The sun beams its light through the window. The curtains dance to the breeze that escapes the slightly opened aperture. Sleepy Irene tries to cover her eyes, with her tiny hand, as she slowly opens them. She yawns as she stretches her short arms and legs. She reaches for her phone on her side table. It's Saturday, 9 o'clock in the morning. She realizes, she woke up later than usual. Irene remains flat on her bed staring at her ceiling. She hears her tummy growl for a second and her mind goes on thinking about what to eat for breakfast today. She had a tough day yesterday at her dance studio that she barely had a proper dinner and went to bed as soon as showered when she came home. She finally separates herself from her bed. She fixes her pillows and folded her blankets. She puts her fluffy purple slippers on and pulls her hair up into a cute messy bun. She drags herself to the kitchen, opens the fridge and to her disappointment, she slams it closed.

 

"This is why you need someone to cook for you...", she said to herself.

 

She doesn't even know what she's talking about. She usually cooks ramyeon with egg or prepare a cereal for breakfast but today she doesn't feel like eating any of her usual.

 

"Kang Seul! Are you at work now?", she called her bear friend who works at a café. It's been a while since she went there because of her busy schedule.

 

"Yes unnie! Are you coming today?", Kang Seul asked.

 

"I think I will drop by today."

 

"Why? You don't have anything for breakfast?", she giggled over the phone.

 

"That might be the case again..."

 

"Unnie perfect! There are new items in our menu. We're selling lots of them!", she proudly said to her unnie.

 

"Fine fine. I'll be there in a bit. I'll make sure to get that and review it! Be ready Kang Seul!"

 

"I'm confident unnie! Come quick!"

 

"Be right there in a few. Bye!"

 

-

 

Irene took a quick soft bath. She wore a plain white shirt paired with a denim jacket, jeans and sneakers. She's too hungry to put on a proper make up so she just patted her face with some powder and blush, curled her eyelashes and put some lip gloss.

 

She walks out from her apartment and embraces the cold breeze, just cold enough for her body to feel. The café where Seulgi works at is just 10 minutes from her place so she didn't bother calling for a cab and decides to walk. She thinks of it as her morning exercise for today. She's in a good mood, even though she's hungry. She walks pass by a pet store, a struggle for her most of the time, but she passes easily this time as she spots not a single dog outside. She smiles as spots the café.

 

She pushes her way in and to her shock, she sees the café almost packed at 10 A.M. It's such an unusual sight for her, or did something happen when she was away? Seulgi told her nothing about her work so she was clueless. As her eyes roam around, she spots Seulgi in the far end of the café chatting with some of their customers. She walks through when someone unfamiliar, who wears the same uniform as her friend, greets her.

 

"Good morning! Are you looking for a seat?", she asked as she flashes a cute smile. She was wearing a white polo top, black pants, with a black apron tied around her waist. She has a short blonde hair which suits her face well. "I can you...."

 

Irene loses her focus on Seulgi and smiles as she stopped in front of the girl.

 

"Wendy", she reads her nameplate silently with her lips but it was too obvious and the girl notices it.

 

"Yes. Hi! I'm Wendy! How may I help you? Are you here to try our new pancakes?"

 

Irene, with her short tongue at the moment, just nods. The girl escorts her to an empty seat at the side of the café near the huge glass window.

 

"We're almost out of the pancakes. I'm glad you came here just in time.", she smiles as she signals Irene to wait for a moment. Irene's eyes follow her as she goes to the counter and prepare the menu for her. She was looking at her when someone stands between her and the view.

 

"Unnie!"

 

"Aaiishhh!! You scared me!", Irene said, as she hit her friend. Seulgi sits infront of her.

 

"I didn't know you're already here."

 

"Yeah. You were too busy, you didnt even notice. I'm glad someone is taking care of me",

 

"Who?"

 

"The cute one..."

 

Irene directs her eyes to where Wendy is, who is still busy preparing her order. Seulgi follows the direction...

 

"Ah Wendy?"

 

"Is she new here? It's my first time seeing her."

 

"Two weeks. She's a great baker unnie! She baked our new pancakes, and it's a hit!"

 

"Oh really? I think that's the thing she wants me to eat."

 

"Ahhh.. Unnie! You're going to eat it??"

 

"Of course", Irene said. "Didn't you tell me to come here and check the new thing on your menu?" She smiles as she sees the girl holding a tray of fluffy looking pancakes coming towards her.

 

"I was going to suggest another thing though", Seulgi said which Irene probably didn't hear.

 

"Yah Kang Seul, can you stand up and let her sit instead?"

 

"What?"

 

"Fast! Get up from your seat.."

 

Seulgi gives Irene a weird look but stands up anyways. Wendy brings the pancakes infront of Irene.

 

"Kang Seul wants me to review something on your menu today, so I guess this is it. I heard you made it... Wendy?

 

"Yes! It's my recipe. I'll explain about it further after you give your comments", Wendy smiles as she watches Irene pick up the knife and fork. Irene cut a slightly big piece of the pancake and smelled it. Seulgi, looking all concerned and nervous, watches her unnie eat, chew and actually gulped the pancake. Seulgi bites her lip, as she's expecting her unnie to give comments, but to her surprise, she sees Irene cut another piece and eat it.

