Hayoon leaned on the mirror, fumbling with her eyeliner and messing it up. It was a first for her since she considered herself an expert. She was a baker and to bake you need stable hands to make the finest decors on pastries. However what really made her an expert at applying eyeliner was that she started wearing it when she was a teenager, after hearing several remarks about her monolid eyes, and “why don't you get double eyelid surgery?” Like every teenage girl in this world she had developed an inferiority complex. She would have done the surgery if she had the money or if she wasn't her mother's daughter, instead she opted to  use makeup and other tricks that she rather didn't thinks about now, to at least get “fake double eyelids.”

Now as an adult Hayoon stopped wearing eyeliner all the time or feeling conscious about her long, narrow eyes. They were given to her for a reason, and they functioned perfectly. She couldn't ask for more. Though that was not the reason she had stopped wearing makeup altogether, it was during her trainee days, after a particularly long day, when she could finally wash up she found that her eyeliner was smeared all over her eyes, running down her cheeks. It was then that she had decided that makeup and sweat didn't mix well.

Hayoon sighed, she must have lost her eyeliner expert hand and that was fine with her but what wouldn't be fine was losing her touch as a baker. What if her shaking hands failed her and she couldn't decorate her pastry anymore? Hayoon shook her head, she shouldn't go there, those were scary thoughts. Instead she let her mind drift to her teenage self and her obsession with eyeliner and finished preparing herself to go out, now that she was looking for a job she wanted to look at least half-decent.

Hayoon stepped out of her apartment building, pulling her long black coat tighter around herself. It was freezing cold, a typical October day; cold, wet and grey.

She looked up, the sky was dark, covered with grey clouds. Perfect gloomy day for my gloomy life. She thought, then sighed. Stop being so dramatic Hayoon.

The truth was, Hayoon was feeling a bit grim about everything, after returning to her apartment from home she was feeling positive and energised again, she wrote her CV and accepted the fact that she was going to look for a job somewhere else and forget about that old bakery. But after spending almost two weeks fruitlessly poring for hours over ads on the job pages of the newspapers and on the internet she started feeling anxious again about finding a job, what if no one needed a baker? What would she do? She didn't imagine herself working on something else. Where were all the bakeries owners that her mother had made her feel that they were going to fire their bakers, line up at her door and beg her to work for them.

She was desperately in need of a job. She wasn't cut out to stay at home and do nothing, her thoughts were turning more and more negative. She had started losing her sleep at the same time as when she was working, she had tried to sleep late so that she could sleep more and not wake up at dawn, but it didn't work out and lack of sleep made her grumpy. Humans are never satisfied with what they have, Hayoon thought. When she was working she could kill for days off to spend at home and do nothing but now that she had days off she wanted to go back to work.

She had started decorating her organising boxes that she hadn't had the chance to decorate because she was all the time busy or too tired to do anything, but she couldn't even enjoy doing her hobby.

She grew restless and after spending two days at home, wearing her pajamas all day, not taking a shower, and eating ice cream for dinner. And even lying through her teeth to her mom that she was doing great, she couldn't tell her mother, she’d be worrying about her. Hayoon knew that she couldn't keep the lies, especially since they talked every day, her mom will sense that something was off. She was like a radar, never missing a thing. And in a flash she’d find her standing next to her, fretting.

That was it. Hayoon decided,  she needed to get out, pull herself together and stop wallowing in self pity. So here she was walking down the street, if bakeries weren't going to fall over themselves to hire her she just had to go for them, she had never been offered anything on a silver platter before anyway, she always had to work for what she wanted and that wasn't going to change now.

¤¤¤

Hayoon hesitantly pushed the door of the café and stepped inside. It was the third café she had passed, the other two were full of customers but this one appeared empty from the outside. Maybe their cakes aren't good, thought Hayoon, and decided to go in and ask if they needed a baker. The girl behind the counter greeted her with a big smile, the smile was so big and genuine that Hayoon felt that the girl was glad to see a customer so instead of asking about the job she ordered hot chocolate and a blueberry muffin.

