Hye Mi sat up from her bed and let out a soft yawn. For a 23 year old, you can say that she was living a very good life- minus the brain cancer bit of course.

Hye Mi grew up in a friendly and lovely family. She was the apple to everyone’s eyes and was even adored by all her neighbours. Her family wasn’t necessarily rich, but they had a bit more than enough to provide her with full education and clothing, thus, she grew up not having any problems with making friends.

Ever since she was at the young and sweet age of 5, long before she became sick with brain cancer, Hye Mi already knew that money couldn’t buy everything. She followed her simple life rule and lived life as peacefully as she could.

When she was 20, she found out about her illness and decided to move out, not wanting to bother her weak mother and busy father. Hye Mi lived day to day, taking all the treatments possible and had to be cautious of every movement she made. Though sometimes she would cry herself to sleep thinking about all the blood noses she had, the headaches, the black outs… It still wasn’t able to stop her from smiling.

After thanking God for a new day, she tied her hair up into a pony tail and went into the bathroom.

Unreadable.

That was the person she saw on the other side of the mirror. The round eyes that were blinking right back at her and the body that mimed every movement she made. It was like she was seeing herself in another world, if that made sense.

Was this the Kwon Hye Mi that she knew? Who is really behind the Kwon Hye Mi that is smiling all day?

When she was done with getting ready, she ticked off the date on her small Beast calendar and headed towards the door. After a short 10 minute walk, Hye Mi arrived at Little Paradise’s Café, the place where she worked at. “Hello ahjumma!” She cheerfully greeted her boss.

Mrs Shin smiled at her. She was a lady in her late 40’s but still looked young as ever. “Oh, Hye Mi! I thought you were going to the doctor’s today!”

Hye Mi shook her head, “I went yesterday after work.”

Mrs Shin softened, because she had no daughter she always looked at Hye Mi as if she was her own, “Sweetie I thought I told you to take today off so you have all the time you need at the doctors instead of rushing.”

“There’s no need for that, you already told me to go home early yesterday, who’s going to help you here if I didn’t go work?” Hye Mi smiled at her boss’ kindness.

“You’re such an angel,” Mrs Shin shook her head with a smile, It’s so cruel how bad things always happen to good people.

-Ding ding-

The sound of the bell rang as the café door opened and a couple came in. “Anneyonghaseyo! Welcome to Little Paradise’s Café!” Immediately Hye Mi ran to put her apron on and went to serve the customers. Mrs Shin heaved a gentle sigh and walked into the counter.

--

“Here’s your Chai Latte, enjoy you drink!” Hye Mi beamed at a young man sitting near the window. It had been about 4 hours since she started working and she was starting to get tired. Too tired compared to other people.

Mrs Shin gazed at Hye Mi from the counter, judging from the way she was secretly rubbing her head, the older lady knew exactly what was wrong. “Hye Mi-ah, come over here.”

Hye Mi placed her small note pad on the table and ran over, “Yes ahjumma?”

“I think you should go home and rest now, you seem tired,” the lady gave her a motherly smile.

“But ahjumma my shift doesn’t end til 2 hours!” Hye Mi frowned, she had a feeling she knew why Mrs Shin had told her to go home, “I’m not tired I swear!”

Before Mrs Shin could say anything else, the door bell dinged again and Hye Mi immediately scrambled away. “Anneyonghaseyo! Welcome to Little Paradise’s Café! Please take a-” She halted when she looked up and met eyes with a familiar pair of eyes.

Kris froze as he stared at the same pair of innocent eyes he first saw 3 days ago. “H-Hey…”

“Doctor Wu!” Hye Mi smiled, “It’s nice to meet you again…”

Kris nodded, it felt weird meeting a patient somewhere besides the hospital, “Yes… Do you work here?”

Hye Mi nodded, “Yes, I’m a part time waitress here.”

Kris nodded again, “That’s… nice…”

Suddenly Mrs Shin popped out from behind Hye Mi, “Is this your friend, Hye Mi?”

Hye Mi blinked at the word ‘friend’, “Umm… No ahjumma this is my new doctor! Doctor Wu.”

“Oh…” Mrs Shin nodded, “I heard about your new doctor… Welcome Doctor! Please take any seat!”

Kris nodded warily and walked over to a seat near the window. Hye Mi followed him with a warm smile, “So what would you like today, Doctor Wu?”

Kris couldn’t help but chuckle at her cheerfulness, “A vanilla latte thanks.”

“Coming right up~” She sing songed and walked away.

