"So, how's your first day of school?" Ara asks, skillfully pouring the steamed milk into a shot of espresso, creating a beautiful leaf pattern.

Ara is homoual, but the fact of her being a lesbian never ever bother Eva. Reminiscing the day she was strolling on the streets of Daehakro-gil and saw a flyer on the road stating that a cafe was hiring a barista. The shopkeepers bell rang with Eva's entrance, adding charm and music to the cafe. She walked to the counter timidly and was immediately greeted by the heartwarming twenty-seven-year-old owner. Not much words were spoken and Eva was hired. It was that simple, at the same time she was relieved that she didn't have to struggle with the language. She was still learning. Eva thought that she was hired without any condition probably because the cafe was in need of employees, seeing that there's only a person working on the coffee machine. 

The cafe where Eva works at is just a simple and cozy place, only few blocks away from her school. A week after working at the cafe, she eventually gets attached to the job and gotten closer to Ara and the owner. There was only the two of them working in the cafe, while the owner always nestling behind the cake display chiller, occupying herself with her new discovery of activities every week. As for Ara, she's a very intelligent person. With her brown pixie haircut and extremely good looks, she's practically a heartthrob, high school girls would visit the cafe once a week just to take a glimpse of her. Sadly, Ara has a girlfriend, and she's drop dead gorgeous. Besides that, Ara can be defined as a coffee expert, there's not a type of order she can't make. There was one time a high school boy came to the counter with blushed face, "I would like to order six cups of somersault feat liquid lightning." By the looks of a group of boys which are of the same age as him choking on their laughter at the back of the cafe, he must have lost a rock-paper-scissors game. "Doneness?" Ara muttered with a straight face. "W-what?" "Doneness of somersault feat liquid lightning?" Ara repeated. "Erm... Medium rare?" Five minutes after, six cups of black coffee topped with chopped onions were served. Eva stared at them with amusement, stifling a laughter. 

And now, Eva is standing in front of the coffee machine. It feels much more like home for her to once again be a barista. Oh how much she misses the aroma of coffee when she was gone. The job was no longer a barrier for Eva because she finally grasps the language, only a tiny bit lacking, now she can even take orders.

"The school is huge, plenty of rich kids, nice food, beautiful environment. I don't like it." Eva sighs. "It does sound amazing. Isn't it every girl's dream to get into that school? I've heard that there are a lot of good looking guys." Ara wriggles her eyebrows and nudges Eva with her elbow. She continues, "Only two years left and you're leaving that high school. Who knows you will find yourself a boyfriend?", she chuckles teasingly. "No, not from that school." Eva says while eyeing the customers, there is a group of students from her school, they are of the lower classes. 

The cafe closes earlier today. It was six in the evening and Eva is walking to her home, with a cake box in her hand. Usually there are leftover pastries when the cafe closes. The owner being the generous person she is, she always offer Eva and Ara to pack them home.

A skateboard bumps her foot and bounces away, catching the girl's attention. She looks across the road and a boy is running to her. The sunset ray shines brightly, his hair has a lighter brown and she can't make up who that person is. "Hey Evianna, what are you doing here?" Mark pants, his tone fills with excitement, it almost sounds like he is happy to see her. "I-I... who are you?" "Mark? I'm Mark!" He lowers himself to match her height and leans his face up close. Eva can't help but blush immediately, she can feel his minty breath fanning over her face. He is seriously handsome. "What are you doing here then?" "You aren't suppose to repeat my question. Well, this is my neighborhood. My house is over theeeeereee~" He pointed and stretches his neck. Then he somehow lays his eyes on the cake box. "What's that?" "Are you hungry?" "Totally." 

Mark drags Eva to the playground and sat themselves on a bench. "This is so good. Where did you buy it from?" He speaks with his mouth full, while struggling to poke the cherry with his fork. I can't tell him it's leftovers from the cafe right? He will probably spit it out. "The Mug's Coffee." She continues when Mark eyes her with curiosity. "It's three blocks away from our school." "I'll definitely go there someday." "Well... I work there-" "You work?" He says, as if you've grown another head. Is there something weird about it? "I can bring you some if you want to." Mark shrugs off the question he asked earlier and frowns with cake stuffed in his mouth. "Are you trying to make me fat?" He looks like a angry chipmunk. "No. No. I meant-" "I was just joking. I love cakes. Bring me cakes! " Mark says to Eva, but the last sentence sounds more of like an order to her. With that, she grabs the fork from his hand and shoves the cake into his mouth. Mark is obviously shocked because he's staring at the girl with wide eyes, a light shade of pink tinted his cheeks. Eva curses mentally. "N-never knew you were that... straightforward." Mark stutters. "I'm sorry. It was out of habit. I can't stand it when people leave their food get cold." Making up an excuse, she smiles sheepishly. "But this cake is already cold..." Mark mumbles lowly, question marks forming in his head.

The brilliant red sunset fades into a bruised purple. "We should be heading to our home now." Mark jumps off from the bench and dusts his pants. "Yeah, see you tomorrow." They wave at each other and proceed to their footsteps. Surprisingly, they are walking in the same direction. "Are you perhaps walking me home?" Mark gulps, still not over the shocking event. "What? No, I'm not. My house is right over there." He nods half heartedly, not believing her words.

"So, how did you get into our school? I meant, out of so many places, why did you come to Korea?" He attempts to start a decent conversation. "Father's business." There goes the ice princess. The atmosphere totally dies. "What do you think of our school then? Good?" He gives another try. "Bad." Awkward. That's the only word you can describe the situation Mark is in now. "You're one of a woman with very few words, huh? That's rare." "I don't like normal." Eva squints her eyes from the sudden strong wind. "Well that explains. Even your eyes are hazel." He actually noticed that? Eva blushes again, from the thoughts of Mark studying her facial features. 

"Alright. I guess this is where we finally say our goodbyes?" They stand in the middle of the road. "See you tomorrow." Eva smiles warmly, her eyes follow Mark as he enters his house. That house looks so familiar. Wait... Does that mean...? She dashes into her house, stomps into her room. From her window, she sees Mark throwing himself onto his bed.

Define fate.