“Dahyun, tend to table eight please. They’re waiting on a strawberry milkshake and a slice of strawberry shortcake.” Nayeon, Dahyun’s boss commands from behind the till.

Dahyun runs to the barista, who has the drink ready for her. “Is it the short girl again? Strawberry obsessed much?”

“Aren’t you the same height? She’s not that short.” The barista retorts.

“Hey, Jeong, you should be on my side!” Dahyun whines, feeling embarrassed.

“Where’s the fun in that? Go serve her, she’s been waiting for a while.” Jeongyeon pats Dahyun’s back.

Jeongyeon is the head barista, with her prodigy Tzuyu as her co-barista. She’s a fellow best friend of their boss, Nayeon. Other than Dahyun, Momo and Sana are the floor assistants who are usually brightening up the café with their personality. Actually, Dahyun’s pretty sure that they come in just to Jeongyeon and Tzuyu work as the baristas–

“Oi, Hyun! Get your head in the game.” Jeongyeon slaps Dahyun’s back. Dahyun throws her a glare but it’s ignored by the barista, who shrugs and points to a glaring Nayeon.

With a grumble, Dahyun grabs the cake and milkshake and heads towards the deserted table by the fake plants Nayeon had put up. Just to add an “aesthetic” look is what Nayeon said, but Dahyun thinks it looks downright ugly (don’t tell Nayeon she believes that). It’s only because it looks way too artificial and completely ruins the homely vibe of the café.

Honestly, Dahyun thinks Nayeon should take advice from her best friend. She might be a fashion designer, but even then, Dahyun can safely say that her taste is better than Nayeon’s. If it weren’t for her, the café would be painted red and pink and all the brightest colours that exist. Nayeon has a thing for weird combinations. Right, it feels like it’s been way too long since Dahyun last saw her and she really wants to see Nayeon’s (other) best friend again.

(Perhaps Dahyun also has a tiny crush on this fashion designer and has complete faith in her skills)

She’s never spoken about it to anyone other than Tzuyu for the sole reason of being teased by the rest of the working crew. Dahyun knew she’d never hear the end of it from Nayeon, especially.

Dahyun finishes serving the strawberry lover and returns to stand behind the counter. She rolls her eyes at Sana and Momo, who are just standing idly opposite the baristas, astounded by their skills of working the machine.

“Dahyun, I’m going to pop out for a little bit, okay? Can you stay out here? I think Jihyo might be coming in soon.” Nayeon announces, driving Dahyun into a panicked frenzy.

What? Jihyo? No, she couldn’t deal with her on her own! From the corner of her eye, she sees Tzuyu smirk at her, knowing the state of mind that Dahyun was in at the moment.

“Chill Dahyun. She’s probably just coming in to relax and work on her fashion designing. I’ll get Momo to cover for you.” Tzuyu comforts her friend before quickly walking to Momo who immediately flushes upon her presence.

There’s lack of eye contact between the two girls and Dahyun really worries about the redness spreading over Momo’s cheeks. She’s as hopeless as Dahyun with facing crushes face-to-face.

“Done!” Tzuyu approaches Dahyun and wipes her hand dramatically. “For what it’s worth, I think you shouldn’t keep your crush hidden. Maybe you can give talking to her a go today? You really don’t want to serve her?”

“It’s not about serving her. I’m just scared that something will go wrong. She always brings her computer or her papers. I’m clumsy when I’m nervous.” Dahyun says in defeat.

“If I can talk to Momo without being a bumbling fool, you can talk to Jihyo. She won’t bite you or anything.” Tzuyu rolls her eyes.

“Wait a second. You have a crush on Momo?” Dahyun gasps and Tzuyu is quick to cover with her hand. It must be nice to have your feelings reciprocated, unless you’re blind like these two who still don’t know they like each other.

“Shut it. I don’t want anyone else knowing.” Tzuyu growls.

“Excuse me. You’re telling me to not keep my crush hidden when it’s clear that you’re doing the same!” Dahyun points out. Tzuyu groans because Dahyun makes a very valid point.

“It’s different for me. I see Momo every day. You see Jihyo once a fortnight. Make the most of your time.” Tzuyu moves away before Dahyun can argue again.

