Of all the people I served everyday, she was the most special customer. Special—well—strange, I mean. If it hadn’t been for her blond hair, which is similar to mine, I wouldn’t have paid so much attention to her—it isn’t common to catch sight of a blonde in Seoul, an Asian city, after all. There is no denying that blonde hair perfectly suits her. It beautifully compliments her dark brown eyes and her doll-like features. Somehow, she was the only customer that I found fascinating. It must have been because of the delicate beauty of a snowflake she had.

Lately, my mad little crush on that angelic girl has been the hilarious topic of gossiping and teasing among my co-workers, as known as my best buddies. If you are curious, I’m Kris Wu, a blithe and easygoing 22-year-old student who is currently working part-time as a barista at small café called EXO World. There are 11 other guys working with me. We are divided into two groups, responsible for day shift and night shift. I’m on the latter one, along with creepy Chanyeol, romantic Tao, y Jongin, caring Kyungsoo and bubble-tea-addicted Sehun. Despite me being the oldest, those mischievous 5-year-old kids living in adult’s bodies never get tired of bullying me. Never.

“Ge ge, she is coming!” Tao suddenly nudged my arm while I was carefully swirling whipped cream on some cupcakes. I would have loved him most if he hadn’t had to exclaim out so loud, being the most troublesome kid ever. “EVERYONE!! SHE IS COMING!!”

As if Tao had said “Action stations!”, the boys immediately stopped what they were lazily doing, such as reading magazines, watching TV, watering plants, drinking bubble tea, to direct their eyes towards the entrance door. And just in less than 15 seconds, all of them found work to do, which unbelievably made them look like they were extremely busy. No trace of laziness was left—Chanyeol was wiping an impeccably shining clean cup; Jongin and Kyungsoo were taking the order of two teenagers who had already finished half of their cakes while Sehun was making his way to the Espresso machine and started fixing its position unnecessarily. Could their sly plan of leaving me no choice be any more evident?

The bell above the door cheerily rang out. I glanced at the wall clock—precisely 8.30 pm, as usual. From the corner of my eyes, I caught a glimpse of golden waves. Even without looking, I was sure that Ms Snowflake was making her way towards her favorite table, the one near the built-in bookshelf, tucked away in the corner, right next to two pots of white and red poinsettia. In order to avoid being thrown mischievous looks at, I tried to glue my eyes on the cupcakes I was making and not to take a glance at her…unsuccessfully. I did secretly peek at her, which I wished I hadn’t. She, out of the blue, caught my eyes—and, for God’s sake, she gave me a bright dazzling smile, one of the most beautiful things I’d ever seen, in response. My heart skipped a beat at once. A slight warm surge of something like shyness swept through my entire body in no time, urging me to quickly drag my eyes back to the cakes. Uncontrollably, my cheeks heated up with a tingling sensation I felt inside.   

“She’s here.” Tao whispered.

“Great.” I tried to sound calm. “Go take her order.”

“No, ge ge! Your girl, your turn!” He pressed, smirking.

I kept my mouth shut and continued working, hoping that he would change his mind. As predicted, he didn’t. Tao slyly grabbed the icing bag I was holding and stole it away from me.

“Yah! I haven’t done here!” I said, gesturing to the cupcakes.

“I’ll finish it for you.” Tao assured before shoving me out of the coffee bar counter.

Chanyeol, suddenly emerging from nowhere, passed me a pen and a notepad and then gave me a thumbs-up, not to mention his creepy smile. I sighed, attempting not to show my little excitement too obviously.

Slowly, I was making my way toward my—our—special customer’s table. Undoubtedly, the closer I got to her, the faster my heart pumped, and the slower time crawled. In less than one minute, I already found myself standing in front of her, to be greeted by another gracious, heartwarming smile. Well, she must have been thinking “Oh, you again!”.

Ms Snowflake was checking the menu but I knew that she would probably end up ordering hot vanilla frappuccino—the sixth item on the menu to be exact—just like her habit in the past 2 months being a regular customer here.

“May I take your order, miss?” I asked politely with a smile.

