“Chaeyoung, how much red velvet cake do we have left?” Ms. Park asked her daughter through the service hatch that separated the kitchen from the bar area of the café. 

A typically annoyed-looking Chaeyoung, with a hint of a bruise still on the side of her lip, groaned back to her mother, “wait.” The young blonde went over to the cake fridge and peered down to the bottom shelf which accommodated four cakes, one of them being their second-best seller, red velvet cake. “Five slices!” Chaeyoung yelled back, without even turning to face her mother’s face through the hole in the wall. 

Ms. Park nodded as she expected to only have a few left. She gave herself a mental pat on the back for having another red velvet cake already in the oven, as she turned and left the service hatch to start on the cheese cream frosting.

Chaeyoung stood up from her crouched position behind the cake fridge and then turned to the coffee machine opposite to start an order for a new customer. She untwisted the portafilter from the espresso machine and spooned a small pile of coffee grounds before using the tamper to satisfyingly compact it into a neat, dark circle. 

“So what did you get up to last night?” Lisa asked her best friend, making small talk as she walked behind the counter to start on another order for one of her own customers.

“The usual. Boxing class, guitar, and Netflix,” Chaeyoung replied, engaging in the small talk as she twisted the portafilter back onto the espresso machine. 

“Yeah? Did you imagine that dickhead’s face on the punching bag?” Lisa asked with an amused smirk, referring to the boyfriend of the girl she made out with the other night, who managed to give Chaeyoung a temporary souvenir of the party on her face. 

“Yep,” Chaeyoung deadpanned, popping the p, “and on my instructor, while we were sparring,” she continued to deadpan.

Lisa stopped pouring the soy milk into the blender jug and looked at her friend with worry in her eyes. “He’s still alive, right?” Lisa tried to add a layer of humour to her question, but the majority was ridden with sincere concern for Chaeyoung’s instructor as she knew her best friend struggled to control herself sometimes.

With a snap of her head, Chaeyoung glared at Lisa with furrowed brows and a look of offense and betrayal. The returning look from Lisa was filled with panic and apology, her face flustered with fear, as she knew her words had crossed a line. “I’m sorry, I….I didn’t mean that” Lisa stumbled over her panicked words as she tried to retract her poorly-chosen words.

At that moment, the blonde’s face calmed as she forgave her friend. The words her friends said definitely hurt her and reminded her of a painful incident that she tried hard to forget, but Chaeyoung knew that people should be able to joke innocently without her taking offense. She sighed as she retreated from her attacking glare, and composed herself. “No, it’s alright, Lis. But yeah, he’s okay, but I definitely went harder on him than normal,” she chuckled under her breath.

Lisa stayed quiet and just gave her friend a soft smile as she was still cursing herself for reminding her friend of past trauma. Thankfully, Chaeyoung’s spirits were lifted as she forgot about her friend's words and started to declare something with a glimmer of pride, although the blonde tried to not show too much. “Actually, Jackson asked me if I wanted to fight at the next event. Another girl dropped out.”

“Oh, that’s good. You haven’t had a fight in a while because the girl you want to fight always has other opponents,” Lisa clarified, more to herself than Chaeyoung, as she put the blender jug onto the machine.

“Well, actually, it’s her that I’m gonna be fighting,” Chaeyoung smirked proudly, as she pressed the hot water button on the espresso machine, allowing the boiling water to trickle out and fill up the coffee mug. Lisa’s eyebrows rose in a mixture of surprise and fear. 

“Wait. I thought you said she’s won like her last ten fight,” Lisa exclaimed, worried for her friend's wellbeing.

“Twelve,” Chaeyoung corrected her, with a smirk and a fearless expression, as if her opponent’s reputation meant nothing to her. Turning around and putting the finished americano on a tray beside a slice of blueberry cheesecake, Chaeyoung turned her head to her friend who was now adding a bar of dark chocolate to the milkshake mix, “No pompoms this time,” the blonde deadpanned before releasing the suppressed smirk referring to her last fight, to which Lisa cheered her on with the use of bright red pompoms.

“I didn’t agree to that!” Lisa whined as Chaeyoung walked off to her customer’s table. Then Lisa panicked when she saw her customer looking at her, wondering what was taking her so long to make a simple chocolate milkshake. Lisa grimaced realising that she was taking too long and quickly put the top onto the blender and pressed the button, filling the entire café with the sound of a mechanical buzz.

