Minjoo was having a bad day at her new workplace. She didn’t expect that she’d be loaded with unnecessary training that don’t fit her actress goal, and the day just really wore her out.

The company was a bit too cold for her liking, so she decided to go check the coffee shop down the block.

The name of the coffee shop was The Little Prince Cafe - an obvious homage to the literary classic. The inside of the cafe was full of references to the book, from the wallpaper designsto the roses on each table. Minjoo didn’t really care for all of that, all she wanted was her comfort drink - hot chocolate with cinnamon. She wished the line in front of her would just disappear so that she can get her drink and finally warm herself up from the cold.

The line wasn’t long, but it was enough to dampen Minjoo’s mood further. Once it was her turn to order, Minjoo could feel that her face wasn’t exactly the friendly nor happy type.

“Hello, welcome to The Little Prince Cafe, may I take your order?”

Minjoo looked up at the barista to say her order, but stuttered a bit when she saw that the barista in front of her was cute. With her short bobcut hair and sparkling eyes, she could be a celebrity in disguise. Minjoo took a peek at her nametag, the name of the barista was Kkura.

“Um, hot chocolate with cinnamon please. Medium sized”

The barista looked at her with a kind smile as she punched Minjoo’s order.

“Will that be all?”

“Yeah,” Minjoo replied lifelessly, still drained from today’s events.

“Okay, your name please?”

“Minjoo.”

“That will be 4500 Won, Minjoo, your name will be called once your order is done.”

Kkura reached for the medium-sized cup to jot down the order and Minjoo’s name. Luckily, there weren’t a lot of people so she was free to choose her seat. Minjoo took a seat where the air conditioner wasn’t hitting the table that much and waited for her order. She was so damn tired, all she could think about was drinking the hot choco, commuting home and finally passing out.

A couple of minutes passed and Minjoo was surprised to see Kkura approaching her table.

I thought I was supposed to approach the counter, not the other way around. Minjoo thought.

Kkura placed the cup on the table and gave Minjoo her receipt.

“Here you go, Minjoo. Enjoy your drink!” Kkura smiled at her shyly and went back to the cashier.

Minjoo just raised her eyebrows at Kkura’s action, nevertheless, she was grateful that she didn’t have to get up and grab her drink. She wrapped her hands around the warm drink and sighed with relief. She still needs to let the drink cool down a bit before she could drink it.
 

Bringing the cup closer for her to blow before drinking, she noticed that the cup contained something more than her name. Below it, there was a weird drawing of a smiling… frog(?) holding a sign with both hands, a sign that says “Keep Going! <3”

Minjoo smiled a bit at the weird drawing, and glanced to where Kkura was taking orders from customers. Kkura caught her eye, and gave her a smile.

She must have known I had a bad day, Minjoo thought. Maybe she does that to customers that had a bad day as well.

With that thought, Minjoo felt her day brighten a bit as she carefully drank her comfort drink. It tasted really good and it warmed her whole body.

This is a nice place. I’ll probably be here often when I have a bad day or a good day. Hmmm, I wonder what my “good day” drink should be?

~~

Days have passed and Minjoo hasn’t visited The Little Prince Cafe due to her work. All days were tiring, but she was already learning to adjust to her new workplace.

Then there came a day when she made a major mistake on the dance choreography she was being trained on.

Minjoo wanted to get out of the dance room as soon as her trainer yelled at her for committing a mistake, and once training hours were done, she practically rushed to The Little Prince Café just to get a little bit of comfort - which is, the hot chocolate with cinnamon drink.

To her surprise, it was Kkura at the counter again, and Minjoo felt like tearing up for some reason. She felt a lump at before even stuttering out an order.

“Hot chocolate with cinnamon, medium sized?” Kkura asked her, with a sort of understanding in her eyes that Minjoo can’t quite place, but is grateful for.

Minjoo just nodded at the question.

“One hot chocolate with cinnamon for Minjoo, that will be 4500 Won.” Kkura said, taking the payment from Minjoo.

Minjoo wordlessly went straight to the bathroom first to let some tears out and freshen up. Just one stupid mistake and my trainer blows up like that, Minjoo cried in frustration, how was I supposed to know that it was supposed to be half turn and not full turn for cha-cha?

After a few moments of letting out her frustrations for the day, Minjoo washed her face to freshen up before going out of the bathroom.

She sat at her usual table, waiting for her drink.