The bell rings from their front door and any further chance to continue the conversation between herself and Tzuyu is gone. Dahyun is receiving the order at the till and she starts off well, until the bell chimes again and her crush walks in.

Dahyun freezes mid-sentence because Jihyo looks beautiful like she always does. She’s still dressed up in her work outfit and it only adds onto Dahyun’s torture. She rarely gets to see Jihyo in her rimmed spectacles but admittedly, it looks perfect on her.

The customer in front of Dahyun clears his throat and she breaks out of her daze, turning red in embarrassment. She’s thankful that Nayeon wasn’t here to witness her failure of maintaining her concentration and was out on a date with her girlfriend.

(Yes, Nayeon saying she’s popping out for a bit means she’s going on a date with Mina, her girlfriend)

Dahyun believes it must be nice running a café when you can just leave and go on dates whenever you please. For a brief moment, she thinks of a possibility of going on a date with Jihyo, but it’s disappears as quickly as it comes. It’s nothing Dahyun should be thinking about at the moment.

“Dahyun, long time no see.” Jihyo greets her with a grin that almost blinds her.

Before she can form a reply, Momo cuts in, saving her the trouble of forming a response and rescuing her from successfully embarrassing herself. She can almost sigh in relief. Dahyun distracts herself with the order that she took before Jihyo’s appearance, trying to concentrate on what he chose instead.

She forgets.

Dahyun has to look at their screen a few times to get the order down correctly. She doesn’t want a repeat of last time, where she handed someone an incorrect order. She’s trying to work fast, but she feels a chill run down her spine. Someone is staring at her.

She falters, because it’s Jihyo. Jihyo is smiling at her and it’s enough for Dahyun’s brain to short circuit. Being on the receiving end of her smile once was enough, twice was unhealthy. She turns back around, fanning her reddening face. Dahyun hears a snicker and knows it came from Tzuyu and she sends a glare her way. She considers getting revenge on the prodigy barista.

“Momo, can you come here for a second.” Dahyun calls her workmate.

Dahyun feels evil, a satisfied evil, when she sees the panicked look in Tzuyu’s eyes as soon as she calls for the girl. She’s about to say something but Momo arrives and she immediately shuts . Dahyun wants to tease Tzuyu further, so she pulls Momo away from Tzuyu’s sight, and ends up blurting out the first thing that came to her mind because she didn’t think things through.

“What’s Jihyo’s order?” Dahyun almost smacks herself because of the question she asks.

“Oh, she told me you need to take care of her order.” Momo remembers what Jihyo told her at the counter.

Dahyun is shocked. “She wants me to take care of her order?” She points to herself.

Momo nods. That’s exactly what Jihyo had said at the till. “She said, can you make sure Dahyun sends them to me.”

“What? We never have people requesting who to serve them.” Dahyun panics. She wasn’t meant to face Jihyo! That was the purpose of Tzuyu getting Momo to go the front instead of her.

“Come on. I’ll take the guy’s order. Sana’s at the till so you can give Jihyo her order.” Momo drags Dahyun back to the counter.

She risks a glance towards Jihyo when she returns and Dahyun finds that Jihyo’s gaze is still on her.

“Is Jihyo’s drink ready?” Dahyun asks the baristas.

“Her drinks are ready. Yes. Did you even double check the order? She also asked for a slice of chocolate mudcake and a chicken sandwich. You took out the vanilla slice and a bagel.” Jeongyeon criticises Dahyun’s order. “Are you okay Dahyun?”

“I’m fine. Yes. I’ll fix it. Thanks, Jeong. I’m sorry about the hassle.” Dahyun moves to fix up her mistakes. She feels like she’s under pressure because she’s aware of Jihyo’s gaze on her. She’s panicking even more and it was exactly what she was worried about when she talked to Tzuyu earlier.

Her biggest hope was that she could safely deliver everything on the black tray to her crush without tripping over air. Nothing really has been going to plan but Dahyun prays that the universe wouldn’t screw her over.

Dahyun carefully and slowly, walks towards Jihyo’s table. She refuses to make eye contact with her. She refuses to acknowledge Jihyo’s gaze on her. She knows she’ll screw up if she even considers looking at her.

“Y-your order, Miss.” Dahyun stutters as she places the cake and sandwich on the table first.

