Jieqiong

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I was caught up in a midday lull, chin perched on the wooden bar as dwindling crowds of people frisked passed the cafe, not even sparing a glance inside.

I had been swamped with work since a few days ago, the soreness from dance still clinging onto my arms and legs. I was usually a very hyper, upbeat person, but somehow I wasn’t feeling it today. God, was I ever eager for Christmas break to roll around.

I heard the distinct sound of my Corinne Bailey Rae ringtone blare out from within the break room, startling me out of my zombified state.

I was one to keep it professional at work, so my friends knew not to call me since I wasn’t going to rebel and pick up anyway. That said, I was typically busy, the place ratcheted up in popularity the past four months after a bit of a shameless promo on Insta from MeiQi. Today, however, was slow. I doubt any of the sleep-deprived adults rushing passed would enter in the three minute period (max) that I’d be absent...right?

Plus, if one of them were calling then it had to be pretty urgent or interesting for them to interrupt my work.

I swept my eyes across the room. All the kittens were asleep and peaceful. They’d be okay if I left for a just a little bit. My muffled ringtone in the break room repeated itself and I pushed open the door and clicked the green answer button, not really caring who was on the other end, just wanting to satiate my growing boredom.

“Helloo?”

“Unnie!”

I recognized the voice immediately. It was Yoo Yeonjung, a junior of mine from high school. She’d recently graduated and went to the same college as me, looking to major in the vocal region. I wasn’t even slightly surprised when she told me that’s what she wanted to pursue, her voice was top notch. Like, seriously, top, top, top notch.

“Yeonjungie!!” I called back, grin stretching across my face and energy spiking in my veins. Ugh, I loved talking to her, she was such precious child. “Why are you calling all of a sudden, aren’t you busy?”

“It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter!” She exclaimed, excitement bubbling through my phone speakers. She’d always been hyper.

“Yah, you’re gonna make me deaf, calm down!” I teased. Seriously, though, she had to learn how to bring down the decibel count sometimes. Even I don’t get that noisy. 

“No, I have a favour to ask you!”

I huffed. “Really? I’m working and you interrupt me for this?”

“It’s really minor! I’m doing a rendition of Ben’s Like A Dream for evaluations, and I want you to be my critic! It’s today, late after school. Probably around seven-thirty. You’re done at six, right?”

I balked, genuinely unsure if I’d be able to do it. I didn’t even know if I was qualified, I mean, I was a dancer not a singer. “Would I be the appropriate choice? Wouldn’t that cute girl you mentioned be more suitable?”

“Sungyeon?? No, no, she has a date tonight.”

I anxiously glanced at the wall clock. We were nearing the three minute mark. “Okay, okay, I’ll do it!”

Yeonjung took in a gasp. “Ahh, love you unnie! Sorry for this!”

My heart warmed. “Love you, too, I’ll see you there!”

I hung up with a sigh. Realistically, I should’ve declined, use the time to sleep in, but I couldn’t turn down Yeonjung. I put my phone on silent, preemptively blocking any more unexpected phone calls. If XuanYi were beside me (which she should’ve been, by the way, she took a day off since she was jet-lagged from her trip to China) she would’ve teased me for being a pushover. I liked to think I was just generous.

I shouldered open the door, almost tripping over my feet at the sight of a pink-locked girl standing there. What the hell were the chances of that?! The one time I take a break from manning the counter, we get a costumer. Dad would murder me if he found out.

“Oh, goodness, welcome!”

She jolted, I must’ve scared her. I stood up straight and actually looked her in the eyes.

And...

Wow.

She was pretty. Like, really, really, really pretty. Her hair was rose-gold, her eyebrows were filled in, her eyeliner was winged, her lipstick was a striking red, and her skin was porcelain. Did a doll walk in just now?

It took me a few seconds, but I reattained myself, noticing how the girl was still a bit dazed, looking at me square in the face. Oh, jeez, her stare was scary almost.

“Miss? May I help you?” I asked her carefully.

She blinked, a slow and hypnotizing motion. Damn, were her lashes ever long. “I...” she narrowed her eyes at me and my stomach flipped. I grinned out of nervousness. What the hell? Does she recognize me from somewhere? Why am I so worried? Jesus, I need some sleep. “I...aughsf.”

I tilted my head. Was that a noise of disappointment? Was I disappointing?

Why do you care so much about this girl’s opinion, Jieqiong, get ahold of yourself!

