Hyejin did not remember how it was like, because perhaps she never experienced dating someone she genuinely likes, everything that she's experienced now with Byul was more than what she defines as happiness. The tiny moments they could steal from their busy days were nothing short of feeling like she was in honeymoon set in paradise. They learned everything about one another through lunch dates spent dining in the different restaurants she would drag Byul into.

Byul discovered that Hyejin on her college days frequented gopchang restaurants searching for the best place to eat at. She also learned the hang out place she and her best friends go to. Hyejin learned that Byul was a sort of introvert. On her college days, the barista admitted on spending her free times either in her condo unit streaming games or in one of the branches of Moon beans making drinks and serving customers till she graduated.

Hyejin felt like the world was miles away from them when they are together, like time stops, the people freeze and they are able to talk for hours straight. It was a kind of place she wanted to live in forever. It was the kind of place where she could be herself without needing to pretend like she's someone else.

Of course she can't like in that paradise forever. Once their time in the day reach its end and they have to part, the whole area where she feels safe and carefree burst like a balloon that's been pricked with a pin and she has to worry about reality again.

The reality that at anytime and anyplace, her ex could show up and ruin it for the both of them.

Hyejin becomes surer and surer of her feelings for Byul as days go by and with this her anxiety skyrockets as well. Maybe with this new and untouched feeling will overcome her lust and desire for Kei but that would not mean utter safety. Kei always finds a way to ruin her.

"Jinie!" Byul was snapping her fingers in front of her. Hyejin looked around the small shop they chose to have lunch at today then she focused on Byul. "You got lost again didn't you."

"Sorry" she muttered.

"What is it this time? We're at the beach lying on the sand watching clouds as we listen to the sound of the waves?" the barista suggested, smirking. "You don't have to daydream you know. I'm right here."

"What makes you think I was thinking of you" Hyejin said in a challenging tone.

"You weren't?" Byul put a hand in her chest wearing a dismayed face, she sniff and acted. Hyejin laughed at how bad the barista was acting. She was glad Byul had been so tolerant of her being out of it at times and even making jokes with it. Of course Hyejin can't be like that forever but she was getting better at being less distracted.

"You're really gross at acting you know."

"Maybe" Byul laughed. "But you, miss, can be the champion of a staring contest."

"That's right I'm the champion in that department" Hyejin stated puffing out her chest.

"No, seriously, if I didn't get your attention you wouldn't have blinked at all!"

She narrowed her eyes on Byul. "Alright then. Wanna have a staring contest?"

"No! I just said you could be a champion!" Byul exclaimed.

"You can name anything you want" Hyejin said, smirking. She lost their last wager last time, and she's still suffering every morning from drinking soy flavoured latte. So she is determined to make Byul pay. . . Besides, she had to have an excuse to ask Byul if she can move her day off on Sundays. If she wins this, it'll be like hitting two birds with one stone.

"You'll come and hang out more in the cafe"

The air stills between them. The elephant in the room has finally been mentioned.

"Y-you know I'm busy" Hyejin said lowering her eyes which was not the right move. She thought Byul would mention it sooner or later how she doesn't stay long for more than five minutes at the cafe choosing only to go out at lunch even if Byul offered to cook for her.

Byul sighed. "Well that's my bet. If I beat you, you'll come to the cafe and spend more time with me."

"You know you wouldn't be able to talk with me since you're full on evenings anyway." Hyejin reasoned.

"I'll find a way Jinie. I always do. Just. For. You." Byul is putting her pointer finger in motion as she says this and slowly approached Hyejin.

"Boop" she said placing a finger on Hyejin's nose, laughing. Hyejin reared and Byul pulled her hand away just before the lion close her teeth on the baristas finger.

"Alright" Hyejin nodded, a slight smile forming on her lips.

"But if I win. You'll make your Sundays your day off."

They positioned themselves. Byul could see the determination in Hyejin's eyes, she tried hard not to show the excitement in her own. She had been planning to make Sundays her day off anyway. It's a win win situation for her.

From a strangers point of view it must be quiet a scene both of them sitting across each other eyes wide open with tears slowly forming around them. Hyejin's own was stinging, she could feel the water works welling up but she held her breath and continued to stare.

Moonbyul groaned. Hyejin wanted to give up. And then the barista blinked.

"HA!!!" Hyejin exclaimed, grinning.

"Keep it down, people are staring"

"So what" Hyejin smiled triumphantly having won their bet this time.

"We're not in the cafe. We might get kicked out" Byul said as she was wiping her own eyes. Hyejin gave a small bow to the people around them.

"They don't mind" she said and turned to Byul. "Are you going to take the Sunday off?"

"I guess" the barista said, biting her lip. "That'll mean I'll have to work tomorrow."

"You can just take the day off as well you know"

"I can't do that"

"You practically own the shop. Why not?"

"Because I want to work" Byul chuckled. "Are you coming at the cafe tonight?"

