she looked through the shelves of the gift shop finding a snow globe the most interesting item there. using both hands, she held onto the small nick nack delicately. she peered over the shelf, and her eyes met with him, who smiled at her. he, who was speaking with the owner of the gift shop, motioned toward the girl to which the owner enthusiastically nodded.

jimin met wonpil when she was a freshman in university.

she was at her university’s activities fair during her second week of school when she was going to pass the boy with the thick glasses and curly hair who had set his booth up at the end of the hall. that is until she heard him call out to her. being the nice person she is, jimin stopped and turned around and met the president and only member of the entrepreneurs’ club.

finally having someone to listen to him speak, wonpil gushed on about the club and all the things he had planned for the year. wanting to leave, jimin hastily wrote her name down on the sign-up sheet with the intentions of not following through. but wonpil was persistent. he called her daily. it eventually got to the point where jimin set up a time to meet with wonpil to once and for all to tell him off.

however, when she got there, wonpil enthusiastically talked to her. as the time went by, jimin realized how earnest wonpil was and felt horrible for getting wonpil’s hopes up. she ended up becoming a member of the club. while the club for the majority of the time was just the two of them and the sometimes the appearance of wonpil’s boyfriend dowoon, it was fun, and jimin grew to be fond of wonpil.

little did jimin know, wonpil would go on to become the ceo of daeshiks group, one of the largest and most influential companies in korea. wonpil dragged her along every step of the way naming her his secretary. jimin was the organization a brilliant mind like wonpil needed.

and here they were now in a tiny gift shop in the middle of the airport. jimin was allowed to pass through airport security and continue onwards to the center of the airport despite not having a ticket.

the two exited the gift shop. while jimin held the snow globe, wonpil gripped his suitcase. usually, jimin would be pulling a suitcase of her own as she would accompany wonpil on his trips, but this trip was different.

“i can’t believe you are really leaving,” jimin said as she looked at the snow globe not daring to look up as she felt tears threatening to escape her eyes.

“i know, but this is for the best. as much as i love the company, it's time for me to do something else. i just gotta go look for what that something is, and i can't do that here,” wonpil explained.

jimin nodded. she had known why he had to leave, but that fact didn’t prevent a teardrop from rolling down her cheek hitting the snow globe.

a woman's voice blared through the intercom, “calling mister kim wonpil to gate 3a. calling mister kim wonpil.”

“i guess it my time to leave,” wonpil said with a smile. the words jolted jimin to the realness of the situation as she broke into tears.

“jimin don’t cry.” wonpil wiped away her tears with his free hand. “i would never leave without making sure you are okay first. one of my closest friends has been looking for a secretary. i told him you’ll be working for them in a month.”

“thank you so much, but you shouldn’t have worried about me. i’ll be fine,” she said between hiccups. “i’m just going to miss you a lot.”

“and i’ll miss you too which is why i got you one last gift before i leave,” wonpil said as he removed his hand from her face and reached inside his jacket. pulling out an envelope, he handed it to her. “don’t open it until you get home.”

jimin stood in front of the cafe which had a sign that read ‘stray kids cafe’ in large bold print. peering inside, she noted that it was empty aside for what seemed to be staff members.

upon walking into the cafe, she was pleasantly surprised. it was welcoming despite being extremely spacious. the walls were decorated with pictures and little sticky notes of encouragement that the staff had written to cheer on the busy students. the cream color of the walls and the brown chairs at the tables reminded her of her home. spread across the cafe were the staff members.

as jimin took in the cafe, a pale male with a curly head of dyed gray hair, walked forwards extending his arm and spoke, “it is nice to meet you. i’m bang chan. i’m the manager here at stray kids cafe. mister wonpil said that you might be coming today, so we took the courtesy to close the shop to get acquainted with you.”

jimin shook his hand and greeted the male as well as introduced herself.

wonpil really planned this out didn’t he? jimin pondered to herself thinking about the contents of the envelope he had handed her the day before.

besides including a check with a rather generous bonus in the envelope, wonpil offered jimin the opportunity to perform at one of the cafes he owned for the time being as he knew that she loved singing. wonpil always understood her the best, so to read this proposal, jimin was delighted that he had come up with such an idea. the letter ended with the location of the cafe and information on all the staff members. she decided that she would use her first day off to check out the cafe.

