He stopped sweeping and looked up at the clock to check the time. "9:45..alright, I have time to wash the dishes.." he said to himself. He finished up sweeping and put the broom and dust pan behind the counter. He was about to go to the back room to wash the dishes when he heard a knock at a door. His face turned to see who it was, but it was too dark for him to see anything. "Now who would come to a cafe this late?"

He opened the door to see a young man standing outside. "Sorry this is late, ahjusshi, but can I come in?" The young man looked a bit timid since he didn't stare Joonmyeon in the eye. Joonmyeon nodded and invited to boy in.

"Welcome to the Love Cafe! I wasn't expecting anyone this late, but I can get you anything you would like."

"Oh, can I just have a water bottle, please?" The boy asked. Joonmyeon nodded and quickly went behind the counter. He grabbed a water bottle, walked towards the young man, and sat across from the boy at the table. The boy thanked him, took the bottle, opened it, and downed the whole thing.

"So what brings you here this late?" Joonmyeon asked.

"Uh.." the boy was lost in thought. "Oh! I was going to get my friend's clothes. He said he left them here to dry."

"Oh, so you're LuHan's friend?"

The boy nodded. "Best friend, to be specific. My name's Sehun!" The boy showed a small smile to Joonmyeon.

"Well, Sehun, I'll grab the clothes in the back room. I hope he doesn't mind that I washed and dried them with my laundry as well!" Joonmyeon laughed and then rushed to the back room. He grabbed the bag he put LuHan's clothes in and returned to Sehun. Sehun took out the clothes to make sure they were LuHan's. He couldn't help but notice the smell of the clothes. He lightly buried his head in the dress shirt.

"Wow! This smells great!" Sehun exclaimed still sniffing the shirt.

"Thanks,"  Joonmyeon chuckled. "I use a vanilla laundry detergent."

Sehun smiled but then realized that this scent reminded him of someone. He sniffed again, but he couldn't quite figure who it reminded him of. "This smell.. It's so.. familiar."

"Well, they DO say that scent is the closest sense tied to memory. What's popping up in your head?"

--

"Come on, Sehun oppa!" she yelled as she ran in front of him. "We might miss the eye scream truck!"

He chuckled. "Yoonhye ah, it's called 'ice cream'.. And you have to be careful! I don't want you to get hurt!"

She whined and stopped running. Her little brown pigtails flipped in the wind. "Then you have to walk faster, Oppa! Hurry, hurry!"

The boy looked at his little cousin and smiled. He quickly walked by her side and held onto her little hands. He then lifted her by her waist and embraced her to his chest as he moved quicker. "We won't miss it, I promise!"

-

"Mama! Today, Sehun oppa treated me out for ice cream! Vanilla, my favorite!" the little girl smiled.

"That's nice, dear," her mom said in a monotone voice. She unlocked her car and opened the back seat for Yoonhye. "Say bye to Sehun oppa now."

Yoonhye ran up to Sehun and clung onto his waist. "Bye, Oppa!"

Sehun smiled and crouched down to her level. "Goodbye, Yoonhye. Be a good girl, okay? Listen to your parents and behave."

She nodded with delight. "Of course! And you make sure to take good care of my teddy this week!" This was typical. Yoonhye would always bring along a stuffed animal to keep Sehun company since he was at home alone most of the time due to his parent working so much. He didn't mind the childish act. In fact, he thought it was cute. The thought that this little girl cared about him.. 

He held the white lovable bear in his arm. "I'll take extra good care of him!"

She giggled. "Now hug him and say you love him!"

He shrugged and did as he was told. "I love you Mr. Bear! Maybe even more than Yoonhye!"

"Oppa!!" she whined. He laughed and gave her a hug. Both of them smiled. "I love you, Oppa."

He released her from the hug and kissed her forehead. "I love you too, Yoonhye." The car honked twice warning them to hurry up. "I'll see you next week!" She beamed and headed to her car seat in the back. She closed the door and waved to her cousin. She blew flying kisses and hugs which he returned back. Sehun watched the car turned the corner and he sighed. He looked at the bear she gave it and hugged it again. The fur in his face smelled like vanilla, Yoonhye's favorite. "Bye, Yoonhye" he muttered in the softness.

--

"Aw," Joonmyeon cooed. "She sounds so precious."

Sehun smiled. "Yeah, she was." His head was filled with memories of him playing with his cousin six years of age. "But that was the last time I saw her.."

Joonmyeon sat up and noticed a change in Sehun's expression. "What happened?"

--

"Yoonhye," Sehun softly spoke. "Are you okay? You haven't touched your ice cream yet." The little girl leaned her head on the table and continued to poke her ice cream, not speaking a word to Sehun. Sehun grabbed the white teddy bear sitting next to him and put it in front of his face facing her. "Yoonhye ah!" he said in a higher voice. "If you aren't going to eat that, then I'm going to eat it all up! Nom nom nom!"

