♡----------------------------------------------♡

Chaewon’s vision became blurry as she felt another yawn rise through her chest and out through her lips. Taking slow blinks, she uttered a few incoherent mumbles under her breath which was supposed to say, “I’m still sleepy,” but came out to sound, “esh shleppppeee.” 

Across the table, Mina clicked her tongue, “What twenty-year-old can’t wake up properly by 11:00 A.M?” she said while shaking her head. Mina whisked a spoonful of sugar into her coffee then slid it across the table towards Chaewon. “Take a sip and wake up. Today is grocery day. I need you to be on your A-game. ”

Chaewon let out a distressful whine. Forcing her eyes back open, she accepted the coffee Mina offered. She had neglected to remember Mina told her to take only a SIP. Lifting the mug with both hands, she downed the coffee in one gulp. For a moment, the warmth that traveled within her body re-energized her senses. She became more aware of the sound of plates clinging in the kitchen, she could smell the sweet aroma from the leftover coffee, and she was at least vaguely aware of the conversation happening in the booth behind her. Something about burning a company building that sounded like you and ha, also something about a starship? 

Then, of course, the caffeine ran straight out of her body and the world around Chaewon faded back into a dull grey color. “Are they almost here yet?” She muttered. 

“It might be a good thing that they haven’t,” Mina replied with a grim face. 

 Chaewon’s disarrayed appearance was starting to irk her, her motherlike personality kicked in and she the palm of her hand. She then reached over to brush down the many loose strands on the side of Chaewon’s hair. On the occasion, beating her palm onto the other girl's forehead in hopes the pain would wake her up. Once she was satisfied Chaewon looked presentable, she leaned back into her chair and re-poured herself another mug.

“What are we ever going to do with her?” Mina rubbed her nose into baby Minhyun. 

The baby in return showed his love back by drooling onto the side of Mina’s cheek.

“Kick her out of our house is what we should do.”

Mina looked up from Minhyun as Nayeon and Yena approached the table together with grins. Both were wearing the same clothes they had worn the previous day. They were also a shade or two darker, which made Mina curious into what exactly the two partners in crime had been up to on their “secret mission”.

The veteran couple shared a brief kiss as Nayeon wedged herself into the same booth. Mina would never admit it, but she hated sleeping at night when Nayeon wasn’t around. She always got that anxious and unsafe feeling of being in bed without her. Luckily last night, Chaewon and she had fallen asleep together on the couch downstairs. 

“DUCKY~” 

Mina watched as Chaewon jumped out of her slumped position on the booth and tackled Yena in a massive hug. Chaewon left a fury of pecks on the side of Yena’s neck and cheek while holding onto her.

“Well, I guess that’s one way to wake her up.” Mina shrugged.

“What the hell were you guys doing up in the mountains! Where was my invite?.” Chaewon sulked as she clung to Yena.

“We went bear hunting,” Yena said while scrunching her nose proudly. She had obviously prepared that answer in the car ride, and probably had a whole fake back-story to go along with the white lie.

“Looks like you only caught a tan, Yena,” Mina answered with a smile.

“We’re being serious!” Nayeon interrupted, “You should have seen Yena pepper spray a bear that popped out of a tree yesterday.”

“OW” Nayeon flinched when she felt her left shin being kicked by Mina, obviously displeased with the dramatic lie.

“OWWIE” Nayeon flinched again, this time on her right shin. She looked up to see Yena giving her a cold look across the table. 

“That wasn’t part of the script,” Yena said in a hushed voice.

“No but seriously, what were you guys doing in the mountains yesterday?” Chaewon asked again.

“We just decided to go on a hike together while you were sleeping. Get some fresh air away from the city.” Nayeon answered calmly. Yena and she had practiced repeatedly in the car ride back to the city how they would handle any questions they received. Under no circumstances could they let Mina know that they went to see Director Song nor give her any suspicion about the proposal. 

“You didn’t mention anything about camping either,” Mina said with a raised eyebrow. 

The sound of approaching footsteps distracted the girls. They turned to face the edge of the table. All four of them angled their heads upwards, expecting to see the gigantic shadow of Ahn Yujin loom over them.

