Few years ago when my grandma was still alive, my siblings and I would always asked her about how she met my grandfather. As a kid, we loved listening to their stories, no matter how many times we’ve listened to it. For us, grandma’s stories had always sounded like a fairy tale that came out straight from the picture books. All of us know her stories about her meeting our grandpa. But there was this time where grandma quietly approached me as my siblings went to the backyard to play after she was done telling us stories.

            “Ava,” She called me softly. I stopped in my track and turned around to face her. “Yes grandma?”

            “Come here” she said it softly. I walked towards her as she asked. “What is it grandma?”

            “Do you believe in grandma’s stories?” She asked as she smiled. “Of course! I really love your stories grandma!”

            “Why do you like it?”

           “It sounds like fairy tale.” I answered. “Then, can you keep a little secret between the two of us?” She smiled. I remember her smile was one of the softest and angelic smile I have ever seen. Whenever I see her smile, it made me feel warm. “The stories that I told you guys were real. I met your grandpa that way”, She stated. “Really?”

            “Yes, and I know you will meet the right one through the same way too” She patted my head as she spoke. “Through the same way like grandma and grandpa did?”

            “Yes, my dear” She answered. She held her pinky finger towards me, as if telling me to keep it a secret. I held out mine and intertwined my pinky finger with hers.

            And it has always been at the back on my head since then, even after grandma passed away when I was 15 years old. It has been 7 years since she’s gone, but her words are still as clear as crystal in my head. I was snapped out of my mind when a hand touched my shoulder. “Hey Ava, you’ve been spacing out for a few minutes now. Is everything okay?” My colleague, Lia asked in concern. “Oh, hey Lia! Sorry I was spacing out for a moment. But everything’s okay! Don’t worry”, I reassured her. “I was worried for a moment because you’re not even flinching! As if you’ve turned into stone or something” She chuckled. Lia is my colleague in the coffee shop I’m working in. The coffee shop is owned by my aunt and I decided to work here to help her around ever since I’ve moved out of my hometown to this town for college. She was here before I even joined the employees, but she is nice since the first day I started working here. Even though she worked here longer than any of the employees, she’s never the arrogant type.

            My first impression of Lia was that she was that kind of person since her facial expression is cold. But turned out she is one of the warmest people I’ve met so far. “Hey Ava, your shift is over” She reminded me as she pointed at her watch. I looked at my watch and saw it’s already passed my working shift. “Oh yeah, I didn’t noticed. Thanks for telling me!” I wiped my hands on the apron tied around my waist and went to the locker room after giving encouragement to Lia.

            I sat on the bench right after I’ve reached the locker room, taking a deep breath afterwards. I took out my phone from my pocket and noticed there’s one message from my best friend, who is also my housemate. “Can you grab us something to eat while you’re on your way back?” I replied her chat and proceed to pack up my things and changed my attire.

            I walked out of the locker room as I carry my sling handbag on my shoulder. “Is Jinyoung not here yet?” I asked Lia who is standing behind the counter. “He’s here, he went to the locker room to change” She stated, pointing at the direction behind my back. I turned around and saw Jinyoung standing behind me with a smile. “Hey Ava” He smiled as he patted my head. “Going home now?” He added. “Yeah, Jinyoung” I answered. Jinyoung is the second colleague that I am close with after Lia. He is the flower boy of our coffee shop. Majority of the customers that come here are his fans. I could confidently say that Jinyoung is a heartthrob. He’s not only good-looking, but he is also talented in making coffees, and his coffee art is one of the best. He possessed all the quality every woman look for.

            I stared into his dark brown eyes, wondering how he can still be single even though he’s almost perfect. “Don’t tell me you’re thinking something silly again” He said, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Hey! Don’t read my mind like that” I jokingly said to him as he laughed. “Take care when you go back okay? It’s dark outside and we couldn’t walk you home too” He crossed his arms, his sleeves are folded up to his elbow. “I will. Don’t worry okay?” I took my phone from my pocket and shiftly clicked on the home button. The screen flashed, revealing the clock on the lock screen. “I’m going now, goodbye! Work well” I said as I walked towards the door of the café, grabbing the door handle. Pushing the door outwards, I waved them goodbye as I make my way out of the coffee shop.

            I take my time walking towards my apartment that is only 15 minutes’ walk from the coffee shop. There are restaurants that are still open, and merrier. Vehicles passed by, people waiting at the bus stop. The town is still alive even though it is already 10 pm.

            I stopped by at one of the restaurant nearby the coffee shop to buy food for my housemate, sliding the door opened as I walked into the restaurant. “Hello Aunty” I greeted the owner of the restaurant. “Oh, hey dear! Are you done with work?” She asked from behind the counter. I make my way to one of the vacant table and sit on the chair. “Yeah, I took the morning shift today” I replied. She walked towards my table, pulling the vacant chair in front of me and sat. “So, what are you having today for dinner?” She offered me a glass of water.