The sound of the blender wasn’t too loud as to annoy customers, but loud enough to distract people from other sounds. As Chaeyoung returned to behind the counter, she and Lisa didn’t hear the sound of the entrance bell chiming after being hit by the opening door. 

Jennie walked through the door and was greeted by the tantalizing smell of freshly ground coffee, the mouth-watering smell of freshly-baked cake, and the aesthetically pleasing interior design of Evergreen Café. The walls had been stripped down to their original bricks and painted white, the floor was laminated with rustic oat and varnished to make it the colour of caramel, and the walls were decorated with pockets of greenery, with different kinds of plants and vines letting their leaves cascade down from the baskets. Greenery was everywhere, hence the name of the café. There were even baskets hanging down from the ceiling, twelve feet high, giving the sense that you were walking beneath a forest canopy. Jennie smiled at the feel of the café and didn’t even mind the noise coming from the blender that a tall, black-haired girl stood next to, obviously cursing the blender to hurry up and be done already. 

Jennie let go of the door and allowed it to fall back to its closed position, and scanned her eyes across the counter, and instantly recognised the shape of the blonde girl who had her back to her, wiping down the espresso machine. The short brunette smiled to herself, happy to have found the place she was searching for after two hours of shopping. She carried her two brown paper bags filled with a new pair of shoes and a new dress to an empty table at the far side of the café and perched herself on the green cushion on top of the white wooden chair.

Looking around the restaurant she played with her hands underneath the table, nervous about being out among so many people. She hadn’t been out for a cup of coffee for god knows how long. She only really left her house to shop for food and to go to work. Treating herself like she had been doing so far today was a rarity, but it was also a risk. She bit her lip and let her eyes dart around with a glazed, preoccupied expression as she thought about the consequences of going out to enjoy herself, but then took a deep breath and shook her head, ridding herself of the thoughts and reminding herself of the rebellious promise she made herself this morning. I’m gonna enjoy myself today. I don’t care if he finds out.

Turning around from the espresso machine, Chaeyoung’s eyes widened in pleasant surprise as her eyes landed on her brunette neighbour. The blonde was happy to see her neighbour, although she wouldn’t admit it, but also curious as something about the brunette looked different. 

Her eyebrows rose when she quickly realised what the difference was, and it sparked an urge to find out more. Grabbing her pen and pad from the counter beside the espresso machine, Chaeyoung marched over to the brunette to find out more. 

“Jennie!” Chaeyoung greeted her neighbour with a surprised tone. “You look…different,” Chaeyoung tried to make it sound like a compliment as she not so stealthily checked Jennie out. Jennie noticed that and tried her best to hide her blush. Once upon a time, she wouldn’t have blushed so easily, but now she was a much more timid person who wasn’t used to being checked out since she barely left the house. Another factor contributed to the blush too, and Chaeyoung being the blunt, unfazed blonde she was, was gonna comment on it. 

“I can’t believe you’re wearing shorts and a t-shirt.”

At the blonde’s observation, Jennie felt more exposed and more on display. She wasn’t used to having so much skin on show. She always hid behind long sleeves and pants for reasons only she and her husband knew, but now she was determined to break the cycle, even just for one day. She was determined to know the feeling of shamelessly showing off her skin in public, knowing full well that it could be the last time in a long time. So instead of allowing herself to curl up into a timid ball in the corner, she was going to open herself up proudly. She lifted her hidden hands from beneath the white wooden table and lent on her elbows on top.

“Well, yeah,” she looked around for a reason to justify her change of clothes from the past week, “…it’s a nice day today.”

The blonde looked outside at the overcast weather, and then looked back at Jennie with a questioning look, through narrowed eyes. “The past few days have been hot as Jennie, and you wore long-sleeved sweaters and long jeans the entire time,” Chaeyoung tried to keep her voice low for Jennie’s sake, but continued, “and today’s cloudy, and you wear a t-shirt and shorts.” The blonde looked at Jennie with a puzzled and annoyed look. Annoyed because she still maintained the hunch behind Jennie’s choice of clothes over the past few days. 