“I’m down here!” Nako raised her hand and all four heads dropped down where they could be at eye level with her. Even with her work shoes on, Nako's height was no more than 150 cm. The elevated booths from the ground made it so only Nako's chest and above were visible from the table , and so more often than not, the young japanese girl had to stand on her tippy toes to reach over and serve plates. 

“Sorry, we thought Yujin was coming to take our order,” Mina replied. Usually, Yujin would call dibs for serving at their table, and that was only because they were to easiest the handle, plus Yujin never felt bad for snacking on their food before serving it(not that she ever felt bad for doing it to any other customers.) 

“te Iru” Nako answered back, I know, in her native tongue. 

“Hi Nako!” Yena leaned closer to the table, past Chaewon’s head so she could see the other girl. Her eyebrows furrowed together as she noticed another girl in uniform standing behind Nako

“Chaeryoung??” Yena pointed.

“Hullo Unnie!” Chaeryoung's eyes squinted like a crescent moon as she smiled while waving back.

“When did you start working here?” Yena asked.

“Hitomi and Yujin helped me get this job earlier this week. I can’t be sleeping under Yuri’s bed for the rest of the semester. Not that I mind or anything, but unnie(Chaeyeon) wouldn’t allow it,” She answered back.

“And guess who’s in charge of training her,” Nako said in a stale voice. Yujin was supposed to be in charge of helping Chaeryoung learn the ropes around the diner today, but the girl called last night saying she couldn’t make it to work today because of an absolute emergency(there wasn’t one).

Chaewon was about to ask why Chaeryoung was still sleeping under Yuri’s bed instead of just sharing one with her older sister, but she decided that detail would only ruin her mood. 

“I missed you so much.” Chaewon pinched Yena’s cheek just as the girl was sipping on her orange juice. A steady flow of liquid flowed down the other girl's lips and stained her blouse. 

“Nasty.” Nako grimaced at the sight, “So I'm guessing we're all ordering the usual?” She asked. In terms of experience, Nako and Hitomi had been working at the diner the longest, or since the beginning of their freshman year. They were recommended the job by Momo, Jeongyeon, and Nayeon who thought if they got two little kiddos to work with Mr.Seok, they could give them a discount, or maybe even let them eat for free. (it never happened.)

“You know the drill,” Nayeon said with a grin.

“Remember this.” Nako turned to Chaeryoung who was already holding a pen and notepad.

“Mina and Nayeon share the couple platter but they replace pancakes with two English muffins, It goes better with coffee. Mina will ask for a new bottle of ketchup every time so she could murder her eggs and hashbrowns, don’t ask why, just do it.” 

“Always give Mina her ketchup,” Chaeryoung said out loud while scribbling as much as she could retain onto the notepad.

“Chaewon’s order is the simplest, she only gets a double stack of strawberry pancakes, but she never finishes her food and takes the longest to eat.”

“That's not true!” Chaewon said defensively. 

Nako ignored the side comment, “Yena orders the cheese omelet with two pieces of bacon, please, if she asks, just arrange the bacon to make a smiley face, it makes her happy so we do it. Usually, Mr.Seok remembers, but when Yena means HOT chocolate she actually only wants it warm, she’ll burn her tongue unless Yuri is here to stop her.”

“”Yurii ahhh~” Chaeryoung squeaked at the mention of her long-time crush. She wondered what her country bumpkin was doing at this hour. Instead of writing down Yena’s order, she began writing Yuri’s name on her notepad with a tiny heart.

“Stop getting distracted.” Nako clapped her hands in front of Chaeryoung.

The younger girl blinked rapidly before nodding her head, “ Cheese omelet with a bacon smiley face. Got it!”

“Good, I'll take you to Hitomi now and she’ll help you over what Irene and Eunbi order, Eunbi wants her coffee done in a very specific way.” Nako led Chaeryoung away from the table and back to the kitchen to give her further orders to memorize.

“Well, Chaeryoung seems to fit in just fine,” Nayeon said as she reached onto the table for a piece of toast.

“I won’t be surprised if she replaces Yujin within two weeks.” Chaewon scoffed. 

The other girls nodded their heads in agreement. 

