What You Don’t Do

Lianne La Havas

I know what I got and I know where we're going
You don't need to show it, I already know it all
It's what you don't do, it's what you don't say

(It's what you don't do) I know you love me, I don't need proof

It's what you don't do, the games you don't play

(It's what you don't do) I know you love me, I don't need proof

Don't tell the whole world; just wanna be your girl

Moon Byulyi’s favourite customer always stayed late on Tuesdays. At first, it was purely coincidental. She’d quietly allow her customer to enjoy an extra cup of coffee—decaf by then—while she cleaned up. Striking as the woman was, Byulyi always secretly prayed that she would leave soon, or she was definitely going to get an earful when she got home. And on Tuesdays, she almost always did.

Even so, she quickly went from ignoring her customer to talking to listening. It was the kind of relationship she never knew she needed, and it all started with a moment of curiosity.

She had left her phone by the till one Tuesday, just as her customer had approached for her routine coffee. As usual, the customer had placed her order at the bar just as she began to close up. On that particular day, Byulyi’s phone lit up with an incoming call. The woman looked over at the picture of Byulyi kissing the cheek of a grinning pink-haired woman, and raised a brow.

Slightly miffed by this stranger’s reaction, Byulyi simply said, “Large decaf?”

Much to Byulyi’s surprise, the customer chuckled. “Relax, she’s cute.”

Byulyi looked up to meet her smokey eyes. “Yes,” she said slowly, “she is.”

“Actually,” the customer said, handing over her credit card, “I couldn’t help but notice she looks a bit like—”

“Yes, she’s a singer,” Byulyi sighed. It was a question she had come across many times before, especially when the subject herself walked through the door, too unaware of her own fame at times to remember her sunglasses and face mask. “Yes, we are dating. No, I won’t take a picture with you.”

The other woman scoffed. “I was going to say she looks like my girlfriend.” She flashed her phone to reveal a rather unflattering photo of a dimpled woman looking down at the camera from above her nostrils. “Though, I feel even closer to you right now knowing you’re dating one of the greatest singers of our generation. That was Solar, wasn’t it? I knew I felt this vibe from her! Wow, you must get a lot of comments.”

“We try not to broadcast it to the world,” Byulyi said tersely, hoping to curb the stranger’s building excitement.

“Ah, what was her real name again?”

Byulyi paused to swipe her eyes over the other woman. Apprehensively, she responded: “Kim Yongsun.”

“She was quite the legendary rookie back in her day, wasn’t she?”

Byulyi passed a freshly French-pressed cup of coffee across the counter. “Yeah,” Byulyi mumbled.

“When did you meet?”

Byulyi grit her teeth. “College.”

“Dating a celebrity isn’t quite what everyone expects it to be, huh?” The woman sighed, tapping her long fingernails across the counter.

“No. Let’s just say...it’s not easy. I don’t recommend it. I hope that answers all of your questions. If you don’t mind, Miss, I’d really like to get home.”

Finally, the customer reached out and touched the blue cup, but hesitated, suddenly thoughtful as she chewed her lip. “My name is Ahn Hyejin, by the way,” she said with an expectant glow in her eyes.

Byulyi’s brows shot up. “You’re—”

“Yes, I was in the tabloids last month. Yes, we are in love. And no, I won’t take a picture with you,” Hyejin cut in with a small smile.

Byulyi smirked. “I was going to say I see you every Tuesday, but now that you mention it, you’re dating Jung Wheein, aren’t you?” Byulyi tucked a hand beneath her chin and leaned on her elbow, and whistled. “Didn’t she win the Best New Female Artist award this year? Not easy, is it?”

Hyejin sighed. “No, it really isn’t.”

“Isn’t her studio nearby? You’re waiting for her, aren’t you?”

“Yeah. I work in a restaurant, and we close a little earlier on Tuesdays. I could go home, but I’d rather not go back to an empty house if I can help it. Besides, I like your coffee, and if I wait around, I pick Wheein up once in a while.”

“Suddenly, I do feel closer to you now,” Byulyi said with a grin, “But you do realize my cafe closes at 11, right?”

“Yes.”

“And I have someone waiting for me at home.”

Hyejin shrugged. “Well, now I know. I know I’ve been selfish, but you seemed really nice. Now I’m even thinking it’s meant to be. Oh, but you should return that call to Miss Solar.”

“Oh no,” Byulyi muttered, scrambling for her phone. “I almost forgot.”

“Well, I guess I’ll just take this and go. Thank you, Miss Barista,” Hyejin said, raising her cup with a smile.

Byulyi’s phone flared to life once more with her girlfriend’s name across the screen, but as much as she dreaded her wrath, her thumb hovered over the green answer symbol. “Wait,” she said, just as Hyejin was about to turn around. “It’s Byulyi. My name is Moon Byulyi.”

Hyejin looked up with a crooked grin. “Nice to meet you.”

“Yes...just…”

“Yes?”

“Don’t give up on her,” Byulyi said, her eyes drifting wistfully to the past, “I...if she’s worth it, don’t forget why.”

“I won’t,” Hyejin replied with a wave of her hand, “I love her more than anything in this world.”

“Good.”

“Thank you, unnie.”

Since then, Hyejin returned every Tuesday to ask for her cup of coffee at 11 PM. On some days, she would arrive earlier, but she always waited until the last customer left to approach Byulyi.

There would often be a question, a note of insecurity she needed to decipher, perhaps, or something she just needed to get off her chest. While most of these worries were quite familiar to the older barista, Byulyi was often surprised by what she discovered through these conversations. Distinctly, there were two things.

