The first meeting took place on a Monday.

"Can I help you?" Her voice broke halfway through the short sentence, having not spoken since ordering her coffee an hour ago.

The petite woman, whom had appeared so quietly, almost like a ghost on the other side of the table, blankly stared back at her, only moving to wipe some white powder-y substance off of the side of her face.
Although feeling uncomfortable with the brown eyes mapping her whole being, Tiffany chose to ignore the peculiar person and went back to the book she was enjoying only a moment ago.

She extended her hand to grab the cup of coffee on the table in front of her, never taking her eyes off the words describing an awfully romantic moment between two people, who are only supposed to be friends. Tiffany won't waste her breath to complain though, as she greatly prefers Glinda over Fiyero any day of the week. The fullness of the cup which had previously been half empty went past her as she was too immersed in the story. She took a sip of the beverage, smiling contently at the warmth trickling down  and settling in her stomach, she missed the responding smile which appeared on the face of the woman still sitting across from her.

Finishing the chapter, she closed the book and looked up to find the weird woman gone.

Relief.

---

The second meeting took place two weeks after the first.

After ordering her drink, Tiffany turned around on the bar stool, planning to look over the sea of people occupying the dance floor. Instead, she was met with dark brown orbs staring right at her.

She almost threw the drink back at the bartender as she recognized the eyes' owner as the strange woman in the café two weeks earlier. Once again, she asked if she could be of assistant to anything. "Maybe a phone number to a mental hospital?" She obviously didn't say that, but it made for an amusing thought.

Later in the night, she was approached by one of the bartenders. He put a drink down on the table in front of her, along with a note, claiming that it was from a woman at the bar. He pointed her out after Tiffany questioned as to which woman he was referring to. As he walked back to his post, her friends, who has listened in on the conversation, started gushing about "oh my gosh, how cute!" the woman was and "are you gonna go talk to her?"

She admitted that "Yes, she's cute." adding in her head "More so from afar" and said that she would think about it.

When her friends stopped pestering her she took a glance at the note that had accompanied the delicious beverage.

"Please accept this drink as apology
for almost making you spill your own."

Tiffany couldn't help but to feel flattered as well as bewildered. As she looked towards the bar, the woman was gone.

Disappointment.

---

The third meeting was at the same café as the first meeting.

Tiffany has been frequenting Café Kafka every Monday for the past three months. It's located in a quieter neighborhood than her own and she enjoys the comfy atmosphere that you usually won't find in larger coffee chains. Three months, and this was the first time she noticed the pasty chef running back and forth through the kitchen door and out behind the counter, stocking the pastries and cakes.

It's also now that she could identify said person has the seemingly mute woman, whom she so far has met twice. Their eyes met briefly.

A barista blocked her view, placing her order in front of her.

Albeit annoyed, she doesn't forget her manners. "Thank you." Daddy always said to be polite after all.
Carefully lifting the cup of steaming hot tea to her lips, she softly blew at the content before taking a sip. As she started putting the cup back down, she noticed a note on the plate that accompanied the cup in her hand.

"I work here.
I swear I'm not stalking you.
I hope you're not hungover from yesterday.
p.s. I like your new hairstyle."

She lets out a giggle, unconsciously combing her fingers through her newly cut hair.

Content.

---

It was at the fourth meeting that the woman once again sat in front of her.

Tiffany studied the woman over the brim of the Victorian romance novel in her hands. As interesting as the relationship between Sue and Maud is, Tiffany couldn't help but to give in to her eyes' request to read the woman in front of her instead.

She's wearing the same t-shirt as the rest of the workers, except hers is way too large for her petite frame. Thoughts like "It looks adorable, though." echoes in her head. She shushes them best she can.

"Taeyeon, your break is over!" The man who usually serves Tiffany shouts towards their table. The woman, whom she finally knows the name of, looks up from the notebook she had been scribbling in nonstop since she sat down.

Tiffany watched her rip a page out of it while hastily standing up, making the chair screech at the friction with the floor.
Their gazes met as Taeyeon slides the paper over to her side of the table, then walks away from Tiffany's stunned face.

"Roses are red, violets are blue
Give me a chance and I'll
Wait, isn't that incorrect? I mean, the name violets would indicated the flower is actully... violet.
Never mind, I'm not a poet.
I get off work at 4pm, if you want to hang out.
This is only if you want to. I understand if you're busy. If you tell me to go away,
I won't bother you. I'll be hurt, but I won't bother you.
My name is Taeyeon... if you were wondering."

Curiosity.

---

The fifth meeting happened that same day when Taeyeon got off work and, to her surprise, found Tiffany waiting for her outside the café.

Tiffany couldn't help but giggle, having succeeded in being the shocker rather than the shocked for once. She started walking backwards. "Come on, I know a place we can go." Grinning, she watched Taeyeon try to catch up to her, a bounce in her step and a smile on her face.

As Tiffany turned around, she placed a hand over her chest, wishing her heart to be still and at the same time hoping it would speak louder, clearer. She wanted to understand the irrational beats of it.

They walked in silence, sometimes stealing glances at the other. Taeyeon beamed as she realized Tiffany was leading her to a beach. In her excitement, she took hold of the other woman's hand and ran down to the shore. They sat down, far enough away from the water to not get wet but close enough that if either one felt a sudden urge to be devious, the could easily push the other into the shallow and dirty pools of water getting pushed back and forth by the waves along the shore.

For almost an hour they sat beside each other in complete silence, listening to the combination of the waves, each others breathing and Taeyeon's pen scratching against the pages of her notebook as she once again wrote in it. The sounds of rough steel against soft paper irritated Tiffany as she felt the urge to hear Taeyeon's voice, rather than her pen.