“So what are today’s plans again?” Chaewon asked, totally forgetting everything Mina said to her ten minutes ago.”

Mina answered in a calm voice, “Today is our errand day, we’re going grocery shopping, and we have to pick a few things up at the department store.” 

“Again?” Chaewon groaned. 

“We do this every week at the same time Chaewon,” Mina answered back.

“Yeah, but I haven’t seen Yena in almost 24 hours, I want to go on a date with her today.” She re-closed her eyes and rested her head onto Yena’s shoulder. 

“Honestly, it might be easier if it's just us three that goes.” Nayeon offered while pointing to Minhyun and herself. The saying two heads are better than one did not work for this dysfunctional set of girls and if anything, fewer heads would make life easier for Mina, who always did all the work.

“Where’s Hoo by the way?” Mina narrowed her eyes. On the off chance that Nayeon and Yena did actually run into a bear yesterday, Mina wanted to make sure her precious puppy was still in one piece. 

“He’s outside in the back with Mr. Seok and some of the kitchen staff who are smoking,” Yena replied.

Mina nodded her head intently while she did some quick thinking.

“Okay, since there are so many of us, why don’t you two take Nayeon’s car to the mall? I need you two to return these pants that are too big for me, then you can do whatever date stuff afterward there. Nayeon and I will go grocery shopping.” Mina offered. 

“You hear that booger eater, I don’t have to deal with you today.” Chaewon stuck her tongue out at the baby.

Obviously, Minhyun didn’t reply back. 

♡

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♡

It was around midday when Chaewon and Yena arrived outside the mall. It was located in the closest shopping/business district to the campus and held several trendy restaurants and other stores outside.

The two interlocked arms as they cut their way through the sea of shoppers. The sun was at its peak, but there was a pleasant umbrella of clouds that weaved in and out over the sun, almost as if somebody was  flickering a lightbulb on and off. 

They had agreed in the car that they would wait to go into the actual mall and do Mina’s errand at the end; that way they could enjoy the weather and walk around the shopping area outside. 

“Do you remember when we first met and you took me to the floral shop to buy flowers for your brother?” Chaewon pointed to the end of the street corner where the floral store and connecting green-house were located. “You even bought me baby’s breaths because you said I look like a baby.” She followed in a bitter voice. 

“I’m surprised you remembered that.” Yena faced her girlfriend with a nostalgic smile. To think that the two went from making youtube covers together to dating for 201 days now brought some butterflies in her stomach. She couldn’t imagine how different her life would have been if a certain spunky, at the time red-haired girl, hadn’t barged into her singing practice.

Chaewon's thoughts were one and the same with Yena and she leaned in to leave a small peck on the bridge of Yena’s nose. 

 “If you really want to know, a baby's breath is supposed to symbolize romance,” Yena said as they progressed deeper into the shopping area. They had yet to stop and walk into a single shop, not that they even intended to in the first place. 

“Romance?” Chaewon’s face staled. “Aren’t red roses supposed to symbolize that sort of thing?” 

 “They both mean the same thing. Usually, when you buy a bouquet of flowers they’ll have red roses and baby’s breaths in them.” Yena explained. 

“Does this mean you were trying to confess to me ever since we first met?” Chaewon teased.

“Mmm, not exactly” Yena puckered her lips together. “Maybe I was just grateful for your attention at the time and since you were so nice to me.”

“I don’t blame you for thinking that way,” Chaewon said while trying to restrain a smile. “I never realized how thoughtful you were when you bought me those flowers”

“Is that a bad thing?” Yena challenged with a frown.

“No it’s cute, I like that about you,” Chaewon said while tightening her hand around Yena’s.

The other girl tried her best not to blush, but then the conversation reminded her of something else she heard. “Hey, Wonnie?”

Chaewon stopped walking when she felt Yena anchor her in place. “Hmm?”

Yena nibbled on her bottom lip as she made sure she remembered the exact verbiage. “Do you know if The moon looks beautiful tonight, does it have any special meaning?” Ever since Vincent had said that to her the other night, it had stuck to her like a song verse on repeat. Obviously, she couldn’t mention anything about Vincent...at least for now.

