“Small black coffee and a slice of carrot cake.” Sanggyun called out as he put the order on the pick up counter. He smiled at the customer that picked up their order before going to get more finished orders. He let out a sigh as adjusted the cap he had to wear with the uniform. This was not how he wanted to spend his Saturday but oh well, beggars can’t be choosers.

“Hey, Gyun, your hyung and son are here.” Sanggyun looked over the entrance of the café and saw that his co-worker and friend, Hojoon, was right. His brother was also in his work uniform.

“Go and take your break. I can handle it back here.” Hojoon assured Sanggyun, pushing him out from behind the counter. Sanggyun thanked him as he went to go and see why his hyung was his here with his son.

“Appa!” Jiwoo, Sanggyun’s four year old son, happily exclaimed as he jumped into Sanggyun’s arms.

“Hey kiddo!” Sanggyun hugged his son tight and continued to carry him as he greeted his brother.

“Hyung, what are you doing here?” Sanggyun’s brother, Taeyang, sighed.

“I’m sorry, Sanggyun, but they called me to come in today.” Taeyang truly was sorry but he didn’t know what else to do.

“It’s fine hyung. I guess Jiwoo can hang out here. Jiwoo, do you want to see me work?” Sanggyun grinned at the big smile that flashed across Jiwoo’s face.

“Really? Awesome!” Jiwoo punched the air with his fist, earning laughter from his dad and uncle.

“I really am sorry, Gyun. I’ll make it up to you, okay?” Sanggyun smiled and shook his head.

“It’s fine, hyung. You help me all the time with Ji.” Taeyang bid his nephew and brother goodbye before hurrying out of the café, Sanggyun calling out to him to be careful.

“Let’s go get you a table, just for you.” Sanggyun grinned at his son, carrying him to an empty table for two by a window. Sanggyun sat him in a chair and helped him get his backpack off.

“Do you have stuff to do while you wait?” Jiwoo nodded happily.

“Yes, appa! I’m good!” Sanggyun smiled and ruffled his son’s hair.

“I’ll go and get you something to eat, okay? Then we can have lunch together.” Jiwoo cheered, excited to have lunch with his dad.

When Sanggyun made it to the counter, Hojoon already had a grilled cheese sandwich, strawberry smoothie, and Sanggyun’s lunch already there.

“Don’t worry, the sandwich and smoothie are on the house.” Hojoon assured his friend. Sanggyun thanked him and promised that his lunch wouldn’t take long.

“Jiwoo, make sure to thank Hojoon hyung later, okay? He gave you the sandwich and smoothie for free.” Jiwoo looked over at the counter and saw that Hojoon was looking their way so he made a heart with his arms.

“Thank you, Hojoon hyung! Saranghae!” Hojoon smiled at the cute boy and made a heart back, ignoring the strange look the customer who was giving him his order, gave him.

“Saranghae, Jiwoo!”

Sanggyun blew Jiwoo’s sandwich to make sure his son didn’t burn himself before he ate his lunch. The two enjoyed their food and Sanggyun listened as Jiwoo told him what him and Taeyang did during their short day together. Sanggyun feigned a jealous expression when Jiwoo said that Taeyang began to teach him how to rap.

“Yah! I’m your dad, I should be teaching you.” Sanggyun exclaimed. Jiwoo merely laughed.

“But appa, uncle said that he taught you and you stink as a rapper.”

“He’s just jealous. When hyung and I used to perform and I always got the loudest cheers from the girls.” Sanggyun proudly stated.

“Uncle said that it was because they thought you were a girl with your long hair and they were happy to see another girl on stage.” Jiwoo giggled at the shocked expression on his dad’s face.

“What?! Hyung said that?!” Jiwoo’s giggles turned into full on laughter as he nodded his head.

Sanggyun talked with Jiwoo for a bit more before having to return to work. He gathered their trash, giving Jiwoo a kiss on the head before heading back to his job. Thankfully, he only had to work for three hours before calling it a day so he and Jiwoo can go home. Sanggyun juggled between calling out and preparing orders to keeping an eye on Jiwoo who busied himself with a coloring book and a work book that one of Sanggyun’s friends got for Jiwoo to help him practice his letters and numbers. Sanggyun let out a small groan though when he saw the lunch rush come in. Even on the weekend, the café managed to get crowded around lunch time.

“Fighting, Sanggyun.” He muttered to himself as he moved to the kitchen where he was assigned to help during their lunch rush. He asked Hojoon to keep an eye on Jiwoo.

Sarang put her sunglasses on top of her head as she walked into the crowded café, puckering her lips in distaste when she saw the long line.

“It’s a Saturday.” She grumbled but got in line anyways. Sarang has been back home in South Korea for over a month and hasn’t had her caffeine fix from this café yet. It was her favorite café, everything was to her liking and was privately owned meaning that there was only one of it’s kind. Starbucks had to be her go to coffee place when she was in the U.S. but it wasn’t as good.

Sarang kept herself busy by looking at her phone, going through her social media, and replying to some e-mails about modeling for an advertisement, a runway, etc. She heard the whispers from some people near her, wondering about her appearance at the café but chose to ignore them. Sarang was used to them and paid them no mind. In the end, the only thing that mattered was that she got attention, be it good or bad.

“Hi, can I take your order?” Sarang gave her usual order before moving off to the side after paying. Sarang wanted to sit but saw all the tables were filled. There was only one seat left and it was across from a little boy. She moved to the table, getting the little boy’s attention by tapping his shoulder. Sarang smiled a sweet smile at the boy when he looked up, surprising those watching her every move. She’s never given off the impression that she was one to deal with kids.

