If there was one thing that Lynn loved more than jewels, lace, or herself, it was coffee. She never viewed the caffeinated beverage as a vice or an addiction, more as… a necessary part of her life that she must have at least three times a day. She sighed, tossing her curled hair over her shoulder as she made way towards her usual coffee shop.

Unfortunately, there’s one thing that Lynn also does not like: Waiting. As impatient as she was, her eyes narrowed at the enormous group of college aged students and middle aged business people bustling about, desperate to get their black coffee before hurrying off to the office. It was times like these were Lynn really, truly considered herself the lucky one. She'd go absolutely insane if she had to spend eight hours on average sitting behind a desk in an enclosed space. She sighed, pursing her lips as she considered her options. She could stay and wait for the line, but then she'd be late greeting little Fei Mao, and she was almost positive Madame Zhang requested her presence around noon. Lynn pulled her phone out, tapping the 'Map' icon and scrolling through coffee shops near the area of her loft. Like previously stated, she is not one to wait on anyone or anything, even if it's coffee. Her eyes caught a particular coffee place, a name in English, which isn't surprising seeing as Starbucks is huge, but it was listed as a home grown coffee bar and she was intrigued.

Lynn doubled tapped the shop's name, looking over the reviews and upon finding that it was only minutes away from her complex, decided that it was the place to go. All reviews had given it at least 4.5 stars, something even Starbucks didn't usually acheive in this city. And if it's a good cup of coffee, then she'd absolutely have to try it. And with tucking her phone back into her purse, she set off, the name lingering in her mind.

 'The Coffee Break.'

It took twelve and a quarter minutes to get there, because when Li Lynn needs coffee, she needs coffee and will not let wearing two and half inch heels stop her from getting caffeine. She saw the little faded painted sign reading the name in English and the hanzi underneath in neat blue lettering. The corner coffee shop was small, 'quaint' would be a good word to describe it, she thought, taking in the aesthetics of the place before opening the front door.

"Hi, welcome to your Coffee Break, let us know how we can make it the best one you've had!" A cheerful, low voice greeted her, and she nodded, her eyes already locked onto the menu while breaking in the heavy, lovely smell of fresh coffee beans. Lynn had a feeling that she had made a very good choice and this place would soon be at the top of her lists. As her coffee craving kicked in, her other, much worse, craving kicked in.

"Of course I would want a cigarette right now." She sighed to herself, pulling out the pack and lighter in her pocket, sticking one inbetween her lips as she looked for her card so she could pay.

"Sorry miss, you can't smoke in here." A bored voice laced with irritation interrupted her search, and she paused for a minute, as if processing the request. After a while, she looked up, "Oh?" with her cigarette still firmly in .

To say the man before her was good looking was an understatement in Lynn's eyes. He was quite beautiful despite his disgruntled expression, his eyes still locked onto the stick in . "Oh."

"Yeah, Oh." He sighed, running a hand through his hair as he tried to contain his eye roll. She gently took the cigarette out, placing it back in the case as well as the lighter, her card taking its place inbetween her fingers. She glanced up at him through her lashes, as he looked everywhere but her. Pretty pink lips, sculpted nose, rounded eyes squinted with irritation....

"Did you know that you're very beautiful?" Another thing Lynn prided herself in: Her bluntness. She never saw much of beating around the bush. What's beautiful was beautiful and the noun that had the privilege of having that adjective used to describe them should know.

The barista looked startled, caught off guard at the sudden comment, but his surprise soon turned into a scowl. "I don't know if you noticed, miss, but I am a man."

Lynn stopped from handing her card over, ignoring the quiet exasperated groan coming from the man over the counter, scoffing, "So?"

"Well beautiful is a women's--" He was cut off by Lynn's hand, his eyes wide and almost glaring down at the woman and her hand blocking his mouth.