“Um…one hot vanilla frappuccino, please.” She softly said those exact words I’d already written down on the notepad. I chuckled inwardly.

“Would you like to order anything else?”

“No, that’s it. Thank you.”

“No problem. Please wait, your order will be ready in 10 minutes, miss!”

Ms Snowflake cheerily nodded and then moved her gaze to the bookshelf nearby, searching for something. I knew what she was looking for. It must be “Vanilla Twilight”, the book she’d been reading the last time she’d came here. Being the most gallant man ever, I walked to the bookshelf and ran my fingers along the rows of books before slightly pulling out a book whose cover is a painting of a cream-like blue cloudy sky with pinkish glows. A grin crept on as I saw the title and it remained the same on my face when I handed her the book. Her eyes widened with a momentary flash of astonishment. She took the book, still staring at me with an impressed expression—surely she was. A flicker of pride passed through me, shown at the half-smile I plastered on. The corner of her beautiful lips slowly twitched upwards as well.

Whether I liked it or not—actually not—I still had to reach back to the bar counter to prepare her order. It was silly, after every effort I’d made to appear calm, how her smile sent flutters through my stomach, and made me unable to hide the stupid smug grin automatically forming on my face from the eagle eyes of the kids. Of course, making a cup of coffee wasn’t hard to a skillful barista like me—yet, with those excessively interested pairs of eyes glued to my face, it was, a bit. I still managed to make a perfect sweetly smoky cup of hot vanilla frappuccino, though.

“Here is your bill, miss.”

Ms Snowflake placed down the book and took out her wallet before slipping a $20 into the folder I’d handed her. I walked back to the counter to get her change. When I returned to her table, I found her still reading “Vanilla Twilight” attentively.

“You enjoy it a lot, don’t you?” I chuckled.

“O-oh…yeah.” She looked up at me with a hint of slight startle in her eyes. “This is really a great book.” She smiled tenderly at me and then glanced back at the book. Unwillingly, she closed it after a few seconds and stood up, ready to put it back to the bookshelf.

“You can keep it if you want.” I interrupted, earning a surprised look. “You can return it later, when you have finished reading.”

“R-really? I-is it okay?”

“Of course. It’s actually my book, you know.” I smiled reassuringly. The feeble disbelief in her eyes vanished as she happily hugged the book to her chest, like how a child treats his precious newly-given toy.

With the book still protected by her arm, Ms Snowflake grabbed her purse and made her way towards the door. My eyes unconsciously followed her figure. And just before opening the door, she turned her head, meeting my gaze. At the very moment our eyes met and locked, I could felt a strange strong thrill of pleasure. She stared, maybe wondering why my lips were curving into an involuntary smile. Our eye contacts didn’t last long, though. With a shining smile cracked on her soft cherry-like colored lips, she raised her voice, low enough not to break the peaceful atmosphere yet loud enough for me to hear every word clearly:

“Thank you very much, Kris-ssi!” She called my name. My name.

“Here’s you change, madam.” I flashed a polite smile to the mid-aged woman who had ordered a take-away large soy latte. “Thank you, madam. Please come back next time.”

She nodded nonchalantly and walked off. I sighed, feeling a bit depressed. I couldn’t count the number of customers who had icy attitude going in and out of our café everyday. They were countless—yet serving them was never one of my favorites. Besides, I wasn’t in a good mood. It had been a tiresome week for me. Maybe it was because of the essay my lecturer required his students to hand in by the end of the next week; or all the early month’s bills I had to pay; or the sore throat that had been making my voice sound irritatingly croaky. Or maybe—because of Ms Snowflake’s disappearance.

She’d usually dropped into our café almost every night but there had been no sign of her wavy golden hair for the past one week. Stupid as it might sound, I kind of missed the feeling of being not the only blonde around.

“Earth to Kris!” Someone suddenly snapped his fingers in front of my face. I turned aside, to find an attentively staring Jongin.

“What?”

“You are spacing out…” Jongin shot me his sly signature smirk.

“…again.” Sehun butted in sarcastically.