Hyejin took a sip of water before answering. "I'm still busy"

"Ok" Byul nodded. She focused her attention on the kimchi stew in front of her. "I just found it weird."

"What?"

"If this is because of last Sunday." Byul bit her lip. "I'm not going to drive you away again you know."

The barista looked so dejected and the fact that she thought it is her fault broke Hyejin's heart. If only she could tell Byul what the true reason is, everything would be so simple.

"Ya, do you really think I don't want to come? My assistant is out this week so I have to do all her work." Lie

"You've told me that" the barista pouted and ate her soup. "I miss you that's all"

"I'm right here" Hyejin smiled reaching for Byul's hand throwing her words back to her. Byul opened her palm to hold on to Hyejin's she stared at it circling her thumb on Hyejin's soft skin.

"If you're busy then taking a day off on Sunday would be useless"

"Unnie, do you think I will work on Sunday?"

"You won't?"

Hyejin moved her head from side to side.

"Then let's go on a date!"

"Where?"

"The amusement park! Or along the Han river. Or we could go to the arcade! A museum! Or in a park . . ." Byul trailed seeing each suggestion deepened the frown on Hyejin's face. "You don't want to?"

"I do. Just it's cold outside this time of year." Hyejin shivered, it's November so that's only natural. "I want to stay home. I have not had a lazy Sunday in three months."

"Are you suggesting what I think you're suggesting?" The pitched in Byul's tone went higher as she spoke.

"I guess"

Moonbyul's eyes lit up.

"Ya, don't get any ideas."

"I didnt say anything" Byul smirked.

The smile on Byul's face never left her face as she dropped off Hyejin back in front of her office building.

Hyejin managed to keep smiling until the black Audi turned around the corner. She let out a breath and checked her phone. Yooa's name was displayed on the screen. It read:

Miss Hyejin, the Kei woman is here at the cafe again.

She sent Yooa a small text thanking her. The younger barista had seen her hiding from Kei so Hyejin decided to tell her who she was and what she could do. Yooa agreed to be her spy from then on. It is risky, Hyejin is not sure if Yooa can truly keep a secret from her boss but as off now the younger barista is still following her orders; To keep her updated if Kei comes in and to lessen the contact with Byul. So far she was doing a good job.

Hyejin groaned in frustration. All of this effort just because she had the unfortunate luck of meeting her ex when she was in college. No, a voice disagreed inside her head, this is because you lack self control.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That Saturday night Byul stood in front of the register rocking on the balls of her feet. It's only hours away before she could spend the whole day with Hyejin. Nothing but excitement filled her system after Hyejin invited her to hang out at her place. She started planning what they could do all day, carefully allotting a huge amount of it with just them cuddling in bed. She asked Hyejin what breakfast she would normally eat and became alarmed when her lion said she don't eat breakfast!

"It's the most important meal of the day Jinie!" she said and offered to go to the grocery and pick up all the things that Hyejin wanted.

Next was the entertainment, Byul researched all sorts of movies someone would watch on dates and the most popular choice was 'The Notebook' but dropped the idea as soon as Hyejin said "If it's more than an hour I end up falling asleep."

She jokingly suggested they play the xbox to which Hyejin screamed, literally.

"Call!! I have one in my house!" Hyejin said jumping from her seat. "If you beat me on one of the racing games. I want free vanilla lattes for the rest of the month!"

Byul was too amused to decline that bet.

She took care of everything, the groceries, the entertainment, the scheduling, all Hyejin had to do was open her door at 6 o'clock on Sunday morning, which reminded Byul. She got her phone and sent a quick text to Hyejin asking for her address.

Byul pocketed her phone and glanced at the door once again. Somehow even if Hyejin said she wasn't coming Byul was still hopeful that the younger girl would show up to surprise her. It was the fifth straight night that Hyejin couldn't come and hang out, saying she was busy but . . . there's a nagging feeling in her guts that it was not the case. Hyejin was not telling her the whole truth. But why? Her eyes roamed the shop as if the answer will reveal itself to her. If only that it was that easy.

Then her eyes landed on someone standing in front of her.

"Are you deaf?!"

It was a customer. She had her arms crossed hiding an abnormally enormous , her jaw is working up and down as she chewed on a piece of gum, her eyes showed obvious signs of annoyance. There was something familiar about her.

"Oh it's you again" said the woman. The voice clicked and Byul recognised the same girl the weird woman who took a picture of her.

"Sorry, may I take your order?"

"Be thankful you're cute" The woman muttered. "It makes up for your incompetence"

"Huh?"

Byul felt a hand on her arm pulling her gently to the side.

"Miss Moon, I'll handle it" Yooa said, glancing at her.

The woman gave her the side eye as she willingly moved aside. It was not her first time encountering a hostile customer but she let Yooa handle this one. She was distracted anyway.

Byul moved further to the side telling Yooa she needed a five minute break. She checked her phone for Hyejin's reply and found one.