"I'm going to have to cut you off right there. Who says that beautiful is an adjective exclusive to women? A man can have a beautiful face, just as a woman can have a handsome face. I find the whole idea of gendering words to be quite preposterous anyways, much like I find that when words are usually associated with the female gender that men get so offended. Is masculinity really that fragile? I can’t possibly comprehend it sometimes… how much was it again for my coffee?" She asked, brandishing her card once again.

The barista raised an eyebrow and looked down at the tablet, "4.69. You're very strange."

"So I've been told, but it's not in my nature to lie. But enough about me and holding up the line that's surely forming behind me, here." Lynn finally relinquished her card to him, after sliding it through the system and handing it back, she slid the card back into her wallet and waiting at the counter for her coffee. It took about seven minutes and fourty-five seconds for the latte to be ready, and she noticed that the same pretty faced barista handing it off to her.

Lynn grasped her cup, and at the same time holding onto the barista's hand. He looked at her again with raised eyebrows.

"What's your name?" She asked, tilting her head ever so slightly.

He sighed, "Luhan, miss. Why does it matter?"

She took the cup from him, "Because I'm curious, that's why. A beautiful name to match your face, by the way," she ignored the way his eyebrow twitched at the adjective, "I'll have to remember it, darling, now have a good day and don't be too hard on yourself. Even beautiful people like us have off days." And with that, Lynn was out the door, contentedly sipping her coffee and heading down the street out of the coffee shop's window. Luhan leaned against the counter, looking out after her with a furrowed brow. A shorter man peeked out from behind the cappicino machine, eyeing his co-worker.

"You okay, Han?"

Luhan nodded, pushing off of the counter and going back to the register, "Yeah. What a strange woman..." He mumured the last part, pushing the odd woman who tried to give him a lesson in gender equality over a literal cup of coffee into the back of his mind.


It was about half past six before Lynn heard anymore commotion from the outside world, and it was in the form of a rapid knock on her door while she was getting ready for her job tonight. Mr. Park was a very good dealer that worked under her Ye Ye, and tonight was a hand off and she needed to be there so she could recieve the bulk payment and hand it off to Ye Ye. After, of course, splitting the cash with Mr. Park as part of his salary. She finished buffing out her face powder before opening the door, looking down to see her landlady.

"Madame Zhang, how nice to see you!" She greeted, giving the older woman a toothy smile. The old woman's eyes disappeared into her wrinkles, returning the smile just as brightly.

"Hello, dear. Getting ready for work, are we?" She asked. Madame Zhang knew that Lynn worked odd hours, but never intruded because, well, as long as Lynn paid on time and didn't break any major rules of the apartment complex, then she wouldn't pry. Lynn nodded in affirmation.

"Yes ma'am, did you need something?"

The old woman nodded back, "Yes, actually, I just have a few announcements that I know you wouldn't be aware of unless I came down here myself, so I wanted to make sure you were, well, in the know, as they say." She chuckled a bit at her use of language, before going back to her original purpose, "But anyways, oh dear..." She squinted past Lynn, a habit she had when she lost her train of thought (which was often.)

"The news I needed to know...?" Lynn offered in an attempt to jog the old woman's memory. Madame Zhang snapped her fingers, showing that she had remembed, "Ah! Yes! The news! Now dear, I know you're used to being able to make a racket for the lack of neighbors... But that's about to change, you see."

Lynn raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Is it?"

"Yes, five of them actually, right across the hall there." She motioned to the door, which now Lynn noticed was slightly ajar, "So I wanted to let you know, and it's good that I caught you before you go to work and the weekend. Just remember to be quiet and please remember your keys. I can't have you buzzing me at all hours of the night anymore and disturb your floor mates." Lynn laughed goodnaturedly when Madame Zhang mentioned her keys. She was notorious for not remembering them when she went out for her job and always had to end up buzzing Madame Zhang at whatever godforsaken hour it was. Usually, it wasn't a problem, since most tenants lived on the upper levels and Lynn lived down on the third floor, but it now seemed like she'd have to give some others some respect and be aware of her surroundings and those in it.