“please take a seat miss park. we are really honored to have you here with us,” chan said as he pulled out a chair. the others moved out of the way to let her go through. reacting to the anxiousness in their actions, jimin laughed which surprised the boys.

“i’m sorry. i tried to be professional as long as i could but really miss park? do i look that old to you guys?” jimin asked trying to regain composure from laughing as she sat down. the members shook their heads intently to reassure her that she did not look old. she instructed them to also sit down to which they did.

“first things first, jimin. just call me jimin. chan, i am the same age as you. as for the ones younger than me, feel free to call me noona, but please do not call me miss park. got it?” jimin warned playfully. this time the members nodded their heads. “now with that out of the way, please introduce yourselves.”

as jimin would learn, the cafe staff members were divided into four roles: cooks, baristas, servers, and cashiers. in charge of cooking were chan and woojin whereas changbin, felix, and minho were the baristas. lastly, hyunjin and jeongin were servers leaving jisung and seungmin to be the cashiers.

“i have a request,” jimin began as jeongin finished his introduction.

“yes of course. anything for you jimin,” chan said.

“now that i know all your positions, may i order something? i would love to have a walkthrough of the service here.”

the nine of them looked at each other before they stood promptly and scurried to their places. jimin giggled as she walking to the cash register where seungmin and jisung where fumbling were with the key.

jimin looked at the menu hanging on the wall behind the boys. the entire staff listened carefully so they could begin the order immediately. they were left shocked to hear her order one of everything from the food menu (albeit the food menu only had four items) and ten different drinks.

the pair looked at each other not knowing what to do or if jimin was joking. not wanting to offend jimin, chan coughed and told the boys to hurry up. when they finished putting in the orders, they motioned for jimin to take a seat.

seeing as the servers and cashiers were not doing anything as the others were preparing food, she called them over. instantly, they crowded her.  

“seungmin what’s your favorite song?” jimin asked. seungmin looked taken aback before telling her it was day six’s you were beautiful.

“speaking of day six, don’t you think that mister park looks like someone in that group?” jisung piped with a smile. jimin and the other boys looked at jisung incredulously before he put his hands up and backed off.

“anyway, i asked because i want to let you guys hear what i sound like before i perform tomorrow. what if i have a horrible voice and wonpil is just forcing you guys to let me sing because he’s your boss?” jimin laughed.

hyunjin played the instrumental to the song as the others continued to work on the orders. the cafe was filled with the sound of the cafe’s speaker system and of shuffling of all the members as they cooked and made the drinks. then jimin began to sing, and once that happened the only sound that could be heard was her voice as everyone paused to listen.

jimin closed her eyes to carry on singing the song. the song continued to grow more beautiful as her voice emphasized her emotions. eventually, the song finished as jimin let out one last note. when she opened her eyes, she looked at the four boys who stared at her in awe. they began to clap, and soon the entire staff erupted into applause.

“thanks for the warm response. i guess all that singing in the shower really paid off,” jimin said.

“you mean you’ve never had professional lessons?” seungmin asked as his eyes widened to the size of saucers.

“nah. i was too busy tagging along with wonpil oppa to have time to do anything besides be by his side.”

jimin then asked hyunjin for his favorite song. he told her it was once again by mad clown and kim nayoung but then hesitated to add that there was a rap in the song. jimin grinned and told him to do the rap for her then.

the younger boy dropped his jaw and shook his head saying that he couldn’t. he didn’t know how to rap. jimin countered by turning to jeongin and asking the youngest whether hyunjin knew how to rap. naively, jeongin nodded.

that was all that jimin needed to know for her to tell seungmin to play the instrumental.

jimin began the song slowly as jeongin, seungmin and jisung clapped along to the beat of the song. hyunjin, on the other hand, waited anxiously for the rap to come up. he practiced the words in his head, and when the moment came, mouthing the words to his rap, jimin held onto his hand.

hyunjin felt at ease and let the words flow out of his mouth. jimin bobbed her head along to his rap riding off his words into her own singing. jimin had begun by leading hyunjin, but by the end of the song, hyunjin had control of the song.

when the song finished before hyunjin even had time to process what had happened, with stars in his eyes, jisung eagerly asked, “noona can you please sing yoon jongshin's like it next?”

“jisung, she’s not a vending machine. don’t ask her to sing for you. besides jimin’s food is done,” chan said as he and woojin placed the food down for her.

