“Of course.”

Sora was scowling, a clear look of disgust painted on her beautiful face as she remembered the words from last night. 

“One of us has to lose then.”

She grimaced once again, rolling her eyes as she remembered his annoying face before she ran away from him last night. 

“Stupid kid. He think he’s all that.” her eyes gleamed angrily as she cleaned on the counter, scrubbing the area as if it was contaminated with some dangerous bacteria. 

“Just because he’s handsome, tall, smells good, charming - does he think he can do everything he wants?”

“Is it fun to mess with me? Does he even know who he’s messing with?”

“Stupid kid. He doesn’t even know how the world works and he went around messing with people - ”

Joy went blinking at her boss - who was seemingly too deep with her own monologue to even bother with people. She didn’t want to interrupt that, not when her boss was looking like she was ready to cut a while cleaning the counter.

So, she lazily sipping on the smoothie that she had just make while leaning against the wall, staring at the owner of the coffee shop. 

Seulgi on the other hand was leaning beside Joy as she also stared at her boss with an amused look on her face.

“Is she mocking him or...complimenting him?” Wendy also chirped when she walked from the kitchen to send the new baked goods and Seulgi just shrugged in return. 

“Look at that bastard, breathing like he owned the oxygen.” Sora gritted on her teeth, glaring from the counter when she spotted Sehun busying himself in his own coffee shop. 

Despite the fact that she told herself not to ogle at the stupid tall and handsome bastard, her eyes couldn’t help but to tail on him whenever she spotted him from her own coffee shop. 

Curse him for being so easy to be spotted on. 

And curse him too for easily noticing that she was staring at him - because he nonchalantly looked up from his own work in the coffee shop and stared directly towards Sora who was staring at her. 

Thus, making the woman fumed even more and Joy - who was staring at her, could easily see the fire that was erupting from the petite woman. 

“Should we calm her down?” Seulgi was genuinely worried at seeing her boss looking like she was going through another session of emo phase.

Joy smirked evilly - like a witch that just finished making a plan to rule the world. “Nah...it’s fun like this.”

“You are evil.” Seulgi commented, but still followed Joy’s idea on leaving her boss alone. 

While Wendy was frowning. She wasn’t interested to see her boss having an inner conflict, but she couldn’t help but to feel a slight worry when she heard that woman gritting her teeth and glowering at Sehun from the counter. 

“Shouldn’t we be concerned?”

Joy shrugged at it. “Nah, don’t worry. Our boss is as dangerous as a hamster.”

Hearing that, Wendy heaved a sigh and relaxed a bit. Until, she heard a bell ringing and the door to their coffee shop went opened.

The business was slow at the moment - courtesy of Sehun opening the new cafe and have everyone wanting to see the new place, and leaving the girls' cafe completely calm unlike usual.

Upon seeing the customer walking in, Wendy grew alarmed and she quickly stared at Seulgi - who was already grimacing under her professional smile. 

“H - hey, Seulgi - ” a guy went smiling, waving his hand when he spotted Seulgi was covering the counter for that day. 

Joy had been alarmed by the presence of the guy. She remembered the face who had been coming to their coffee shop for every single day and knew that her coworker was uncomfortable. So, she left her drink and pushed Seulgi for a bit - signalling that she can take the order and Seulgi was giving her a gratitude smile at that. 

But the guy wasn’t impressed, since he went staring at Seulgi and smiled nervously. “Can you take my order, please?”

“Yeah, her shift had ended. Now, you’re stuck with me dude. What do you want?” Joy was trying very hard to stay polite as ever. 

But she was annoyed when the man was still looking at Seulgi. “B - but I want her...”

Seulgi poked Joy nervously behind the counter and Joy just shielded her from the guy’s eyes. 

Wendy, noticing the aura was tensing, quickly walked to Sora who was busy glaring at Sehun and tugged the woman’s sleeve like a child wanting her mother’s attention.

And Sora snapped out of her own thoughts and stared at Wendy. “Y - yes?”

“Help.” 

Sora frowned. “What is it?”