            “What do you have in house?” I asked as I reached for the glass, mumbling thank you before drinking it. “We have anything that you want in house. Are you up for jjajangmyeon?” She asked. “Sure thing! Can I have two? Take away”

            “No problem, dear” She smiled as she leave to the kitchen. Taking my phone out of my pocket, I started scrolling Istagram. My friends from my hometown do love posting their pictures online. But it’s not that I’m complaining, I am happy that they’re happy with how they look like. Their pictures screamed confidence, as they flashed their brightest smile in the pictures. I double clicked the picture to like it, and leave a comment under one of my friends’ post.

            ‘My friend is looking as pretty as usual’, I commented. Looking at how happy they are made me happy, as well. While I was scrolling through the social media, a message popped out on my screen. It’s from Lia.

            ‘Hey, tell me if you’ve arrived home safely okay?’ The message wrote. I smiled, my fingers reached for the keypad on the screen, typing my reply. ‘Sure! I’ll make sure to let you know’ I wrote and clicked the send button.

            “Here’s your orders!” The aunty came with a plastic bag in her hand. “Thank you! How much is it?” I took out my purse from my handbag.

            “Nah, you don’t have to pay dear” She said, stopping me in my track. I looked up from my purse, shocked. “I- I can’t do that! I have to pay you for the food. It’s your business” I argued. “No, you don’t have to. You’ve always stopped by here to talked with me every time you’re done from work. So this one is on me, okay?” She convinced me as she put the plastic bag in my hands. “Are you sure?”

            “Yes dear. I am sure. Don’t worry much about it” She smiled. “Thank you very much!” I said in gratitude. “You’re welcome! Now, you should go back home. It’s getting late. Be careful on your way home” She patted me on my upper arm with her hand. “You too!”

            I waved at her before exiting the restaurant.

            Making my way into my apartment building, I entered the lift to go to the floor I’m living at. As I reached the floor I lived at, I slowly approached my house. Standing in front of the door, I key in the password on the door digit by digit. I pushed the door open and entered the house. “Excuse me? I’m home!” I said as I took off my shoes. “About time!” My hungry housemate screamed from the living room, fast walking towards my direction and took the plastic bag. “Whoa, are you really that hungry?”

            “I am! I am almost hangry” She claimed. “Hangry?” I asked in confusion. “Yes, hangry. It’s hungry and angry in combination” She explained. “Where do you learn such word?” I walked towards the kitchen counter, sitting on the stool chair. “Internet” She simply answered. She puts one of the jjajangmyeon in front of me, and another one for herself. She settled down near me. My best friend and housemate; Nayeon is her name. She’s older than I do but she’s way hyper than I do sometimes. “How’s work?” I asked, reaching for my chopsticks while on it. “Work is okay, I guess. But not as many people visit to buy flowers today” She stated. I nodded my head as I took a bite of my meal.

            Nayeon works as a florist and she owned her own flower shop. It’s 20 minutes away from our house; she usually would drive to her flower shop. At some days, she would take the public transportation instead because she said driving is tiring. “How’s your work?” She asked me afterwards. “Work is fine” I replied.

            “No hot guys?”

            “You mean, Jinyoung?” I questioned.

            “No, silly. Other than Jinyoung. I mean, a good-looking customer or something” She explained. “I don’t know your kind of good-looking people. But so far, I see none of them visit” I said. “Since most of our customers are pretty women” I added.

            “Jinyoung’s fans?” She took a guess but her eyes still fixed on her food.

            “Definitely” I smiled. She leaned back against the back of the stool chair, crossing her arms. “I need to go to work earlier than usual tomorrow” She sighed. “Why is that?”

            “Apparently, I got an appointment with a customer. He wants me to plan flowers for his wedding” She walked towards the coffee table located at the living room, take the notebook on the table and bring it to the dining counter. She flipped through the pages and pointed at one section of her notebook. “Wedding is on this weekend. He even invited me to his wedding as to shows his gratitude for helping out” She muttered. “That’s good. You should go to such events once in a while” I said.

            “And he said to invite one person with me to his wedding,” She continued. I looked up at her face. Don’t tell me—

            “I’m going to bring you along with me, no rejection allowed” She smirked at me. I sighed. I don’t plan of arguing about this matter because I know she’s going to make me tag along with her no matter what. “You should come along with me and dress prettier once in a while” She raised her eyebrows at me as she smirked. “Fine,” I sighed. “But you’re going to do my make ups” I claimed. She raised her shoulders in unison, “No problem!” she said.

            Spending some more time talking with her at the dining counter, we decided to make ourselves some warm chocolate before going to bed. Nayeon slightly hit my back before running towards her room. I laughed and shook my head.