 

"Hmm now I know why Kang Seul said it's a hit. It's a little bitter but I can taste the sweetness in it. It's good!", she said as she smiles at Wendy, who seems to be happy about it. Irene looks at Seulgi, who's still shocked about what she just saw. opens in awe.

 

"Wendy-ssi!", someone called her from afar. She stands in respond to the call. Seulgi quickly sits infront of Irene, looks at her intently as the older finishes half of it. She's so hungry that she feels like eating more of it plus a cute girl made it for her. She smiles just by the thought.

 

"Are you okay unnie?"

 

"I'm so hungry Kang Seul, I might order another one."

 

"It's on the house!", Wendy said as she served Irene a cup of coffee which is a perfect match for the pancake.

 

Irene and Seulgi's eyes meet. Seulgi, a little concerned, remembers the last time she jokingly served Irene a coffee which led into a fight between them. Irene hates coffee, that's one thing people need to know about her.

 

"I-I don't drink coffee... Wendy", she looks at her seriously. Seulgi stares at Irene as she listens to them.

 

"What? That's impossible.", Wendy said, still flashing her cute smile.

 

"No, thank you. You can keep it", Irene calms herself as she pushes the cup of coffee away from her. She cuts another portion of the pancake..

 

"You seem to like the coffee pancake though, you're weird", Wendy bluntly said as she giggles. "Okay, I'll take this away."

 

Irene stops cutting, and drops her fork and knife.. "C-coffee pancake???", her eyes widen as she looks at Wendy. She then looks at her friend, Seulgi, who seems to be uncomfortable about the situation.

 

"Ehe, I'll leave you two for a bit", Seulgi said as she barely escapes Irene's temper and leave the two behind.

 

"It's actually a coffee buttermilk pancake. I added some maple syrup to make it sweeter. You seemed to like it", Wendy proudly explains.

 

Irene tries to control herself from puking now that she knew about the pancake she just ate. She wonders why she didn't smell any coffee aroma from it but then realizes that the café is filled with the scent that's probably why she didn't notice. Irene likes the smell of coffee, but the taste, no. She sweared for the rest of her life she will never ever consume coffee. She can't believe this new cute girl served her one, in fact, made her eat coffee instead.

 

Irene stands up from her seat and walks to the counter, Wendy following her.

 

"Are you done? But you didn't finish eating all of it?"

 

"Yes. I think I've had enough of it now", Irene takes her card and gives it to Seulgi who avoids her unnie's eyes. Wendy takes the card, grabs Irene's hand and gives it back to her.

 

"I'm not gonna let you pay for your unfinished pancake. I take that as your judgement to my recipe. You don't like my pancake", Wendy sighs as she walk back to the kitchen.

 

Seulgi just shurgs her shoulders when Irene turns to her. Irene's suppressed anger turns into guilt as she sees Wendy's smile turns into a frown.

 

"Unnie, you're coming back right?"

 

"Kang Seul, you're lucky I didn't get mad at you today. I'll come back for Wendy, not for the pancakes", she said as she waves goodbye to her friend.

 

 

 

- end -

 

 

 

 

Bonus.

 

 

 

- Wendy's POV. Narration only -

 

 

Wendy's heart races as Seulgi told her that her friend is finally coming today. The latter showed pictures of Irene to Wendy one time and she was dying to meet her one day. 

 

The café is packed. Her attention was divided from welcoming customers, serving them and..... waiting for Irene. They are almost running out of their signature pancake and the girl she's waiting for is not even in. They only bake a number of pancakes for the day and serve it until it run out. They didn't expect a lot would love it so they're still in the process of improving the quantity of it.

 

Wendy smiles as she peeks on the display counter. She set aside one plate of special pancake for Irene. Her eyes drifts from the counter to the door as she hears the bells ring. It's Irene. Finally. She rushes to the door, her eyes fix on the girl.

 

Her heart races even more that Irene is now infront of her. She's really beautiful she told herself. She escorts her to an empty seat and makes her way to make the pancake for her. She was smiling as she was preparing and drizzling the pancake with a generous amount of maple syrup. She heard Irene loves sweets, so she will definitely like it.

 

Wendy was smiling the whole time while Irene was eating and complimenting her recipe. She knew she would like it. She's proud of herself. She forgot to get her a drink so she rushes to get a cup of coffee.

 

It was all then the atmosphere changed. The pancakes she got Irene was just half eaten, HALF EATEN. Irene stands up and confused Wendy stares at her plate and wonders what's wrong with it.  It's the first time Wendy has witnessed someone not finishing her "IT" item on the menu. Her pride was hurt.

 

She follows Irene to the counter and with her hurt pride she did not let Irene pay for it. She looks at Irene one more time and walks her way to the kitchen.

 

Wendy crossed her arms and said...

 

"I'm gonna make a new one and feed it to Irene. I'll make sure this time, she's gonna love it and she'll beg me to make more for her. You wait Irene, you wait. Hmmp"

 

 

-end- end??-