Chaeyoung was three hours into her eight-hour shift at her mum’s café, which her mum ran on her own, with the help of her daughter. The blonde had been serving customers and wiping tables along with another member of staff, her best friend, Lisa. 

The blonde was wiping down tables and collecting empty plates and coffee mugs, while her friend was doing the same at the other end of the café, getting ready for the lunch rush. 

Chaeyoung took a tray full of empty plates, which were almost clean by the customers, to the kitchen and started stacking them into the dishwasher. 

“So what cake do you think we should take home for our new neighbour?” Ms. Park said as she was busy mixing the dry ingredients for a red velvet cake. 

“I think you know what I’m gonna say,” Chaeyoung joked with a suppressed laugh, rolling her eyes at the obvious answer. 

“Yeah, okay,” Ms. Park giggled. “Carrot cake it is.”

“Thanks, mum,” Chaeyoung gave a cheeky but genuine grin to her mother. 

“But only if you promise you’ll leave her alone,” Ms. Park said with a semi-threatening tone, causing her daughter to roll her eyes even more so, almost losing her irises in the back of her head. “She’s not another one of your conquests. We don’t need to have bad blood with our neighbours.”

“So? We didn’t get along with our old neighbours,” Chaeyoung reasoned, trying to find a loophole in order to do what she already planned to do with her y new neighbour. 

“That wasn’t our fault. That was your dad’s fault.”

Chaeyoung clenched her jaw and balled her fists at the mention of that man. “Don’t call him that!” She spat at her mother. 

Her mother saw the anger in her daughter's face and immediately regretted the slip-up. She normally referred to him by his first name: Richard. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, forgive me,” Ms. Park begged, hoping the anger and anguish on Chaeyoung’s face would disappear. 

With a deep, deep breath, the blonde closed her eyes and tried her best to calm herself down. She let go of the air that filled her lungs, opening her eyes to the release of stress. “It’s okay, just please don’t call him that ever again.”

Ms. Park just gave Chaeyoung a tight-lipped smile of concern, with a hint of pride. 

“I better finish clearing the rest of the tables before the rush,” the blonde said before striding out of the kitchen, shaking off the negative thoughts that the mention of Richard brought to her mind. 

—

At their house, Chaeyoung and her mother were busy preparing dinner. They had no idea if their new neighbour would come for dinner or not, since they didn’t exchange numbers this morning, and they had only arrived home at six, just enough time to prepare dinner for seven.

The two women worked together well, as Chaeyoung chopped the vegetables for their meal like a pro, with her knuckles guiding the knife as she expertly chopped the veggies, as her mother was sauteing the base ingredients for the Thai green curry. 

“Done,” Chaeyoung announced once she finished cutting all of the veggies, turning around with the chopping board and knife in hand. 

“Okay, throw them in,” Ms. Park instructed, to which Chaeyoung obliged and pushed the vegetables off the cutting board and into the wok with the side of the knife. 

“Okay, can you take care of this, while I go to the loo? I don’t wanna excuse myself for a wee so early on if our guest arrives,” Chaeyoung’s mother reasoned, as she handed her daughter the wooden spatula before heading for the downstairs toilet. 

Chaeyoung stirred the vegetables in the wok, along with the small amount of coconut milk that they used in the base. She then added a couple of tablespoons of Thai green curry paste and stirred the ingredients to make sure the paste covered everything. She then poured the remaining coconut milk, when she heard a knock at the door. 

She turned around, about to answer the door, when she saw her mother exit the downstairs toilet and hurry to the front door. “Coming!” Ms. Park announced, obviously excited to have a guest for dinner. 

She opened the door to find the new, beautiful, brunette neighbour who she acquainted herself with this morning. 

“Hi,” Ms. Park beamed at the guest, who said “hi” in return with a small, nervous smile. 

“Please, come in,” Ms. Park stepped aside, with one hand on the door handle, and the other held up gesturing her guest to enter. “I was worried you weren’t gonna come. We didn’t exchange numbers this morning,” Ms. Park said in a relieved tone. 

“Well, I’ve had a busy day. I still have a lot of unpacking to do, but I’m starving and I thought it would be rude of me not to accept my new neighbour's invitation.” The brunette neighbour explained with a small smile. “I brought a bottle of wine,” she continued holding up the bottle of red wine and handing it to Ms. Park, who offered to take it. 

“Oh, you didn’t have to do that. But thank you very much. Maybe we can have this after dinner. I’m not sure if it will go well with Thai green curry,” Ms. Park chuckled. 

“Yeah, that works for me,” the brunette chuckled back, taking off her coat, which Ms. Park took and hung up on the coat hanger behind the front door. With the absence of her long coat, her outfit for the evening was revealed. She wore a long-sleeved, thin, black sweater, with long blue jeans, and ankle-high leather boots, with her long black hair naturally hanging down with slight waves.

The brunette then followed her neighbour to the kitchen which was connected to the dining room and saw Chaeyoung attending to the food cooking on the stove. 

“Chaeyoung, say hello to our new neighbour…erm,” Ms. Park paused realising they hadn’t exchanged names yet. 