            Opening my room’s door, I entered my room and closing it behind me afterwards. The scent of my room is filled with the smell of the scented candles. I washed up and applied skin care products on my face. I took out my notebook from my bag, and sat at the edge of my bed. I opened it and flipped to the page where I keep the secret letter at. A lilac coloured envelope is resting on one of the pages, inside of the envelope is where I put my grandma’s last letter for me before I lost her.

            Staring at the envelope, my grandma’s voices echoed in my head.

            “Listen, my dear. This letter is special. Only the person who is destined to be with you will be able to see the words written on this envelope and the content of the letter,” she explained. ”Though people might be able to read your name that I wrote on the front of this envelope, only ‘the one’ will be able to read my name that is located at the back of this envelope. I want you to keep this, until the time comes.”

            Knock, knock!

            I swiftly moved around in my bed as I heard a faded knocking somewhere in my ears. “Ava!” I heard my name being called yet it feels so far away. Then, there’s another knocking and I heard my name is being called again. Then I heard an inaudible voice speaking but I can’t catch the words. Few minutes have passed, the voices I heard have gone and slowly I went back to my slumber sleep.

            Ring! My alarm clock starts ringing loudly. I moved my hand around to look for my phone that I’ve set the alarm from without even opening my eyes. Just right after my hand has found my phone that I’ve located next to my pillow; I randomly clicked on the screen and turned the alarm off. A tiny bit of the sunrays entered my room through the small space between my curtains. I grunted before stretching my hands out.

            ‘Another working day’, my mind starts to think. I reached out for my phone next to my pillow and clicked on the home button. On the lock screen, flashed multiple messages from two people; Lia and Nayeon. I unlocked my phone and started checking on the messages that I’ve received.

            ‘I’m going out to work now. I’ve knocked on your door multiple times this morning to tell you that I’m going to leave for work. But you didn’t answer, so I decided to leave a message for you,” her message stated. I checked on the time that she sent the text. 6:15 in the morning. “That was early” I mumbled under my breath. Reading her text brings me back to the moment that I heard knockings and voices when I was still asleep. “I bet that was her”

            I scrolled down the messaging app, I clicked on Lia’s chat. “Hey, there will be changes for the shift today. Can you come early to the coffee shop before it opens?” I slowly sit up on my bed as I read her message. “Sure, no problem” I replied. Getting out of bed, I put my phone on the bedside cabinet, wore my pastel-ish peach coloured slippers and walked towards the bathroom to get ready.

            I pulled the curtains open when I was done getting dressed, letting the sunlight to enter my room completely. I sat at my makeup desk and started to apply basic natural make up. As I was applying my lipstick as the final touch, my phone rings. “Hello?” I answered the call, putting it in between my shoulder and my right ear as I continued applying my makeup. “Hey, Ava! You’re awake now huh?” Nayeon’s voice could be heard from the other side of the line. “Yeah, I’m fully awake now” I emphasized the word fully. Nayeon laughed. “Hey, I prepared some sandwiches, grab it for your breakfast. I’m a bit motivated to make some sandwiches today” She brightly said through the phone.

            “That’s so rare of you” I said, making my way to the kitchen and saw sandwiches on a plate that she covered with food lid. “Enjoy the sandwiches that I made full of love!” She exclaimed in delight. I laughed at her words. “I will”

            We ended the call, I grabbed the sandwiches she made and took a bite. “Not bad” I mumbled. Finishing my breakfast accompanied with a glass of warm coffee, I watched the drama that is currently on going, and everyone seems to be talking about it. “No wonder it’s the talk of the town, the story is pretty interesting”, I sipped my coffee.

            “Oh, welp! Gotta go now” I jumped off the chair and went to get my bag from my room.

 

            “Good morning!” I greeted as I pushed the door open, entering the coffee shop. The smell of the coffee shop has always been my favourite. The coffee scent is definitely my favourite. “Good morning!” I heard voices greeting me back. “Whoa, all of us are here I can see” I said as I walked towards the back of the counter; spotting Lia, Jinyoung and two of our coffee shop employees; Eunwoo and Joy at a nearby table. “We are taking some good coffee,” Lia said.

            “I can see that,” I smiled. “Come join us here, Ava!” Joy said in delight. I joined them and sat down on the empty seat. “It’s nice to see you again, Ava” Eunwoo smiled as he looked at me. “You haven’t seen me for only a day; yesterday, because you’re on your off day, flower boy.” I chuckled. Looking at my fellow colleagues; which are also my friends here, made me realised I’m surrounded with good-looking people yet, so humble.