I nodded at myself as the girl raised a sinewy finger and pointed behind me. Oh. I frowned. She wanted my necklace.

This wasn’t a rare occurrence at all. I’d say the item was unavailable, they’d get irrationally angry at me, then leave the cafe to never return. I was usually relieved whenever that’s happen. But I was much too tired to take from anyone. Especially her.

“Oh, sorry miss,” I said cautiously, “that actually isn’t for sale.”

She deflated, and I unconsciously winced, ready for the sharp-tongued complaints to be thrown at me.

“O-oh, I see, no worries.”

Woah. She was, like, actually understanding? Nine times out of ten, the person would demand a valid reason for why the item wasn’t for sale, or storm out of the cafe (yes, sometimes even after they’d paid the admission fee.) I was just blessed by an angel. “Was it for something important?”

A war waged across her face, scrunching up slightly in a way that reminded me of a Shiba Inu. It was cute. Really cute. Why did I find it so cute? “M-my friend’s birthday is in, like, two days and I’m doing some last minute shopping...?”

Oof, I ed her pretty bad.

“Oh, my God, I’m so sorry,” I said in earnest, praying that I didn’t sound disingenuous. “My father made it for me—actually, he made everything on this wall for me—and I don’t think he’d be happy if he found out I sold one of his gifts.”

Woah. Why did I blabber all of that out? Was I that psyched about having a chill costumer for once? I’d never conversed passed the professional limitations of ‘what would you like?’ and ‘how was your day?’ with any costumer before, even when I was at my absolute peak of excitement. What was up with me today?

“Is there anything else I can get you?” I asked quickly to eclipse the previous background spillage. “This is a cat cafe, so I can brew you tea or coffee and you can lounge with the kitties! It’s only 8000 won for admission.”

She tossed the proposition around in her head, rosy brows crinkling and mono-lidded eyes slanting. She was, wow, really freaking cute and pretty. Why was I so blown away by her beauty? Jeez whoever ends up with her is a lucky man.

I snapped out of it when she faced me. “Will you be out here too?”

My stomach did a flopping motion again and I blinked twice in tiny surprise. Wasn’t that considered, like, kinda greasy? Was she trying to be greasy? To me? Was I reading too much into it?

Why am I reading into it in the first place, God, get a grip, Jieqiong!

I chuckled and tucked askew locks of my hair behind my ear. “Yes, I will. An employee always has to be out monitoring when customers are here. You’d be surprised at the number of attempted catnapping.”

She raised her brows ever so slightly.

I just said catnapping! Catnapping!! Um, yeah, that was super lame! Man, how I hated sleep deprivation with vehement passion.

The girl exhaled an amused (?) breath and looked at me square in the face before the world’s sweetest, most gorgeous smile stretched across her elfin features.

It hit me with the strength of a dump truck for some reason, and I couldn’t align the instant request of my brain to, y’know, smile back, with my body. I really had to nap as soon as I got back to the dorms, I just wasn’t myself today. Smiles were the things that came easiest to me next to dance, I must’ve really overexerted myself this past week. God, I’m becoming like ChengXiao.

“S-so can I order?” She stammered.

“Ah, take a seat I’ll get you a menu and serve you.”

She nodded, seating herself in the corner, on the (newly ordered!) leather booths. Mitty, the six year old Russian Blue liked to lounge there.

I simpered at the sight of her cooing at the kitten whilst snapping photos as I grabbed a menu and walked over to the table.

Okay. Take two. I don’t know what had happened at the counter, but time for me to mould back into professional Jiejiong.

She craned her head up to look at me, and I smiled to distract myself from her deep, hazel eyes.

“Oh, I see you’ve got Mitty there,” I started to say. She stared harder, and I was completely stripped of all my inhibitions once again. I went off on a tangent. “We named him that because when we found him he was declawed. Now he has the fluffiest paws out of all the cats—kinda like mittens! I-It’s honestly a bit saddening but, y-y’know, I thought you wanted a bit of a backstory.”

She blinked and ran a palm down her face, and I felt my intestines twine together with embarrassment.

I shook my head. You still got this, Jieqiong, just find a way through it, c’mon! “Anyways, I’ll give you a few minutes to look over the menu. My name’s Kyulkyung by the way,” I said, giving my Korean name as practiced.