Kkura approached her, this time wordlessly placing Minjoo’s cup and receipt on the table and nodding her head slightly to signal that her order is done. Minjoo nodded to her in thanks, slightly hiding her head to hide her puffy eyes.

The cup had a drawing of a... llama? Alpaca? Minjoo can’t be too sure, but the animal was in a cheer leading outfit? Saying: 

“Ooh shimgakaejiji ma (gwaenchanajil kkeoya)
nae yaegil deureobwa Baby (Baby yeah)
Ooh nado geureonikka i shigani akkaweo”

Minjoo got the reference of what the cheer leading frog was saying, and she smiled at the fact that Kkura was a Reveluv too.

Having nothing better to do while waiting for her drink to cool down, Minjoo watched the MV of “All Right.”

The lyrics were appropriate to Minjoo’s situation and Minjoo had to smile at the thoughtfulness of Kkura’s doodle. She was starting to like this coffee shop for being her silver lining on bad days.

She stared at were Kkura was, this time she was cleaning out the tables, and once Kkura met her eye, she did a little bit of the “Red Flavor” Dance, but in a really dorky way. Minjoo tried so hard not to laugh out loud.

She’s starting to like this cute barista, and she might be falling hard.

~~

Every other two weeks, Minjoo would visit the Little Prince Cafe. Every time she visits, it was always Kkura’s shift somehow, so her cups were always filled with drawings of random animals saying encouraging things. The funniest drawing so far was a cat pouting weirdly as it said “when will you ever come here happy?”

It was ironic for Minjoo to laugh at that drawing, it made sense that Kkura would notice her coming on bad days only as she orders the same thing, with a very neutral expression. She hasn’t even decided on a good day drink yet.

Truth be told, Minjoo hasn’t had a bad day ever since that day when her trainer screamed at her for making a mistake, but she secretly wanted to see how long the cute barista can keep up with her “drawing animals to cheer customers up act”.

~~

On Valentine’s day, Minjoo decided to go there and surprise Kkura with a “good day” drink to see what she’ll write. The line wasn’t very long, and Minjoo was excited to see Kkura at the counter. Before the person in front of her could order, though, someone approached Kkura and told her that her shift was over. Kkura left the counter and went inside the employee’s lounge to change.

Minjoo panicked and felt kind of sad to not have Kkura as her barista.

What about her plan now?

How will she surprise Kkura?

“Welcome to Little Prince Cafe, may I have your order?” The new barista’s voice cut Minjoo out of her musings.

“Uhm... One Matcha Tea Latte please, iced. Medium-sized.”

“Okay ma’am, what’s your name?” Minjoo had to pout at this. If this was Kkura, I wouldn’t have to say my name.

“Minjoo.”

“One medium-sized Matcha Tea latte for Minjoo, that will be 5,000 Won!” Minjoo paid and went to her usual spot, slightly sulking at the failure of her plans.

She was expecting her name to be called - after all, it wasn’t Kkura’s shift. Minjoo was surprised when someone served her drink, and when she looked up from her sulking, she saw Kkura smiling at her.

“You’re finally happy, huh? I noticed that someone named Minjoo ordered a Matcha Tea Latte instead of her usual today,” Kkura said cheerfully, taking the seat adjacent to Minjoo’s.

“Or is it because you have a date tonight?”

“Uh no,” Minjoo started, not knowing how to explain to Kkura that she had planned to surprise her with her order,

“I have no date...”

“Really? You have no date? But you’re really charming and pretty, I’m sure anyone would like to get to know you more!” Kkura said, looking at her curiously.

“I... Really don’t.” I’m actually interested in you. “I... actually just came here to buy my happy
drink for once.” And surprise you.

“Hmmm. I’m glad you bought your happy drink, but it’s a shame to spend Valentine’s alone.”

Kkura took out a marker from her pocket and grabbed Minjoo’s cup, carefully drawing something on it before returning it back to the table.

Kkura then stood up and leaned forward to whisper something in Minjoo’s ear.

“Well, the night is young. It’s not too late to find a date,”

Kkura stood straight and winked at Minjoo before walking out of the cafe. Minjoo stared at Kkura’s back dumbfounded, then looked at her cup to check out what Kkura has drawn.

It was a drawing of... Kkura? With the doodle saying, “Wanna go out on a date? Catch me if you can ;)” along with a number written on the bottom, with a note saying (this is just in case you aren’t able to catch me hehe).

That was the first time Minjoo chugged her drink to chase after the cute barista that made her sad days bearable.

There’s no way Minjoo was going to pass up the chance to get to know Kkura more.