“Krystal, we have a guest!”

Victoria’s piercing voice echoed from the pantry she was working on and greeted the ears of Jung Krystal, the barista of small coffee shop located in the heart of Seoul right in the middle of her sanctuary.

Krystal opened her closed eyelids when she heard the shout, tsked as she pulled out the lemon flavored lollipop she was eating from .

She was having her mini resting time in the café’s back office, cooling herself down from the summer heat with the 16 degree air conditioner and the customer that just came had ruined it.

“What kind of customer comes to buy coffee in such a hot weather?”

The black-haired girl hissed while heading out from the room and back to the cashier. Her eyes squinted when she caught a figure of someone standing in the order taking table.

It was a man, probably around her age, wearing sunglasses with a brown leather backpack slung on his right shoulder.

“What’s the order, sir?” Krystal asked, with a bored expression on her face. It’s 15.12 PM and she had been tired of faking a smile for 8 hours already.

“Iced macchiato.” The man replied without looking up from the phone he was holding. “Less sugar.”

Krystal punched the order onto the raptor and flatly replied. “3500 won.”

He took out his wallet, pulling his money out and handed it to Krystal.

Krystal, without further words, took the money and shoved it into the cashier machine. When she lifted her head, her eyes then caught the man’s black headphone, hung around loosely on the other’s neck.

K A I

A classic handwritten styled font marked the edge of the headphone, seemingly the name of that man.

Krystal’s eyes darted from the headphone to her customer’s face.

He was looking at the phone again with troubled expression, which was still could clearly seen on his face even when he had that sunglass on.

Expressionlessly, Krystal tore her gaze and started to make the order. Her hands moved fast to make the coffee and in less than 5 minutes she had already handed the iced macchiato to her customer.

“Enjoy.”

The man received the coffee’s cup, murmured an inaudible thanks before turned around and walked out of the coffee shop.

Krystal sighed and glanced at the big box of ice cubes beside the coffee machine. She took one and popped it onto , skillfully chewed on it as she headed back to the pantry where Victoria spends her working day at.

“Unnie,”

The black-haired called out while opening the door. She spotted Victoria in the middle of the room, busy frosting cupcakes.

“Why Luna is not here yet? My shift has ended, and I am suppose to go home now.”

Victoria looked up from her cupcakes, glanced at the clock then hummed. “I don’t know. Try to call her.”

“She won’t pick up the call, it’s my fourth time already.” Krystal whined and leaned on the door’s frame. “I still haven’t packed anything yet. How could she do this to me?”

Victoria chuckled and continued her job. “She’s probably sulking, because you are going to leave us for 2 weeks.”

Krystal just grinned when she heard that. Thinking about her sweet escape away from her boring routine just lightened up her mood a bit.

“Don’t forget to bring a lot of vitamin to Japan. Don’t get sick in the middle of the journey and remember to get back working once you return to Seoul.” Victoria warned, already know how rebellious her little cousin is.

“Yes, I understand, madam.” Krystal said in a sing-sang tone, clearly didn’t really care about what Victoria said.

Suddenly, the door of the pantry got pushed open, revealing a petite girl with her blonde hair tied up high walking in.

“Why no one is outside?” Luna-, the blonde asked. “I thought our coffee shop has closed just before.”

“That’s because our pretty barista here wouldn’t come out to greet the customer.” Victoria nudged at Krystal who lightly took one of a cupcake. “Hey, that’s for the sale!”

“It’s because you are late, unnie!” Krystal pouted, left hand still holding the frosted cupcake Victoria just made. “I suppose to leave now, or I won’t finished the packing until noon. I also still have a dinner plan with Amber!”

Krystal took a big bite of the cupcake before heading out and waved her hand happily.

“See you in two weeks!”

With that, she left Victoria and Luna by themselves in the pantry. Luna could just sigh while Victoria smiled to herself.

“That kid couldn’t keep her feet on Seoul for too long, could she?” Luna asked as she untied her hair, preparing herself to replace Krystal’s position in the cashier table.