“Jennie,” the brunette introduced herself. Chaeyoung looked at Jennie and smiled almost shyly, which was uncharacteristic of Chaeyoung if she was out at a bar, but normal in the presence of her mother, as she knew her actions around beautiful women were heavily surveilled by her parent. 

Jennie smiled back, rather nervously, and Chaeyoung wondered if she was generally uncomfortable around new people. 

“I’m Heather,” Ms. Park introduced herself with an outreached hand, to which Jennie hesitantly shook, pausing in the middle of reaching for her neighbour's hand, unsure whether she should complete the friendly gesture or not.

“Nice to meet you,” Jennie said, before allowing her eyes to wander around the dining room and kitchen, comparing to her new home. 

_____

“This is delicious,” Jennie remarked as she refilled her spoon for another bite of curry. “You must be a good cook,” she complimented Ms. Park.

“Thank you, but I didn’t really do anything. It was mostly Chaeyoung.” 

Jennie turned her attention to the young blonde, who was eating her meal in silence, glancing at Jennie every now and then with lustful eyes, which Jennie seemed to be oblivious to.

“Well, Chaeyoung, you’re an excellent cook,” Jennie smiled. 

“Thanks. Maybe I should come round some time and cook for you,” Chaeyoung said with a smirk and suggestive eyes, which Jennie couldn’t quite understand, causing the brunette to hesitate before answering. 

“Erm…well…”

“No, you’re not going round to our new neighbours and disturbing her,” Ms. Park said sternly, trying her best not to yell. “I’m sure Jennie has many things to do before inviting people over,” Chaeyoung’s mother reasoned trying to justify her sudden outburst. 

“Oh, well, yeah. The house should be ready in a couple of weeks,” Jennie announced, making Chaeyoung internally smile at the thought of having two weeks to make a plan on how to seduce her new, hot neighbour. 

“Are you gonna have a house-warming party?” Ms. Park asked with a smile, hoping for an invitation. 

“Oh…no…I don’t think so,” Jennie said rather softly but defensively, rubbing her forearm, which Chaeyoung thought was because of nervousness. Maybe she’s uncomfortable around crowds of people, Chaeyoung thought. 

“Besides my husband won’t arrive for another month, and I probably shouldn’t have people over without him there,” Jennie smiled and looked down with a hint of sadness, maybe at the thought of a month without her husband, thought Ms. Park.

As soon as Jennie mentioned her husband, Chaeyoung raised her head, darting her sight towards Jennie, internally groaning and cussing the obstacle in her way. Of course, Chaeyong thought Jennie having a husband wouldn’t make it difficult for her to sleep with her neighbour. After all, unhappy married women made up most of her one-night stands, and Chaeyoung could sense from Jennie’s aura that she was unhappy about something. The blonde just hoped it was about her husband. 

The brunette could feel Chaeyoung’s eyes burning holes into her ever since the mention of her husband, causing Jennie to glance at the younger girl, with slight discomfort and wonder; wondering about the reason behind the younger girl’s attention. After a few seconds, the young blonde realised she was staring and turned her attention back to the curry. 

“So…what do you do, Heather, I mean…for a living?”

“Well…,” Ms. Park started proudly, “I own a café in town. It's called Evergreen Café. I own and run it with the help of my little chipmunk here,” Ms. Park squeezed her daughter’s cheek, causing Chaeyoung to slap her hand away and groan and Jennie to chuckle.

“Well, that’s impressive. What do you serve?” Jennie asked, genuinely curious. 

“What do we serve at the café, Chaeyoung?” Ms. Park asked her silent daughter, trying to get her involved in the conversation.

Rolling her eyes at her mum’s question, she listed the items on the menu, “coffee, tea, milkshakes, cakes, and breakfasts and lunches.”

“Yeah, in fact, we have a cake for dessert. I hope you like carrot cake,” Ms. Park smiled, excited for her guest to try her cake. 

“Are you kidding? Carrot cake’s my favourite,” Jennie her lips at the thought of carrot cake and searched the kitchen with her eyes for the decadent dessert. 

“Really? It’s Chaeyoung’s favourite too,” Ms. Park remarked causing Jennie and Chaeyoung to make eye contact and smile at their first thing in common. “Chaeyoung insisted on carrot cake for tonight, so you have her to thank.” Jennie looked at Chaeyoung and smiled shyly, which the blonde thought was cute and made her lust for her grow stronger. After all, cute, vulnerable women were just her type. 

“So what about you?” Chaeyoung spoke up, suddenly hungry to know more about Jennie. 

“Sorry?” Jennie asked, a little caught off guard by Chaeyoung’s sudden and ambiguous question.

“What do you do for a living?” Chaeyoung said, making sure her undivided attention was on Jennie, making sure the brunette knew she was listening to her with all she had. 

“Well, I was a teacher in the city, teaching English in a secondary school. But I had to leave that job when I-we moved here,” Jennie explained, as Chaeyoung noticed the slip-up of pronouns. “So, I’m gonna apply to be a substitute teacher and sub in the local high schools.” Jennie said, fully aware of Chaeyoung’s undivided attention, making her feel flustered. As soon as the young blonde saw Jennie fluster, she smirked victoriously to herself, knowing the effect she had on her. After all, asking questions and listening intently was one of her main seduction techniques, and she had first-hand past experience that it worked. 