Yoonhye let out  small giggle. "But Oppa, bears don't eat ice cream! They eat honey and things out in the forest!"

Sehun turned the bear to face him. "Did you hear that? That ice cream is for Yoonhye and NOT for you, Mr. Bear," he scolded. That made Yoonhye giggle again. Sehun placed the bear right next to him and saw his cousin happily enjoy her ice cream. 

"Excuse me," a voice said towards Sehun. He looked up and saw a tall man in a business suit. "Are you Sehun?" Frightened and shocked by the fact this guy knew is name, he just nodded. The tall man turned towards Yoonhye. "And are you Yoonhye, my dear?" She nodded her head as she continued to eat her ice cream. "Sehun, I have to take Yoonhye."

Sehun's eyes widened. "WHAT?!"

The man grabbed the little girl's hand. "It's for her own good. I was hired to protect her." He brought her down from the table then walked with Yoonhye, who seemed okay with everything. 

Sehun watched them walk away. "But wait! Yoonhye ah!!"

She turned her head back to catch Sehun's eyes. "It's okay, Oppa. I'll see you later!" she smiled.

--

"Wait..what?" Joonmyeon asked.

"Well, years later I found out that her and her mom moved to China. Turns out that Yoonhye's dad, my uncle, was in town to get Yoonhye back. But her mom filed a restraining order against him because she has full custody over Yoonhye after the divorce."

"Ah..I'm assuming that he wasn't a very good father or husband?" 

Sehun nodded. "I'd rather not get into detail but, yeah." He opened the bottle of water and gulped it down. He grabbed his backpack from underneath the table, which Joonmyeon didn't notice when the boy first walked in. He pulled the zipper down and grabbed something to show Joonmyeon. "And after all these years, I still have this that she forgot to retrieve." Sehun was holding Mr. Bear, Yoonhye's favorite stuffed animal.

"Wow," Joonmyeon poked the bear. "He's in great condition for toy that's really old."

"Yeah," Sehun handed the bear to Joonmyeon to examine. "I wash him and stuff just in case I find her again.."

"How old would she be now?" Joonmyeon asked. 

"Well.. I'm 20 now.. So I'd say.. 8ish?" Sehun replied.

Joonmyeon had a twinkle in his eye. He had an idea. "Well, you shouldn't be sad that she's gone and out of your life now. Because, I think she isn't." Sehun stared up in confusion. "Obviously, you're treating this bear with the love you showed Yoonhye. This bear is more than just a toy. This is a part of Yoonhye to you. And you shouldn't be sad that your time with her ended, you should smile because she gave you such wonderful memories to cherish."

It took a while for Sehun to process what was told to him, but he understood. Joonmyeon got up from the table. "Hang on, I think I might have something for you that you want." He proceeded towards the back room. Sehun sat there confused. He stared at the bear again and brought it close to his chest.

Joonmyeon brought out a white paper bag and handed it to Sehun. "Here you go!" Sehun grabbed the bag, that smelled like cookies. 

Sehun was very confused at this point. "Um.. Thanks?"

"Trust me," Joonmyeon said, "you WANT these cookies."

Sehun gave him a look and proceeded to open the bag. Inside it was full of cookies that filled the cafe up with the scent of vanilla. Sehun looked closely to see something underneath the cookies. He shuffled his hand inside the bag and grabbed a piece of paper. He took it out and looked at Joonmyeon who gave him a nod. Sehun opened the paper.

Dear Miss Kim,

Please enjoy these delicious cookies on behalf of the Love Cafe.

Happy birthday, dear!

Love, Suho.

Sehun gave Joonmyeon another confused look. "Look at the back of the bag," Joonmyeon motioned him. Sehun turned the bag and saw tht there was an address for the bag to be delivered to:

TO: MISS KIM YOONHYE C/O MRS. KIM HYOJUNG

Sehun's mouth gaped in amazement. "How did you.. But I thought they moved to China!!"

"They did," Joonmyeon answered. "And Mrs. Kim met her son, from a previous marriage there, which is where two stayed. Her son suggested that they should move back since your uncle moved out of the country. They moved back to Korea after living in China for a year."

"How.. Do you.. My aunt?" Sehun stuttered.

"That women just loves telling me stories when she come here to eat with Yoonhye." Joonmyeon smiled. "Yoonhye's birthday is tomorrow by the way. You should give that to her in the morning. Along with one of her friends she's been without for so long." he pointed to the bear Sehun was holding under his arm.

Sehun smiled. "Thanks, Suho," he said as he stuffed the bear in his backpack.

"Don't forget LuHan's clothes as well!" Joonmyeon assisted him as he handed the clothes over. Sehun zipped up his backpack and carried the bag of cookies as he reached the door. He looked back at Joonmyeon and showed a sincere smile on his face. Joonmyeon returned a smile as he waved to the boy walking out the door.

--

*ding ding* Another satisfied customer.