From: Hyejin

I was wondering when you'll ask. I'm at MMM tower's 23rd floor. Get of the elevator and take a right, it's the farthest one down the hall labelled 23H. See you Byulyi! Don't bring a soy latte please!

Moonbyul's jaw dropped as soon as she read that, excitement coursing back in her system. She wanted to laugh for the ridiculousness of it! Her eyes turned to Yooa who was still serving the customer.

"Name please" she heard Yooa ask.

"Kei. And can you move faster!" The customer said to Yooa while giving Byul another side eye. Then she raised her brow seeing Byul's ear to ear smile. It must have been weird but Byul's cheeks were locked in place and she could not will them to go down. She turned her back to the customer and waited until Yooa was done with the service.

"What's her problem?" Byul asked Yooa, when the woman named Kei got her order and went to sit outside of the cafe. "She can't still be mad at us for the last week."

The younger barista did not answer her. Yooa's eyes were blazing, visible anger was in them as they stared outside.

"Hey, are you ok?"

"She have no reason to be mad when you gave her a whole box of cheesecake to compensate Miss Moon" Yooa huffed.

"It's fine. At least Ricky didn't get reported."

"Still" Yooa said, her eyes not leaving the woman outside, her frown getting deeper.

"Let it go" Byul said, checking on her phone to read the message again. "Go do the inventory for tonight. I want to close early."

"But miss, it's Saturday"

Byul just shrugged. Yooa glanced at the phone in Byul's hand and groaned, she turned her gaze back to the woman, breathing heavily.

"Isn't Miss Hyejin coming tonight?"

"Nope" Byul answered in a singsong voice that went unnoticed by the younger barista.

Yooa groaned again, her brows are about to meet now. Byul could sense she was not letting this go so she decided to show the text Hyejin sent.

"Miss Moon?" Yooa said quickly, she cast a worried glance at the woman's direction. "I have something to tell you"

"Wait" Byul said, showing her screen. "Read this first. It's Hyejin's address."

Yooa was surprised by the grin on her bosses face then read the text message. She let out a loud gasped and look up at Byul. Her boss is giggling.

"Is it real?!" She screamed, turning the frown into a full blown amazement.

"I'll find out when I get there tomorrow" Byul chuckled. "Now what were you trying to say?"

"Oh" Yooa glanced quickly at the figure of the woman outside. "Nothing miss. I hope you enjoy your day off"

"Sure will!"

Byul's excitement did not fade into the night. She kept imagining what Hyejin's house look like. What does she see first thing in the morning? How is she like when she just woke up? Does she get up immediately or does she lie in bed, like Byul does, coaxing her body to move and start the day? Maybe they'll ditch the activities Byul planned and just sleep in without actually sleeping. It was hard to sleep with all the thoughts coursing through her mind so she lied in bed letting them flow freely.

It is hours later, Byul is not sure how long she had slept but she is awake now . . . Her body feels heavy, her breathing shallow, sweat formed on her temples even though it's cold. Her mind was awake with a million scenarios once again. . .

She can't possibly ruin this day. But what if she can't live up to what is expected of her? What if Hyejin gets bored of her and realise she's not worth keeping after all? What if this is all just a dream? After all Hyejin is too good to be true.

"Stop" Byul said out loud. It's not a dream. Hyejin is real. And she has a million things to prove that. A million blissful proof she could describe one by one.

"Stop" she said out loud once again. It is hard to believe but Hyejin is happy when they are together. There's no need to question that. Everything is going well. Everything is fine. In fact everything is perfect.

Then a sudden thought hit her . . . What does it cost?

Byul is shaken from her thoughts when the loudest ring sounded from her phone. It's telling her it's 5:30. She bit her lip and looked outside past the curtains, it was still dark as it is at this time of year. By now she should be getting ready for another work day but Hyejin. . .

Right! Hyejin! She jumped up from her bed shoving the thoughts in the back of her head letting herself get excited. She quickly went to brushed her teeth.

She did not bother to change out of her pyjamas the day will be spent with Hyejin in her house having the lazy Sunday her lion requested. She grabbed her phone, the groceries she bought last night, got the keys to her house and walked out of the door locking it behind her. She had a huge smile on her face that doesn't seem to go away even if she wanted to. She made a short walk to the elevator. Smiled even more at the labelled buttons on their panel, she pressed the number 23, and chuckled at the thought of how Hyejin would react if she knew they had been living at the same building all along. One floor away from another. The elevator took her one floor up.

She recited the directions Hyejin had given her as she followed them. She turned to the right walked towards the farthest door and rang the doorbell. Her heart almost leaping from her chest. She wondered if Hyejin felt the same. Was she able to sleep last night? Is she waiting by the door waiting for Byul to arrive?

Byul is rocking on the balls of her feet. She did not know what to expect or what to say. Start with good morning, she told herself.

"Start with good morning" She said aloud. she heard a sound behind the door and was still adjusting her shoulders when the door swung open.

Byul came face to face with a woman that was not Hyejin.