The next morning, Ara woke up to the sound of her alarm clock beeping on and off. She rubbed her eyes and glared at the small digital clock on her bedside table in annoyance. A tiny yellow post-it note was stuck on the snooze button and it read 'Wake up!' in Ara's sloppy handwriting. She reached over and slammed her fist down on the hidden snooze button, preparing herself for the very uneventful day to come. A pair of blue slippers waited for her next to her bed as she kicked her feet over and stood up with a yawn. Her hair stood up in all different directions, something that was easily fixed with a brush. Half-asleep, she stumbled to the bathroom in an attempt to start her day. 

Do Ara's days always started off the same. She even began to go off of a schedule. Wake up at 7, brush teeth, shower, wake up Kyungsoo, eat breakfast, see Kyungsoo off to work, practice piano for two hours, start online classes, attempt to compose a new song for school, clean the apartment, practice piano again for fun, nap... and so on. But even all of those activities only got her through half of the day. 

Ara sloppily squeezed the toothpaste onto her toothbrush and roughly brushed her teeth, singing the alphabet while doing so, a habit she picked up from her mother. Now she never went a day without singing the alphabet. Kyungsoo found it annoying to hear the alphabet every morning and night while he was trying to sleep but he never made an attempt to bother her about it. Although he would never tell Ara, he also found himself singing the alphabet in his head while brushing every day. 

After brushing her teeth, Ara turned the shower faucet while testing the temperature with her fingers. The sound of water rushing through the pipes caused Kyungsoo's eyes to flutter open. Once he battled his way through his blanket that was twisted around his arms and legs, Kyungsoo also got up to start his day. Unlike Ara however, Kyungsoo didn't have a schedule. Usually his schedule was to wake up, eat, go to work, and then work around everyone else's schedules. Once the siblings were washed and ready for the day, they both sat at the kitchen table, eating the cereal Ara had prepared for them

"It would be useful if one of us could cook... Maybe then we would actually have a nice breakfast. Like the ones with rice and kimchi jjigae like mom used to make." Kyungsoo halfheartedly joked while poking at the cereal with his spoon. 

"You know how to cook though, oppa." Ara replied with a full mouth.

"Yeah, but only the coffee and pastries that the cafe sells. And coffee and pastries could never be as good as mom's kimchi jjigae. Who has time to make pastries for breakfast anyways? They take like an hour to make and I only have ten minutes to eat. That's why everyone just gets them with their coffee in the morning..." He trailed off. All he could think about was the spicy kimchi jjigae and warm rice that their mother made for them. If Ara tried to make rice, there would be too much rice and if Kyungsoo tried, there would be too much water. Their mother always measured the water and rice just right. 

"What's going on at the cafe anyways? How is it going with hiring a new waiter?"

"Pretty well. We found this guy that will be perfect. He's good looking and smiles at everyone. Not to mention he also plays guitar so he can also entertain while business is slow." 

"Sounds good. If he's good looking, then you'll have even more customers than before." Ara winked teasingly. 

"The only problem with him is that he's tall... Like ridiculously tall. Baekhyun, Minseok and I feel like munchkins next to him." With a sigh, he scooped a spoonful of cereal while shaking his head in embarrassment. He chuckled a bit afterwards, thinking of the the three of them standing next to the extremely tall new waiter.

"Yeah, you guys are really short." Ara grinned while chuckling at his distress. Kyungsoo's immediately stopped smiling and glared at Ara. She smiled even more at his attempt to intimidate her. "So what if he's tall? At least you can order him around since you're the boss."

"The boss... heh. Last year, if you told me I would be the owner of a cafe at 21, I would have laughed in your face." They looked at each other with unreadable expressions until Kyungsoo uncomfortably broke eye contact with a nervous laugh. He shoved a few more spoonfuls of cereal in his mouth before standing up to leave. 

"You're leaving already? I'll walk you out." Ara hurriedly ran to the hall closet and pulled out Kyungsoo's bag. He took it from her with a grateful smile while they walked towards the front door together. Kyungsoo opened the door hesitantly while watching Ara. 

"I'm going now, okay? I'll call you at noon. Be careful!" He waved and closed the door behind him.

Once he was gone, Ara ran over to the balcony window and stepped outside. The balcony was the only place Ara was really able to experience outside. Not to mention, Kyungsoo's cafe could be seen from the balcony. With the advantage of the apartment being on a lower floor, Ara was practically right across the street from the cafe. She carefully peered over the ledge of the balcony and caught the sight of her brother's brown head bobbing up and down as he walked towards the cafe. Ara's eyes moved from Kyungsoo to the cafe's front door and widened once she made eye contact with the person standing in front of the door. The stranger curiously stared at her with his head tilted to the side. Ara instantly backed away into a chair and fell on her onto the hard floor of the balcony. She could feel her breaths getting shorter and her heart jumping in her chest but stopped herself before her panic began to settle.

"It's okay, Ara. You're okay. He barely saw you. It's okay." She breathlessy whispered to herself. While exhaling through her nose, she could feel her heartbeat become slower and began to feel more steady. Pleased that she was able to stop herself from panicking, Ara picked up her phone and began to text Kyungsoo. It was progress and Ara wanted to report it to Kyungsoo right away.

Down by the cafe, Kyungsoo was unlocking the doors with the new waiter, Chanyeol, by his side. Chanyeol was still staring up at the balcony across the street, curious about the girl he made eye contact with. He swore he had seen her before, but couldn't remember where from. As he stared at the balcony, Kyungsoo turned and caught him staring. Kyungsoo lightly slapped Chanyeol's stomach with the back of his hand to grab his attention. Chanyeol immediately clutched his stomach and stared back at him.