While waiting for her order Hayoon looked at the cake display. The cakes and pastries looked good enough, they had a decent variety of tarts, cream puffs and cupcakes. Than she looked round the café, it wasn't as empty as she had thought. One guy was sitting by the window, in front of him a plate full of pastries, and a girl by the corner, probably a college student, working on her laptop.

When Hayoon received her order, she sat by the window, one table away from the other customer. She wrapped her hands around her cup, the warmth of it helping her relax a bit. Her thoughts spun, how could she ask them if they needed a baker? They obviously didn't need one, they didn't even put a notice or anything. What now? She asked herself. Well first taste the muffin, you couldn't go wrong with a muffin, and if it’s no good maybe they’d fire…

God, what the hell was she thinking?

She lifted the blueberry muffin and took a tentative bite, only to choke on it, she reached for her cup and swallowed her chocolate, scalding her tongue and the roof of . It was burning hot. She let her tongue hang out of to cool and fanned it with her hand. She looked up to find the guy one table away watching her.

Except he wasn't just any guy. He had the same silky brown hair and a sharp nose, she met the man before.

Nam woohyun?

God, how come she managed to embarrass herself in front of him in the occasions they met. She felt the heat flush up her neck. Ugh. What should I do? Should I pretend like I don't know him?

But before she could look away , his eyes grew wide with recognition and he smiled at her. “Hayoon-shi right?”

“Hi.” She squeaked, still burning.

“Hi, are you ok?” he asked, then he began rummaging  in his backpack, pulling out a bottle water, he got up from his seat and walked to her table. “Here, I just bought this and it's not open yet, if you don't mind take it.”

She took the bottle, and gulped water until she felt better. “Thank you.” She managed a smile, feeling grateful and embarrassed at the same time.

“No problem… You look different.”

Hayoon touched her bangs self consciously, her sister had insisted that her hair was shapeless and nagged until Hayoon had agreed to go to the hairdresser with her, thankfully she got away with a trim and bangs. “Yea, I cut my hair.” She replied and left out that she wore makeup. He didn't need to know that, did he?

He nodded and Hayoon looked down at his table. “You must think I have a sweet tooth.” Woohyun said with a chuckle, he must have thought she was wondering why he had a plate full of pastries, she wasn't. Hayoon was racking her brain for something to say. “Well I do,” he continued, his hand rubbing the back of his head. “But I'm kind of conducting a field research.”

“On what?” Hayoon asked. Was he a student or something?

Woohyun didn't answer her question, instead he said. “Ah you're a baker right… Um would you have time to join me or I join you?”

What? Why? She only asked him because he was talking to her, why did he want to sit with her?

“I just want to ask your professional opinion about these.” He mentioned to the plate on his table.

Hayoon wanted to tell him she wasn't a food critic, but she didn't want to embarrass him, he must have felt her reluctance since he kept explaining, so she said. “Sure.”

After settling on the seat opposite her and putting the plate full of pastries in the middle of the table between them. Woohyun looked left and right, as if to check no one was listening to what he was going to say and in a hushed voice he answere her question. “You see I'm going to open a café not very far from here and I wanted to check my competition.”

“Oh!” Hayoon was surprised, she wasn't  expecting that and then she added. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks. So do you mind telling me your opinion? I’d like an opinion from a baker.” He dropped his voice again and added. “If it's good I might steal their baker.”  He grinned when Hayoon looked at him with wide eyes. “I'm kidding, at least I wouldn't try to steal the baker from here. But it's true that I'm looking for a one.”

Ha! Hayoon thought. Are you kidding me?

Hayoon took a bite from the lemon tart to stop herself from spewing any nonsense from , he was looking for a baker and she was baker, without a job. Could this all be a coincidence?

She closed her eyes and tasted, she hated criticizing other people's work, even though she was going to do the same herself but she was going to keep her opinion to herself not share it. She most of the time found something that did not please her and it made her feel that she was a snob about pastries. Hayoon wasn't, she loved homely cakes and she was always on the hunt for such cafés and bakeries but she hated it if it wasn’t what the shop was aiming for and the cake was below the standard, she thought it wasn't fair to serve customers less than what were they expecting. “The crust is a bit hard, they overcooked it.”

