✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*

Kim Wooseok was a simple man. All his life, his dream had been to be a barista and open up his own café. A humble, complacent dream. His parents were expectedly disappointed when their only son did not want to become a doctor, a lawyer, a businessman, or, you know, any “admirable” profession. But Wooseok didn’t care. He always valued his own opinion over everyone else’s when it came down to his decisions. It was his life, after all. And so that’s how, after graduating from high school, he took some courses at an institute while working and saving up money. Even after he finished his courses, he continued working and saving up money until finally he was able to achieve his dream of opening up his own café. He was only 22. He definitely felt accomplished.

He was so excited about having his own business, being his own boss. He decorated the café to fit his tastes, with lots of white and beige and pastel blues and pastel pinks, trying to give it a soft and somewhat dreamy look. One of the café’s signature drinks was his special strawberry milkshake, made pastel pink and pastel blue (with a bit of food coloring and syrup), having a cloud of whipped cream on top. Working at his own business made him so happy, he always greeted every single customer with a smile. This was probably the happiest he’d been in his life so far. Although that didn’t surprise him, with how uptight his parents could be.

As part of the warm and inviting vibe he wanted his café to have, Wooseok would often have soft or acoustic-styled playlists playing all day long. Customers could hear anything from the hottest celebrities of the year to random indie artists with an online cult following. One of his personal favorites had become Woodz, a faceless indie composer he discovered on accident one time while he browsed through SoundCloud.

—

Cho Seungyoun was always stressed recently. He wanted to do what he loved growing up and live a life full of romance like his father taught him before passing away. And he had done just that—pursuing sports, photography and then music, focusing more on his creativity than on his schooling more often than he should. He would never regret choosing his passion above all, but life as a musician was difficult. He had bills to pay and rarely ever enough money. He lived in a tiny, cramped, one-bedroom apartment and he still struggled to pay the rent. He put up his music on Soundcloud and YouTube under his artist name, but he barely had anyone interested enough to offer him a record deal and help him release an album.

During one particular Saturday, Seungyoun was exceptionally stressed out. “,” he growled out, as he kept typing and deleting the song lyrics he was working on over and over for the past hour. He hated writer’s block. He stored his laptop in his backpack, grabbing the bag and a jacket harshly before storming out of his apartment. He didn’t know where he was going, but he knew he probably needed a change of scenery. He found the cutest little café he never knew existed, only a few streets over. Maybe it was the smell of the hot brewing coffee, the warm fairy lights hanging all over from the ceiling, the soft chatter of the few people sitting together across each other and their drinks, the keyboard typing by some students in a corner, or the inviting smile by the cute barista with round-brimmed glasses, but something about the place soothed his soul and made him feel instantly at peace.

He started visiting the café at a regular basis, multiple times per week. He told himself the reason why was because it served to soothe his stress and he got more work done in a few days than he had done in the previous few months. But secretly, another reason why he went was the very cute barista that he couldn’t help but watch sometimes as he greeted customers with his friendly smile and prepared their orders while humming to the soft tunes often playing from the speakers. He was mesmerizing to watch and slowly becoming a muse for Seungyoun without either of them realizing it.

It had been two weeks since he started visiting the café when something interesting happened. After he had sat down to get some work done with his MacBook laptop open in front of him, while he waited for the barista—Wooseok, per his nametag—to bring his regular latte to him, his new song started playing on the speakers. It was a soft, R&B style song with a slow rap, and he had written most of the lyrics on his first day at Cozy Day Café, this café. He had no idea that anyone would actually play his music at their café and he wondered if Wooseok had any idea who he was.

Thinking about it, Wooseok did always decorate his lattes with cute doodles—including hearts—so did he know that he was indeed the indie artist under the name Woodz? Nobody had ever recognized him before. He couldn’t help feeling touched. Just then, Wooseok walked up to him carrying his latte. It was now or never, he figured.

“Hey, Wooseok, right?” He started, once the smaller of the two placed the latte gently in front of him. “Do you know this artist?” he motioned his head towards the speaker.

Wooseok hummed. “I discovered him on accident a few weeks back. It’s Woodz, he usually posts his stuff on SoundCloud or YouTube. But I don’t know much about him, sorry.”

Seungyoun did feel a little dejected, but he shook it off. He was still touched that Wooseok liked Woodz enough to play his songs at his café. And he actually did it often, he realized, as time went on. After he asked Wooseok about Woodz, they also started talking more regularly and eventually became friends as well. While at first they mostly only talked when he visited the c