She nodded, flashing me a whim smile as I turned, suddenly very apprehensive of the items she’d elect to order. It wasn’t that I wasn’t confident in my ability to prepare them, it was that.....actually, why the hell was I worried? Jeez, was today ever a weird day for me. I picked Mochi (a brown, Exotic Shorthair; he’s on the pudgier side, but he’s healthy!!) off the ground and sat him on his favourite carpeted ledge before grabbing the broom from its compartment and sweeping up his bark-like fur.

In the midst of it, my eyes drifted to the woman in the corner again. I never really registered how cute her outfit was. A black, horizontal-striped shirt with red frills just under the collar, red shorts and really nice shoes. She also had shapely, creamy legs that seemed to extend to eternity. Now that I thought about it, she stood a centimetre or two above me and I knew I was pretty tall already. Hm. Interesting.

I scanned my eyes up and almost yelped when I saw that she caught my stare, the broom slipping past my fingers and almost falling to the floor hadn’t I grabbed it.

Smooth, Jieqiong, real ing smooth.

I walked over briskly, the shame flooding my head. Why was I staring at her? I seriously had no time for my nonsense. “Have you decided?”

She nodded, keeping mum. I understood that, I’d be pretty weirded out by me, too. I almost wanted to tell her that I was having an off day, but I couldn’t for some cryptic reason.

“Okay, what would you like?” I asked, keeping my tone casual as a way to sort of erase my past actions.

She placed a hand over her chest, and looked down at the menu, and I could see the faint traces of glitter in her eyeliner, and the umbrella-like fan of her lashes.

I want to see her face even closer.

The thought flickered in the back of my head, but I persisted against addressing it.

“A vanilla latte and a butter croissant please.”

Oh, that was a relatively simple order. Latte art was a hidden talent of mine, I was happy that she was one of the costumers I could showcase it to. I grabbed her menu and grinned. “Okay! I’ll be right back with your order.” I saw her hand skate through Mitty’s fur, and suddenly, my mind was disconnected from my body. “Oh, and,” I began to say, brushing my hair aside and leaning over to clasp her hand. It was small. Like, tiny. And frickin soft. I guided her to caress Mitty backwards, as he preferred. “He likes it when people pet him this way.” I winked at her, something Like pride swelling in my chest when her jaw fell open, before moving back and rounding the counter.

And that’s when my brain decided to come back to me.

Holy , Jieqiong.

What did you just do?!?!?

I in a breath as my thoughts whirred about my head like a tornado. That was wildly unprofessional, and I don’t do unprofessional. I was playful, I was kind and conversational, but never unprofessional and...flirty.

Distressed, I took a moment to drop my head to the counter, the cool marble a stark contrast to the searing surface of my forehead.

This couldn’t be because of fatigue.

That scared me.

I shot up, slapped my cheeks, and went to working on her order. I made a nice flower in the coffee, remaking it once to ensure every detail was made with perfection. I toasted the croissant and plated it, observing it from every possible angle before holding the tray on my steady palm and walking over. She was getting done tapping something into her phone as I approached, instantly brightening up upon seeing that her order arrived. I placed the items in front of her and clapped my hands—a serving habit of mine. “Okay, you should be set! Enjoy!”

She did a kid-like bounce, “I will, thank you!” My heartbeat fluctuated at the scene and I couldn’t pinpoint why.

I gravitated away from her, mind just absolutely cluttered as I vacantly grabbed the lemon spray and went to wiping down the already clean counters. It was a little wasteful, but I needed some form of distraction.

From her.

I discarded my thoughts again, fingers clenching around the hand towel and moving in irregular circles.

I moved to the next table, and Bao, a fluffy white Ragdoll leapt atop the counter to greet me, nuzzling her nose into my cheek. It alleviated some of the inconceivable weight off my chest, and I smiled into the gesture.

The energy in me returning, I slid over to her. “So, Miss, are we done here?”

She gently bobbed her head. “Y-yes it was scrumptious, thank you!”

Yeesh, what a relief. “Oh, gosh, that means a lot to me, Miss, thank you.”

She smiled, and the world around her seemed so much dimmer in comparison. “My name’s Eunwoo, no need to call me ‘miss’. Expect to see me back here, I’m already in love.”

Woah.

Eunwoo. That name suited her well. It was just...wow what a fitting name.

“Eunwoo, huh...how pretty.”

It rolled off my tongue naturally, and I hardly felt an ounce of regret for saying it.

You could use it multiple times, now that she was gonna be a regular.

Holy , that made me way too happy.

