The familiar smell of coffee welcomes her as she enters the coffeeshop she frequently goes to. She goes straight to the counter, ordering the usual--strawberry latte. 

"Name for the cup, please?" She's a little bit surprised when the barista asked her. Being a regular at this place, the employees surely know her name. She looks at the barista's face more closely and that's when she realizes that the girl behind the counter doesn't really look familiar.

"Chaeyeon." She says softly, but the barista didn't quite catch it.

"Okay, Chaeyoung, would that b-"

"Chaeyeon. Her name's Chaeyeon." Another tall girl, who's standing next to the barista, cuts her off before she can write the wrong name on the cup. "Please be more careful, Minky." The barista then smiles sheepishly and goes to make Chaeyeon's drink instead, leaving the other girl by the counter.

"Sorry. It's her first day." Nayoung smiles a little and Chaeyeon catches it, of course. "Would you like something to come with that, Chaeyeon?"

"No, thanks." Chaeyeon says politely. Nayoung nods in return. She finishes the transaction quickly and gives Chaeyeon another small smile before the girl walks back to her usual table.

Nayoung and Chaeyeon know each other by names, but they haven't really had a decent conversation. It's always just a small talk, a polite one, especially when Nayoung's the one behind the counter.

All Chaeyeon knows is that Nayoung is the owner of this coffeeshop and she opened this when she just graduated from the same university Chaeyeon goes to. Also, she finds Nayoung really pretty that she always tries hard not to stare when she's around. Especially when she's studying for upcoming exams. And especially now that Nayoung is currently looking at her.

-

Chaeyeon has been studying for almost 4 hours straight already. She's trying to finish reading the chapters that will be included in her exam the next day but she's only halfway through. She wasn't really aware of the time and was just reminded by Nayoung herself. 

"Excuse me." Chaeyeon looks up and sees the owner standing next to her table with a concerned look on her face. "Are you sure you're not hungry? It's almost 10pm."

"No, I'm good." Chaeyeon tries to smile despite the stress, even though her eyes give it away. "Thank you." 

With that, Nayoung just nods and walks back towards the counter. Chaeyeon's eyes follow the retreating figure for a while until she realizes that time is gold and please set your priorities straight, Chaeyeon.

A few minutes into reading, Chaeyeon shakes her head, convincing herself to focus on her book. But she can't. She can't focus when Nayoung's concerned face and words stay on her mind.

It doesn't surprise her, though. From what she observes everytime she goes to this place, Nayoung seems like a nice person. And even though she seems shy, she still tries her best to connect with her customers when needed. Giving out free tastes by herself, even if her employees could do that for her.

And just like now, when Chaeyeon looks up from her book, she sees an approaching Nayoung holding a tray. Their eyes meet and Nayoung couldn't help but smile.

"At least eat something." Nayoung places a muffin on her table. Chaeyeon frowns at the muffin, especially that free tastes aren't supposed to be the whole ones, but just small pieces instead.

And before Chaeyeon could protest, Nayoung had already made her way to the next customer, offering then the same kind of muffin, but not the whole one.

-

"Nayoung unnie?" One of the baristas barges into the owner's office one afternoon with a stupid grin on her face. Nayoung might be the boss but all of her employees are also her friends, that's why it's okay to call her that.

"What?" The said owner responds without even looking up from her laptop. She senses the grin of the other girl without even looking and prepares herself for whatever the younger girl will say.

"Your favorite customer is here." Eunwoo smirks. Nayoung hasn't told her anything, though. It's just that the younger girl likes to about anything.

"Which one?" 

"What do you mean 'which one'? There's only one, idiot." Eunwoo tucks Nayoung's hair behind her ear jokingly and stares at the older girl much closely, with just a few inches of distance between their faces. But Nayoung doesn't lean back. She's used to this side of Eunwoo.

"Does 'Chaeyeon' ring a bell?" Eunwoo grins. "The oh-so-pretty and the goddess-like Ch-"

"Go away, I'm busy." She says calmly, but the urge to go out there and see her favorite customer is still there. She's just really busy at the moment.

"Maybe she will appreciate it more if you're the one who's there." Eunwoo pats the top of her head lightly, earning a scoff from Nayoung. "I mean, c'mon, you know her drink by heart. Isn't that cute?"