Avoiding eye contact with her and rubbing her upper arm, Chaeyoung could tell that Jennie was uncomfortable with the topic and was curling in on herself. With a sigh of regret for pushing the girl with the topic, Chaeyoung changed it and tried to lift the beautiful brunette’s spirits back up. “I’m sorry. I just mean….,” the blonde let her eyes quickly wander up and down Jennie’s form again, “...you look beautiful,” the blonde said with so much sincerity, that it made Jennie try to remember when her husband had said the same words in the same way. But instead of frowning at the fact that she couldn’t recall a single memory of her husband complimenting her with so much sincerity, she smiled with gratitude at the blonde who just did.

“Thank you, Chaeyoung,” Jennie said trying to sound confident. “Look…,” Jennie stretched out her right arm, twisting it to display all sides of her bare forearm, “…I told you there was nothing wrong with my arm,” she joked as she made unconvincing eye contact with Chaeyoung. The blonde sensed that she was trying to lighten the mood and joke about the fact that Chaeyoung thought her forearm was bruised, which Jennie had supposedly just proven wrong by displaying her now unblemished skin. 

The younger girl smiled as well, pretending to Jennie that she was going along with the joke too. She didn’t want to revisit the topic and make Jennie upset, especially when she was obviously trying to enjoy herself today, given the shopping bags and her spontaneous visit to their café. 

With a nod and a smile, Chaeyoung tried to hide the frustration in her voice, “yeah, I see. So, what would you like?”

“Well, that carrot cake was to die for,” Jennie her lips, “I finished the last slice yesterday,” she pouted. “How about another slice of carrot cake?” Jennie suggested and Chaeyoung nodded, not bothering to write it down. 

“Drink?” Chaeyoung asked robotically.

“Caramel mocha,” the brunette said rather enthusiastically biting her lips as she thought of something else, “and do you have the little marshmallows that you can put on top?” She looked at Chaeyoung with so much hope, which made the blonde chuckle questioning why marshmallows seemed to be so important.

“Yeah, sure. Anything else?” Jennie shook her head, and Chaeyoung then walked away to start working on Jennie’s order. 

Twenty minutes later, Jennie was sat there with a satisfied smile and relaxed body, still savouring the flavour of the carrot cake that she had just finished. No one else in the world had existed for those minutes that she was eating her slice of carrot cake, but now voices of customers around her were slowly falling back into place. 

“Hi, Jennie. How was everything?” A voice close to her made Jennie jump slightly. 

“Huh?” She shot her head to the source of the question.

“How was everything?” Ms. Park repeated, dressed in her baker’s jacket, with her black hair tied back into a ponytail. 

“Oh, hi,” she greeted Ms. Park with a smile. “The cake was to die for as always. And the caramel mocha is amazing,” she took hold of the coffee mug protectively, making sure no one could steal it the remaining half.

“I’m glad you like it. And I’m so happy to see you here. Is this your first time out of the house?”

“Yeah. I’ve been busy sorting out the house all week. So, I thought I’d give myself a break,” Jennie smiled, pressing her lips together, to suppress the truth. 

“What a good idea! You deserve it. Moving house isn’t easy,” Ms. Park chuckled, which made Jennie respond with a chuckle of her own. 

“Actually, I fancy having a couple of drinks tonight. If you’re free, you and Chaeyoung can join me. I know she’s only nineteen, but I don’t mind her drinking with us if that’s okay with you?”

“Oh, well, Chaeyoung’s going out with Lisa tonight,” Ms. Park turned and nodded towards the two girls behind the counter. Jennie pouted a little learning that Chaeyoung wouldn’t be there tonight but quickly hid it, wondering to herself why she was disappointed by Chaeyoung’s absence tonight. 

“Oh…ok. Well…,” Jennie pouted again, this time at the prospect of spending tonight alone when she promised herself to have some fun. 

“It’s just the two of us,” Ms. Park said, thinking she was finishing off Jennie’s thought, but really just suggested something Jennie hadn’t thought about. With an excited smile, Jennie looked up at Ms. Park, eager just for some company before he arrives tomorrow. “How about you come round at eight tonight?”

Jennie gladly accepted and Ms. Park excused herself to the kitchen to continue baking. The brunette brought her caramel mocha to her lips, sipping on it as she looked at Chaeyoung working behind the counter, jealous of her freedom and her ability to go out with her friend whenever she liked. 

