly, tilting her head and looking so much like a cute puppy that Byulyi can't even feel anything but awwwww.

“Don't stereotype people, Wheein.” Hyejin says reprovingly.

“Nah, it's chill. I know I don't give off a very professional vibe.” Byulyi smiles and waves her hand to show that it's okay. She drums her fingers on her thigh as she glances around the café, taking in the cozy decor and the very friendly looking staff. “Nice place, this. You guys come here often? I've noticed it's pretty near uni.”

“Yeah, almost every week. Great place to study.” Wheein answers, stretching and relaxing in her seat. She smacks her lips together as though she's hungry - and she probably is. “And the food is top notch.”

“Top notch price too,” Hyejin adds with a small smile. She combs her fingers through her short orange hair. “Good for us poorly uni students. We used to come here a lot during our free time - with Solar.”

Byulyi freezes, and an image of acid yellow eyes flashes in her mind before she shoves it away. Her pleasant smile only wavers ever so slightly - not enough for Wheein and Hyejin to notice. Her hands clench in her lap. “Solar? She didn't mention coming to our uni. That's interesting. I guess we do have a lot of catching up to do, huh?”

“Oh, yeah, I nearly forgot that she's your client. So, how is she, does she make your gay senses go nuts?” Hyejin leans closer and wiggles her eyebrows creepily. “Solar was, like, one of the most popular in her year. Surprised you didn't know, but then again, you always has your nose in a sketchbook or a psychology textbook.”

“Wait, wait, what?” All thoughts of creepy yellow eyes disappears as Byulyi tries to hide the flush clawing its way onto her pale cheeks.

Hyejin rolls her eyes. “You're pretty gay. She's really pretty. You must've checked her out or something.”

“Hyejin, she's engaged,” Byulyi enunciates slowly, pressing a hand to her forehead and smushing her honey brown bangs against her skin. “It's really weird that you're saying this about her. But anyway, yeah, I did check her out.”

Wheein and Hyejin nearly fall off their chairs laughing.

“Oh, my Gods, you actually checked her out? I mean, I know she's engaged to Jaehyuk and all but I didn't really expect you to say that you checked her out.” Hyejin says once she regains her breath, her face pink.

“She's pretty nice to look at,” Byulyi shrugs. “Doesn't mean I like her in a romantic way or anything, though. She's just pretty. I appreciate all pretty girls equally. Besides, I don't approve of hitting on people who are attached. That's just not right.”

“So you learn to appreciate the art, but you don't touch,” Hyejin wags a finger in the air, manicured pastel fingernails pointing at Byulyi.

“You're weird.”

“Yeah, I get told that a lot.”

The waitress returns with a tray of their food. Wheein's eyes widen bigger than two moons as the food is placed right below her nose. Byulyi’s simple order of black coffee and muffin pales completely in comparison to the monstrous amount of food on the younger girls’ side of the table.

“It is three in the afternoon on a Sunday, did you two not eat lunch today?” Byulyi raises an eyebrow.

“We did, we had a deluxe thirty six piece container of sushi and a bowl of ramen and then we had frozen yoghurt and now this is kind of my second lunch.” Wheein says by way of explanation, biting off a third of one sandwich.

“...What the hell, Wheein?” Byulyi’s mouth hangs open slightly.

“Look, I was hungry today. You should've seen me last week though, I ate two whole plates of Japanese curry and donkatsu with rice-” Wheein cuts her own self off by taking another mouthful of sandwich. “And then I had a triple scoop sundae for dessert. No regrets.”

“You guys amaze me.” Byulyi shakes her head, taking a small bite of her muffin. Hyejin is right - the muffin is still warm and sweet and delicious.

“Which one is that?” Hyejin lifts her chin, indicating the half-eaten muffin in Byulyi’s hands. “Which kind of muffin, I mean. Is it blueberry?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Oh, that's interesting. Solar loves the blueberry muffins here. If she isn't eating those then she's eating red velvet cake. I have a feeling you two have pretty similar tastes.” Hyejin says offhandedly, sipping her chai latte and letting out a loud sigh of satisfaction. “Damn, this place has their chai lattes on point.”

“I do like blueberry and red velvet. Our coffee preferences is where we differ, though - she doesn't like black coffee.” Byulyi’s gaze drops back to the dark liquid in her cup, still steaming hot. Warmth prickles across her cheeks. Why are we talking about her here?

“Well, neither do I, for that fact,” Wheein pipes in. “I take my caramel macchiatos with extra extra sugar.”

“That's because you're a wuss when it comes to bitter things, Wheein,” Hyejin says, smirking and narrowly avoiding Wheein's slap on her arm.

“I like sugar.” Wheein says defensively.

“You're just like Y-” Byulyi catches herself quickly, “Solar. She said she likes sweet things. So, um, how's school going for you two? You should be graduating soon right?” Her awkwardness in her attempt to change the subject isn't noticed by Hyejin or Wheein, thank the Gods for cheesecake.

“Great, actually. Psychology is a fantastic subject. Who knows, maybe when I graduate I'll be able to scrape up enough money to open up my own office and give psychology sessions like you.” Hyejin replies earnestly, the topic of Solar forgotten under her want to express herself.

“You should probably not dye your hair orange, you're going to blind your clients.” Wheein advises wisely.

“Wheein, please shut up before I shove this cheesecake up your left nostril.” Hyejin taps the side of the cheesecake with her fork, her eyes glinting murderously.

Byulyi watches their banter with a small, peaceful smile on her face, her stomach settling to digest her muffin and not to perform acrobatic flips. The topic of Solar is dangerous territory - well, any of her clients in general, really. Byulyi scratches her short nails across the wooden tabletop. She can't quite believe that she'd just openly admitted to checking Solar out, but, well, Solar is pretty hard not to look at. Even if she's slightly depressed, emo and upset all the time.

Now, Yongsun is a completely different thing. Byulyi doesn't want to admit it, but the Yongsun side of Solar terrifies her. She'd been ready to accept something like split personalities. Yellow eyes?

Good thing she rescheduled yesterday. I don't think I'm ready to handle Yongsun appearing again. Already I'm struggling to help Solar. Byulyi sips her black coffee. Next Saturday should suffice for mental preparation. I've got to see Hongjun, Jiyul, Jinyeon and Taewoon as well this week.

Hyejin’s voice pulls her out of her thoughts.

“Hey, Byulyi. What d’you think my chances of becoming a full time psychologist are after I graduate?”

Byulyi blinks a few times. “Uh, pretty high, I suppose. If you do well I'm sure you can make your mark in the psychology world as well. Of course, it depends on your…your patience as well.” Byulyi smiles a little awkwardly.

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