It was a usual busy afternoon at Gureum and Youngsoon padded along the varnished wooden floors, welcoming guests and fulfilling her role as manager. With her braided hair and modernised hanbok, various costumers would sneak photos of her, wanting to capture the imagery of Youngsoon waltzing through the teahouse imbued with history and bathed in sunshine.

Juxtaposing with Youngsoon’s demure and restrained elegance was Joy who sat behind the counter wearing bright red lipstick and a pair of oversized sunglasses that propagated a sense of diva. The reason behind her fashion choice though was because she was too hangover to deal with bright light.

While Joy was tapping away on her phone trying to ignore the hammering headache that was plaguing her, Jinyoung walked in and his eyes landed immediately on the younger girl who in turn ducked under the counter, refusing to face the male. When Youngsoon leaned over the counter in search of a pen, Joy instinctively grabbed her and pulled her over to act as a shield.

“Protect me unnie,” Joy begged. “You need to take responsibility for leaving me with him!”

Youngsoon’s eyes widened in alarm but refrained from making any assumptions and waited for Jinyoung to offer his side of the story which Jinyoung was grateful for.

“You ungrateful brat.” Jinyoung glared at Joy while rubbing his stomach. “I look after you and you repay me by assaulting me.”

Snapping her head towards Joy, Youngsoon’s eyebrows etched together in a frown, wondering what on earth had happened. With her gaze cast downwards, Joy suddenly found her nails extremely fascinating but upon hearing Jinyoung harshly clear his throat, Joy slumped her shoulders and pushed her sunglasses up to display the most persuasive puppy eyes she could muster.

“You can’t blame me…” Joy mumbled. “I woke up in an unfamiliar room and thought I had been kidnapped…”

“So when you saw me coming out of the bathroom your first response was to punch me in the stomach,” Jinyoung completed the story in an unamused tone.

A baffled expression took over Youngsoon’s face and that somehow felt like a breath of fresh air for Jinyoung because it contrasted with the collected and professional smile that he associated with her.

“The place was a pig hole okay?” Joy cried out in defence. “I remember you being a tidy guy.”

At that statement Jinyoung shut his mouth because that was indeed the truth. He had always been an organised person who disliked clutter. However during the past month, he had lost all sense of routine and had allowed the mess in his room to escalate and now he had no reason that compelled him to tidy up. What purpose was there to do that anyway?

Sighing loudly, Jinyoung decided to ignore Joy and searched for an empty table, feeling a rare moment of elation when he noticed that the window table he occupied last time was available. As though reading his mind, Youngsoon took a menu and motioned Jinyoung to follow her, leading him to the said table. Giving Jinyoung a small bow Youngsoon turned to leave.

“Wait,” Jinyoung called out. “I’m not really familiar with the menu here so… Do you have any recommendations…?”

Youngsoon tapped a thoughtful finger on her chin before setting down on her knees. Then she opened the menu on the page that showed the recommendation of the day.

“We had the last batch of seasonal grapefruit delivered this morning so I highly recommend cold grapefruit tea,” Youngsoon explained slowly while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “As for dessert, we have honey puffed rice with nuts, topped with a sweet apple puree to match the tartness of the tea.”

“Honey puffed rice with nuts and apple puree?” Jinyoung mused with a nostalgic smile. “That’s an interesting combination. A staple childhood snack spiced up with a staple of European cuisine.”

“Your aunt is very keen on innovating traditional recipes and we have a pâtissier who is very keen to experiment with flavours,” Youngsoon replied.

Although the smile Youngsoon wore was her usual disciplined one, the tone she spoke in had a hint of admiration and pride that Jinyoung found himself appreciating. This consequently made him feel him at ease and in a much better mood than he was in when he had arrived.

“I’ll have that.”

“Make that two,” Joy quipped, dropping on the floor pillow across from Jinyoung.

“Certainly.” Youngsoon nodded.

Taking the menu, she stood up and headed towards the kitchen to give in the order. Jinyoung meanwhile crossed his arms over his chest and stared at Joy with suspicion, especially since she was batting her eyelashes at him.

“What?” Jinyoung snapped at her, his patience wearing thin.

“I’ve come to keep you company,” Joy answered without missing a beat with a saccharine voice.

“I don’t need it,” Jinyoung huffed, looking away.

Joy remained unperturbed by Jinyoung dismissive behaviour and kept her gaze locked on him. Jinyoung shifted around, feeling uncomfortable with Joy’s intense stare. He was given a temporary break when one of the waitresses brought over their order and Joy was distracted by the beautiful dark pink hue of the grapefruit tea as it glistened under the sunlight in the glass teacup.

“So pretty!” Joy cooed, immediately taking her phone out to take a photo.

Raising an eyebrow at her, Jinyoung shook his head and took a bite of the honey puffed