As he waited for his coffee to come, Kris stared outside the window. It was nice to be able to step out of the hospital once in a while… Especially when he got to see the smile that he was drawn to so much again.

Then his eyes travelled to the little café he was sitting in. The walls were white with pastel purple vertical stripes and the room had candles here and there in order to smell like vanilla and coconut. Then Kris noticed something strange, on the roof there were hundreds of pieces of paper, all hanging by a thread.

“Those are wishes,” a voice said and made him look away. Hye Mi was standing there holding a small plate with his latte on it.

“Wishes?” Kris asked as she placed it down in front of him.

“Mhm!” She nodded, “Customers come here and write down their wishes on a piece of paper, after that we stick them to a string and hang them up on the wall! When it falls down then it means the wish is going to come true.”

“Oh…” Kris nodded, slightly interested in this wish thing.

Hye Mi gave him another smile before bowing her head, “Well I’m going to serve other people now, hope you enjoy your drink!” Hye Mi turned back and walked away, just as she was about to turn to a table, her vision started getting blurry and she stumbled backwards.

Kris was about to sip his latte when suddenly he saw Hye Mi from the corner of his eyes, immediately he jumped up and caught her. “Are you okay?” He asked in a doctor way.

Hye Mi clutched onto her head as he helped sat her down, “M-my bag…” The pain had come back once agin, and it was like something was trying to rip its way out of her brain.

Bag? Kris nodded and immediately ran over to the counter where Mrs Shin was busy making orders. “Excuse me but, I think Hye Mi needs her medicine, do you know where her bag is?”

Mrs Shin gasped and pointed to one of the drawers, “It’s over there! Her painkillers are inside the small zip.”

Kris thanked her and ran over to the drawers, he found a small brown bag and immediately bought it over to her. “Is this your bag?” He asked, trying to be as calm as possible.

Hye Mi nodded and squeezed her eyes tighter, “It’s fine…” She whispered softly.

Kris felt a whole heap of pity for her, just a second ago she was still bubbly as ever and now she was sitting there painfully. “Here, take these.” He handed Hye Mi her pain killers.

Hye Mi grabbed the bottle and immediately threw 2 tablets into . Mrs Shin came over with water and gave her to her, “Here sweetie.”

When the pain still didn’t go away, Hye Mi closed her eyes. Kris knew what was happening and gently told her to sit back. Slowly he knelt down before her, “Okay Hye Mi I need you to calm down and relax all your muscles,” he instructed carefully.

Hye did as told and released her tight eyes. Kris’ felt lighter seeing her calm face, “Breathe in and out very slowly, I want you to forget about your pain and think of something you like… or a good memory.”

Hye Mi sat there, she couldn’t remember any good memories she had created within the past 3 years. So without a choice, she tried her best to think about the time when she was 16, and her family had gone on vacation in Hawaii. She thought back to the peaceful sounds of the waves and the happiness sound of other families talking and yelling. Then she remembered getting washed away by waves and sitting back up finding out that the waves had washed away her father’s underwear.

Without realising, all of her pain had gone away, and now her lips were hinged up into a smile. Kris smiled too, seeing how his directions had worked.

After a few minutes, Hye Mi eyes slowly opened, she stared at Kris and Mrs Shin faces and broke into a smile, “All better!”

Mrs Shin sighed in relief, “You scared me, you goose.”

Hye Mi gave her a meek smile, “Sorry ahjumma.”

Mrs Shin patted her head gently before heading off to serve other customers. When she was gone Hye Mi suddenly realised Kris was still there, “Umm… Thank you, doctor Wu. Your technique really works! I’m going to use it from now on!” She beamed.

Seeing her happy reaction Kris suddenly wanted to jump around in relief. He coughed his weird thoughts away and nodded, “It’s okay, it’s my job to help people.”

Hye Mi smiled again, “Well you’re doing a really good job at it!” She held her thumbs up cutely.

Kris chuckled at her cheerfulness, it was amazing the effect that this girl could have on him. “Well I think I should get going,” Kris stood up after taking a long sip of his vanilla latte, “Can I have the bill?”

Before Hye Mi could open , Mrs Shin popped up from behind her, “Na uh, Doctor Wu. It’s on the house tonight. Thank you for helping our Hye Mi today.”

Kris opened his mouth to refuse, but Hye Mi’s chuckle made him stop. “Don’t bother saying refusing,” she smiled, “Ahjumma is really stubborn.”

“Oh okay then, thank you,” Kris politely bowed. He stood up and fixed his collar. With one last nod at Hye Mi, he left the café.

Hye Mi stared at his walking figure before letting out a long sigh, the pain was getting worse.