"Stop bossing me around and get back to work, Eunwoo." Nayoung says without a change in her expression and her eyes still on her screen. Eunwoo just laughs in return.

"Aww, I love you, too." The younger girl ruffles her hair and runs away before Nayoung actually gets mad at her.

-

Just a few minutes after Eunwoo left the office, Nayoung hears a knock on the door. She looks up and sees the younger girl once again.

"What now?"

"I'm sorry to disturb you, unnie." Eunwoo apologizes, but her face tells otherwise and it didn't go unnoticed by Nayoung. "But I think there's something wrong with the cash register. Can you help me for a minute?"

Nayoung sighs and makes her way to the counter. And Eunwoo was sure that she heard her mutter something along the lines of "I swear, if you're doing this on purpose..." when she saw who the customer was. Eunwoo could only chuckle in response.

Nayoung then finds out that there was nothing wrong with the cash register and her friend was just messing with her. Damn it, Eunwoo.

She just proceeds to finish the transaction while trying to make a small talk with the pretty girl in front of her, as if nothing had happened.

"Still an exams week, huh?" Nayoung smiles. She knows that Chaeyeon goes to this cafe just to study.

"Yeah..." Chaeyeon sighs, then puts on her usual Chaeyeon smile. "Well, you know the professors in our university... they always seem to team up with other profs just to have a killer exam sched."

"That ." 

"Yeah, it does."

"Good luck, then." Nayoung says sincerely, her eyes looking straight at Chaeyeon's and goddamn it, why does her eyes have to be that pretty? They hold their gaze for a while until Nayoung had to break it.

Chaeyeon then thanks her when Nayoung gives her the receipt. She felt something from that eye contact, but tries to ignore it.

And even though Nayoung found Chaeyeon's eyes really pretty, she didn't fail to notice the tiredness in her eyes. And so she gets a new cup, writes Chaeyeon's drink that she knows by heart again, and a "good luck on your exams! fighting!" next to Chaeyeon's name.

She takes a good look on the message first, wondering why she even did that. She herself knows that she doesn't do that. But she just felt the need to.

And when she hands Eunwoo the cup, for her to make the drink, the girl suddenly had something more important to do. Like getting the order of that pretty girl who just came in, moving Minkyung aside.

-

good luck on your exams! fighting!

Chaeyeon smiles as she reads the small message written on her cup. It's Nayoung, of course. Chaeyeon actually knows her handwriting like the back of her hand and it's because she's that great. Definitely not because she likes Nayoung that much. Definitely not.

With that message, she feels a glimmer of hope. Maybe she can finish studying tonight, despite how sleepless she is right now. And the owner of the coffeeshop, who you find really pretty, believes in you, Chaeyeon. You can do it.

Taking her eyes off of the cup, she suddenly looks up and sees Nayoung looking at her from afar. She sees Nayoung's eyes widen a little bit, surprised at the sudden eye contact. Or was it just her? Shrugging off the unnecessary thoughts, she flashes a smile of gratitude to Nayoung. And the other girl smiles back.

-

"Nayoung unnie, she fell asleep and look, it's already past the closing time." Eunwoo tells her, more like teases her, while cleaning up the working place.

"So?" Nayoung raises her eyebrows. "Why can't you wake her up yourself?"

"Well, I can but I don't want to." Eunwoo says with that same stupid grin on her face. And adds, "I'm sure that she would always prefer to see your face, anyway," before Nayoung kills her. Nayoung then tries to hide her blush, busying herself with the cash register.

-

"Excuse me..." Nayoung says softly. She taps Chaeyeon's shoulder lightly but the latter doesn't look like she's going to wake up anytime soon. "Um, excuse me, Chaeyeon..."

After a few tries, Chaeyeon finally wakes up, obviously shocked that she had fallen asleep. It took her a few seconds to realize that she was still in the cafe, the only customer left.

"Um... I'm sorry I had to wake you up." Nayoung says shyly. She tries her best not to stare at Chaeyeon's face for long, especially when she looked so pretty even if she just woke up. "I thought that maybe you're still not done studying yet..."

"Yeah, I actually have-" She sleepily checks her book. "like 2 more chapters. But it's fine. I'm sorry." Chaeyeon says shyly in return, her eyes avoiding Nayoung's while preparing herself to leave.