I huffed and frowned at the two maknaes, gesturing them to finish off all the cleaning so that we could go home. They shrugged, giggling and continued wiping the cups. I was wrong thinking that those kids would leave me alone. The silence lasted for only a second as Kyungsoo, who was supposed to focus on his rearranging the chairs, broke it.

“She hasn’t been here for almost a week.”

“Just a week? I thought it has been an eternity for someone. Right, hyung?” Chanyeol knowingly raised his eyebrows and turned to you-know-who’s direction. I silently groaned in my mind.

“Stop it, kids.”

“I kind of miss her, too.” Chanyeol said. Well, his deep voice could make his words seem more sorrow, yet the way he heaved a heavy sigh and shook his head already gave him away. There wasn’t anything better than glaring at him so I did it, with my so-called angry bird face.

“Maybe the hath already had a boyfriend or thomething.” Sehun butted in, again.

“That’s why she abandoned our hyung. Aish, poor you~” Jongin jokingly said and high-fived with the other maknae whilst the rest of those mischievous boys bursted out giggling wickedly. I couldn’t help puffing my cheeks in annoyance.

“She’ll probably be here tomorrow!” I blurted out unthinkingly.

Magically, to my intense surprise, Ms Snowflake did turn up the next day, which I surely hadn’t hold the hope that it would come true when I’d made my brave statement the night before. It was shocking. And another thing that almost gave me a heart attack was—she didn’t come alone this time. I thought that I heard something cracked into pieces inside my chest at the moment she stepped in, followed by a strange man. The unknown guy seemed a little older than her; he appeared neatly in a navy striped turtleneck sweater and a plain pair of jeans. Unwillingly—and curiously—I kept watching them at the door, talking. A wave of indescribable uneasy feeling started rushing to my stomach. Just as I almost succeed in forcefully dragging my eyes to somewhere else, they stopped talking and she bowed to him, before leaving him to get to her favorite table like usual. The guy was looking around for a while then decided to sit on a table near the window. Confusion made my eyes roll back and forth between her and his tables.

Ms Snowflake seemed unaware of my staring. After settling down in her seat for just a few seconds, she stood up and walked to the restroom, where it would be really weird and creepy if you kept gazing at people going in, not to mention that they were the opposite gender. I trailed my eyes back to the front and…immediately got panicked.

The boys were approaching the strange guy’s table. All of them were.

Before my brain could process anything, Jongin had already taken the seat in front of the guy and sat down threateningly. The rest of them surrounded the table, centering the guy who obviously had no idea what was going on. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make out what they were talking from this far—I was standing at the coffee bar counter.

I saw Jongin’s mouth move as he leaned forward, putting his chin on his fist. Dang, what the hell are they planning to do?! Mush as I desperately wished them to stop, Tao suddenly slammed both of his hands against the table’s surface, creating a loud threatening sound. The guy almost jumped out of his seat out of startle, responding Tao’s sharp glaring with a frightened look. Then, he said something—stuttered, actually. I tried to guess what he was saying but failed entirely. Suddenly, while I was still eyeing them and mentally scolding the boys to come back, six pairs of eyes at that table directed towards me. They swiftly looked away soon, yet it didn’t fail to startle me to death. My heart, which had just got a big sudden shocking attack, bumped even faster than I thought it could.

What on earth are they talking?!

Just as I caught a glimpse of Ms Snowflake stepping out of the restroom, all the boys, to my intense panic and puzzle, smiled to the strange man and bowed to him, before walking back to the counter. Firstly, thank God. Secondly,…

“What the hell have you guys just done?!” I half-whispered through my clenched teeth. My voice sounded even hoarser than how my sore throat had been making it to be these days as a result.

“Relax, hyung,” Kyungsoo said, grinning smugly. “We’ve just helped you.”

I shot him a what-the-heck-are-you-talking-about look, only to make his grin grow wider.

“The guy over there is just her sunbae at her university. They met by chance while he was searching a place to meet his girlfriend so she suggested our café. That’s why they stepped in here together.” Chanyeol explained in one breath, creepily grinning.

