“Shin Yuna, where are you?”

Yuna winced, holding her phone away from her ear. “Geez, Lee Chaeryeong, tone it down a little! I’m not kidnapped or anything!”

Chaeryeong’s laugh was brief, still evident with tones of panic. “What am I supposed to think? A first year I’m taking care of suddenly goes missing after school when we’re supposed to walk home together!”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Yuna looked around at her surroundings, her lips unconsciously curling into a blissful smile. “This was important. If it makes you feel better, I did this all the time last year.”

“God, I feel bad for your friends.” Chaeryeong paused before continuing. “So you’re okay? Are you nearby, at least?”

“Five minutes away from home,” Yuna promptly replied, the distance etched into her mind. “Five minutes, thirty seconds, add an extra twenty if you count me walking from the table to the door.” A shadow passing by caught her attention, and she turned around, only to quickly look away. “Crap.”

“What happened?” Yuna didn’t immediately answer Chaeryeong’s question, staring fiercely at the table. “Yuna, what happened?”

“It’s nothing. Gotta go. Call me in an hour or so.”

Amidst Chaeryeong’s protests, Yuna hung up, shoving her phone into her blazer pockets. She was still in her school uniform – she had come straight here after school, hence why Chaeryeong was so panicked – and her bag laid next to her feet on the floor. There were similar bags to be seen, accompanied by other young adults in similar school uniforms. Most students from Yuna and Chaeryeong’s school would go to this café after classes ended to talk, do work, or simply enjoy the coffee, which was known as the best coffee locally.

Yuna hated coffee.

She had no friends sitting with her to talk to – Chaeryeong had tutoring and piano lessons, and usually never had time to go anywhere else after school. Yuna finished all her work in her classes when she could, and even if she still had work, the table she sat at was too small; it was a cozy, two-people table in the very corner of the café. Every single day after school, she’d take her seat at the table and simply sit there.

Or rather, she’d gaze dreamily at one of the baristas. Shin Ryujin, third year at the same school as Yuna. From what Yuna knew, Chaeryeong was friends with Ryujin, but Yuna was too shy to mention Ryujin to Chaeryeong. Instead, she preferred going to the café, making up an excuse for Chaeryeong, so she’d have a couple hours to herself and to gush over Ryujin.

Ryujin stood behind the counter, focused on making a drink for a customer that had just ordered. The sleeves of her white collared shirt were rolled up, and the name pin with her full name on it hung loosely from the fabric. Her dark brown hair was tied up, a strand dangling in front of her eyes, which were narrowed as she whipped the ingredients up and poured it into a cup. Writing the name down on the cup and putting the lid on, she shuffled over to the customer who was waiting and handed the drink over with a wide smile. Yuna felt her heart pang as she fought off the urge to squeal. She’s so cute she’s so cute she’s so cute! Was it possible to even be that cute? And was it possible for Yuna to fall harder and harder every day? She had just been rendered useless the minute Ryujin passed her, was the other girl’s impact really that powerful?

“Would you like anything?” Yuna was jolted out of her daze by a server who had just come over, giving her a warm smile. Yuna instantly recognized the older girl; it was another one of Chaeryeong’s friends – and, from what she had heard, Ryujin’s best friend – Hwang Yeji. She wore the same white collared shirt Ryujin was wearing, except her sleeves weren’t rolled up, and she wore tight black pants with short leather boots. Yuna knew Ryujin wore jeans and sports shoes. “Ah, no, thank you,” Yuna stammered. Get it together! “I’m fine, thanks for asking.”

Yeji smiled again. “You’re Chaeryeong’s friend, right? Yuna? First year?”

Yuna nodded, tucking her hair behind her ear. People from nearby tables were starting to look, and while Yuna usually didn’t mind attention, it was just an opportunity to make more friends, most of the students there were older than her. She didn’t think she was comfortable just yet to make friends with a lot of older students, despite her pining over Ryujin. (For two whole years.)

A thoughtful look emerged on Yeji’s face. “So you’re the one who hates coffee, yet you go to cafés?”

Yuna felt her face burn. “I – she doesn’t know that!”

“She knows you hate coffee, but I don’t think she knows you’ve been coming here for two years straight, nearly every single day after school,” Yeji laughed. She kneeled, eye-to-eye with Yuna. “And I think I know why.”

Willing her face to stop burning and reassuring herself Yeji knew nothing, Yuna looked away, choosing to stare at the wall instead of Yeji’s knowing gaze. Yeji laughed again. “Okay, okay. Hey, Jisu!” she called. Yuna raised an eyebrow. Choi Jisu, yet another of Chaeryeong and Ryujin’s friends. She works here, too? “Get Yuna here a coffee. Black, two sugars, just the right amount of cream.”