“I think that’s a good idea,” Ms. Park said supportively, making Jennie smile. “And your husband?”

“Oh,” Jennie began, the smile fading from her face, rubbing her forearm again, which didn't go unnoticed by Chaeyoung. “Well…he owns a chain of restaurants in the city. And he wants to open a new one in town here. That’s why we moved here. We also would rather live in the suburbs. You know…it’s more peaceful here,” Jennie explained with a somewhat forced smile, which didn’t reach her eyes. 

“Okay, well if everyone’s done, let’s move on to dessert. I know you two are craving it,” Heather pointed jokingly at Jennie and Chaeyoung, the latter rolling her eyes and the former giggling at the blonde’s actions. 

“Here you go. I hope that’s enough, dear,” Heather handed Jennie a side plate with the biggest slice of cake Jennie had ever seen. Her eyes almost bulged out of her head seeing the colossus slice of cake, wondering how she was going to fit it in her belly. 

“If you’re thinking the slice of cake is enormous, you’re not the only one. My mum’s too generous when it comes to guests. She’d give you half that amount if you came to the café, even as a paying customer,” Chaeyoung chuckled, as his mother glared at her, unimpressed with her daughter exposing her. 

The short brunette neighbour just giggled and took her spoon, ready to dig in. “Well, if I don’t finish it, can I take the rest home?”

“Of course, you can dear. I’ll even give you another slice to take home too.”

“Oh, no I think this will be enough for a week,” Jennie giggled. 

‘She’s still gonna give you another slice. So just accept it,” Chaeyoung chuckled, although she was dead serious. 

“So, do you do private tutoring, too?” Ms. Park blurted out as she refilled her spoon with cake, catching Jennie off guard. 

“Erm…well…I did it a few times in the city, but not much to be honest. Why?” Jennie asked curiously.

“Because this one is thinking about applying for uni next year,” Heather glanced at her daughter with a proud smile, “but she needs to retake her exams to get enough points to be accepted. She didn’t do too well in her original high school exams because…well…never mind,” Heather glanced apologetically at her daughter, who was annoyed with her mum for almost spilling a secret. Jennie could tell by the look on the blonde’s face that she wasn’t happy with the subject of high school, and she wanted to know why. After all, she’s a teacher, she wanted the best for all students, and if something happened to stop Chaeyoung from gaining a good education, she wanted to know what it was, in case she could help. 

“But if you do private tutoring, I was wondering if you could tutor Chaeyoung here. She needs to improve her grades on a few subjects such as maths, chemistry, history, and English literature. I think there are a couple more too, but they’re the main ones.” Ms. Park finished, watching Jennie ponder the idea. 

“Well, I’ve never taught chemistry or maths. I don’t know if I can help you there,” Jennie smiled guiltily at Chaeyoung. "But history and English lit won't be a problem."

“Don’t worry. She’s bright enough to study and pass the exams on her own, but she’s well…a bit of a rebel now, shall we say. So she just needs someone to hold her accountable. I’m always busy with the café, so I can’t do it. But if you have enough free time to spend...maybe five hours a week with her, that’d be great.” Heather looked at Jennie hopefully for a second, before returning to her cake, not wanting to pressure Jennie with her gaze. 

“Well, yeah…I guess I could. I have enough free time at the moment, and it’s like my teacher’s obligation to help students pass exams,” Jennie chuckled, which brought a smile to the young blonde’s face, as she caught herself admiring the brunette talking about her passion. The blonde could tell that Jennie really loved teaching and helping students. It moved the blonde. 

What the . Chaeyoung thought to herself, catching herself admiring her. She hadn’t ever admired a woman like this before. Not since her high school crush. She had only ever used and preyed upon women, using them as playthings. Now, she’s admiring a woman and admitting that she was moved by her. No way. Not a chance. 

The blonde shook her head, getting her mind out of the trance that she caught herself in, trying her best to get back to her lustful thoughts and plan to seduce Jennie. 

“Great! Well, tomorrow’s Sunday, and we close the café early on Sundays at 4 PM. Do you have a couple of hours tomorrow evening to spend with Chaeyoung?”

Jennie hesitated as she looked at the blonde, who continued eating her cake, trying her best to make herself look innocent, although Jennie could tell that her mother was right, there was definitely a darker side to her, although Jennie wouldn’t say it was rebellious. It was something deeper. 

“Yeah, sure. How about five til seven?” Jennie suggested. 

“Perfect!” Ms. Park celebrated, making her daughter roll her eyes for nth time that evening. “We’ll have dinner again afterward, too.” 

Jennie smiled and nodded at the invitation, and then glanced back at Chaeyoung with a forced smirk, a little worried about tomorrow’s class with her. Jennie wasn’t worried about the content of the lesson but more worried about the student herself. There was something mysterious about her. Something secret. Something dark.