"No, it's okay." Nayoung stops Chaeyeon before she gets to stand up. "I mean, you can stay until we close the cafe."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, we close the cafe by 12 midnight... sometimes." Nayoung lies.

"We do?!" Minkyung exclaims by the counter. Nayoung wonders how the hell Minkyung heard her, cursing her inside her head.

"Yeah, we do." She hears Eunwoo laugh. Nayoung mentally thanks the younger girl for saving her ... or so she thought.

"We do that for special people only. Right, unnie?" 

Nayoung almost rolled her eyes in return. 

"I think I should leave you here now, Chaeyeon." Nayoung politely excuses herself, goes on her way to kill Eunwoo.

Thanks to Chaeyeon's sleepy self. She didn't hear what Eunwoo said. She then shakes her head, in attempt to wake herself up, before she gets back to studying.

-

"Can I drive you home?" Trust Im Nayoung to be rather bold sometimes. It's way past midnight, the streets don't really seem to be safe, and so she ends up offering her favorite customer a drive home.

"Um, I m-mean, it's late... and you're a regular, so as a thank you..." Nayoung blurts out, panicking because of Chaeyeon's lack of response. The latter was just staring at her with her tired eyes, she clearly did not expect that.

Meanwhile, Eunwoo and Minkyung who heard Nayoung were both shocked at first that they actually stopped whatever they were doing. They also did not expect that. But the moment they heard Nayoung blurting out words, they tried their best to hold their laughter.

"No, I'm fine. You don't have to." Chaeyeon reassures the other girl. Nayoung didn't fail to make her smile, though. It was plain adorable to see that side of Nayoung. And for a moment, she forgets how tired she is.

"Well, as a thank you..." Nayoung tries again, giving Chaeyeon a small smile. "And just to be safe, you know. I don't want anything bad to happen to my customers."

Chaeyeon chuckles. "If you put it that way, then..."

"Then I can?" Nayoung teases, but deep inside she's also suprised at herself being like this to Chaeyeon. She wonders when did she actually become this comfortable with other people aside from her friends. Or maybe you just like her so much, Nayoung.

She shrugs that thought off her mind.

-

"Your dorm's quite far from the cafe, huh?" 

Nayoung says as she stops the car right in front of Chaeyeon's dorm. She ended up driving her home after a lot of insisting. Chaeyeon finally gave in when she realized that it was too late, time was running, and Nayoung didn't seem to stop insisting, anyway.

"Well, I like your cafe the most." Chaeyeon shyly admits. Nayoung looks at her, amused at the girl's answer.

"I'm honored." Nayoung chuckles, and soon, Chaeyeon finds herself smiling back, no matter how tired she is.

Then, she checks her phone for the time and gets ready to leave. "Thank you for tonight. I owe you a lot for helping me."

"Sure, anytime." Nayoung nods. She gets out of her car, runs to the other side, and opens the door for Chaeyeon, too sweet for her liking. Nayoung sure is a nice person. "And good luck on your exams. You can ace it."

-

Chaeyeon continues to be a regular at Nayoung's cafe. Not only does she study, but she also does her other school work there. She finds it easier to do it there than back in her dorm, especially when you have roommates that always bring a date with them.

They're too loud. And Chaeyeon hates it when she's stuck with couples in her room, most especially when they ask if Chaeyeon has someone, too. It's not like she needs one, anyway.

Here at Nayoung's cafe, she doesn't mind if the place isn't that quiet. As long as it's not chaotic. The atmosphere even motivates her to do her work. Or maybe it's just Nayoung. But Chaeyeon doesn't want to think about that yet.

-

"Why do you like it here so much?" 

Nayoung casually asks her one Sunday morning when she went there for breakfast. Somehow she has gotten to the point wherein she goes there even without the acads stuff. (And Nayoung doesn't mind.)

"Is that for a survey, unnie?" Chaeyeon playfully asks in return. They became close after a few more months of Nayoung writing encouraging notes on her cup, driving her home (even though it's not late at night), and the small talk becoming longer than expected.

"Maybe." The older girl smiles a little, pulling the chair in front of Chaeyeon and takes a seat.

"Alright." Chaeyeon pauses. "I like it here because the coffee's great. The food is great. The ambiance is great." And the owner is great. But she just can't admit that yet. Especially when Nayoung's in front of her, her chin resting on her palm and her eyes staring straight into her own.