The other girl frowned as she was never quite the poetic type and could not attribute those words to any special meaning or recall it being told to her. “Not sure, you might want to try searching it up.”

“Maybe. I’ll think about it later.” Yena said while shrugging her head. “Come on let's go get ice cream now, and no we are not getting toothpaste flavor.” 

“Oh come on, it’s so much better than that,” Chaewon whined.

After walking into the mall and getting their ice cream from a shop inside, the two decided to sit at a bench nearby the food court. 

Chaewon hummed a soft melody as she ate her ice cream. It was the sort of unconscious singing one does when he/she is truly in a joyful mood. Which of course, for Chaewon, only occurred when she was spending time with Yena. 

After taking another bite, Chaewon turned to study her girlfriend. She frowned at the sight of her. She could tell something was bothering Yena. While she had been slouched with her back leaning against the bench, Yena sat at an upright 90-degree angle. As Chaewon studied further she could see that her girlfriend had broken back into her old nervous habit of picking at the dead skin around her nails. 

“Something bothering you?” Chaewon asked the obvious. She took one of Yena’s hands into her own and placed a plastic spoon into her palm. This way Chaewon could stop Yena’s nervous habit without having to call it out herself, while also more importantly signaling to the other girl that she better help her finish this damn ice cream. 

“Not sure,” Yena said with a deep sigh. She forced herself to take a small spoonful of mint-chocolate chip ice cream and shivered as the mint taste fogged .

“Still tastes like toothpaste,” Yena said in a straight voice.

“You’ll get used to it trust me.” Chaewon dug another fist size of ice cream into her own spoon and crammed it into . Putting her spoon back into the cup, Chaewon held onto both of Yena’s hands. “Now tell me what's on your mind.”

“It’s not that serious.” Yena rebuked with a side glare. 

“Then it should be easy to tell me, now let me hear it.” Chaewon sat cross-legged on the bench and faced Yena.

“Do you have any other uncles or aunts that you never told me about?” Yena said in an awkward voice.

Chaewon had to catch herself from almost laughing in disbelief. “Uncles or aunts? My dad was an only child, and my mom only had one sister.”

“I know, you told me before, but are you sureeee you don’t have any other ones?” Yena tried again. She looked into Chaewon’s eyes and could tell the other girl had no idea what she was talking about. 

“You’re hiding something.” Chaewon scooted closer to Yena. “Tell me.”

“I can’t.” Yena mumbled while avoiding eye contact.

“Is it something bad?” Chaewon asked. She thought if she pressed hard enough Yena would eventually open up about it.

“Not really,” Yena answered. Showing no signs of giving in.

“Then why can’t you tell me?” Chaewon pressed further. She notoriously was both a stubborn and nosy person who hated having secrets kept from her. Chaewon would get to the bottom of this even if it killed her. “This has to do with why you and Nayeon went to the mountains yesterday, doesn’t it? You both have been evading the topic far too many times,” Chaewon closed her fingers to make a fake gun with her hand.” fess up.” 

“No means no,” Yena replied. She stood up to stretch her cramped legs. “We have an errand to accomplish .”

“I haven’t finished the ice cream yet,” Chaewon complained. She looked down at the bench with a frown. Where did the ice cream go? She looked up to see Yena taking a last bite near the trash can before throwing the cup away.

“I saw that!” Chaewon said.

“You saw nothing~” Yena hummed while walking away.

Chaewon ran to catch up to her girlfriend. Their arms naturally linked into each other.

“You still have to tell me.” Chaewon hummed.

“Later,” Yena replied with little intention of doing so. 

The two took their time as they walked through the mall towards the correct store for Mina. 

Occasionally they would stop to look at one of the toy or plushie vendors, or walk into a store they usually shopped at. They ended up buying a new matching pajama set at the Disney store and Chaewon bought new strings for her guitar at a music shop. Each time they exited a store, Chaewon would ask Yena again to tell her what they did in the mountains, and each time Yena would reply later. Eventually, they reached the far end of the mall and made it to the correct store. 

“This place looks like a store only middle-aged moms would shop at,” Chaewon said in some horror. This was partially true, as Mina’s fashion sense either went from