The many times Minju goes to see Chaeyeon and the one time she stays.

•••

Chaeyeon didn't like her shift.

It was way too late - too dark outside, too eerie to make her feel sleepy. She blames herself for applying for a job at a cafe that was open 24/7, but there really was no other choice, and she needed the extra money. At the ungodly hour of 11PM, it was just her, the empty tables, the unplugged coffee machines, and the soft sound of rain tapping on the cafe's windows. She had been in this very scene countless times, but every time was just as eerie, just as unsettling - just as lonely.

Her shift started four hours ago; for comparison, the last customer she saw came in two hours ago, seemingly in a hurry and ordering only a green tea smoothie. Chaeyeon barely had time to tell her 'here's your order' when the girl just ran out of the cafe, opening her umbrella and almost slipping on her way out. Chaeyeon remembers her name to be Eunbi, and laughs at the memory.

Having two more hours before Sakura takes over, Chaeyeon decides to sit down on one of the chairs and props her feet up on the table. The cafe would usually have at least three customers at this time, but Chaeyeon figures it's because of the rain that no one's coming in. She sighs and lets her eyes close for a few minutes, until she hears the (annoying) ringing of the cafe's front door.

Chaeyeon quickly gets up on her feet, wiping the table with her hands and pushing the chair back - she musters up an awkward smile before looking at the customer.

"Hi, welcome to IZ*Cafe."

The customer gives her a smile in return, and Chaeyeon notices the slight raindrops that had soaked the girl's coat. She was clutching her black bag really tightly, as if afraid something inside it had been hit by the rain, and sighs. Chaeyeon notices the car parked on the other side of the road and figures the girl must have parked there and ran all the way here.

"Can I have a black coffee?" the girl says, and Chaeyeon gets to work right away.

"Alright, one black coffee for?" Chaeyeon asks, smiling, like she's done countless times before - something that happens for the first time, though, is that her breath hitches when the customer looks up at her.

(Chaeyeon brushes it off as sleepiness.)

"Minju. Kim Minju," she smiles, takes a seat, and wipes her bag dry, unaware of Chaeyeon's eyes that couldn't seem to look at anything else but her.

•••

Minju was exhausted.

It was a Saturday night, right after she got home from Hitomi's party - there was some alcohol involved, a little bit of Chaewon screaming, a little bit of Yuri and Yena dancing, a little bit of Nako - well, let's not mention what Nako did.

Minju left much earlier, saying she had to do something with her roommate, Yujin. Truth was that she wasn't in the mood to party, and going on a late night drive sounded much more appealing to her. She didn't even know why she was partying - her superior had given her an assignment a month ago and she had absolutely nothing yet, even though the deadline was Wednesday this week. She'd been putting it off, telling herself that she could do it in a blink of an eye, anyway.

(The only thing Minju's been doing is blinking her eyes for a few hours at a time, though. Sleep is life, she says.)

So she goes on the late night drive, hopefully to ease her nerves and to find some inspiration. She doesn't forget to text Yujin that she'll be coming home late, and an hour later, it's raining, she's at an unfamiliar city, and her battery's at less than ten percent. (Such luck, she thinks.) She parks at the nearest area that doesn't say 'No Parking', and spots a small cafe right across it, its bright and colorful lights a stark contrast to the establishments beside and around it that were done operating for the day.

Minju checks her car for an umbrella, sighing when she remembers she had lent it to Yujin a month ago. She takes a mental note to ask Yujin for it and glances at the rain outside, thinking that it would be a quick run, anyway. She grabs her camera bag and steps out of her car, locking it, before running as best as she can to the cafe.

A silent chuckle leaves her lips when she steps foot into the cafe, the only worker scrambling to get off the table and greet her. Thankfully it wasn't some weird middle-aged man or Minju would have run out as fast as she came in.

(Minju thinks the worker is cute, but she doesn't know that yet.)

"Hi, welcome to IZ*Cafe." the worker greets, and Minju finds her voice adorable.

She orders her usual black coffee, dries herself off, sits down and sets up her camera equipment - Minju was able to look at a lot of places while on the drive, and she stopped in this particular city because she felt it was the perfect place - the buildings created an amazing landscape and everything else just felt right for her, and she couldn't wait to start working on the assignment here.

"Alright, one black coffee for?" she hears the worker ask, now behind the coffee machines. It's the first time she gets a good look at the girl and she unknowingly smiles, replying with her name. She watches the barista prepare her coffee and she gets to work as well, cleaning her lens and looking around the neighborhood from inside the cafe. Minju hears the girl hum while waiting for the coffee machine to do its job and she smiles another time.

She definitely couldn't wait to start working on the assignment here.

•••

Minju stays for a while, taking her time drinking her coffee and planning out her assignment. Chaeyeon looks at her from time to time, wondering what she's doing with her camera in one hand and her coffee in the other.

"Do you mind if I take a few photos of the place?" she asks the worker with a polite voice, noticing how her question seemed to wake the girl up. She chuckles and looks at the worker expectantly.

"Uhm, yeah, sure, sure, it's okay." the worker stutters, looking embarrassed that she was falling asleep. Minju mumbles a small 'thanks' and stands up, walking around the small cafe to get various angles and perspectives. She takes a few shots of the buildings outside here and there, sometimes stepping out of the cafe to do so - Chaeyeon merely observes her, never having seen a customer quite this peculiar. Minju spends a few more minutes outside, the rain slowly coming to a halt, and steps back in again to finish her coffee.

