Three Years Later:

Seunghyun cursed as he tripped over beer bottles that cluttered his younger brother’s apartment.

“KWON JIYONG!” He bellowed, glaring at the drunk prone figure on the sofa.

Jiyong muttered under his breath, scratching the stubble on his chin, before tossing to turn from his brother's loud obnoxious voice. Seunghyun sighed miserably.

The only person able to make Jiyong pick up from his slump was Kim Taeyeon, but the girl had taken and left the country, bringing with her Jiyong's heart, and leaving the empty vessel of a drunk useless man for his family to pick up the pieces. He really wanted to hate on Taeyeon, but at the same time, his heart tore into two for he understood her intention in leaving Jiyong.

She didn't feel like she was worthy of his brother anymore.

Seunghyun sighed nearly puking at the sight of his brother's dirty underwear strewn over the pantry.

“God.” He mumbled to himself

Jiyong usually wasn't so bad, it was just today, he supposed, since it was the anniversary of Taeyeon leaving Korea. He prodded his brother's prone body with a stick hesitantly.

“Wake the up you annoying brat!” Seunghyun finally lost his temper as Jiyong turned, and smacked him in the face. “Taeyeon's back in Korea! I saw the records from Tiffany’s purse.” He watched with satisfaction as his brother shot up in his seat.

“Hnnnng nyah?” Kwon Jiyong the stupid drunk pabo mumbled. Seunghyun snarled under his breath.

“Kim. Taeyeon. I said KIM TAEYEON, go clean your ears, Kwon Jiyong!” Seunghyun roared.

Jiyong waved his brother off.

“Sure. I'll believe what you say to me when the sun rises from the West.” He still held a grudge to Seunghyun for delivering wrong information to him that had caused him to miss Taeyeon completely. When he caught up with Yoona and Seohyun, they told him he had been half an hour too late, as Taeyeon had already left. Of course, because of his blabbering that Seunghyun had told him about the timing, his brother got sidelined by his girlfriend, and ended up living in his loft for three pathetic weeks, over the phone and apologizing every day to Tiffany for telling Jiyong about Taeyeon. Jiyong peered bleerily into the mirror, washing dirt from his eyes and brushing his teeth as he yawned. There was no point in not going to work today, since Seunghyun had already woken him up. He and begged his brother after Taeyeon left, to buy the coffee shop at where he and Taeyeon first met. His brother agreed, requesting for some profits to be given to him as compensation. But Jiyong didn't really care for that. His ulterior motive of having that shop was simple.

He would find Taeyeon with it.

After all, this was the only shop that sold Taeyeon's weird but favourite coffee concoction. No one except for Taeyeon would buy it. He remembered the coffee shop owner having a huge laugh over his and Taeyeon's little lovers spat over the taste of the coffee, and seeing that Taeyeon had developed a unique liking for the concoction, had specially placed it on the menu for her, calling it The Great Beauty. It referred subtly to Taeyeon of course, and he remembered her gloating at the horrible drink being named after her. She wouldn't​ drink other kinds of coffee after that, no matter how much he tried to persuade her. It was hers and hers alone.

When he took over the shop, he had left that drink on the menu for her, and his customers gradually learnt the special meaning behind the drink, and respected his wish of not ordering it. To him, the concoction was Taeyeon's and Taeyeon's alone.

But for three years, no one bought that drink, and slowly his hopes of finding her dwindled.

Jiyong spat the toothpaste into the sink.

I guess I'll be doing the coffee barista and customering again today.

He shuffled to the fridge, gulping down a few tablets of aspirin. Seunghyun watched incredulously as his brother sluggishly shuffled towards the door.

“What are you doing?”

“Going to work.” Jiyong raised his hand, slamming the door in his eldest brother's face, much to Seunghyun's chagrin.

~~~~~

The bell of the coffee shop rang merrily as Jiyong pushed it open, and Jiyong scratched his head as he flipped open the OPEN sign.

“Yo, boss!” He waved to his employees, and grinned slightly.

“I'm serving and baristing today.” He called, hearing whoops of loud laughter from the kitchen. Jiyong grinned slowly at the lighted sign. He had changed the shops name as soon as he had taken over, renaming it the Dookong and No-Face Cafe, another hidden tribute he knew would resonate with his girlfriend. He snorted lightly as he eyed the terrible plushie toys on the counter, as well as the Dookong and Kaonashi shaped chairs and tables and Kaonashi and Dookong themed walls. He had a hand in designing them, in spite of his absolute dislike for them. The chairs were pea-shaped, with the specific Dookong cushions placed strategically at the sides, bringing up both the comfort and the cute factor of the chairs, while Kaonashi himself---had his mouth open as the serving tables, looking as though it would swallow the desserts and coffee bought by the customers. Cutely, of course. It was a huge hit with children as well as adults, and Jiyong had many parents asking if those tables and chairs were for sale, their children having formed a unshakable love for the two different stuff toys.

All thanks to Taeyeon. He chuckled to himself. The cafe itself already had many fans before he took over, and when he reopened it with the Dookong and Kaonashi them, it was an instant hit. Funny thing was, no matter how popular the cafe got, Jiyong would never see anyone from the SM Labs coming into the shop, save for Heechul, who still was on friendly terms with him. The buzzer for coffee orders rang, jerking him out of his reverie.

“One Doo-fee please.” Jiyong chuckled at the name the customers had taken to affectionately calling the coffee he made. Eventually to make it more fun, he learnt how to draw Dookong itself on the surface of the coffee, fully resonating the drink with it's name. The same thing happened with the Kaonashi drink. Or rather, the Kao-fee drink.

Taeyeon would have such a laugh over that.

He dipped his head, smile slightly disappearing as he