“You still have a chance, ge ge.” Tao patted my back reassuringly.

Before I managed to utter anything, Jongin butted in, beaming excitedly, “Don’t you see that she is waiting? Go take her order, hyung.”, and shoved me out of the counter.

“But…”

“JUST GO!” All of the mischievous exclaimed loudly without any flicker of embarrassment shown in their smirking faces. That was the time when I wished the ground under my feet would crack open and swallow my entire body into its endless depth—Ms Snowflake was focusing on me with weirdly questioning eyes, not to mention some interested pairs of eyes of other customers. All were on me, who was awkwardly and bashfully making way towards the familiar direction. Some giggles could be heard.

“Hey.” Attempting to relax my facial muscles, I greeted—and regretted. I had slipped up. I should’ve greeted her in a more formal and polite manner, as I usually did. A glint of surprise quickly flashed through her clear, deep dark brown eyes—she’d noticed the difference.

Her lips parted, just slightly, and then slowly curled into a smile. “Hey.”

Assuming that her response implied her unspoken approval of making our relationship less formal and friendlier, I decided that I should make a move.

“I haven’t seen you in the last couple of days.”

“Oh,” She mumbled. “I’ve been busy moving into my new apartment these days. And guess what, I still have tons of things to pack.” She rolled her eyes, huffing.

I giggled at her cute whining tone as she pouted. “I’ve thought you’d already get bored of our café.” I said jokingly—though it actually had crossed through my mind once. “So, a hot vanilla frappuccino like usual?”

“Yeah, sure. Coffee you make is the best!” Ms Snowflake cracked a bright smile and gave me a thumb-up.

Her sudden compliment caused my heart to flutter unavoidably—and I saw butterflies, butterflies everywhere. Never had I known that a little compliment could make me feel so pleasant, and happy.

With a toothy grin automatically plastered from ear to ear all over my face, I walked back to the bar counter. Yet, when I reached there, that grin died completely. It suddenly dawned on me that I hadn’t asked her name yet.

Stupid.

“Wait up!”

I quickened my pace frantically and finally managed to jump into the bus as the doors were closing. Panting, I took a seat at the back of the bus and sat down. I glanced at my wristwatch—it was 7.48 pm. Usually, my shift started at 3 pm, except for Mondays, 4 hours later, since I had extra classes on this day. I was late, though. Much as I’d told them that they didn’t have to, my college friends still hold a birthday party for me. That was why I had to stay longer.

I was staring out the window with impatience. Honestly, it wasn’t because I was late for my shift. It was that I wanted to be there when she stepped in.

Even though I knew it was surely impossible, I somewhat hold the little hope that Ms Snowflake knew today was my birthday by any chance. “Stupid.”, I quietly murmured. That possibility couldn’t exist.

At least, I could see her on my birthday. That was enough for me—I thought and moved my gaze back to the window. There, I saw a smiling reflection.

As expected, I was warmly welcomed by the boys’ loudest “Happy Birthday” when I stepped in EXO World, our small café. Sometimes, those mischievous kids are quite…adorable.

“Thank guys.” I happily grinned, high-fived and gave them bro hugs.

All of the boys gladly responded my hugs, except for Tao. He had an odd expression when I released him. The answer to my curiosity came up shortly afterwards.

“Ge ge, I really don’t want to ruin your mood today but…” He murmured. “You are so unlucky, ge ge.”

I got puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“Um…she had just left 5 minutes before you came.” Said Kyungsoo as he turned around and began to fill a cup with espresso and chocolate.

“She…who?” I asked, though I’d vaguely guessed who they were talking about. Yet, I was still hoping that I was wrong.

“Who else? The blonde noona, of course.” Jongin confirmed without realizing that he had made me die a little inside.

“Oh…”

I didn’t even bother to hide my disappointment since it was too obvious. A surge of pure discouragement and gloom overcame me, making me unable to utter anything.

“Hah, look at your face, hyung. Disappointed, aren’t you?” Chanyeol raised his voice and then pressed something into my hand. “Here!”

A red-wrapped box with white ribbon.

“What is this?” I asked with a monotonous tone.

