ONE YEAR LATER

Los Angeles, CA

Wendy Son started to become a familiar name among music producers and artists alike. She went on to write so many successful songs, one of them sung by Adele, ending up as a famous b-side on one of her albums:

“I will leave my heart at the door

I won't say a word

They've all been said before you know

So why don't we just play pretend

Like we're not scared of what's coming next

Or scared of having nothing left

Look, don't get me wrong

I know there is no tomorrow

All I ask is

If this is my last night with you

Hold me like I'm more than just a friend

Give me a memory I can use

Take me by the hand while we do what lovers do

It matters how this ends

'Cause what if I never love again?”

While she had huge success (and profits) from working with such a famous singer, she still always opted for less popular, POC artists (if she had the chance to choose – which was becoming easier with her friend Henry’s help). One song she wrote in the early days after her breakup with Chanyeol became a hit for an indie artist, which she titled Jealous:

“I'm jealous of the rain

That falls upon your skin

It's closer than my hands have been

I'm jealous of the rain

I'm jealous of the wind

That ripples through your clothes

It's closer than your shadow

Oh, I'm jealous of the wind

'Cause I wished you the best of

All this world could give

And I told you when you left me

There's nothing to forgive

But I always thought you'd come back, tell me all you found was

Heartbreak and misery

It's hard for me to say, I'm jealous of the way

You're happy without me”

That the pain she felt – still felt, if she really thought about it – after her breakup with Chanyeol fueled her writing was an understatement. Heechul was happy for her success, of course, but he was always worried for his now-manager of the café. Seulgi still visited the US from time to time, checking on her parents and Wendy. She wanted to tell Wendy about how miserable Chanyeol was, how he always listened to whatever new song Wendy wrote, and how he obviously still loved her – but Wendy always insisted that she was “fine” and she’d “already moved on” (Wendy did try dating around, but nothing lasted).

Heechul promoted Wendy to external operations manager of the café (delivery, sourcing of beans, etc.) – her time was more flexible now, and he let her write songs, and she still manages to accomplish all her tasks at work. Heechul wanted to take a step back on the whole process of the café – he just wanted to be the owner now, frankly – especially since he knew that his philosophy lived with his more loyal employees (and truthfully, Heechul wanted to lead a quieter, less stressful life with his husband and kids). He compartmentalized the operations, sales, and marketing to his trusted employees, and business seems to have improved even further.

Wendy now traveled all over the world to look for farmer communities that produced good coffee beans and form partnerships with them, making sure to directly interact with the groups through trusted nongovernment organizations – with as little middlemen as possible. She went to Ethiopia, Kenya, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala – you name it. And every time she spent time with these communities – she always left with a good impression with farmers. Most of them were exhausted with how they were being treated by exporters and traditional markets, giving them measly pays for their harvest; but of course, following Heechul’s philosophy (and her own), Wendy made sure that the farmers got more than a fair share. Wendy also always spent a day or two at orphanages in the countries she visited, donating a large sum of her royalties from songs to support children’s education. She never told anyone about it; she just went about it because she felt a responsibility, a pull toward those who also lost their parents.

Traveling and managing the café’s external operations helped her forget the breakup that she went through one year and two months ago (though she still knows the exact date). She wasn’t even sure – was it a breakup? It just seemed to abruptly end. Even though she did say that they needed at break, in the end – she still felt that it wasn’t their choice to break up.

Although she tried her best to avoid any Korean royalty-related news, she couldn’t block them out altogether for a year. Chanyeol was, apparently, also going around the world, working with foundations focused on providing sustainable livelihoods for single mothers and making education more accessible to orphans. Wendy, in the back of her mind, wanted to think that it was her who made him drawn toward orphans, children and young teens who lost their parents – but Wendy knew that Chanyeol was just kind. He did things because he cared.

There were times (lots of them) when Wendy would think of Chanyeol, and the urge to write songs would always come to her, just to manage the pain she felt at the moment.

But she had to move on now.

A MONTH LATER

Kiambu, Kenya

If Wendy had to choose a favorite country for their coffe