            “We have a bit of working shift changes, since Joy has something urgent came up today,” Jinyoung explained. “I have a photo-shoot appointment today. It’s the N magazine. I was notified this morning and it was so sudden!” Joy said in frustration. “I’m sorry” She added. “Hey! There’s nothing to be sorry about” Lia argued as the others nodded their head in agreement. Jinyoung took out a blank paper and a pen, “So today’s shift is gonna be 2:2. Two on the morning shift and two on the night shift” He explained. “So who’s going to take the morning shift?” He looked at us.

            “I’m actually okay with both” I voiced my opinion. “Then I’ll put Ava on the morning shift with Eunwoo. Lia and I will be on the night shift. Is that okay?” He asked. All of us agreed with what he has planned. “Then let’s proceed with that one” He smiled.

            “I guess I’ll look around the city until my shift” Lia stretched her arms upwards. “Whatever that makes you happy” I laughed.

            “I guess we’ll be going now,” Jinyoung said to us; the remaining staff who work on the morning shift. “Bye, you two! See you guys on evening” Lia said brightly, waving at us before exiting the coffee shop with Jinyoung. “Good luck working!” Joy encouraged us happily as she walked out of the store. “I guess we’re in charge of opening the store today” I turned to look at Eunwoo. He nodded his head. “Let’s do our best today” He said to me before going to the locker to change.

            Time passed by as we served the customers that came to the coffee shop. Some of the customers came here to do their works, some of them came here with their friends to spend time. And of course, majority of the customers immediately fall over knee to Eunwoo. He’s our flower boy of the store aside from Jinyoung, after all. “You doing okay?” He asked me when he’s done delivering the coffee to one of the customer’s table. “I’m doing good! Thanks for asking” I smiled. He handed me a cup of coffee that he claimed he made. “Thank you, Eunwoo”

            “You’re welcome. I hope you like the coffee” He patted my head before going back to his work. “Hey, Eunwoo. Do you mind if I ask you something?” I muttered. “No, go ahead”

            “Are you still single?”

            He almost choked the mineral water that he was drinking when he heard my question. “Yeah,” he coughed. “I am. Why do you ask that?”

            “No, I was just wondering. Majority of our customers are your fans, too. Aside from Jinyoung’s. And you have a good personality, good-looking and well-mannered too. How can you don’t have girlfriend yet?”

            He chuckled at my statement. “Maybe I spend most of my time loving my work. That’s why I don’t really pay attention to that matter” he explained. I nodded my head. “You do love coffee just as much as I love my sleep” I jokingly said in agreement. He laughed at my words. “And you? Why are you still single?” He asked me the same question in return.

            “Oh, uno reverse card?” We laughed at my joke. “I don’t know. Maybe I’m waiting” I raised my shoulders in unison. “For a guy who’s worth it?”

            “You can say that” I replied. He nodded his head. Our conversation was cut off when the doorbell on the door rings as a customer entered the store. “Oop, a customer” Eunwoo softly muttered under his breath as he smiled at me. I smiled back.

            The clock shows 4 in the evening. From afar, I could see JInyoung’s and Lia’s figure walking towards the coffee shop. “Hello there, lovely people” Lia said as she walked towards our way. “Oh, a pretty woman has come” I jokingly play along. “You sure look happy” I said to Lia.

            Her face is beaming with happiness, she smile from ear to ear; almost showing off her gum. “Yep! I’ve watched the latest movie that I wanted to watch. It’s so satisfying” She explained. We chuckled as she slowly walked to the locker room.

            “Okay, it’s our turn now!” She stretched her shoulders. Jinyoung came out of the locker room a moment later. “Then,” I patted on Lia’s shoulders. “I’m leaving the coffee shop in your hands, comrade”

            “So, you’re telling me you have a wedding ceremony to attend but you don’t have any good clothes for it?” Eunwoo repeated what I said. I nodded my head as I looked around the flower shop. “I guess we need to go to the shopping mall and look one for you” He suggested without hesitation. “Are you serious?” I turned around to look at him.

            Eunwoo is standing there, his background full of flowers make his visual look more outstanding than usual. He looked like as if he came straight out of webtoon. He is even emitting the boyfriend material vibes. “You should accept his suggestion, Ava-ya” Nayeon said as she came back from the back store. “Plus,” Nayeon shifted her eyes from me to Eunwoo. “He has good eyes for fashion style” She added.

            I couldn’t argue with that. The way he chooses his attire could even make the whole world stops for a while just to take another look at him. I give it a long thought before agreeing with his suggestion. “I’m counting on you” I said to him. “I think we should get going now” Eunwoo said, checking the time on his watch. “Okay, you lovebirds! Get going now” Nayeon exclaimed. “Hey! We’re friends” I argued, walking towards her direction and give her a light punch on her arm.

            I turned around to look at Eunwoo. I guess I could trust on Eunwoo regarding this.