"I will try, Madame." Lynn promised, "But I can't promise any significant changes right away."

That earned another hearty chuckle, "All I ask is for honest attempts. Alright, that's really all I needed to tell you. I'll go sweep through the apartment once more before they arrive, do greet them properly once they're settled, all right?"

Lynn nodded, bowing as Madame Zhang bid farewell and left across the hall. She closed the door, sitting in front of her vanity and paused to ponder the idea of neighbors.

"Should be interesting, I suppose. As long as they aren't apart of the Triad or make Fei Mao mad, I won't be too bothered." She decided, before picking up her eyebrow pencil and adjusting her closeup mirror. "Time to make my face before nine."


This was a bad idea. Such a bad idea, Lynn thought, struggling to keep the man currently 'escorting' her home about an arms length away. After the success of the hand off, with both Mr. Park and the Li family now holding a very hefty and satisfying sum of cash, she had been invited by this Mr. Park to an upscale, exclusive bar to celebrate, meeting and making small talk with a few people while there. A man by the name of Kim Joonhyuk had offered to take her home after paying for her drinks, and she considered it a very polite move on his part and accepted the offer. She was starting to deeply regret her choice.

"Gon' let me in, sweetheart?" He grinned, leaning against her apartment building's wall. Lynn grimanced, he reeked of stronger alcohol than she had tonight, it was incredibly unpleasant.

"No, I don't think I will. Please, let me call you a cab--" She offered, pulling out her cellphone before being shoved roughly against the wall. She sputtered, surprised at the sudden aggression.

"You in' t...tease." He slurred, glaring at her. "Thinkin' you... you better tha' me. Thinkin' you... you can jus' flirt and leave..."

Lynn glared back, "I never flirted with you, now let go of me."

"Yes you did!" His volume rose suddenly, his grip tighter on her shoulders, "You... you smiled and said I was cute..."

"So?" She shot back, anger rising, "You men are all the same. When you sat it, it's all casual and we shouldn't be offended when you say so, but when I do it, suddenly I'm a tease, or a , a , and honestly I find it quite rude and unfair."

Joonhyuk did not like that at all, growling, "Why you lil--" and raising a hand towards her, and just as Lynn was reaching for her pocket knife to relatiate --

"Excuse me, is there a reason why you're raising a hand towards my girlfriend?" This stuttered both of their movements, turning towards the voice. A tall, dark haired man with deep bruising under his eyes was standing there, his arms crossed as he watched the scene.

"Girlfriend? So you a two timer too?" Joonhyuk accused, roughly pulling Lynn away from the wall and inbetween the two men. Lynn pulled her arm out of his grasp, twisting Joonhyuk’s arm in the process, and went towards the taller male that had tried to defend her. He was the much safer option of the two at the moment.

"Excuse you, those words used against her is unnecessary, after all I clearly heard her say no and I'm pretty sure you were the one inviting yourself in." The man said, stance protective and pulled her close to him, as far away as he could from the man in front of them.

"I'll tell tha boss on ya, ya , ya tease, tha' you won't do as ya told!" Joonhyuk hollered, and Lynn flushed in anger. Never had she had a man treat her with such blanant disrespect. Surely a few insults on her intelligence, many of which were proven damn wrong, but never such shameful words towards her have been used.

"Based on assumptions, you’re her coworker and I’m going to ask you to leave before things get more out of hand. After all, from what I’ve witnessed she’d be able to report you to HR on Monday morning.” The man was still calm and collected, but she could feel the anger and danger rolling off of him in waves. The drunken man let out a holler, taking a few threatening steps, fist raised, and then --

Thud.

Lynn loosened her grip on her pocketknife, letting it drop back into her purse, her eyes wide as the tall man massaged his left hand, glaring at the now crumpled man on the sidewalk. Without missing a beat, he stepped over the body, walking over to a little old beat up car on the curb, pulling out two moving boxes and handing the smaller one to Lynn. As she was still in shock, she took the box and followed him up the stairs, eyes wide and the indent of her knife's handle still in her right hand. Her eyes stayed trained on the man's back, and he stopped on the second floor, where boxes of various sizes stood out in the hallway between the open door.

