Chapter 6

Hana raised her eyebrows “We have a lot to talk about?” she asked, not out of suspicion but out of genuine curiosity.

Jiyong only smiled at the question and led her to the nearest table.  He took the seat across from her and pretended to scowl.

“Seung-Hyun never told us where he has been disappearing off lately.  It was just a …coincidence that I was going for a run and saw him go into this alleyway” Jiyong said with a pout.  “Who would have thought he was keeping this café to himself?”

He glanced at Hana slyly “I would have never guessed he was keeping you to himself too”. 

The comment caught Hana off guard and her faced blushed profusely.  Hana looked off to the side and thought to herself “I shouldn’t be blushing, I shouldn’t be blushing, heck I shouldn’t be embarrassed.  Seung-Hyun and I are just friends!”.  She took a deep breath and regained her composure. 

The flustered Hana brought a smile to Jiyong’s smile.  Her reactions reflected her innocence and kindness – a combination of traits that Jiyong and his fellow members didn’t see much in the women that approached them.  But he needed to make sure if Hana was genuine.

His face took on a serious expression “Hana do you keep up with the music industry?” he asked.

She started to laugh “Seung-Hyun asked me the same thing. No sadly I’m not caught up with the music scene. I’m surprised myself Seung-Hyun keeps coming by the cafe.  Seung-Hyun’s job is within the music industry yet I know nothing about”.

Jiyong let out a knowing grin “Seung-Hyun and I work together very closely actually.  Though he hasn’t told me, I can understand why he keeps coming back to this cafe.

“Why?”

“Well first let me ask you, if a famous person came to your café frequently what would you do?” he said watching her very closely. “Would you run up to him and ask for an autograph or picture? Perhaps you would befriend him for the publicity?”

Hana closed her eyes for a bit and thought deeply about the question. “Well if I was a famous, I would find it painful if people only approached me for being a celebrity rather than who I was an individual.  So if I were to meet someone who was an idol, I would try to get to know them like I would with any other person. I would want to know the person behind the image”

Jiyong smiled appreciatively “This is why Seung-Hyun likes you”.

“I have only met Seung-Hyun’s acquaintance just recently.  Our friendship isn’t much to talk about really” said Hana slowly.  But saying out loud that they were nothing but friends caused her smile to falter a bit.  She left the table to grab some coffee for the two of them. 

The slight fall in Hana’s smile didn’t go unseen by Jiyong.  He didn’t want to dampen her spirits but it was necessary he inquired into the kind of person Hana was. Too often people had tried to use Seung-Hyun and the others for publicity or money.  As the leader of the group whom he considered his brothers – he wanted to protect them. 

He trailed after Hana and leaned against the counter as she put her hands to work. “I’m making a ristretto seeing as today is special occasion” she said, looking over at Jiyong. “A ristretto is made with the same amount of ground coffee as an ordinary espresso but half the amount of water”.

The unusual strength of Hana’s ristretto was the result of her packing the basket with the resulting powder until it was as hard as cement, then building up a head of pressure in the huge machine and waiting until the dial showed eighty pounds per square inch before allowing the water to blast into the packed coffee.  What came from the spout after that was barely a liquid at all, a red-brown ooze with a hanging quality like honey dripping off the end of a butter knife, with a chestnut-colored cream and a sweet, oily tang that required no sugar, only a bite of a sugar dusted pastry. 

As she filled Jiyong’s mug, her eyes displayed a great deal of satisfaction and amusement.  Jiyong closed his eyes and took a sip.  His opened wide “This is delicious!”. 

Hana smiled proudly “I love this coffee machine like a child loves their toy. There are days where I spent even more time stripping it down and cleaning it than I did making coffee.” 

She grabbed her own mug and leaned against the counter next to her guest.  “It’s almost laughable to spend so much time making coffee or a pastry that will be gone within a matter of seconds”.

Jiyong nodded with understanding “But seeing people experience happiness or sadness in those few seconds is worth all that experience right?”

“You took the words right out of my mouth” she said and the two clanked their mugs together. 

As Hana took a sip of her ristretto, Jiyong happily glanced over at her.  He mentally gave her a stamp of approval.  She was respectful, colorful and loved her job.  Seung-Hyun needed a woman who was as dedicated and focused on his work as he was – Hana was the one.  Jiyong was already imagining the two getting married.  He knew these two would come to love each other very much.  “Sadly the two haven’t realized that themselves yet” he mumbled to himself.   

Hana chewed at her lip slightly “Jiyong, I’m eating dinner with Seung-Hyun tonight. He’s cooking dinner so I figured I’ll bring dessert. Do you know what he likes?”

 Jiyong gasped while drinking from the mug and began to cough.  “Dinner? Seung-Hyun? He can cook?!”

Hana’s mouth dropped opened slightly “He…can’t cook?”. 

Jiyong chose his words carefully, “No, he can cook – he just has yet to make a successful dish…”. 

A mischievous grin suddenly crept onto his face “Here this is what you should do tonight” and he led her through the doors into the kitchen. 

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GET READY FOR THE DINNNERRR SCENE XD

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