“It was really nice meeting you, Eunwoo,” I said, completely shutting out my subconscious. “Again, I’m really sorry I screwed you over with the whole necklace ordeal.” I picked up her napkin, pausing upon spotting the lipstick stain on the paper. I do the exact same thing. What were the chances of her having the same habit as mine? Perhaps this was fate.

My God, shut it, Jieqiong.

“It was really nice meeting you, too, Kyulkyung. You do an excellent job at running this place. A-and don’t even fret over the necklace, it’s yours after all. It was pretty uncool of me to try and buy it in the first place.”

My heart felt warm. She was such an understanding and chill costumer. “Wow, gee, you’re like, my favourite person right now.”

She chuckled, and my stomach flipped. “H-honestly, ditto.”

Hoooooo...Kay. That wasn’t the response I was anticipating at all. I was her favourite person too? What did that mean?

...What did any of this mean? Was I in denial? Was I trying to mask something? I didn’t know anymore, and I felt queasy but I didn’t loathe it. If anything, today was strangely gratifying and I just had no idea why.

My eyes riveted to her and I felt fireworks explode in my head.

No. No, I did.

It was her. She had some sort of effect on me, and I had to woman up and acknowledge that.

I urgently needed to talk to Xiao.

“Wow, thanks!!” I giggled, playing it casual, “I’ll be waiting for you to visit again, so keep your word and come back, okay?”

She cracked a tiny smile and nodded. I took her tray to the sink with trembling hands as she went around the cafe, making sure she pet every kitty before waving goodbye at me and leaving.

A family walked in shortly after, and I instantaneously felt like myself again.

Holy ...

...

It was late, the final slew of costumers exiting with wide grins on their faces. The cats were fed lots today, so I made sure not to overload their food bowls when putting them in their crates. After all of them drifted off, I removed my apron and changed into my casual clothes, sighing haggardly when pushing into the break room.

The first thing I did was phone ChengXiao. She picked up fairly quickly, as expected.

“Jiong Jiongggg~” she greeted me affectionately. I felt all the tenseness in my muscles instantly ebb away. God, how I ing loved her.

“Xiaoooo~” I whined back.

“How was work? XuanYi wanted to drive over and apologize. She said she’s taking two of your shifts as a way to repay you.”

I scoffed at the mere prospect of that. As if I’d ever allow my best friends to exhaust themselves. “Absolutely not. That girl needs sleep.”

“You need sleep.”

“I’m fineee.” I appreciated her concern, but I couldn’t let her fret over me. Our group was full of dumb girls who overworked themselves, and most of our time allotted to freaking out over one another’s loss of sleep when we were lacking some ourselves. 

“Oho? Then why are you calling me? Come home now, the room feels empty without you. Eunseo just left.”

I snorted, “oh, good. No one needs to see you two rolling around together.”

She feigned hurt, “um?????? That’s blatant homophobia.”

“Shut the up.”

She chortled, and I smiled out of reflex. Her laugh had always been adorable. “Seriously, though, why the call?”

I bit my lip at the reminder. We tended to spring in and out of context when chatting, especially over the phone, and I’d gotten lost in my euphoria of talking to her after a long eight hours of no contact. Now that I was actually put in the position to confront what I originally planned to, I felt daunted.

“Oh...um...well, I...uhh...”

“Yes, yes, do take your time,” she said sarcastically.

I frowned. “Shut it, this is difficult and embarrassing okay?”

She went silent. “Woah, the Zhou Jieqiong finds something difficult and embarrassing?! Have I crossed into an alternate dimension?”

That was entirely uncalled for. “Ugh, please, I’m not in the mood.”

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry, take your time baby.”

I puffed out my cheeks. Realistically, this shouldn’t have been hard. She was my best friend. Like, best, best friend. Even more so than MeiQi and XuanYi. I trusted her more than anyone, and I told her everything. Plus, she was like the gayest person I knew, and a pretty confident one, too (gotta admit that MeiQi and XuanYi beat her there, but go figure.) Plus, I could tell she really wanted to know what was on my mind. “Um...well, a costumer walked in today and—“

“Oh?” She cut me off, voice pitching in the way it did whenever she teased me. “Was he cute?”

I flinched at the pronoun. “Uhh...actually...”

“What? Why? Oh, my God, was he not cute but you caught feelings for him anyway??“

“No—“

“Did he have a girlfriend? No way in heck is she prettier than you!!”