Oh. She blinked, looking between the boxes and her door. That's right, she was getting new neighbors, and it appears that one of them helped her out. She turned towards the tall man, who had set the box down and was now smiling at her. She noticed that when he wasn't being really intimidating, he looked quite young. He still felt safe, which Lynn relaxed with. He wasn't just pretending, so it affirmed her taste in judgement even when in fear.

"Hi, I'm Zitao. Bad date?" He asked, still smiling that wide smile. She nodded on impluse. "Yeah... Thanks. Oh," She held the box out, "Here." He took it, thanking her and stacking it with the others.

"Are you... one of the neighbors moving in?" Lynn asked, trying to peer around him to the open door. He nodded, "Yeah! Oh wait, are you our neighbor? That's hilarious, who would've thought, huh?" He chuckled, hands on his hips. Lynn smiled.

"Quite funny."

"Tao, what's taking you so-- Oh. Hello!" A short, rounder faced man came out, eyes peering over at Lynn. She smiled and bowed politely. "Hello, I'm Lynn and I live next door. Zitao was just helping me out, he's really a darling, honestly." She covered him. Zitao nodded, his smile forming a small playful pout. "Yeah, Min-ge, I was just --"

Lynn blinked rapidly. "M-mingi??" She asked, the familiar sounding nickname falling quickly from her lips. Zitao furrowed his brow. "Yeah, Min-ge, his name is Minseok... Have you heard it before?"

"Oh, uhm, no darling, really I haven't." Lynn quickly recovered, inwardly horrified at her reaction to the similar sounding nickname to her dear friend, "Just, it's cute, I wasn't expecting you to be younger than him..." She made the excuse. It was believable enough. Zitao bought it and laughed loudly, squeaking at the ends of his breath. Minseok, as he was called, even managed a laugh.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss Lynn." Minseok greeted, before turning to Zitao, "We have to get these moved in, Han, Jondae, and Xing are literally falling sleep on the couch all together and it's a weird tangle of limbs and I don't want to look at it anymore." Zitao nodded, grabbing three stacked boxes and hauling them into the apartment. Minseok smiled at Lynn. "Sorry for the short introduction, but..."

"Oh no, I understand. I suppose I'll greet you all before the week is out, darling?" She asked, fishing out her keys. She was glad she didn't have to climb the four flights of stairs to Madame Zhang's to get the spare. "I actually am suffering from a headache and have an interview tomorrow, so I'll head in. Do get some rest, darlings!" She called into the open apartment, before opening her own door and closing it, leaning against the other side. Fei Mao lifted his head towards her, as if asking if she were alright. She sighed, placing her purse and keys down and kicking her heels off.

"Fei Mao, why are men so fundamentally terrible?" Lynn wandered over to him, draping herself on the couch where he was resting. He moved to the armrest, meowing in protest.

She turned to look at him, pouting, "Of course I don't count you, you're just a darling fat thing, aren't you?" She cooed, scratching behind her cat's ears. He purred in response, leaning into the touch.

Lynn shook her head, still scratching Fei Mao's head. "I just don't get it." With that, she picked up her large cat and stumbled towards her bedroom, ready for bed. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.

Whaaaaat another chapter??? Incredible. Guys these take me so long to come out with since a lot happens in each one TT^TT But it's FINALLY out. So we met the cute barista and a Zitao and Minseok! Lynn is always prepared and has a fat cat and thinks men are terrible (rightfully so, I'd like to think). But that's it for this episode, tell me what you think! Was it good? What do you think is going to happen next? For those of you who want Yifan to make an appearance, unfortunately it won't happen till a little later -- but it'll be totally worth the wait, I swear!! ;u; Anyways, Happy Reading and have a great Sunday ~
-Smile / Rye