Soyeon glanced at the digital clock on the wall as she made her last round of serving customers. A smile flashed across her face. Yixing is probably at the airport right now, she thought. Excitement grew in her chest. She couldn't wait to see her best friend. She had a hard time sleeping the previous night thinking about what would happen during dinner. She already planned the things she would ask and say to him. She just couldn't wait!

The door opening snapped her attention away from her thoughts. She gazed at the entrance of the café and saw her colleague coming in. Her co-worker looked around, observing the relaxed ambiance of the book café before landing her gaze on Soyeon. She smiled and waved at her as she started towards the counter.

Soyeon approached her.

"Thank you for exchanging day offs with me, Mina," she uttered when she neared her colleague.

"No problem." Mina smiled.

The both of them made their way to the counter and inside the employees' lounge. Two co-workers sat snuggly on the couches in the middle of the room as they waited for their shift to start. Mina and Soyeon greeted them before heading to the lockers area.

"You might need to have dinner with me later though," Mina said boldly with a smirk plastered on her face. She opened her locker and started rummaging through her things.

Soyeon snickered.

Mina raised an eyebrow and looked at her friend. She chuckled as she spoke. "I'm serious. You need to have dinner with me to make up for the last-minute call to exchange shifts."

"I'm sorry about that. It was an urgent matter," Soyeon apologized. She had forgotten about her appointment with Dr. Lee the previous day and had to call her colleagues who were scheduled to have the day off to exchange shifts with her. And she was thankful Mina agreed. "But I already have plans for dinner tonight," she continued, feeling guilty all of a sudden.

"Yixing?" Mina asked.

"Yeah," Soyeon hesitantly replied as she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "How did you know?"

"Well, he's the only one I always see you with, and the only one who comes here all the time. So, you know, I figured you'll be having dinner with him tonight," Mina said as she smiled.

Heat rose up from Soyeon's neck to her cheeks. She bit her lower lip to contain herself from grinning like an idiot.

"Wait, are you actually blushing?" Mina asked, amused.

"No, I'm not!" Soyeon exclaimed. She tilted her head down to hide her face from Mina as she took a step back.

Mina raised her eyebrow as she sniggered.

Soyeon quickly recovered and smiled. "Anyway, let's have lunch tomorrow to make up for my calling you at the last minute," she uttered, swiftly changing the topic.

"Great! We can go together after our class," Mina exclaimed. She squeezed Soyeon's hands and grinned. "How are you though? I hope everything was fine yesterday," she said, concern was obvious in her tone.

Soyeon nodded and smiled. "Yes, everything is fine."

"That's good. I'm glad." Mina looked relieved as she smiled back at her and squeezed her arm. She pulled Soyeon with her as they left the employees' lounge to open her register.

"I was so worried. Everyone who was here yesterday was," Mina uttered by the counter.

Soyeon chuckled and smiled. "I'm fine."

"Tell me, are you involved in some kind of gang or something?" Mina asked.

"No, I'm not. Why?"

"Five scary men were looking for you yesterday. They said you have some unfinished business with them."

"Did they say anything? Like how they know me?" Soyeon asked. She started feeling sick with apprehension.

"No. They just asked for you. They made a huge commotion here yesterday. Well, only the four of them. The other one came in first. He asked me if someone by the name of Song Soyeon is working here and he just left before Mr. Ji could even come out to talk to him."

"Mr. Ji? Mr. Ji knew?"

"Well, I didn't want to answer him. He was a creepy man. I didn't want to assume you know him. So, I called Mr. Ji to deal with it," Mina explained. "Anyway, half an hour later, the other guys came in demanding to see you. Mr. Ji lied to them, saying that there's no Song Soyeon who works here."

Mina studied her friend. Although Soyeon didn't look frightened, she felt uneasy.

"Mr. Ji already reported it to the police. So, you have nothing to worry about," Mina said to assure her.

Soyeon looked at her colleague and forced a smile. "How come I wasn't informed about this yesterday, Mina?"

"I wanted to call you, but Mr. Ji convinced me not to. He didn't want to alarm and scare you. And you seemed busy yesterday, we didn't want to disturb you," Mina replied.

"Oh," was the only thing Soyeon could utter. She glanced around, feeling agitated by the second. She has no idea who those men were, no idea what she did in the past that made those men look for her for some unfinished business to settle with her. As she thought hard, the only thing that came to her mind was the time she stole a cream puff from the kid at the next table when she was five years old. She was waiting for her mother at a restaurant then, starving as the hours passed by that her mother hasn't come back from the grocery store. She didn't think that stealing one piece of cream puff would cause her a serious problem in the present time.

"Don't worry Soyeon, they might just have gotten the wrong person," her co-worker assured her, to which she just faintly smiled as a response. If Mina was right, then why would they come to her workplace? How did they know that a 'Song Soyeon' worked there? It couldn't be just a coincidence, isn't it?

A new customer entering the café averted Soyeon's attention from her thoughts. The both of them greeted the customer as he approached them with a smile.

"latte, extra caffeine" the customer ordered.

Mina started keying the order on the register. "To go or dine in?" She asked, looking at the customer with a bright smile plastered on her face.

"Dine in." The customer turned his gaze towards the book section. "Is there staff over at the book section?"