“Her gift for you, hyung. She asked us to give this to you.”

I kept my eyes locked on the box, examining it. There was a strange mixture of emotions sweeping through my body, raising a lot of questions. I felt disappointed, surprised and a touch of confusion at the same time.

Someone lightly smacked my back, interrupting my deep thoughts. “You can go home early today if you want, hyung. Well, actually I think you should. We will take your shift.” Kyungsoo assured and the other boys showed me their thumb-ups and grins. I dragged my eyes to look at all of them one by one in disbelief and uncertain, only to find insistence. Like what I’d said, sometimes, these boys are very caring. 

“…All right,” I sighed. “Thank you guys, really.” I sniggered.

“You are welcome, ge ge. Ah, don’t forget our birthday cake for you! Here it is. We’ve baked it ourselves!”

Just as I managed to unlock the door, I roamed my hand on the wall, searching for the light switch. Finding it, I flipped it on and my small living room was filled with warm light at once. Throwing my backpack aside, I carefully placed the cake box on the table and the gift box next to it, before flopping into the softness of the sofa. As I was staring at the red object in front of me, many questions popped up in my head. Why didn’t she come today? What is inside?...And, how could she know today is my birthday?

Gently lifting the box up and placing it on my lap, I carefully untied the ribbon and unwrapped the box. You know that exciting yet nervous feeling when holding a present which you can’t guess what is inside by shaking the box. My heartbeat must have been pumping at least ten times as fast when I removed the lid. The first thing laying on top caught my attention—a lovely small card. Without thinking twice, I opened it, to find a neatly handwritten message. Ms Snowflake’s sweet, soft voice started to sing in my ear.

Happy Birthday, Kris-ssi!

Are you surprised that I know today is your birthday? Well, remember the book you’ve lent me? I saw your birthdate written on the first page of it as it was your last year’s present from your friends. The book is really great by the way. It was so kind of you to lend it to me. Thank you so much!

I’m really sorry for not being able to give this gift to you by myself. I have to pack and have the last boxes of my stuff moved today since the moving schedule can’t be changed.

Well, my present isn’t something big. It’s just a scarf. Actually, I knit it myself. Your voice has sounded hoarse these days so I guess you are having a sore throat. The weather is getting colder and colder; please keep warm and remember to take care of your health. Hope my gift can help you!

Lastly, best wishes for you on your birthday! You are incredibly kind and sweet. I hope to have the opportunity to know you better!

Sincerely,

Jessica Jung.

That was her name. Jessica Jung. Unknowingly, I kept starting at the last line. Her name is Jessica Jung. A smile couldn’t help but inch its way up to my lips.

Putting the card aside, I looked into the box, to find a black and white scarf folded neatly inside. Swiftly yet carefully took it out, I hold the scarf for awhile before wrapping it around my neck. The warmness slowly embraced me and spread through my whole body before sneaking its way into my chest. I couldn’t help but crack a grin and it grew wider with the thought of Jessica knitting this scarf for me—it felt…oddly warm.

I didn’t know how long I had been looking at the lovely scarf—having no intention of taking it off—until a knock could be heard at the door.

“Who would come at this time of night?” I hesitantly stood up and mumbled—I don’t usually have guests visiting my apartment.

Having unlocked the door, I slowly pulled the knob. The door swung opened, revealing the figure of a girl—a familiar girl. It didn’t take me more than a second to realize that we had the same hair color. I could see the intense surprise written on the unexpected guest’s face like it surely was in mine. We were just standing there stunned, dumfounded. My eyes met, and locked with the girl’s dark chocolate brown orbs. For a brief moment, I thought my heart had skipped beating.

Jessica.

My mind started echoing her name and urged me to say something but I was ridiculously at a loss of word, doing nothing except blinking and blinking.

Jessica seemed to recover from her shocked state faster than I. Her lips slowly curled up into a big shining smile.

“Annyeonghaseyo, Jessica Jung imnida. I’ve just moved to the apartment next door to you. Guess we will be neighbors from now on. Nice to meet you!”

Merry Krismas ♥