“Café DaNi,” Lani read out loud as they approached the café.

Niel looked down at Lani and smiled to her, “our parents named the café after us.”

“Us?” she asked with puzzlement.

“Me and my older brother; his name is David,” Niel explained to her.

“Ahhh,” she nodded.

They walked up to the door which still had a closed sign on it, but there seemed to be a light on in the back. Niel explained that his parents always woke up early to prepare for the busy day of work they had ahead of them and always tried to be as productive as possible. They didn’t know that Niel would be in town for a couple of days and he was happy to surprise them. Niel reached for the handle on the door and as he expected, it was not locked. He carefully pushed the door open to hear the chime of the bell ringing.

“Jwesonghamnida,” a woman’s voice called out, “we’re closed right now!” She walked out from the back with a broom still in her hands. When her eyes met with Niel’s she froze and instantly a smile spread across her face. “Omo! Niel-ah,” she dropped the broom and ran towards him. “Yeobo, Niel is here!” she called out to her husband in the back. His mother wrapped her arms around Niel and wouldn’t stop with her loving words.

“Yahhh, umma, you’re embarrassing me,” Niel whined.

She let go of him in order for him to say hello to his father. Niel gave his dad a quick hug before his dad spoke up, “who is this lovely young lady we have here?”

“Omo,” Niel’s mom approached Lani and looked her up and down, “is this your girlfriend?”

“Aniya, aniya,” Lani frantically waved her hands in front of her.

“There’s no need to lie! I won’t tell anyone!” she insisted.

“Umma, she’s just a friend,” Niel made clear to his parents.

Lani roamed around the café as Niel spoke with his mother at a table and his father went to the back to prepare drinks. There were pictures everywhere of Teen Top, with their most recent poster displayed on the wall, and a giant poster of Niel hanging near the window. There wasn’t much else in the small café but Lani enjoyed the cozy atmosphere.

“Lani, come have a seat,” Niel’s father motioned to the chair next to Niel and gave her a warm smile.

She did as she was told and took a seat across from Niel’s father. In the center of the table was a tray with 4 drinks.

“Here, try this. It’s our best seller during the summer,” Niel’s father said as he placed a tall, pink coloured, strawberry milk tea in front of Lani. She gladly accepted the drink and took a long sip. Almost two hours passed since the two arrived at the café; they spent their time just talking and laughing, Niel had an opportunity to catch up with his parents and Lani was able to get to know them. It wasn’t until there was a knock at the door that anyone realized it was already 9 o clock, time to open.

“Omo, they can’t see me here!” Niel exclaimed when he saw a group of high school girls standing just on the other side of the door. He quickly ducked into the back room and called for Lani to follow. Niel’s mother didn’t open the door to the regular customers until Niel and Lani were safely hidden in the back. She took their order before heading to the room where Niel and Lani were to say her goodbyes. Niel’s father guided them out the back door before Lani thanked him and the two went off to catch a bus.

-

“Where have you guys been?” Chunji questioned as soon as Lani and Niel walked through the door.

“Niel wanted to visit his parents and he let me tag along,” Lani explained to the Teen Top boys who were actually awake.

 In that moment L.Joe walked out of the bathroom with only a pair of pants on and a towel on his head, “Yah, what are you doing meeting other men’s parents?” he questioned with a glint of jealousy in his eyes.

“She wanted to see the café more than she wanted to meet my parents,” Niel stated with a small chuckle.

“Wae?” Lani looked at L.Joe, “did you miss me?” she asked with a teasing smile.

“Ani,” L.Joe straightforwardly responded, “we just woke up 20 minutes ago.”

“Whatever,” Lani brushed it off. “Wake the maknaes; I’m taking them out for breakfast.”

Lani took Ricky, Changjo, and Niel out to a French toast and waffle café, leaving Chunji and Cap alone with L.Joe to finally have their serious talk. Once at the café, the four made themselves comfortable around a table and read the menu. The boys couldn’t decide what they wanted with all the options they had to choose from and turned to Lani for her recommendation. Finally, they were able to pick something that sounded interesting and Lani went to the counter to order. After a 5 minute wait, their breakfast was ready; Lani had just regular French toast, Changjo had honey bread with ice cream, Ricky had a waffle with strawberries and ice cream, and Niel had a waffle with chocolate and bananas. They all dug in, eager to eat their delicious food. Once they were done, Lani took them around town letting them explore more and just enjoy the nice weather; well that’s what she told them, in reality she just wanted to give Chunji and Cap enough time to talk to L.Joe and convince him to go back with them to Seoul. Lani received a text message from Chunji a little while later and the four walked back home.

“Where’s L.Joe?” Lani asked as soon as they walked through the door and L.Joe was nowhere to be seen.

Chunji simply just pointed upwards and Lani knew exactly what he meant.