"Yes, there is." Mina looked at the section as well, and when she saw that there was no staff manning the bookshop, she glanced at Soyeon, nodded and smiled. Soyeon nodded back at her as she headed to the employees' lounge to call her colleagues whose duty was in the book section. "You can head towards the section and pick a book, Mr. Kim. We'll tend to your needs shortly," she said politely to the customer.

"Jongin," the customer suddenly uttered (more like commanded), to which Mina flashed a confused look. "Call me Jongin," the customer said coldly. His proud and boastful demeanor outweighed the friendly aura around them. "I'll be over there. Send my coffee over within five minutes."

"Oh okay. Have a pleasant read, Mr-..., Jongin." Mina bowed to the customer as he started heading towards the book section.

A few minutes later, Soyeon was back in the counter with Mina. She was ready to go, with her bag slung over one shoulder. She found Mina glaring at the customer earlier. "Hey, I'm leaving," she said, catching her co-worker's attention.

"He's so arrogant, I swear to god," Mina said frustratingly, her gaze did not leave the man sitting over by the window.

Soyeon gazed at the customer. "Well, he smiled earlier," she commented.

"Yeah. A smug and arrogant smile. I feel like slapping him with it. He's so rude." Mina rolled her eyes.

Soyeon chuckled. "Let him be, Mina."

"I almost threw his coffee at his face just now, you know. Good thing I care about my future more than his stupid ."

Soyeon chucked even more. "Relax, Mina. Just picture him scalding his tongue when he drinks his coffee," she said, comforting Mina.

"Oh my, I really hope so. Anyway, are you okay?" Mina turned to her friend.

"Yes, I am. Thank you. I just hope Mr. Ji is here today so that I could thank him personally."

"You can tell him tomorrow." Mina smiled.

"Yep, tomorrow." Soyeon smiled. "I'll be going now. See you tomorrow!"

"See ya!"

***

For the rest of the Sunday afternoon, Soyeon had been trying to get the four men out of her mind. She couldn't help but worry that they might come back and this time, she will be at the café when they do. She hoped they would never return.

She glanced around the university, checking if Yixing has arrived. She shivered as a cold breeze blew, her hands tingled as she expelled air through her pursed lips to warm them. Any minute now and she would finally see her best friend.

A huge smile appeared on her face at the thought of Yixing. Suddenly, all her worries disappeared like they never existed. She started chuckling as she reminisced all the funny memories they shared – all the stupid things Yixing did to cheer her up on her down days. And sometimes, he's not even aware he's being an idiot. He would just do something out of the blue that always left Soyeon utterly confused. But despite this, she would always laugh at him. Not because he's being stupid, but because he looked funny and cute.

He's such a dork, she thought as she giggled.

He's the best friend she ever had. She could always count on him. He's always there for her, always filling the void whenever she felt empty. He always encouraged her to keep fighting when she just wanted to give up. He believed in her even when she didn't believe in herself. And most of the time, he didn't even know it. He didn't know he has saved her from destroying herself countless of times.

He didn't know the right now, he's saving her again.

The sound of footsteps averted her attention from her thoughts. She turned her gaze to the sound and saw the shadow of the boy she had been waiting for, all week. Her heartbeat suddenly quickened as her breaths turned ragged. She intertwined her fingers together as she tried to lessen the uncontrollable shaking of her hands. She was very nervous.

She let out a deep sigh as she prepared to smile. But as Yixing neared, her smile immediately disappeared. She stood frozen as she tried to analyze the horrifying image in front of her. All of a sudden, she felt heavy as though the whole world had fallen on her. She wanted to run away, go back to her dorm and never come out ever again. But she couldn't for it was already too late.

Yixing approached her with a smile. Beside him was a girl she didn't know. Her gaze soon landed on the girl's arm intertwined with his.

"Missed me?" Yixing greeted her with a joke.

Soyeon would usually retort, but instead, she just looked at him as she blinked a few times, trying to recover from the shock. She tried to flash a smile, but it soon faded as her gaze landed back on their entwined arms.

"Oh! This is Simin," Yixing introduced the girl beside him as he released his arm from Simin's grip.

Soyeon swallowed the lump in and forced herself to look at Simin. She was gorgeous. If Soyeon didn't know better, she would have mistaken Simin for a famous Chinese model. Her flawless skin seemed smooth, her hair was flowy and straight, and she was tall (only being a few inches shorter than Yixing).

"Um... Hi, it is nice meeting you," Soyeon greeted her in Korean as she forced a smile.

"She doesn't speak Korean," Yixing whispered at her as he chuckled. He turned to Simin and spoke in Mandarin. "This is Soyeon, my childhood friend. She speaks a bit of Mandarin."

"Hi! It's really nice to finally meet you!" Simin exclaimed in her sultry voice as she hugged her all of a sudden.

"Oh wow," Soyeon uttered under her breath as she was taken aback. She awkwardly hugged her back and even awkwardly gave her pats on the back before breaking the hug.

"Yixing told me a lot about you to the point that I became so excited to meet you!"

"It's exciting to meet you too," Soyeon said, forcing another smile. "So, um... How did you guys meet?"

"Our dads are business partners," Yixing answered.

Simin creased her eyebrows. "That doesn't explain how we met." She simpered at him. She turned to Soyeon and smiled superciliously. Her friendly aura suddenly changed into a competitive one. It's as if Soyeon and she were in some kind of game, and knew she was winning.

"Our parents set us up for an arranged marriage."