"Quit looking so much at my apartment balcony. It's weird. Did Minseok tell you I lived there?" He questioned as he continued to open the doors. As they walked inside Chanyeol put the pieces together and gasped.

"Boss, you live with a girl? Is she your girlfriend?" Chanyeol's deep voice resonated throughout the cafe's high ceilings.

"Wait, what?" Kyungsoo immediately turned to face Chanyeol with furrowed brows and a gaping mouth. Right on time, Kyungsoo's phone vibrated in his pocket to notify him of Ara's text.

Oppa, I think I'm making progress :)

Chanyeol peeked at the text from over Kyungsoo's shoulder and raised a brow. Is the text from the same girl that I saw on his balcony? He thought curiously. It was only the first day and Chanyeol found himself much more interested in his new job than he expected he would be. Before he could ask any questions, Kyungsoo hurried off to the back room with the phone pressed to his ear.

"I guess they are dating then. I wonder what that text was about." Chanyeol muttered and blew a raspberry. Suddenly, a pair of loud voices arguing could be heard from outside as they moved closer towards the cafe. 

"I told you, if Taeyeon were to be dating anyone else, I'm pretty sure it would be another celebrity. Why do you suddenly think she likes you just because of a coincidental meeting on the street? You're just a random cashier at a cafe, not a celebrity." Minseok insisted while making excessive hand gestures. Baekhyun just rolled his eyes and groaned, frustrated that Minseok didn't understand his dilemma.

"Because we had a moment! Girls don't stare at guys for that long unless they like them. And we shared eye contact for like ten seconds!" Baekhyun shouted while nudging Minseok's side with his elbow.

"Maybe she was staring at you for so long because she thought you were so unbelievably ugly." Minseok spat back. Baekhyun threateningly raised his arm as though he was about to hit him but instead gave him a menacing look.

"Hello! Boss told me to wait for you guys to come in and train me!" Chanyeol bellowed and gave a quick bow. Baekhyun and Minseok's attention instantly turned to Chanyeol at the sound of his low voice. They both stared at Chanyeol with big eyes, both thinking the same thing. Tall.

"Oh! Chanyeol, right?" Baekhyun asked. Chanyeol nodded eagerly with a smile on his face. "Minseok used to be both the waiter and barista whenever he had to so he can teach you the ropes. I bused tables whenever Kyungsoo or Minseok couldn't so I can teach you too." 

In the back room, Kyungsoo spoke on the phone with Ara, excited to hear of the progress she had made a few moments ago.

"I'm proud of you, Ara. It's good that you controlled it before it came." He complimented her with a gentle smile. 

"I don't know... I feel like it was just that moment though. I bet the next time it happens... I'll lose control again." Her voice got quiet on the other line as she hesitantly finished her sentence. "I'm scared, oppa."

"I know you're scared but Ara, you can make so much more progress. Just know that in case it ever happens again, I'll be there. I'm so sorry I couldn't help you." 

"It's okay, since you weren't there I was able to make progress in the first place." He could hear the smile in her voice and smiled along with her. Minseok and Chanyeol walked into the back room, interrupting Kyungsoo's conversation with Ara. They questioningly looked at him, wondering what he was smiling at.

"That's good. I have to go now, Ara, but remember I'm proud! You did great." They said their goodbyes before hanging up while Minseok and Chanyeol watched. "What are you two staring at?" Kyungsoo grunted.

"Was that Ara?" Minseok asked with a small smile. Minseok and Baekhyun were both fully aware of Ara and Kyungsoo's situation. They both worked at the cafe before Ara faced problems with anxiety and were both very fond of her. But since they knew they wouldn't be able to see her any time soon, they were fine with just hearing stories about her through Kyungsoo.

"Yeah, she was just telling me about this problem she had. But she solved it all by herself." Kyungsoo answered, smiling back. He suddenly remembered the cause of the problem and glared at Chanyeol. "You! Don't look up at the balcony any more, okay? You scared the crap out of my sister." Chanyeol's eyes widened, confused at Kyungsoo's accusations. Instead of asking questions, he just nodded profusely until Kyungsoo walked away. Chanyeol was disappointed that he was lectured on his first day, but for some reason he was also relieved to find out that Kyungsoo actually wasn't dating the girl he saw on the balcony. Once he was gone, Chanyeol turned to look at Minseok.

"I don't get it... All I did was look at her?" Chanyeol asked innocently. Minseok just sighed and patted his shoulder.

"I guess you should know if you're going to work here." Minseok nodded, knowing it was better to tell Chanyeol than to keep him in the dark. "Kyungsoo's sister Ara is different. She hasn't left their apartment in more than a year. I can't tell you all of the details but to put it simply, she's scared of being judged by other people. That's why Kyungsoo didn't want you looking at her. He knows that she'll panic if she sees a stranger looking at her." 

"Oh..." Chanyeol frowned, suddenly feeling very guilty. 

"Yeah, so it's best to just ignore her and pretend like it didn't happen." Chanyeol frowned at this. Being a very friendly person, he didn't agree with ignoring someone. He just wanted to apologize and try to become her friend. He knew it must be lonely to be stuck in an apartment all day long. But instead of voicing his thoughts, he just nodded blankly. "So you saw Ara, huh? How is she? Apart from a few pictures, I haven't seen her since last year. What did she look like in person?"

"I didn't really think about how she looked the moment I saw her... But thinking about it, she's... cute. She has big eyes like Kyungsoo. And her hair is long and dark. And she's really short but also really petite. I would probably tower over her." He recalled her looks based on the quick glance he got before she backed away from the balcony. Even though it was a short moment, he definitely thought she was attractive. He just couldn't stop thinking of how familiar she looked.