 __________

Jennie knocked on the Park’s door at about eight o’clock, holding a bottle of red wine, eager to enjoy herself as she had promised. The door opened to reveal Ms. Park who was happily surprised to see that Jennie had chosen to dress up. The brunette wore a stunning red dress, which accentuated her curves, with her hair hanging down with slight waves. She had finished her outfit off with black heels, and a white gold bracelet, and a white gold necklace.  Chaeyoung’s mother thought it was a bit much for just a few drinks and a chat with a neighbour, but she was still pleased to see Jennie comfortable in clothes that didn’t cover her entire body. 

They sat down in the living room, with the two women sat on either end of the sofa, with a bowl of mixed nuts between them.

Ms. Park poured two glasses of wine from the bottle Jennie had brought and handed one to the younger brunette. They each took sips and engaged in light conversation as a playlist of pop music videos played on YouTube on the TV, something that the twenty-five-year-old Jennie had chosen minutes earlier. 

The conversation started off slowly, with Ms. Park doing most of the chatting as Jennie still felt slightly uncomfortable socialising. She hadn’t socialised in over six months due to work, tiredness, or the occasional family emergency. At least that’s what she told her friends. The real reason she avoided social gatherings was because she normally had reasons to hide away and to hide her skin. But today was different. She woke up that morning to discover that those reasons had faded away, albeit temporarily. So, today she didn’t need to hide. Today she could enjoy herself, drink wine and chat with a new friend, without worrying about her reasons being seen.

As the two women drank more glasses of wine, the conversation became more lively. Jennie’s confidence and courage rose with every sip of wine, and two hours into their evening Jennie felt more like her previous self, who had been forced to hide since getting married.

Questions about Chaeyoung never left her mind, and the inebriating drink gave her the push she needed to find out more about Ms. Park’s mysterious daughter. 

“If you don’t mind me asking, where’s Chaeyoung’s dad?” Jennie asked rather bluntly, as the third glass of wine loosened her up, bringing shades of her former self to the surface. 

Ms. Park tensed up at the question, almost spitting out the wine that she had just sipped from the glass. After swallowing and coming down from the initial shock from the question, she wondered whether or not she should reveal the truth. After a moment of deliberation with herself she started, “well, I suppose you’re gonna find out sooner or later.”

Ms. Park tensed up again at the words she was about to speak. She inhaled and sighed, trying to calm herself before revealing a truth about her daughter’s past to a person she’s known for less than a week.  “I’m Chaeyoung’s aunt.”

Jennies eyes widened and opened slightly in surprise, thoroughly not expecting those words. The brunette’s eyes raised to the right as she imagined what had happened to Chaeyoung’s biological parents.   

Understanding that Jennie had questions swirling in her head, Ms. Park continued, “She’s adopted. Her parents and sister died when she was five,” Ms. Park said with a slight lump in as talking about the tragedy wasn’t easy, even after fourteen years. 

“How?” Jennie croaked out with furrowed brows and an emerging pout. 

“They took Alice, her sister, to the cinema to watch an animated movie, and some suicidal decided to go there with a gun to kill other people before killing himself. He killed sixteen other innocent people that night, three of them being Chaeyoung’s mother, father, and sister,” Ms. Park finished the harrowing story with tears as she sobbed, as the alcohol and the memory of the tragedy collided, making her emotions more unstable. She didn’t often repeat the story to others, but when she did she had always been sober and managed to get through it without tears, but always with a heavy heart.

The brunette sat there speechless for a moment, as she processed everything she had just heard. Her heart broke at the thought of the blonde girl losing her family at such a young age. As images of the blonde girl’s family being killed in cold blood flashed through her mind, the reasons behind Chaeyoung’s behaviour started to make sense. 

“I’m so sorry,” Jennie murmured with wet eyes. 

“I take you sensed she had a troubled past,” Ms. Park said as she guessed the reason behind Jennie’s curiosity. “That’s why she goes out a lot, drinking and playing around, and I know I should discourage her behaviour and discipline her for the way she behaves and the way she uses people, and I do sometimes, but not enough, because I just feel sorry for her,” Chaeyoung’s mother felt the urge to explain her choice of parenting, through sobs of guilt.