“But I don’t –” Yuna whipped around, but Yeji was gone, tending to another customer. She caught the eye of a girl who was disappearing into a room behind the baristas’ counter, and Ryujin was following. “God, what have you gotten yourself into, Shin Yuna?” Yuna whispered, grabbing her phone. Three missed calls from Chaeryeong. Yuna felt herself smile, rolling her eyes. I’m coming home, she texted, imagining the lecture she’d be in for when she got home. Chaeryeong would probably be standing outside, glaring. Yuna’s smile grew, and she bent down to pick her bag up. It hadn’t been too long, but Yeji and Jisu seemed suspicious, and Yuna didn’t want to find out what they were up to. Still smiling, thoughts of Chaeryeong lingering in her mind, Yuna straightened, about to get up, when –

“You’re really pretty when you smile.”

A certain barista had sat down in the chair across from Yuna, head oh-so-slightly tipped and the most charismatic smile adorning her face. Yuna froze. What was Ryujin doing, sitting at her table, looking like that? What gave her the right to be so close to Yuna, with her hair tie now around her wrist instead of her hair, which was draped across her shoulders and positioned just so, framing her face perfectly? Why did she think she could lean close over the table, smelling pleasantly of vanilla and coffee beans, face close enough to kiss? Wait. What?

“Uh, um, thanks,” Yuna spluttered, looking away. She needed to look somewhere else, anywhere else except at Ryujin, at least until she got her mind out of the gutter. Ryujin leaned back into her seat, and Yuna finally made proper eye contact with her. It was the best thing that had ever happened to her, and she had never believed she would be able to talk to Ryujin, much less have her sit at the same table. Ryujin crossed her arms. “So I heard you ordered a coffee? Well, here you go.”

“What?”

Ryujin gestured to herself. “Two sugars, just the right amount of cream. Was that your order?”

So that’s what they were up to! Yuna mentally groaned, scolding herself for not seeing it sooner. To Ryujin, she didn’t know whether to nod (awkward) or laugh (more awkward) or reply with something suitable, something teasingly flirty (Yuna didn’t think she was mentally capable of that)…or start crying. Or maybe just stare. Ryujin was so beautiful up close. But that wouldn’t be possible. She chose to hastily respond with a jumbled mix of words, fitting her flustered state. “Um, yeah, I, well, sure, that was it, yeah, maybe.”

Ryujin’s smile melted into a more friendlier one. She drummed the table with her fingers. “So you’ve been coming here for two years, huh?”

Yuna knew today was the day her face would physically burn off, it was so hot. Ryujin had noticed. Ryujin had noticed Yuna coming in every single day for two years, which meant Ryujin knew Yuna had only been coming for her. Maybe she didn’t! Maybe she thought Yuna was just coming for the quiet, or some other person. Yuna opened , ready to blurt out some pathetic excuse, when Ryujin said softly, “It’s been nice having you here.”

It was hard fighting the urge to keep shut. Yuna clenched her fist, digging her nails into her palm. Did Ryujin really just say that? She clenched her other fist as Ryujin continued, her cheeks a shade of light pink. “You, um, you’ve kind of given me the strength to keep going. It’s not really that easy to have a shift here, in case you’ve noticed, and I’ve wanted to quit but you…every time, you’d convince me otherwise.”

Yuna didn’t know how what to say. Other than the obvious idiotic words that tumbled out of , of course. “Me? I’m really irrelevant and useless, trust me, you’re not doing yourself any good taking strength from me.” As soon as they had left her lips, she wanted to strangle herself. Good going, Shin Yuna. First you’re being dumb, next you’re being rude to Ryujin.

Surprisingly, Ryujin laughed. It was literally music to Yuna’s ears; it reminded her of a bubbling, crystal clear spring, trickling through the air. Even though it was the complete opposite of that – it was hearty and showed Ryujin was happy. It made Yuna smile. “Your laugh is so cute,” she said, not realizing what she had just uttered until seconds later. This time, her ears started burning up. Ryujin laughed again, her eyes shining with joy. “You’re a first year, right? Shin Yuna?”

“How’d you know?” Yuna said, bewildered. She made the connection only moments before Ryujin told her. “I’ve heard so much about you from Chaeryeong.” She chuckled, shaking her head. “Nothing I didn’t already know, though.”

The confused look on Yuna’s face was probably enough for Ryujin to explain, an adorable warm smile on her face. “Ever since you started coming here, all you’ve ordered is cookies. You hate coffee, but you love pastries. You hate pineapple pizza; I saw you scowl seeing someone else eat it. I hate it too,” she added in a mischievous whisper, before going on. “You’re an energetic, friendly girl, and you’re always bouncing around at school, talking to anyone and everyone in sight. You make them smile. You make me smile. But you like your personal space, too; you’re so withdrawn when you come here. Eyes only for me, hm?” She winked, making Yuna want to shrink into herself. “Anyways, yeah. I almost told Chae I knew all that, but…I didn’t really want to tell her about you.”