First, Hyejin and Wheein were far bolder than she ever was with Yongsun.

“What do you mean her manager caught you two in her dressing room?” Byulyi said, aghast.

“Obviously you change clothes in a dressing room, unnie. And you have to be sort of when you change.”

“But why were you there? And why were you ?”

“If I showed you the outfit Wheein had on, you’d understand. But then I know what kind of face you’d most likely make and I’d have to punch you out of protective jealousy.”

“Well I’m glad you’re so self-aware,” Byulyi said, backing up a little from the bar where Hyejin always sat. She had a feeling that Hyejin would likely not think twice about climbing over the bar and into her workspace if she ever wanted to punch her.

Hyejin cracked a smile. “Let’s just say we’ve had a long time to figure out my flaws. Besides, don’t you support Yongsun unnie at her shows?”

“Sometimes. But I don’t get with her. Oh my god, weren’t you afraid of getting caught?”

Hyejin raised a brow. “We did. That’s why I don’t understand why it’s a big deal. We came out. Everyone knows we’re crazy about each other. Isn’t that enough? I mean, Wheein kisses me on the street.”

“WHAT?” Byulyi dropped the cup she’d been cleaning into the sink, and whipped back to give Hyejin a look of pure horror.

But Hyejin simply shrugged a shoulder. “It’s not a big deal. We should fight for our right to love freely, don’t you think?”

“Oi, you’re going to give me a heart attack one of these days.”

Second, Byulyi and Yongsun had very different ways of working through their differences.

“What do you mean you just ignore each other?” Hyejin cried. “How the do you solve anything?”

Byulyi rubbed her neck sheepishly. “I mean, we get over it pretty quick. Like we fight, I send her a cute picture of a puppy or something, and we make up.”

“So that time she had to go to China for a week and didn’t contact you…”

Byulyi shrugged. “I slammed a door in her face, but she started it since she ate my yoghurt. I probably deserved it, but she did too!”

“You two are children, you know that?”

“That’s a rude thing to say about your elders, Hyejinie.”

“Okay, but what about big problems? Fundamental problems? You can’t just pretend those don’t exist.”

“We just it away when we have time,” Byulyi deadpanned.

“Unnie!”

“I’m kidding. Seriously, I am,” Byulyi laughed. “I mean, there was a time when that’s what we did, but eventually, things boiled over. It had to. One time, she’d posted pictures with other girls in the industry, and—you know how it can be when you don’t see each other, or have any real, meaningful conversations for a long time—I thought she was going to leave me. People in that business are so amazing and beautiful, and I’m just...me. Sure, I have a small business and I do alright for myself, but I had my doubts, you know? I think she found me crying on the carpet one night and we talked through it. You really have to when nobody has the time or energy to try and read minds. It’s a lot better now that she doesn’t have as many schedules. We just fight over stupid , but I love her all the same.”

“You two are gross and adorable, and I love it.”

“What about you and Wheein?”

“Well, we’ve known each other almost all our lives, but I’d be lying if I said we didn’t take the ing-your-problems-away path once in a while. I mean, it doesn’t always have to be , but we’ve definitely ignored things and hoped that love can work things out on its own.”

“What kind of things?”

Hyejin took a sip of her decaf and drummed her fingers on the cup. “Like this tabloid situation. I know she’s trying to be brave in front of the media, but my Wheein is really sensitive. I know she wants to keep her private life separate from her professional, but it’s impossible. And...I think it’s my fault that I put her in this situation.”

Byulyi, who has been cleaning the counter with a rag, stilled. “What do you mean?”

“Well, we never really talked about it, but someone caught us in front of our apartment, and I guess I was the one pushing her to come out. She’d been wanting to, but I don’t know if she was ready. I just kind of pushed her while the opportunity was there. But I guess I’d always been kind of rash. She sees a lot of things I don’t, and looking back now...I was really selfish, huh?”

Byulyi shook her head. “You want to show the world she’s yours. Love openly. I can understand that.”

“I’m going to call her.”

“I...kind of want to give Yongsun a call too.”

“Same time next week then?” Hyejin said, already hopping off the stool with her phone in her hand.

“Hey, we should hang out,” Byulyi said. She exited the bar to walk Hyejin to door as she did every Tuesday night. “All four of us, maybe. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I think it might be nice. I think Yongsun is just dying to meet you two.”

Hyejin grinned. “We’d love that.”

Despite the differences, it quickly became apparent that the two pairs were two sides of the same coin. Two generations of love trapped in the same fast-paced world reflected in a double-sided mirror.

There were days when talking to Hyejin made her envious, but there were also days when talking to Hyejin made her want to run home and throw her arms around Yongsun and tell her how much she loved her. The best part was sometimes telling Yongsun about what they’d talked about, and seeing her wide-eyes shock or hearing her laugh ring through their shared apartment.

It was inevitable that Hyejin would become one of her closest friends. She understood what it was like to be one of the luckiest women in the world, yet feel the weight of paradise on her shoulders. She knew what it was like to make one compromise after another, to accommodate your partner’s dreams, yet still be able to love with your entire being.

And all it took was a moment of curiosity.
 

Notes: I had a moment of madness last night as I was watching a bit of Elementary and had the urge to write about pure and beautiful friendships. Fortunately, I had this idea saved on my phone for a while now! I know it's a bit short, but I hope you enjoyed this snippet of Hwabyul being cute and whipped mutuals. 

I've also updated the Table of Contents page to give you a comprehensive look at all the stories in this collection with titles, summaries, and word count!