"The coffee's great? You mean only the strawberry latte is great?"

"What? Well, if your strawberry latte is great then I suppose, the others, too." 

Nayoung laughs at Chaeyeon trying to explain herself. It was really cute.

"Yah! Why are you laughing?" Chaeyeon pouts, hitting Nayoung's shoulder lightly.

"Nothing." Nayoung shakes her head, her smile is still on her face. "It's just that I wonder if you will ever drink something that isn't strawberry."

"It depends." Chaeyeon shrugs. "If it's water, then fine."

"Okay, wait here. I'll be back." Nayoung pats the younger girl's shoulder lightly and makes her way to the counter. Chaeyeon's eyes follow her and she could see that Nayoung was making a drink?

"What is that?" Chaeyeon asks when Nayoung comes back with a new drink and places it in front of her. She takes the cup and notices the small message written beside her name.

"Live it up a little. :)"

Chaeyeon giggles when she reads it. "Are you seriously making me drink this?"

Nayoung just nods in return, waiting for Chaeyeon to drink what she just made. It was White Chocolate Mocha, made just how she wanted and it was her favorite.

Chaeyeon gulps nervously before she brings the cup to her lips.

"Well? How was it?"

"It's good." Chaeyeon replies with thumbs up. "As expected of Im Nayoung. Thank you."

"I'm glad that you liked it." Nayoung smiles genuinely. "That's my favorite, you know."

Chaeyeon giggles once again and Nayoung swears that it's one of her favorites. 

"I liked it. But... live it up a little? Seriously?"

Nayoung rolls her eyes, earning a laugh from Chaeyeon. And soon, she joins her.

-

It's Christmas season and Chaeyeon finds herself going to her favorite coffeeshop again one evening. There's only an hour left before it closes, and there aren't that many customers inside.

She likes it, of course, when Nayoung's not that busy. The older girl always sits with her, talking about anything that they could come up with. It's nice. Her presence is nice enough that she actually didn't know that she needed it that much.

And that's why she's here once again, even though their school's on break and she should be home with her parents by now. 

-

"Girls, I'll be back." Nayoung makes her way to the exit of her cafe with Chaeyeon following her. The cafe just closed and the two baristas are now cleaning the workplace. "I'll just drive Chaeyeon home."

"Alright, unnie!" Minkyung responds, but the tiredness could be heard in her voice. 

Before Nayoung could open the door, Eunwoo suddenly shouted, surprising the two.

"Wait!" Eunwoo tries her best not to have that stupid smile on her face. "Before you leave..." She points to somewhere above Nayoung's head. The said older girl then looks up and sees something she isn't expecting. Not at all. 

It's a mistletoe. .

"Yah, Eunwoo. Quit playing games with me." Nayoung glares at the person who put that mistletoe without her even knowing. She herself knows that she's used to Eunwoo's antics. But when Chaeyeon is going to be involved, then that is another thing. "Let's go, Chaeyeon. It's late."

"It's in the rules, unnie." Eunwoo teases, obviously enjoying the sight in front of her, even though Nayoung almost killed her and will probably do that later when she comes back, if given the chance.

Before Nayoung can even react, Chaeyeon cups her cheeks and presses her lips against Nayoung's.

"Live it up a little." Chaeyeon whispers when she pulled away, showing her innocent smile as if nothing had just happened, leaving Nayoung frozen in her place.

With Nayoung looking like she won't be moving anytime soon, Chaeyeon grabs her wrist and drags her outside the cafe. And that earned a deafening "WOOHH!!!" from no other than Eunwoo.

Eunwoo and Minkyung share a highfive when the two girls were out of sight.

-

"I'm sorry about earlier." Nayoung speaks up when they reached Chaeyeon's dorm. The ride was silent. No one actually attempted to start a conversation and the ride was filled with stealing glances to each other instead.

"Eunwoo's just being Eunwoo." She adds, letting out a sigh. It was more like she was telling it to herself than Chaeyeon. The latter looks at her with a soft expression on her face.

"I'm sorry, too... for doing that," Chaeyeon says, and she couldn't help but blush at her own words. And admits shyly, "but... you know what, I didn't mind."

