Over the past week, nobody visited the bakery except for Ryeowook. It was clear that he was from one of the richest famiies in Seoul. Every morning, he would go and always ate the same cupcakes. Seohyun was glad that she had more company than usual, especially from someone her age. The way he would fawn over her sweets always made her laugh. During this time, she learned something about him, too. He was only one year older than her, and enjoyed to read almost as much as she did. He was studying film and theatre at Cho University, which was her dream school. Cho University was only for the most intelligent, adept, and hardworking students in the country. Mr. Kim constantly praised her by mentioning how she would easily get in if they could afford it. Every day, Ryeowook would buy at least a dozen cupcakes (she couldn't understand how he managed to stay so thin), and tipped her. The tips would range from five dollars to ten. Five dollars to Ryeowook was practically worth a dollar to the rest of the world.

The climate had dropped notably, and even the heater couldn't do its job properly. Ryeowook sometimes brought her a small cup of hot cocoa, which she appreciated a lot. The two of them shared intense conversations, which sometimes lasted up to two hours. They talked about pretty much anything: movies, current events, dogs, cats, music. Seohyun always looked forward to the mornings, and that became her favorite time of day.

Meanwhile, Kyuhyun was still kept on his toes, waiting for his friend to take him to that bakery. Every afternoon, Ryeowook would deliver about six cupcakes to his house, and they would devour them together. For every cupcake he ate, the urge to find this bakery on his own grew stronger. To make things even more tempting, his friend constantly spoke of the girl who worked there. According to Ryeowook, he believed that the girl was almost good of a friend as Kyuhyun. This irked him slightly, although he knew it was a joke. 

"Hyung," he would say, "what do you prefer: me or the cupcakes?"

Ryeowook wouldn't reply, but laugh instead.

A distant vibrating sound went off, and his phone began to tremble on his nightstand. A sleepy Kyuhyun d the surface for his obnoxiously vibrating phone, picking it up right before it would fall off and hit the ground. 

"Hello?" he mumbled quietly.

"Oh hey! You're awake," a jubilant voice replied. Very unlike himself, the person on the other line was wide awake.

"What do you want, hyung?" he sneered.

"Get up, I'm taking you somewhere."

Suddenly, Kyuhyun was wide awake and out of bed. "You're taking me there?"

Before his friend could reply, he hung up and dashed to the closet. While fixing his unkempt bed hair, he pulled out a pair of jeans, a long-sleeved, navy blue v-neck shirt and a designer leather coat. Thoughts chased each other in his mind as he changed his clothes. What if he was mistaken, and Ryeowook wasn't actually taking him to the bakery? What if it was closed? What if the girl that he always talked about wasn't even there? Or what if he ended up being the awkward third-wheeler?

The next thing he knew, there was a knock on his door. "Coming!" He shouted while putting on his shoes, and ran downstairs.

Lucky for him, his father left to work at six in the morning, which was over an hour before he woke up. As he unlocked the giant doors at the front of the house,  Ryeowook beamed. On the other hand, Kyu's teeth were chattering, although he hadn't been outside for a minute. He shut the door carefully and locked it, slipping the key inside his pocket. "So...where are you taking me?"

"Wow, you really are dense in the mornings!" Ryeowook stated.

"Shut up," Kyuhyun muttered crankily. "You didn't answer my question."

"I'm taking you to the land of sweets."

Leave it up to Ryeowook to make cheesy comments. "Okay?"

"Ah, just follow me." He beckoned Kyu to follow him, and he did.

The blistering cold was attacking them, and proved to be unbearable. The color was nearly out of Kyu's face, and he could see the vapor coming out of hise nostrils when he breathed. Things weren't very different for Ryeowook, but they still persisted. Along the way, they decided to stop by the local coffee store and picked up three frappuccinos. 

"Don't worry, it's not much farther away." He was assured.

After five more minutes of walking, they stopped and Ryeowook opened the door to a tiny building that was the size of a house. It was smaller than he expected, but that was of no importance to him. Bells chimed briefly.

"Good morning," Ryeowook said cheerily. "I brought someone today."

Kyuhyun walked in and closed the door, then looked around until his eyes fixed themselves on a girl by the back of the room.

"Oh!" She looked up slowly; there was a book in her hands. 

Waking up earlier than usual and walking in the brutal climate was completely worth visiting this girl. The pure innocence in her eyes made his feet feel glued to the ground. Her rosy and full cheeks, pouty lips, and long, dark hair made her look like a doll. She looked like the kind of doll that every little girl wanted in her room, because she was so precious. Ryeowook said she was cute, but that was an underestimate. As soon as he realized he was staring, he diverted his focus to the ground. She did the same.