“her drinks are also done,” minho added carrying four drinks on a tray as felix and changbin followed behind him.

soon the table was overfilled with food and drinks. jeongin handed jimin her utensils and jimin reached forward to begin eating.

“wait. why aren’t you guys eating?” jimin asked before pausing to look up at the nine boys staring at her. “don’t tell me you guys thought this was all for me?”

they sheepishly smiled at her.

“oh my gosh. what am i going to do with you guys? i ordered this for us, so hurry up and dig in before the food gets cold.” the boys looked at chan as if asking for permission. and he shrugged his shoulders before sitting down to eat a piece of rice cake.

the day slowly transitioned into the night as they ate until they were so full they could barely breathe. in addition to food and drinks, while jimin told them side-splitting stories, there were plenty of members doing imitations of famous people as well as endless amounts of cringeworthy aegyo. after telling perhaps her ninth-story that night, jimin yawned and looked at her phone. it was nearly midnight. she sat straight in her seat and announced that it would probably be best for her to leave.

the boys couldn’t control the emotions that showed as their faces were washed with disappointment. jimin stood, and chan did too.

“actually, that would be perfect as the others need to start cleaning anyway,” chan said turning to look at the other members who all stood up to avoid getting nagged at.

“today was great. i look forward to coming here to spend time with you guys this month. if you will excuse me, i have to get home before it gets even later.”

“let me walk you outside,” chan insisted.

“i’ll be fine,” jimin replied. “however, before i leave, i must do one thing.”

chan watched as jimin went from member to member to bid them good night before coming back to him. she bowed and went off.

“hyung,” hyunjin began as he watched jimin walk out the cafe door.

changbin let out a grunt.

“i think i am in love with jimin noona,” hyunjin sighed as he swept the floor thinking about the day.

“you and the rest of us,” changbin said as he wiped down the table they ate at earlier. he pointed to the other members around the cafe all looking equally starstruck.

the older male hoped that hyunjin was too busy thinking about the older girl to recognize that changbin was just as dazed as they all were.

-

to chan’s surprise, jimin came to the cafe to help the staff members with their tasks. although chan refused her help saying that she didn’t need to do anything besides come whenever she liked. in response, jimin threatened to leave instantly if he didn’t allow her to help.

as a compromise, the jimin started by working the cash register due to having experience from doing a part-time job during high school. she not only was fast, but she was efficient. the boys who worked the counter had been working there for a year but still found themselves fumbling yet here she was first timer working effortlessly.

the day after jimin came once again. the next position she took to was serving. of course, she was a natural. the customers loved her just as much as the boys did. her sarcastic humor and quick wits made her extremely likable.

the day came when jimin walked into the cafe to find an amusing sight. the nine members were spread across the cafe doing various tasks. the older members were working together to set up the microphone and fix the speaker system while the youngers decorated a corner of the room which they would deem the stage. seeing jimin, the pulled her over and told her to sit.

jeongin, who was always shy around jimin, walked up to her and spoke, “noona, we have a keyboard in the back room i use sometimes. if you know how you can use it or we can find instrumental. whatever you like is fine with us.”

“you’re offering your keyboard for her to use?” jisung raised an eyebrow. “you don’t even let me touch your keyboard.”

“well that’s because it’s you, and i was just trying to be nice.” jeongin blushed. jimin grinned and pulled the boy into a hug.

“i think it’s cute. anything is fine with me jeongin-ah. hell guitar works for me too. right woojin?” jimin said with a wink. woojin, who was drinking water, coughed choking on his drink. chan laughed and patted his back.

night came quickly, and the jimin felt uncharacteristically nervous.

after the area cafe was prepared, jisung hung a sign onto the window which advertised “live entertainment”. the cafe was as full as ever, but the member agreed that there were many unfamiliar faces probably individuals who passed by and were curious and wanted to see what was advertised.

half an hour before closing time, the lights in the cafe dimmed, and chan walked to the designated area of the cafe. he tapped the microphone which gained the attention of the customers. introducing himself as the manager of the shop, he welcomed jimin. the boys clapped enthusiastically.