"What?" Nayoung turns to face her, with a hint of amusement on her face. She clearly did not expect that side of Chaeyeon. "You didn't mind what?"

"Kissing you." Chaeyeon bits her lip in anxiety and tries not to meet Nayoung's eyes. "I mean, it's you... if it's somebody else then... you know..." She was having trouble with finding the right words to say and Nayoung found this really cute. She couldn't help but admire a nervous Chaeyeon.

"What?" Nayoung senses that maybe Chaeyeon likes her back, but she isn't so sure. She doesn't want to get her own hopes up. And if the younger girl really does like her, she wants to hear it straight from her. 

"What do you mean that it's me?" She asks Chaeyeon, smirking, though she doesn't understand how she's having this side of her again.

"I mean, at least it's you... a person that I like..." Chaeyeon looks away. She really regrets admitting it and so she continues, "a friend... If it's somebody else, then I wouldn't do that."

A friend. Well, technically, she's right. Nayoung and Chaeyeon are just friends, even though they have no idea that they also flirt with each other sometimes. 

"Well, then, I'm glad that it doesn't bother you that much. Eunwoo can be really too much sometimes." Nayoung says before getting out of the car. She then opens the door for Chaeyeon like she always does and walks her to the entrance.

And without even waiting for a reply, Nayoung leans forward and kisses Chaeyeon's cheek quickly, making her own heart beat faster than ever. And now, it's also Chaeyeon's turn to be frozen in her place. (Not entirely because of winter, of course.)

"I hope you didn't mind that, either."

-

The next time that Chaeyeon comes back to her favorite coffeeshop was at night and she was surprised to see that only Eunwoo and Minkyung were there.

"Um, excuse me," Chaeyeon stands by the claiming counter and talks to the girl who's there. It's Eunwoo. 

"Yes?" Eunwoo turns around with a smile. "If you're looking for Nayoung unnie, she's in her office." And quietly adds, "I think she's sleeping in her office."

"Oh, okay. Thank you." Chaeyeon nods in return. She was about to go back to her table when Eunwoo spoke up again.

"You can still disturb her, though. I don't think she will ever get mad at you, anyway." Eunwoo teases before she gets back to her work. Chaeyeon thanks her once again and makes her way to Nayoung's office, blushing.

-

A sight of a sleeping Nayoung welcomes Chaeyeon as she opens the door of the office. The older girl was curled up on her couch, snoring softly, and it didn't fail to bring a smile on Chaeyeon's face.

"Im Nayoung." Chaeyeon leans closer to Nayoung's face, speaking softly as if they weren't the only people in the room. "Hey, wake up, you cute thing."

"Hm?" Nayoung hums sleepily. She opens her eyes slowly and the first thing she sees is Chaeyeon's face so close to hers. She just had the shock of her life, making her fall down from the couch. Chaeyeon couldn't help but giggle at the sight in front of her. Im Nayoung really is a cute thing.

"Why are you here?" Nayoung groans with her hand massaging her temples. And when she finally recovered, she stands up and smiles. "You missed me already?"

Chaeyeon opens to reply, but no words came out. Nayoung being bold and playful like that took her by surprise again. What is Im Nayoung trying to prove again?

"You should've called me instead. I'd pick you up, you know." Nayoung adds, grinning at the sight of Chaeyeon frowning at her words. "What brings you here that is so important that you actually went inside my office, Miss Jung Chaeyeon?"

"Well, I wanted to see- I mean, I just wanted you to know that I dropped by." Chaeyeon laughs nervously, hoping that Nayoung didn't hear what she almost said. Especially now that the Nayoung in front of her is the bold and playful one.

"You wanted to see me?" 

Chaeyeon swears that she's not going to make it when this continues. A bold Nayoung is something that she least expected.

"I said, I wanted you to know that I dropped by."

"Yeah, I heard that, but -"

"Well, I said it out loud." Chaeyeon cuts her off. Seeing Nayoung being like that in front of her, with that smirk on her face that she wants to erase, is really getting into her nerves. She tries her best to hold herself back, before she ends up kissing Nayoung again.

"So, have you ordered anything yet?" Nayoung changes the topic when she felt something different with Chaeyeon. And the latter is so glad that she did that she lets out a breath she didn't even know she was holding. She then shakes her head in return with a small smile on her face.