“Jihyo. I thought we agreed on not making me sound like an aunt.” Jihyo teases.

Dahyun nods and proceeds to place the drinks on the table.

Curse her luck that Jihyo chose to sit on a table that was wobbly, as soon as she puts down the chocolate frappe, it tilts over, and a part of the whipped cream hits Jihyo’s paperwork. Dahyun manages to pull it straight before the rest topples over, but the damage was done. She rushes to wipe away the remnants of the cream, grabbing countless tissues and muttering apologies endlessly. See, she knew something was going to go wrong.

“I’m sorry. I’m really sorry about that.” Dahyun bows. When she moves to wipe Jihyo’s papers again, she’s stopped in her tracks. Jihyo holds her hand instead.

“It’s fine, Dahyun.” Jihyo smiles at her and the guilt in Dahyun increases.

“No, it’s not. You were clearly waiting for someone to join you and I – I’m sorry about this mess.” Dahyun apologises. She didn’t want to think about the fact that there would be someone else sitting with Jihyo soon. Why did she have to meet someone in Nayeon’s café of all places?

“There’s no rush. She won’t be coming soon. And these papers didn’t have my work on it so you don’t have to worry.” Jihyo grins again.

Dahyun tries to ignore the ‘she’ that Jihyo talks about but she can’t help the pain that edges its way into her heart.

“I’ll replace the drink. I’m sorry again.” Dahyun forces a smile. Jihyo reaches out to her again, to say something, but Dahyun moves away and takes the glass back to the kitchen.

She scrubs it and scrubs it and scrubs it.

“I think it’s clean enough.” Tzuyu’s voice causes Dahyun to jump. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Can you make another chocolate frappe for Jihyo? Her drink fell.” Dahyun wipes the glass and hands it back to Tzuyu before walking out to the counter. She notices concerned glances from her the other three girls but pushes to ignore it. Nothing happened. Nothing will happen.

Dahyun’s attempts to block out Jihyo fail. She’s too curious about who she’ll be meeting and her gaze flits to her table every ten minutes.

Amazingly, her shift comes to an end despite her constant worry. Did the person Jihyo was meant to meet leave her hanging?

Just as she pulled off her apron and washed her hands, Nayeon approaches Dahyun. She can’t help but feel anxious. Was she going to get fired because of what happened to Jihyo? She was, wasn’t she? Oh god, it was time to find a new job–

“Stop thinking you’re going to get fired, you’re not.” Nayeon shakes her head at Dahyun. “Jihyo wants to see you at her table.”

Dahyun gulps in fear and Nayeon leaves her side without letting her say no. What does Jihyo want with her? Nervously, she trudges toward Jihyo’s table.

“Ah, you’re here Dahyun.” Jihyo stands up when she sees her. “I wasn’t sure if I ordered what you liked, but sit with me?”

It’s then when Dahyun realises why Jihyo ordered the chocolate mudcake and chocolate frappe. Redness creeps into her cheeks at the realisation that this whole time, Jihyo was waiting for her to finish her shift. There was no other girl.

It was Dahyun.

“What’s this?” Dahyun rubs the back of her neck and avoids Jihyo’s gaze as she sits opposite her.

“Uhm. Well… it could be a date, if you wanted it to be?” Jihyo blushes this time.

“Did someone sell me out?” Dahyun squints at Tzuyu, who ducks from view. Damn, that girl. No way was she going to leave the premises tonight without telling Momo of her crush!

“Honestly, I know you never said anything but I thought it would be nice–”

“It’s nice, Jihyo. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I’m sitting down and having a date with you when all day I’ve been thinking about the fact that you’ve been waiting for someone else.” Dahyun cuts off Jihyo. She regrets talking so much when she sees Jihyo’s teasing grin.

“So, you were thinking about who I was going to meet?” Jihyo leans her chin in her palms.

Dahyun groans and covers her face with her hands. Could her embarrassment heighten any further? Jihyo chuckles at her actions and apologises.

“I’m sorry for being so forward, okay? Let’s start this again.” Jihyo offers her hand to Dahyun. “Hi, I’m Park Jihyo and I really like you.”

Dahyun slips her hand into Jihyo’s. “I’m Kim Dahyun and I really like you too.”