"Why don't you ever say anything?"

She was met with a crooked smile. "I'm not much of a talker."

Tiffany doesn't know if it was from the shock of actually getting an answer, or if what Taeyeon said was actually funny. But as soon as the unexpected words were said, Tiffany burst out in laughter. Something sounding like "I noticed." was squeeked out between hisses of a loud laugh.

Laying back into the sand, clapping hands and sharp teeth making her look like she belonged in the sea before them, rather than on the land beneath them.

Seeing the other woman so happy, Taeyeon couldn't help but to laugh along with her.

Happiness. Seal clapping and all.

---

"Winter is creeping in.
I quite enjoy the crisp sound of frost under
the soles of my shoes, as I walk to work in the early morning.
I think it's a privilege, being able to witness the town waking up.
To her the quantity of bird song increase
as the sun climbs higher in the hazy sky."

---

"I think people only reject a compliment to hear it again.
People are weird."

---

"Winter is here.
Please drink lots of tea and hot cocoa to keep you warm.
If you don't know how to make it yourself,
come to the café and I'll make sure to get the best
made cocoa we can offer. I'll even bake you something.
Something pink, maybe?"

---

"Do you think I would look alright in a lighter hair color,
or do you think that would only make me look like a hollywood wannabe?"

---

By meeting number eleven, Tiffany started keeping the notes in an envelope, labeling it "Fairy dust for sad days".

Because that's what Taeyeon's notes were to her. Precious like fairy dust, perfect for a stormy mind.
And reading them on a lonely night took her to her own personal Neverland.

---

"Have you ever watched a sundrise or sunset and thought
'I'd like to follow along and watch it rise and set with the people around the globe.'?
I think something like that... would be wonderful. Don't you think?"

---

"It's not that I don't like talking. It's just...
when I write something down, it feels more permanent.
Something that's meant to be remembered.
Something worth remembering."

---

"I always wanted to have a pet rabbit.
I think the fascination came from a week long stay at home due to a cold,
with only Alice in Wonderland to watch."

---

Meeting twenty. Or maybe twenty five or thirty even? Tiffany had stopped counting.

Tiffany changed her routine and started coming to the café every day,
around an hour before Taeyeon got off work.
She'd order a beverage, and with every beverage came a note from Taeyeon.

They were usually small notes. Musings you could call them, of Taeyeon's.

Today, the note said; "If you morph a fish and a horse, would it be a fish with legs or a horse with gills?
Either way it'd be pretty awesome, don't you think?"
She had even drawn a smiley on the bottom of the paper.

She isn't too sure how serious Taeyeon is about notes like these,
but she enjoys receiving and reading them all the same,
seeing them as the sunflowers spread out on the meadow of Kim Taeyeon's ever blossoming mind.

---

"My goldfish died this morning.
I had named it August. I decided on the name after
I overheard a man talking about how he himself didn't
control his eyes, but that a man in his head, named August, did it for him.
Can you imagine that? I laughed about it the whole day."

---

They were sitting at the beach. It's the place they most frequently visit between Taeyeon getting off work and Tiffany going to work.

"Are you afraid of falling in love?" The question broke through the silence of the chilly evening.
Tiffany has gotten used to the (seemingly) random questions by now, but they weren't usually this... serious.

Tiffany ponders and Taeyeon waits. She always does.

"No... not really." Again, Taeyeon waits. She knows that's not the end of it.

It takes a few minutes. "Only if it's mutual. I know how to deal with unrequited love... but requited love; I wouldn't know what to do with that."

Taeyeon nods. And that's all there is to it.

---

"I believe in guardian angels. My landlord laughed when I told him.
I don't mind, it's good I could make someone laugh."

---

"Love is always a powerful thing, whether it's requited or unrequited.
Remember that."

---

They had known each other for a year. They have probably met around 350 times. Meetings more often than not, spent in silence.

Silence and notes.

Tiffany upgraded the envelope to a shoe box. Soon she'll have to upgrade it to a treasure chest.

---

"Love can be found in peculiar places, don't you find?
Just look at Hermione and Ron. They bickered all the time, yet they still fell in love."

---

"I'm only afraid of one thing." This is new.

"What's of?" Tiffany can feel her chest tighten, far from pleased at even the thought of Taeyeon ever feeling such a pitiful thing as fear.

"Death." The wind howls and Tiffany shudders, a feeling of pins descending down her spine makes her sit up straight, disregarding her tense muscles.

"Oh..?"

"I've been thinking about it a lot lately." She has noticed Taeyeon being awfully fidgety lately. She croaks out a "Why?"

"I think... it's because I finally have something to lose." Her gaze focused on Tiffany as she talked.
"A year ago, I didn't fear it 'cause losing my life didn't equal leaving anyone behind."

Tiffany in a shallow breath, hoping her mind wasn't going haywire and running into the wrong direction. She felt panic surge in her when Taeyeon retreated her hand from Tiffany's own. She was about to protest very loudly to the petite woman, making her way away from her, when she felt a small piece of paper in her hand.

A note.

"You're my reason."

She choked on her breath. Holding back tears,
tears telling the tale of every emotion swimming in the depths of her heart.

When she looked up, Taeyeon looked back.

Love.

Now she knows. She now knows what to do with that.

---

"During our first few meetings, you would always ask me if you could help me with anything.
In all honesty, I never wanted anything except to sit in you company."

----

"I loved you from the second I laid my eyes on you."