"Thank you for the coffee," she starts packing her equipment again, taking out her wallet and a few bills. She gives them to the worker and smiles before walking away, stopping right before she opens the door.

"Can I get your name?" 

Chaeyeon's breath hitches a second time.

•••

When Minju gets home, the sound of the TV is loud and Yujin is in front of it, nodding off. She sees Wonyoung, the friend Yujin always invites over, sleeping on the floor, her legs positioned in a way Minju doesn't even know how to describe. She taps Yujin on the shoulder lightly and points to the TV, Yujin turning it off obediently. 

"How was the party?" Yujin whispers sleepily, careful not to wake Wonyoung.

Minju was barely at the party, but instead of telling Yujin that, her thoughts linger to a certain girl she met at the cafe.

"...cute." Minju says, before walking off to her room.

Yujin stares at her retreating figure with a weird look, probably thinking that Minju was still intoxicated or something.

"The party was cute?" Yujin mutters, and shakes her head before lying down next to Wonyoung on the floor.

•••

It's Sunday afternoon, and Minju is on her way to the cafe again. The hour-long drive didn't faze her - she had nothing to do anyway and going on a drive always calmed her down. Besides, she needed to take a better look at the area, preferably when it was not dark and gloomy like last night. She stops a few times along the way, taking a better look around the neighborhood, before finally parking across the cafe. 

She doesn't go in the cafe, though, and instead starts walking around with her camera around her neck. She reaches a small alley, not to the point where it was packed and getting through it was hard, but small enough that it would definitely be missed by a few people. She walks for a few steps before looking up and taking a shot of the sunset from below, the tall, grey buildings providing a nice contrast to the sunset's colors. She keeps walking straight until she's out on the bigger street again, feeling hungry after her drive and her stroll. 

Minju enters a nearby convenience store and picks the donkatsu lunch box she always buys, along with a container of banana milk. 

"That'll be ₩6,300." 

Minju looks up, surprised at the familiar voice.

"You work here, too?" she asks, both amazed and amused. The cashier seems to be just as surprised as she is, jumping a bit when she looks at Minju.

"Woah. Hi. Yeah," she says, while scanning Minju's items. Minju looks at her with a smile, still finding the girl really cute. Minju doesn't ask for a plastic bag, choosing to eat inside the convenience store instead, and invites the girl to sit with her.

Chaeyeon looks around; her shift was about to end anyway, and the one who works after her was here already. She hands over her uniform and sits in front of Minju awkwardly, grabbing a water bottle for herself. Her eyes dart around, not sure where to look.

"Do you have to work at the cafe after this?" Minju asks, taking a sip of her banana milk. She normally would not invite people she barely knew to eat with her like this, let alone start a conversation with them. Minju reasons it's because the girl was really kind to her yesterday, so she was able to warm up to her quickly - and meeting her again today was no coincidence, Minju would like to believe.

Chaeyeon shuffles in her seat, clearing . "Not really. On Sundays, I just work here." 

Minju nods, forming an 'o'. She resumes eating, slowly feeling the awkwardness creep up. She has no idea how she was so confident yesterday - maybe it was because of the little alcohol she had at Hitomi's party, but she didn't have any of that to help her now. She takes little glances at Chaeyeon, who was now scrolling on her phone, giggling from time to time.

Minju was in complete panic mode by now, feeling awkward, anxious, excited, and nervous all at the same time. It made her smile to see Chaeyeon again, but she really didn't know what to say - should she talk to her about the weather? Should she ask about politics? Society? What about South Korea's economy? Minju was going crazy -

"So, what brings you here again? I was just wondering since I haven't really seen you around until yesterday," Chaeyeon says bashfully, genuinely curious; she noticed the huge camera around Minju's neck, of course. It was a relatively normal-sized town - the city was very near, meaning more people, but for the most part, Chaeyeon knew a lot of people's faces. She saw Minju for the first time yesterday, so she was definitely surprised.

(To be honest, she was annoyed at first when Minju arrived at the cafe - she didn't want to deal with customers then; but Minju was a new face, and a pretty one, at that - it doesn't take much to grab Chaeyeon's attention.)

Minju mentally thanks Chaeyeon for starting the conversation. Her nerves had died down by now, but she was still thinking deeply about what to say.

"Uhm, I'm studying photography, and I was given this assignment, about landscapes, and it's really pretty here, even though it's an hour away from where I live," Minju breathes out, almost as if she was rapping. Chaeyeon laughs at her obvious display of nervousness and nods.

"I see. I agree, though, it's really pretty around here. You picked a good place." Chaeyeon smiles. 

Minju feels herself calm down at Chaeyeon's voice and smile. There was something about the older girl that made her feel a lot more comfortable now.

"Have you eaten?" she asks, slightly worried.

Chaeyeon nods.

"Ah, that's good, then," Minju mumbles, looking away.

"Since...since you won't be working at the cafe afterwards, could you maybe...tour me around the place?" 

Chaeyeon's ears perk up at the question and she grins. It doesn't take a minute before she's nodding, and Minju is smiling along with her.

"I'd love to."