-

Nayoung asked Chaeyeon to just wait for her drink at her usual table. When the younger girl handed her money, she refused to accept it, saying that it's on her and adds, "as a thank you for being a regular at my cafe..." like she always does. Nayoung had actually lost count of how many times she had used that as an excuse every time she does anything for Chaeyeon. And the latter would always end up giving in. It's not like Nayoung would give up, anyway.

And so now, Nayoung's back to the workplace. She gets a cup and writes Chaeyeon's name on it. Then, she pauses, hesitating whether she would write those three words on the cup or not. 

Nayoung's heart is beating faster than ever while writing a small message beside Chaeyeon's name. She has never done this before and she knows it herself that she isn't good with romantic stuff. Damn it, Nayoung. Where did the Nayoung a few minutes ago go?

She lets out a sigh as she finishes making the drink that she knows by heart. She just really likes Chaeyeon and she doesn't know if the girl likes her back. And if she doesn't, then Nayoung isn't going to forgive herself when their friendship ends just because of her.

-

Chaeyeon sees Nayoung approaching with a tray, smiling. She smiles back. But unknown to her, Nayoung's heart is going to burst any moment.

"Here. A strawberry latte and a slice of cake for the princess." Nayoung tries to smile, even though her hands were shaking when she put the order on the table.

Chaeyeon glances at the cup and realizes that it was a rather unusual message beside her name. I like you. :) She blinks a few times, completely speechless for a moment.

"You what? Are you sure that this is for me?" Chaeyeon asks, looking surprised and confused at the same time. And even though Nayoung was really nervous of what will happen, she couldn't help but find it adorable.

Nayoung simply nods, thinking of the right words to say. Chaeyeon just stares at her, waiting for her to speak up.

"Well, um... yeah, it's for you." Nayoung looks straight into her eyes. "And it's from me. Please don't ever think that that's from Eunwoo or Minky. I know how they flirt and I swear you wouldn't want to know." She's rambling, she doesn't really know what to say, which earned a sweet laugh from Chaeyeon.

"Okay, noted." Chaeyeon smiles that smile and Nayoung swears that it's one of the best things in the world that she will never get tired of.

Until now, Nayoung doesn't know what's going on in Chaeyeon's mind. At least, she knows that the younger girl isn't mad at her and if she doesn't like her back, then they can still stay friends, right?

Well, except that Chaeyeon feels the same. But Nayoung doesn't know about that yet.

Nayoung watches as Chaeyeon quietly takes a sip of her latte and leans her back against the wall. 

No one said anything for a while. The only voices that could be heard were from a few customers from the other side of the coffeeshop. Until Chaeyeon breaks the silence between them.

"You like me?" Nayoung looks up and their eyes meet in an instant.

"Yeah."

"Since when?" Chaeyeon asks, her eyes still looking straight into Nayoung's. And there she saw a little movement that suggested that the older girl was taken aback.

"Um, I don't know..." Nayoung scratches the back of her neck and shyly confesses, "you've always been my favorite customer so..." covering her face with her hands.

Chaeyeon lets out a giggle because of how cute it was. Nayoung doesn't understand why Chaeyeon did that, but she looks up once again and ends up smiling in return.

-

"You know it, right?" Chaeyeon asks Nayoung when they were walking towards her car. It's almost midnight and Nayoung insisted to drive her home once again.

"Know what?"

"That I like you back." Chaeyeon says quietly. Nayoung still heard it and it made her stop in her tracks.

"Well, um, I'm not really sure about that." Nayoung's voice came out as a whisper, but with the distance between their bodies, Chaeyeon still understood her words.

With that, Chaeyeon gently cups Nayoung's face and captures her lips with her own. Nayoung closes her eyes as she kisses her back. 

And when they pulled away, Chaeyeon's eyes looked at Nayoung as if she's her everything, and the older girl noticed that.

"I hope you know it by now."

Nayoung simply nods and smiles, making Chaeyeon excitedly clap her hands and wrap her in a tight hug. And soon, Nayoung wraps her arms around Chaeyeon's waist.

"You're so cute." She whispers into Chaeyeon's ear.

"We are."

----

There you go! I hope you liked it! Thanks for reading~ (Comments are well-appreciated ofc hahahaha)