“Is this seat taken?” The little boy shook his head, prompting Sarang to sit down. Sarang watched as the little boy meticulously copied the Korean characters that were printed already in the notebook.

“You have very nice handwriting. You must make your teacher very proud.” Sarang a conversation up with the little boy.

“My appa says I’m not supposed to talk to strangers.” The little boy stated, not looking up at Sarang. The customers gasped. Did he not know who Sarang was?

“Oh really? Your appa is a very good man. My name is Shin Sarang and I’m 20 years old. I’m not a stranger now, am I? You can even call me noona.” Sarang said with a light laugh.

“I guess not. I’m Kim Jiwoo and I’m 4. I’m not in school yet though. I go next year but appa wants me to start practicing. I’m really good at it though and can even spell words, noona!” Jiwoo claimed with excitement.

“Really? You can spell any word?” Jiwoo nodded his head.

“Then can you spell…supercalifragilisticexpialidocious?” Sarang laughed when Jiwoo’s jaw dropped at the English word.

“Is that even a word?! What language is that?! Noona, you made that word up, didn’t you?” Sarang laughed again, shaking her head.

“Have you ever seen the movie Mary Poppins?” Jiwoo shook his head. “Well, it’s a really good movie and there’s a song in that movie about that word.” Sarang smiled at the awed expression on Jiwoo’s face.

“Really? You should take me to see that movie one day, noona.” Jiwoo grinned. Sarang smiled.

“Okay. But we’ll have to ask your appa first.”

Jiwoo and Sarang continued to have a conversation while Sarang waited for her order to be called. Sarang didn’t have anywhere important to be so she didn’t really mind the wait but Jiwoo also made the wait for her long awaited coffee bearable.

“And my favorite cookie is white chocolate macadamia nut cookie. My appa’s is chocolate chip and he says that white chocolate shouldn’t be allowed to be in the same category as chocolate.” Sarang feigned shock at this.

“What?! But white chocolate is the best! Is your appa crazy?!” Jiwoo shook his head frantically.

“No! So I don’t know why he would say that! Noona, is white chocolate macadamia nut cookie your favorite too?” Sarang nodded her head.

“I love anything white chocolate. Caramel too. Those are my favorite flavors.” Sarang informed Jiwoo. She was enjoying her conversation with the little boy.

“White chocolate and strawberry are my favorite!”

“And what about your eomma? Do you know her favorite?” Jiwoo shook his head.

“No. I don’t know my eomma’s favorite. I don’t really see her much. She sends me gifts sometimes but she doesn’t live here in South Korea.” Jiwoo said with a bit of indifference as he took to coloring in his coloring book.

“Really? Do you know where she lives then?” Jiwoo shook his head.

“No. Appa hasn’t told me. He just said that eomma is working on making her life better so our lives get better but appa says that eomma loves us and will come back.” Jiwoo sounded like he was reading off of something that someone just handed to him.

Before Sarang could say anything else, her order was called. She told Jiwoo she would be back and asked him to watch her purse. When she got to the counter, she saw in the glass case that displayed pastries and sandwiches, white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.

“Excuse me, can I get two white chocolate macadamia nut cookies and a strawberry smoothie.” Sarang stopped a passing worker.

“Of course.” The worker got the cookies, Sarang handing the worker cash so he could just put the order in later instead of having her wait in line. She made her way back to the table placed a cookie and the smoothie in front of Jiwoo.

“For me?” Jiwoo looked up at Sarang with a wide smile.

“Of course! Who else is sitting here that loves this cookie as much as you and me?” Jiwoo thanked Sarang as he picked up the cookie and took a big bite and then washed it down with a sip of his smoothie. The two continued to carry a conversation even after Sarang finished her coffee and cookie. It wasn’t until Sarang received a text from her best friend.

“Tch, looks like I need to leave now.” Sarang sighed. She pouted along with Jiwoo.

“Really, noona? But you’re so cool.” Jiwoo continued to pout.

“You’re cool too, Jiwoo. But sadly, I need to go.” Sarang stood up, stooping down to give Jiwoo a hug. She pulled out her wallet and got one of the business cards her grandmother made her carry with her number on it.

“Ask your appa about the movie and then call me, okay?” Jiwoo smiled and promised to do as he was told.

“Here noona, I colored it for you.” Jiwoo carefully tore a picture out from his coloring book that he had worked on while him and Sarang talked. He handed it to Sarang. Sarang thanked him and gave him one more hug.

“Bye Jiwoo. Be good, okay.” Jiwoo nodded his head, waving to Sarang as she left. When she reached the door, she turned to wave to Jiwoo before leaving.

Sanggyun returned from the kitchen after he had clocked out. He walked past Hojoon, telling him bye and thanking him again when he got stopped.

“Jiwoo made a friend while you were gone. Pretty interesting one if you ask me.” Hojoon grinned.

“Really?” Sanggyun wondered.

“She gave him a card and if you want my advice, call it.” And with that, Hojoon was pushing Sanggyun out from behind to counter so him and Jiwoo could leave. Sanggyun was confused by what Hojoon said but didn’t bring it up to Jiwoo who seemed tired. Sanggyun helped his son pack his backpack then picked him up. He carried his son their short walk home and was going to ask him about what Hojoon said but Jiwoo had fallen asleep on their walk.