“Right! I thought so too, and the filling was a bit…” He stopped, looking for the right word.

“Sour.”

“Yes, it's sour, there should be a balance between the sweet and sour taste.”  It was a bit overwhelming but not very noticeable but she guessed Woohyun knew about pastry or he had a good palate

She next looked at the millefeuille, she spent few minutes looking at it in silence until she felt Woohyun shifting in his chair. “see here?” She pointed with her knife. “The pastry is curved, and the pastry is not caramelized all the way. And the borders are completely uneven, you have to use a ruler to get them straight, lay it right on top and cut.”

“woah making millefeuille sound extremely complicated.”

Hayoon nodded.” yes it is if you wanted a millefeuille that's airy, crispy, flaky, and decadent in all the right places. The flavors of a millefeuille are simple, but the textures are amazing.The technique alone is the ne plus ultra of pastry doughs. Unlike pâte brisée,  pâte feuilletée requires great skill and a bit of daring.”

“It does look pretty simple to make, just pastry and cream but it's in fact very complicated. Tricky millefeuille.” Woohyun laughed and she laughed with him.

They chatted easily, Hayoon realised that she  had spent almost an hour talking about cakes with Woohyun, no one had let her talk that much about cakes except Soojung, her assistant in the old bakery; Who was like a sponge and wanted to absorb everything Hayoon said or did. But Woohyun surprised her by his knowledge about pastry making, he asked many questions and was attentive to everything she said. And Hayoon kept going, talking and talking about pastry, until a sudden thought struck her as much as he appeared like he was listening, he must have felt bored at some point, he probably regretted the moment he had asked her for her opinion. Hayoon bit her lip and told him that much.

“Of course not, I enjoyed talking with you. Your bakery must be really popular. “

Hayoon almost snorted. Yea, very, very popular.

“I didn't ask where do you work.”

Hayoon hesitated for a moment then she decided to just go with the truth and told him what happened to the bakery and that she was jobless now.

“I'm sorry to hear that.” He said, looking very sorry for her, than his eyes lit up. “Do you want to work for me?”

“You don't even know if I can bake well.”

“Well we can do a taste tester and you can show me your qualifications?”

“Okay.” She agreed, reluctantly.

“Alright. We can talk about the details then. When are you free?”

Everyday. Hayoon wanted to say but she said. “I can prepare everything in two days.”

They decided to meet again on Saturday in his café. After giving her the address she left feeling a bit dizzy about the turn of events

¤¤¤

“So can you come with me?” Hayoon and Soomi were sitting in a café, she had called her after leaving Woohyun and they decided to meet.

Before they met Hayoon went to the address Woohyun had given her, she found what looked like a closed restaurant. It had two facades One by the main street and the other at the side street. The main street was busy,  full of shops and passersby. It was an ideal location.

Hayoon already wanted to work there.

¤¤¤

“To your interview? Are you serious?”

Hayoon was dead serious. Her head was spinning again, now away from Woohyun’s warm voice and sincere eyes, the doubt started to creep in. What if it was a ruse? A voice in her head told her, he didn't look like the type to trick people. But if it was his tactic? He pretended to be nice to trick innocent, naive girls? But he knew a lot about cakes, surely he wouldn't do that just to trick you? The sane voice told her. Who knows? Hayoon argued, people are weird you’d never know what they could do. He wouldn't have known that you were going to meet you dummy. You found him in the shop so don't even think that he was following you. That silenced Hayoon, yea that was true but she felt it was too good to be just a coincidence.

“Yes, I'm serious. You see he doesn't look like someone who'd open a coffee shop and he isn't even a baker.”

“Maybe he's rich and he wants to invest in a profitable business.”

Hayoon had thought about that, which made her think about those spoiled, rich boys who think that they could be jerks to everybody around them. “That's even worse what if he's spoiled chaebol, it’d be a nightmare to work with him.”

“What was he wearing?” Soomi asked.