"Hello." said the most angelic voice he had ever heard. The sound of her voice was sweeter than the cupcakes that he had been so amazed by for the past week. 

His voice had left him, and talking seemed impossible. He took a deep breath and gulped. "Hi." he nodded.

"Seohyun, this is my best friend, Kyuhyun...Hyung, this is Seohyun." Ryeowook said, completely detatched from the moment. He didn't notice the awkwardness that was going on. 

Seohyun stepped closer to the two boys, and he stepped forward. She held out her hand, smiling ever so lovely. "I'm Seo Joo Hyun, but I go by Seohyun. It's nice to meet you." 

"I'm Cho Kyuhyun. It's nice to meet you, too." He reluctantly took her hand, afraid of how he would react next, and shook it.

He didn't want to let go.

He could feel his cheeks heating up, and really hoped he wasn't blushing. He knew he was, though. 

"We went and got you some coffee, by the way." Ryeowook cleared his throat and handed her the untouched cup.

"Thank you!" She bowed at the two of them and took a sip. "It's still warm...Yum!"

"Maybe you two should get to know each other better." Wookie suggested, and took a sip out of his.

Kyuhyun did the same. His was fairly warm, too. "Your cupcakes are perfection." 

Those words weren't meant to come out, but they did. 

"Thank you!" she chuckled quietly. "Did Ryeowook bring them to you?" 

Ryeowook nodded. 

"He comes over every day and we share them." Kyuhyun confessed. "And they're really the best cupcakes I've ever tried."

She was blushing and looked away. "Thank you..."

Something about his name sounded very familiar to her.

"W-What school do you go to?" She stuttered.

"Cho University. My father is the head."

She nearly gasped. So this was the son of the head of her dream school? Seohyun felt honored, and unworthy of talking to someone of such a successful family. Besides that, she felt even more honored to be talking to someone so. . .attractive. There was something about him--maybe his full lips, perfectly high cheekbones, or the matureness in his demeanor. Or maybe it was his serious and deep look in his chestnut-colored, almond-shaped eyes. Or maybe it was his tousled brown-hair that complemented him so wonderfully. Everything about him looked so natural to her, so curteous, so mature. He was seemingly ideal.

"Are you studying anything in particular?" 

"I'm majoring in political science and pre-law." He declared, matter-of-factly. 

Ryeowook took a sip of his coffee. "Yup. He'll be one fine lawyer."

Kyuhyun shot a glare at him. He hated when people boasted about him. And besides, he didn't want Seohyun to think of him as the rich, ingenious Cho that everyone knew him as. He was so much more than that.

"And you'll be one fine actor!" Seohyun added.

He noticed the book she was reading was now cradled in her arm. 

"What book is that?" He asked politely. 

"It's called Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life: How to Finally, Really Grow Up." She showed him the cover.

"Oh, you read self-improvement?" 

"She's a self-improvement junkie." Ryeowook joked.

"I'm not a junkie," she corrected, "but it's my favorite genre."

"How old are you?" Kyuhyun asked quietly. She looked as young as he was, but acted so mature.

"I'm seventeen." Seohyun answered. So she was only a year younger than he was. "Why?"

He shrugged and quickly thought of a way to phrase the answer in a not-overly flattering way. 

"Because you act really mature, but you look young."

Wow, he's so kind and polite. Both of them are.

"Hey, do you have any more cupcakes?" Wookie asked eagerly.

"Of course! I made plenty. How many do you two want?"

"I'll have one." Kyuhyun said.

"I'll have three!" Ryeowook chimed in.

Seohyun left to the kitchen, and came back with a woven basket full of cupcakes. "Take as many as you want. I won't charge today." She shot a sideways glance towards Kyuhyun, which made his heart flutter a bit. 

Ryeowook instantly dived his hand into the basket, picking out the biggest cupcake he could find (although they were all almost evenly sized). He then walked to the nearest table and sat down to eat. Seohyun followed and sat down across from him, and Kyuhyun sat. .  .across from her. They both reached into the basket and each pulled out a cupcake. 

"Geez, these are so amazing!" Ryeowook said with a full mouth.

"Thank you." She took a small bite, unlike Ryeowook.

"You're amazing..." Kyuhyun accidentally said after he swallowed. 

Seohyun stared at the table, her rosy cheeks turning even rosier.

She couldn't stop thinking he looked so familiar.