It begins, like so many things do, on a Monday.

Like usual, Chaeyoung opens the shop promptly at six. Jeongyeon’s working the afternoon shift, so Chaeyoung’s alone until Jihyo comes in at noon. She absentmindedly puts on a pot of coffee, muscle memory working where Chaeyoung’s half-asleep brain cannot. This early, Deja Brew, is practically empty, entered mostly by adults on their way to work and college students looking for a caffeine fix. It gets a little busier around six-thirty, and Chaeyoung mindlessly works the morning rush, doling out latte after macchiato after cappuccino. When a peaceful moment arrives among the din, Chaeyoung pours herself a cup. She absolutely abhors the taste of coffee, would much rather have tea, but forces herself to drink a cup everytime she has an early-morning shift. As she sips the sugar-laden coffee, the mental fog clears, Chaeyoung glances out the window, and that’s when she notices.

The empty building across the street has always seemed fated for demise Chaeyoung can track its previous residents in a laundry list. The last one had been a cheery frozen yogurt store, one of Chaeyoung’s favourite tenants. It used to be that she and Tzuyu would stop by after work on Tuesdays; that had been months ago, before Tzuyu had left the shop to go to vet school and Arctic Delight had closed. It had been a while since the frozen yogurt store had closed, and Chaeyoung and Jeongyeon had started making bets on what would open next.

Chaeyoung’s spotted a new sign going up, proclaiming the store to be Fleur-de-Lis. Through the windows, she sees a few girls— one with obsidian black hair catches her eye. She’s pretty, wearing a black strap dress with a white shirt underneath and a choker on her neck. She looks chic. She can’t make out flower shop girl’s face, but Chaeyoung writes go visit across the street– welcome basket, pretty girl?? on a sticky note and sticks it underneath the counter. Blushing furiously, Chaeyoung opens her phone behind the counter— she probably has a few minutes before a customer comes in, and she wants to inform Jeongyeon of her victory.

🍓gongju: ha, you owe me $10! the new tenants are moving in—i called it; a flower shop!

no🍯hyung: hshshhshdhhs no i really wanted it to be a hot topic! This is emo oppression!

Chaeyoung rolls her eyes and shuts off her phone— she really doesn’t get 75% of anything Jeongyeon says. She’s still looking at the black screen when the bell above the door rings. As Chaeyoung’s head snaps up, she quickly thinks about the movies she watched. In those, she would glance up and it would be pretty flower shop girl and Chaeyoung would completely suave.

“Hey! I was wondering if I could get some drinks for me and my friends?”

It’s not pretty flower shop girl. However, it is a pretty flower shop girl— Chaeyoung spotted her through the window, too. The girl— Chaeyoung’ll call her pretty flower shop girl #2— has short black hair, and is wearing nerdy glasses and a track suit?! What is up with these girls making awful things look good? Chaeyoung thinks as she responds.

“O-oh! Oh yeah, No problem! What do you want? I mean we have coffee obviously but also… different coffee drinks. And tea! We have lots of tea!”

Smooth, Chaeyoung. Real smooth.

Thankfully, the girl ignores whatever that was, and gives Chaeyoung the order.

“Names?” Chaeyoung asks.

“Momo, that’s me! And then the latte is for my girlfriend, Nayeon. The last drink is for Mina.”

Girlfriend. Chaeyoung turned a shade of crimson and mentally began trying to guess if pretty flower shop girl #1 was Nayeon. She didn’t speak on it, however, simply saying, “So you guys are moving in across the street, right? Flower shop?”

“Yeah!” Momo replied, cheerfully, despite the early hour. “We’re just starting up, but Mina’s really excited about it— she’s the one jumpstarting everything. Nayeon and I are just along for the ride.”

“That sounds familiar to how we are here. I opened the café, and I’ve drug my friends into working here on numerous occasions. I love it, though— it’s amazing.” Chaeyoung looked around the café. It was mostly empty, but some people had lingered, relaxing in the comfy chairs with their drinks. She smiled gently— the shop hadn’t been her first choice, but it was what she had made it.

Momo nodded in response, and they fell into a peaceful silence as Chaeyoung prepared the drinks. When she was done, Momo took a sip of hers, and her eyes lit up.

“This is delicious! Chaeyoung, I’ll definitely be back. Thanks!” Momo exclaimed. Momo then carefully balanced the other two drinks in her arms and began backing out of the café. “By the way, Chaeyoung, come visit us sometimes! If you ever need to impress a cute boy, let us know!”

Chaeyoung nodded and then realized what Momo had said. “G–girl!” She practically screamed, startling nearly everyone in the shop. Chaeyoung turned bright red once again but continued speaking, “Pretty girl! That’s who I’d want to impress!”

Momo look stunned for a moment and then burst out laughing, “Glad to know. See ya!”

The second Momo left the café, Chaeyoung groaned. How embarrassing! She thought, looking through the window again. Momo was talking to two other girls— presumably Mina and Nayeon, though Chaeyoung had no idea which was which – and all three appeared to be laughing their hearts out.

Great.