“Black trousers and a dark blue button down. Why?”

“What brand?”

“How could I know? I didn't check his clothes tag.”

“You could tell without checking. Anyway did they look expensive?”

“I'm sorry I'm so ignorant.”Hayoon said, rolling her eyes,  but in fact she wasn't, she could never tell the brand of the clothes unless it was written at the front of them and she could not understand how people knew what brand it was by just looking at them, did the designers make the same clothes so that people recognise them? How uncreative. Hayoon wasn't big on designer clothes, she loved looking around in small, unknown shops where she could find a nice and different piece of clothing, it didn't matter to her what was the brand, it was like going into small coffee shop tucked in a corner and you find that they made the best cream puffs. Hayoon loved discovering little hidden gems.

“They looked good, he looked good.” Hayoon mentally slapped her head after blurting out that last bit. And with the smirk growing on Soomi’s face she knew she had to stop her from going to her favorite subject and she found herself talking about something else. She quickly added. “Please, I Don't think I can go by myself.”

Soomi was shaking her head. “Unnie I can't go with you it'll be weird.”

“I know, but you can wait for me outside and if I don't come back in ten minutes you barge in.”

“I can't, Saturday I'm going home with Sunggyu oppa.”

“You go every week. You can cancel this one.”

Soomi shook her head again. “I can't.”

“Traitor. I can't believe you choose Sunggyu over me when I’ve known you first and for a long time.” Soomi only laughed. Hayoon pouted and threatened  “I'm not making your wedding cake.”

Soomi laughed harder. “You used that one so many times, it won't work now.”

Damn. Begging, and threatening weren't working, Hayoon had to use another tactic. “Soomi-ya remember in high school when you were going to that group meeting and I came with you, I didn't leave you by yourself. Time to return the favor.” Hayoon finished triumphantly. Yes that will do the trick, Soomi couldn't stand people owing her a favor.

“I remember that day perfectly, but unnie you should get your facts right. You insisted to come with me and because you were stuck to me all the time I didn't get to talk to Seunghyun oppa.”

“I came with you because I wanted to protect you, you know men are__”

“Wolves, I know! You only say it to me everyday but unnie nothing happened.”

“Were you upset that I came with you?” Really? Did Hayoon get in her way instead of being there for her. Hayoon would have been happy if she had to go to something like that and her friend insisted to go with her. She’d have felt safe. Didn't all the girls feel the same? Especially at that young age.

“A little.”

“Sorry, I didn't realize that it upsets you.”

Soomi smiled uneasily. “Ah unnie what are you apologising for, it's in the past and it wasn't that important.”

Still Hayoon felt bad, how many times did she act patronizing just because she wanted to protect her friend and her sister.

“Let me ask you something.”

“What?”

“Why do you hate men so much?”

“I don't hate men.” Hayoon snapped, but she must have said it loudly, for several heads turned to stare at them. Hayoon groaned and dropped her forehead on the table. “I don't hate men.” she repeated again, this time in a whisper. “I like Sungjong and Sunggyu.”

“Sungjong is like your younger brother so he doesn't count, but you like Sunggyu oppa?” The disbelief in Soomi’s voice made Hayoon lift her head again. “Of course I do, why are you so surprised?”

“Well you gave me a hard time when we first started seeing each other.”

“That was because I wanted you to be careful, We didn't know him back then.”

“And now, what made you change your mind?”

“He respects his mother, he looks up for her. He would never do something to make her ashamed of him. when people have no shame they can do whatever they want because they don't think of the consequences, but he has and he wouldn't do anything to shame himself in front of his mom. So I trust him, he’s perfect for you.” When Hayoon finished talking, Soomi was beaming at her. “What?”

“I'm just glad that you like him because it means a lot to me.”

Ugh. That just made her feel terrible. At the beginning of their relationship, Hayoon had told Soomi to be careful around Sunggyu, but she had never been rude to him or said anything that might suggest that she didn't like him. She thought she was careful but maybe she wasn't and because of her trust issues she probably made Sunggyu feel uncomfortable around her. “I just wanted you to be careful.” She repeated uselessly, “I never hated him.”