“hello everyone. i am park jimin. thank you for coming to the shop tonight.” jimin bowed before sitting on the stool. “tonight i will be performing some songs i have prepared, and in the future, i would love to take requests. the first song of the night is miss a’s are you dazed.”

she looked at hyunjin to begin the instrumental. while waiting, she explained the song and what it meant to her. after her description, she bobbed to the track and immersed herself in the song.

just as the boys were countless of times she sang to them per their request, the audience sat amazed at her voice. almost as if she was in a world of her own, jimin embodied the emotions of the song.

the boys had stopped working momentarily to watch jimin. chan wanted to scold them to tell them to get back to work, but he, who walked to the entrance of the cafe to greet incoming customers, watched the scene before him with contentment. he’d let them be just for today.

jimin sang four more songs that night before thanking the audience for supporting the cafe. seeing the audience’s reaction, jimin grinned from ear to ear her heart pounding. every performance was followed by loud applause and compliments, but the final performance had even louder and supportive cheers which also included jisung and felix screaming.

chan flipped the open sign to have the ‘close’ facing the outside when the cafe closed after the last customers shuffled out of the shop but not before they stopped to praise jimin. he turned around to the others with a grin “i’d say that was pretty successful.”

“not only did we get extra traffic today, we also got to listen to jimin noona sing more than usual.“ seungmin added as he wrapped his arm on jeongin, the younger not resisting as he was all smiles.

“you guys act as if people don’t come here regularly just to stare at your handsome faces.” jimin giggled.

the boys all became flustered at her words and denied her words to which she tasked and grinned at them.

they all stood to begin cleaning up. jimin found herself following minho, changbin, and felix to the kitchen. she had planned on helping them wash the dishes. of course, they refused her, but with one look they cowered and let her squeeze in between changbin and felix occasionally blowing a bubble or two towards felix.

-

like any other day, jimin was at the cafe, and it was almost time for her to perform. however, she was talking with changbin, who gone to take a break, about a song he had been working on for the last few days. talking to changbin eased her nerves that came to her because this night she would be taking requests.

taking requests meant people would have certain expectations. and what would she do if she didn’t meet those expectations?

jimin felt a hand on her shoulder. the owner of the hand was none other than chan who came to tell her that they were ready for her. excusing herself from changbin, she stood to follow chan who explained how the night would go.

“jisung and seungmin were in charge of telling customers about leaving requests at the counter. i told them to then compile a list,” chan paused to hand jimin a small card. “and here it is.”

jimin looked over the list as she sat down on the stool. the lights of the cafe dimmed and jimin felt the warmth of the spotlight against her face. she was at the fourth song on the list when she noticed a male sitting at the other corner of the cafe.

the male was dressed as if he walked out of an editorial as he was dressed formal attire not a hair out of place. all that was missing was a suit jacket. although he is seated, jimin could tell that he was tall in addition to his handsome face. however, his looks were not what garnered her attention, it was his presence.

although he was still, it was almost as if he was calling out to her. she felt chills from his stare. she gripped the microphone tightly as she sang. without even knowing it, she found herself singing directly to him. there was not a moment where either one of them took their eyes off each other.

after she finished the song, there was a short intermission. she searched for the stranger to see if he was still there, but jisung popped out and blocked her view as he handed her a glass of water. jimin thanked him with a smile but tried to look behind him. after successfully moving past jisung, jimin saw the male. the male smiled raising his cup to her.

taking a sip from her cup and then placing it on a table, jimin walked up to the male feeling courageous.

jimin took the seat in front of the stranger before saying, “i don’t know what, but something tells me that you requested the song just now.”

the stranger smirked, sipped his drink, and nodded.

“so how did you like the performance?” she leaned in, curious to hear his answer.

he smiled before looking down at the table in front of them. she felt her heartbeat quicken in anticipation of what his voice would sound like and what he would say.

still looking at the table, he spoke slowly, “i really liked your voice,” he paused and looked up. “it’s pretty. just like you.”

jimin felt as if her breathing stopped as red spread across her face. she was a lost for words. luckily for her, chan had caught sight of her and called her to go back to the stage.

“um, i’m up again. i’ll catch you later.” jimin stumbled through her words as she bowed slightly walking away. still feeling flustered, she bumped into a customer as she walked to the stage.

sitting on the stool, she introduced the next song. although she sang every song with sincerity, this time though she sang with more intensity knowing that the stranger was there. midway through the song, jimin watched as the male checked his phone, stood up, and then walked out of the cafe.

jimin didn’t know why or how, but she felt her heart sink. she wanted to stop him, tell him to come back, but she kept singing.