Jennie didn’t quite understand the guilt that Ms. Park felt, all she knew was that Ms. Park felt incredibly guilty. Maybe she blamed herself for not being there to prevent Chaeyoung’s parent’s from going to the cinema that day. Maybe that’s what it was. Many people blame themselves for things that are out of their control, thinking that things wouldn’t have happened if they did something different. They analyse every action that they did, wondering if something they did was the reason for a tragedy that was simply out of their control. Overcompensating for a child’s troubled past by showering the child with freedom was a logical explanation, Jennie thought.

As Jennie saw Ms. Park’s guilt-ridden eyes, she had to comfort her. “Hey, it wasn’t your fault. Please don’t feel guilty. Some things are just out of our control.”

“No need to be, but thank you anyway,” Ms. Park said trying to add a more uplifting tone to her voice in an attempt to bury the sobs and raise both their spirits, although her voice still cracked. “Anyway, let’s talk about something else,” she continued, still trying to sound unaffected by the memories as she wiped her tears from beneath her eyes. 

Jennie nodded at the suggestion of changing the topic, although she still had a burning desire to find out more, and bit her lip as she swallowed her curiosity.

________

With two empty wine glasses on the coffee table and an empty bowl of nuts, Jennie felt it was time to leave after helping Ms. Park finish two bottles of red wine. Fortunately, Ms. Park had also bought a bottle earlier that day, being the good host she normally was. 

She stood up from the sofa and made her way to the front door with Ms. Park following her to see her off. Jennie glanced at her phone to see the time and saw that it was only eleven-thirty. The thought of finishing the night now pained her, especially knowing that it was her last night of freedom before he arrived tomorrow. She wanted to make the most of the night since she didn’t know when she would be able to go out by herself again. The thought was enough to convince her that she wasn’t ending the night there, but she didn’t want to continue drinking wine at her neighbour’s house like some boring housewife. She had spent too many weekend nights at home drinking wine alone, craving to be able to enjoy the nightlife of the city. 

So, Jennie made up her mind. She was going to a bar. But even though the wine replenished some of her former self, she still wasn’t confident or courageous enough to go to a bar alone. She knew she would just end up at a table alone, sipping wine and watching others enjoy their night. She wanted to be social and enjoy her night with someone, and she knew that someone she knew was already at a bar enjoying herself. 

Chaeyoung could keep her company, she could drink and have fun with her. After all, the blonde definitely had a mysterious and wild side, something that Jennie was jealous of, having had a wild side herself before marriage.

Chaeyoung could also protect her in case someone attacked her. Even thinking that annoyed her because she wanted to believe that most people were genuinely kind, but past experience had tainted her perception of the world. But if anything did happen, the blonde could protect her. Jennie knew she did kickboxing and wasn’t afraid of a fight, with the bruise on Chaeyoung’s lip serving as evidence. 

Jennie decided that she was thinking about the blonde too much and that she was only going to the bar for a drink, and the company of the young, beautiful blonde was just a bonus. 

“A-are you gonna wait up for Chaeyoung?” Jennie asked, finding a way to casually slip Chaeyoung into the conversation. 

“Not a chance,” Ms. Park scoffed a laugh, “that girl never comes home before morning,” she shook her head emphatically. 

“Where’s she gonna stay?” Jennie asked with concern, as Ms. Park pushed down on the door handle. Ms. Park stopped with her hand pushed all the way down on the handle, as she looked down and frowned, wondering that very same question. Jennie sensed it and didn’t push for an answer, understanding Ms. Park’s concern for her daughter’s ways.

“Wh-what’s the name of the bar?” Jennie asked trying her hardest to not sound too desperate for the answer, on the search for a night of carefree fun, which she knew the blonde could probably provide.

“Erm…,” Ms. Park furrowed her brows as she tried to remember. “I’m not sure. I think it’s called Liquid.”

“Ah ok. Well, I hope she comes home safe and sound,” Jennie said with a comforting smile that hid her true plans for the rest of the night. 

“Thank you. Sleep well,” Ms. Park said as she opened the door. Jennie smiled again as she stepped outside and walked down the driveway, turning around to wave farewell to Ms. Park once more before the older woman closed the door. 

As she stepped onto her own driveway, Jennie took her phone out from her handbag and opened the maps app on her phone. She then typed in Liquid into the search bar and smirked to herself when she saw the red pin on the screen displaying the location of the bar, informing Jennie that it was only a five-minute drive away.