“I know you don’t hate him, anyway back to your interview. Unnie you shouldn't be shy, you already met twice and talked and I'm sure he's going to love your cake and hire you on the spot. You can do it!”

Hayoon wasn't shy, she was terrified of being in the same room by herself with a man.

She was aware that what she was asking her friend to do was ridiculous, she was embarrassed. But she couldn't help it. The problem was that Hayoon couldn't trust men in general, she let her friend and everybody think she was shy it was better than telling the truth. Because the truth was more painful. And Hayoon was not willing to even think about it.

“Of course I can, don't worry about it, I'm just not used to job interviews, they sound scary.” She lied.

“You have nothing to worry about, you're the best baker in the world.” Soomi smiled this big smile and looked behind Hayoon, Waving. “Right oppa?”

Hayoon turned around to see Sunggyu walking towards them. What was he doing here? Soomi didn't say he was coming. Hayoon smiled back and turned to her friend, she arched an eyebrow questioningly but she only got  a shrug as an answer.

“Hi Hayoon-shi, how are you?” Sunggyu asked as he took a sit next to his fiancée.

“Great, thanks. How about you?”

“I'm fine.” He said, smiling. He then angled his whole body towards Soomi and his voice lowered. “hey there, how was your day?” He asked as he fixed a strand of hair behind her ear, then he wiped off the crumbs of her croissant from  the corner of . Soomi’s tilted her face toward him, she almost put it on his shoulder and pouted. “Very tiring.”

Oh for god’s sake, that was the reason Hayoon hated being with them, they made her feel so awkward, everything they did felt so intimate and Hayoon never knew where to look, at them? At the other people? Down? But they also made her think if it was like their relationship than she would love to try it.

“Guess what oppa, Hayoon unnie said she likes you.”

What the hell?  

Hayoon looked at them and felt that Sunggyu was as shocked as her, Hayoon laughed. “What's with your faces? Gyu oppa you said that you felt that she doesn't like, I asked her today and she says that she does. Aren't you happy?”

But Sunggyu wasn't looking at Soomi for a change, he was looking at Hayoon with his eyes wide open and waving both his hands widely. Hayoon was so mortified she couldn't open so she did the only thing she could do, she hit her friend’s shin with her shoes.

“Ouch. Unnie what was that for.” She turned to Sunggyu. “Oppa she just hit me.” She whined.

“You deserve it.”

“Alright! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass you, I just want you two to be comfortable around each other and get closer. Is that so hard to ask? You're both very important in my life.”

After a brief silence and awkward shifting, Soomi spoke again. “Oppa, unnie got a job interview next weekend. But she's nervous.”

“Oh really but don't worry too much, just prepare for it until you feel like dying and you’ll get the job.”

“Is that how you got your job?” Soomi asked but Hayoon wasn't interested in knowing the answer, she just wanted to leave, she was already dying. “Right! I will, thanks.” She tried a smile.

“And unnie if it doesn't work out we’re here, we’ll find you a job.”

Hayoon wanted to snap at her and tell her that she didn't need them to find a job for her, she was old enough to take care of herself and find her own job, but after spending one hour begging her friend to go with to the job interview  she couldn't bring herself to argue, so she just nodded.

¤¤¤

It was late when Hayoon finally went back home, Soomi and Sunggyu insisted that she’d go for dinner with them, and as the conversation went back to normal. Hayoon could relax and enjoy dinner with them, and even got a ride home.

After washing up Hayoon sat on her Sofa, a notebook and pen in her hand. She decided that it was about time she grew up if she wanted to be treated like one, she was a strong, independent woman and her fears from her past weren't going to stop her now, she got over her fear when she first started and the kitchen she worked in were full of men only. She could do it again.

And so she did what she does best, she opened her notebook and started making a plan. She made a list of the pastry she was going to make for the taste testing, and a list of the shopping she needed to do.

Once she was done she felt that she got a tiny bit of her life back under control. Tomorrow was going to be a new day. She was going to open a new chapter of her life, it was going to be a new beginning.