“Xiao—“

“Or maybe he—“

“It was a girl, ChengXiao.”

She went completely quiet, leaving me in dreadful suspense. I prayed that it clicked so that I didn’t have to elaborate or explain myself, because honestly I didn’t have an explanation for my behaviour around Eunwoo. That was what she was here for.

Of course, it hadn’t. Xiao was, unfortunately, on the denser side.

“Oh. Ohhhh, sorry, I blew this completely out of proportion. It’s just been a while since you’ve liked someone and I got excited. What happened? Did the woman give you trouble about your wall?”

“No, no Xiao, she didn’t.”

“Then did—“

“I’m gonna have to ask you to stop making suggestions, because they’re all way off and it’s making it even harder for me to say what I need to.” I might’ve been a tad too brusque in hindsight, but the sour taste that had embedded itself in my mouth got worse the longer I kept this in.

“Oh,” she said dejectedly, “s-sorry, Jiong Jiong, go ahead.”

I sighed, my chest tightening. “I think...I think I might like...this woman who walked in today.”

Dead. ing. Silence. I swore I could hear the cats sleeping from the next room. She must’ve gone on mute, I couldn’t even hear her breathing.

“Um,” she finally said, voice cracking slightly. “What?”

I exhaled, nerves on hyperdrive. “I think I may have a crush on a girl, Xiao.”

Nothing could prepare me for the Bloody Mary of a scream that ripped through my phone speakers.

“Omigod, omigod, omigod, omigod, omigod, ohoho my GAWD!!”

I held my device away from my damaged right eardrum, yet it still sounded like she was in the same room as me. “Shhhhhh! Jesus, Xiao, keep it down, you’ll wake the dead!”

She was still horribly excited, giggling like a schoolgirl. “I’m sorryyy!! I’m just!!! So happy!!!”

I was stressed out about her explosive reaction, but felt relieved to have disclosed my conniption (?) to someone who I knew cared. “Okay, okay, okay, just...I’m really confused and-and scared right now, Xiao. I kinda need you to take this seriously.”

She took a few measured breaths to quell her excitement. “Anything for you, Jiong Jiong.”

“So,” I began, hand sweating so much around my phone I had to switch it to the other. “What does it mean?”

“Backtrack a bit, walk me through it.”

I told her everything. From how awestruck I was the moment I saw her face, to the flutters in my stomach and the gripping sensation in my chest whenever she’d smile. In recounting all of this to her, I envisioned Eunwoo sitting in that spot in the corner, looking absolutely breathtaking and my cheeks tickled and burned at the image.

Xiao (surprisingly) kept her cool as I spoke, humming here and there to indicate she was listening. When I finished, she carefully asked, “so does this mean you’re gay?”

Woah. That was a difficult pill to swallow. What the , I was so dumb, why hadn’t that cross  my mind even once? “O-oh, I-I guess I am. I mean, what other explanation is there? Holy , I’m gay.”

Xiao laughed and I nearly wailed.

“Why are you laughing??? I’m having a mental breakdown here!!”

“Because you’re travelling at the speed of light right now, babe. This could just be a simple girl crush. Straight girls have tiny crushes on girls all the time. Of course, that’s not always the case and you could very well be gay, but you’ve only seen this girl once and you’re already flipping your lid. Plus, you’ve been straight your whole life!!! Suddenly switching identities because of a fifteen minute interaction isn’t exactly...reasonable.”

I relaxed, leaning back into the chair I was seated in. “You’re right. God, you’re so right. Ugh, your mind.”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Xiao tutted, “you mentioned that she’d visit again, though, correct? If you get this way a second time then we need to have a talk in person with Mei and Xuan too.”

“That sounds great. I don’t know what I’d do without you, Xiao. I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Jiong Jiong. Anything else you need to tell me?”

I smiled, “no, I think I...”

Oh . It was seven twenty-five.

Yeonjung.

“!” I exclaimed, “I have to go, Xiao, Yeonjung needs me for something, I love you and I’ll see you at home!!”

“Okay—“

I hung up abruptly, combing my fingers through my hair and checking my makeup before shutting the lights and locking up. I ducked into my car, adjusting the mirror before revving the engine and driving off. I hope I’m not late.

 

 

A/N: sorry this chapter is obscenely long, I hope it didn’t get repetitive. I just wanted to ensure you knew where they both stood in terms of what their first impressions were of each other.