“Me too!” Yuna said, leaning forward. Now she was the one who was close to Ryujin, she realized, quickly leaning back and calming herself down. “I mean…you’re so pretty, and I’ve always liked you. That’s, um, that’s why I always come, but you know that already, don’t you?” She let out a nervous giggle before tucking a strand of hair behind her ear (a habit she had when she was anxious, as she had discovered just recently). “I knew you were friends with Chaeryeong, but I never wanted to say anything to her.”

“That’s exactly what I was going through,” Ryujin admitted shyly, her once confident gaze now hesitant and darting up to Yuna’s face down to the table. “I just was too embarrassed, so I just kept going to work so I could see you. There was this one time I had a really nasty cold, but no one could stop me from coming here. In the end, I had to sit in the office in the back and do my homework.” She laughed again. God, Yuna could listen to that laugh forever. “There were times you weren’t here, and I got worried. I wouldn’t know how to find out, so I just asked Chaeryeong – indirectly.”

Yuna hummed, nodding. She hadn’t been to the café three times. Like Ryujin, she’d still go when she was sick, opting to wear a mask instead of staying home, but there were a few times when she fell under extreme illnesses. Not going to the café and seeing Ryujin affected her more than her colds, she suspected. “I was sick, too. Just really sick. I still came here when I just had a regular cold.”

“We’re both really dangerous people to be around when we’re sick, aren’t we?” Ryujin said, her shoulders shaking in silent laughter. Her eyes suddenly widened. “Hey, I’ve seen you before, actually!”

“What?” Yuna said, confused, and Ryujin nodded. Yuna could practically see the lightbulb above her head. She’s so cute! “Yeah, over the summer. We were walking together, you and Chaeryeong and me. Chae was in the middle, though.”

“Oh, right.” The memory was coming to Yuna, as vivid as ever. How could she have forgotten? She remembered walking beside Chaeryeong, stealing glances at the pretty friend Chaeryeong had brought with her. She was shorter than Chaeryeong and Yuna, and she had long, rich black hair. She had the cutest eye smile Yuna had ever seen, paired with whisker dimples that made Yuna want to squeal. It embarrassed her, though, so she tried to keep her focus on her phone and on Chaeryeong’s voice. (She wasn’t able to shake Ryujin’s deep voice from her mind.) “You had looked different.”

“Yeah, extensions, but then I decided to go rogue and chop it all off,” Ryujin said, running a hand through her hair. In oddly comfortable silence, the two sat there. Yuna wished the moment would last forever, her and Ryujin sitting across from each other, basking in the happiness of their conversations and feelings. She nearly flinched when Ryujin got up, the chair scraping behind her. “I have to go,” she said, her tone not without regret. “But, um, I want to talk to you some more. If that’s okay…?”

“Yes!” Yuna said quickly, getting to her feet as well. “I mean, yeah, no, of course it is. I do too!”

Ryujin beamed. The eye smile and dimples appeared, and Yuna could see that girl from the summer, the girl with long black hair who Yuna could never forget. “Okay! I’m gonna walk with Chaeryeong tomorrow morning to school, then. We’ll meet up at your house. Oh, and don’t forget to say hi when you see me at school!” With that, she pulled a bag of cookies out of her pocket and placed it in front of Yuna, her charming smile returning and accompanied by another wink. She turned and made her way back to the counter, leaving Yuna to fend for herself. It was awfully hard not to smile the widest smile she possibly could, apparently.

Grabbing the cookies and her own bag, she carefully walked to the door on shaky legs. She caught Yeji and Jisu’s glances and exchanged smiles with them, the smile finally widening when she made eye contact with Ryujin, who grinned back. Heart pounding, Yuna slipped out of the café and started the walk back home. “Did that really happen?” she whispered to herself, overflowing with happiness. “That really happened. I really just talked to Ryujin. I just talked to the love of my life!” Okay, don’t get ahead of yourself.

She opened the bag of cookies Ryujin had given her, pulling one out and biting into it. The tones of chocolate and vanilla touched her tongue and reminded her of Ryujin, an image of the older girl smiling sweetly taking up residence in her mind. She closed her eyes briefly, wishing she could see it instead of having to remember it. Reaching for another one, Yuna was about to take a bite when she saw she was holding a small slip of paper. It had a number on it and Ryujin’s scribbled name beside the number, along with a small heart. Yuna’s own heart swelled – she was practically drowning in affection for the older girl.

The number had reminded her of something else, too. She dialed a number on her phone and brought it up to her ear, smiling stupidly. She looked lovestruck. She was lovestruck. It was confirmed. She definitely was head over heels for Ryujin, and she knew it would get even worse as they got closer.

“Yuna, where have you been?” Chaeryeong yelled. “You said you were coming home half an hour ago! Half an hour, do you hear me!”

“Chaeryeong?”

“What?”

Yuna held the cookies to her chest, eyes closing and lips curling into a peaceful, blissful, happy smile. “I think I like coffee now.”

end <3