“That’s what she is. Easily bored, and as free as a flying bird.”

“Let’s hope she could stay save even when she’s miles away from Korea.” Luna tsked. “She’s a type who always seeks trouble after all.”

Victoria smiled again when she heard Luna’s words.

“Yes, she is a real troublemaker indeed… but let’s hope that…”

The Chinese girl looked up to catch Krystal’s figure who just passed the coffee shop with her bike through the window.

“…something good would happen in her journey this time…”

Kim Jongin-, or people prefer call him Kai-, finished the iced macchiato he was holding in one big gulp before threw it to the trash can. The dark brown haired man released a big sigh, tilted his face upward to face the bright sky.

The weather’s so clear, the sky’s so blue, yet his heart was completely covered with dew. The birds around him chirped happily, as if inviting him to sing along with them.

But Kai didn’t feel like singing, or even smiling.

He had just experienced a broken heart.

The man slowly brought his head down to once again read the message he received from her ex-girlfriend, Irene, a day ago.

It’s not because of anything. I don’t think we are walking in the same direction anymore and we are not moving from our original position. We stuck in the same place, same pace, same days. I am bored, tired, and sick of it. I've been thinking about it for months and months, and I think I am not made for you, and you are not made for me. I can’t hold on any longer. I'm sorry, Kai-ah. Let’s just break up.

The corner of Kai’s mouth curved downward in defeat. Bored, she said. Bored. Boredom wins over their relationship which had lasted for a year.

“Is it so easy to say goodbye?” Kai sighed and turned off his phone. “Not just that, you also left me with such deep scars…”

Kai’s face confronted in mixture of anger, sadness and disappointment but he decided to just let it go.

He had been so tired after breaking down for the whole week and he didn’t think his swollen eyes deserved another tears.

Just before he shoved the phone back to his pocket, it vibrated with a big clear “Taemin” name written on the screen.

“Hello?”

Kai asked once he pressed the answer button.

“Hey, so what time is your flight tomorrow?”

The crispy voice of Taemin, his best friend greeted Kai’s ears.

“Early in the morning.” Kai replied, eyes darted to a couple of kids playing together not really far from his sitting position. “Probably around 5 AM.”

“So, I’ll be at your home at 3.30?”

A loud groan was heard from the other line.

“Man, that’s too early!”

Kai chuckled. “Morning weather is good for your lazy . I will bring you goods from Tokyo later on.”

Kai could hear another groan from the other side, but then followed up by a soft, half-harted ‘okay’.

“Thanks. You are the best.” Kai said lightly. “Gonna hang off now. Bye.”

“Wait-,”

Taemin’s voice stopped Kai’s hand from pressing the end button on his phone.

“-you alright now?”

Kai blinked once he heard the question. His eyes traveled down again, to look at his two sneakers on the ground. “…I’m good.”

“You know that I’m always free for some drinks if you need me, don’t you?”

Kai broke into a grin. “I wouldn’t let you drink. You gotta need to stay sober until you drop me off in the airport tomorrow.”

There’s a snicker sound on the other line but then Taemin talked again with a soft voice.

“See you tomorrow then.”

Kai smiled and ended the call. He shoved his phone onto his pocket. The dark skinned boy closed his eyes, inhaling the smell of summer breeze deeply before released it with a big sigh.

He booked the ticket to Tokyo, Japan, only a few days after he broke up with Irene. He wished that his tired brain could rest away from overthinking, and he was determined to give his bleeding heart a chance to heal even just for a few days...

…and perhaps, he could also throw off the heavy burden of his heartbreak in the land of Sakura.

Kai threw another glance to the happy kids, before sighed and put his favorite headphone on his ears. His finger tapped the play button on his iPod. Kai put his hands inside the pocket before started to walk mindlessly throughout the busy street of Seoul with some heartbreak songs played along in rhythm.

Alone.

A/n

First chapter is up!

Hope you enjoy it <3

*for the love of writing, onerusticpen*