Wendy pointed to a direction with her eyes and Sora slowly to the direction given and she grimaced unknowingly when she noticed the same guy who had been coming for Seulgi at the counter. 

She also noticed how her staffs were uncomfortable by his glances and pleadings. 

“He’s here again?”

“If only Joohyun is here.” she went sighing, somehow missing her friend who had asked for an emergency leave for the day and didn’t come for work.

And Sora granted it easily, never bothered about it or asking anything on it - probably because she knew that Joohyun would be telling her in the end.

“That stupid stalker.” Sora pushed the towel that was cleaning the counter to Wendy, crossing on her  arms together and forgetting about Sehun for a while as she walked to her staffs. 

That guy had been coming to the coffee shop and been having a weird obsession towards Seulgi - probably because she was the only one who bothered to be nice to him, when the other girls - who were Joy and Joohyun was rather nonchalant about it. 

Wendy was always in the kitchen, so she doesn’t count, while Sora is always skipping the works so she rarely sees or meddle with the guy to begin with.

“Girls, away.”

Joy and Seulgi stepped aside the moment Sora pushed them so she can stepped behind the counter. 

“Yes, suspicious guy. What can I do for you?”

“Ah - ” the man glanced at Sora, before he turned his gaze to Seulgi and Sora clacked on her tongue. 

“I’m here.” she snapped her fingers in front of the man’s face and he blinked in surprise at the action. 

“But - ”

“If you’re not going to order, you need to leave. Or I’m calling my bodyguard that is - umm - doing bodyguard stuff at the back - ” 

Sora felt her voice going small over the lies, but she gathered back her courage to lie another more. 

“And you don’t want to mess with him.” She gave a menacing look at the guy, who blinked at her in return. 

“He has killed people!” Sora shouted, slamming her hand on the counter and have the guy and her staffs jumped at the sudden actions. 

The guy stared at Sora in a dumbfounded manner, while she just gave a ‘you’re dead’ motions with her fingers slicing on and he gulped down. 

When he backed away and started to leave, Sora was smirking to herself, making another gestures of ‘I’m watching you’ with her two fingers.

Even when he had walked away, she was still determined to make him scared of her - that she move away from the counter and planted herself at the glass window - still staring at him and making the same gestures. 

“I’m watching you. Yeah, better run, you stupid - ”

Joy, Seulgi and Wendy just stared at her boss hogging the glass window and somehow got another secondhand embarrassment when people went staring at her. 

“Run to your mom. Fear me and my bodyguard - ” Sora stopped her lips from moving. 

In an instant, her ears were buzzing and she could feel the blood rushing on her face.

Sehun was staring at her from his coffee shop - arms crossed together and letting his muscles bulges under his clothes. He looked quite amused seeing her hogging the glass window and muttering something that he couldn’t hear. 

She went blushing when he kept staring and he felt something went tickling his stomach as he saw that she turned her whole body away and ran away from his view - acting all shy out of nowhere. 

There was a small line of smile on his face - an action that he didn’t know on how to control it. 

He could still remembered her annoyed face and her quick run when they met each other during the morning. She probably annoyed from what he was saying to her last night, and he should probably apologized from being such a tease. 

But seeing her flustered face and bashful acts makes him feel like he was some stupid boy in high school upon his crush. 

And he wanted to more - just to have her attention and so he can see those flustered and bashful acts again. 

Sora was interesting. 

She can easily take away all of his attention despite he didn’t want her to. 

But it didn’t feel bad. 

It was foreign feeling for him. 

But it wasn’t bad. 

“Someone is in a good mood.” Jongin sang teasingly, finished taking out the fresh baked goods from the kitchen and onto the display corner. 

While Sehun just rolled his eyes, knowing that the teasing was directly towards him since Jongin had been giving him a knowing look whenever he was caught staring at the coffee shop across his. 

“Back to work, .” 

“You too, stupid. Don’t mess with the coffee just because of a certain someone at that coffee shop.” Jongin sang again, purposely wiggling his brows when he walked passed Sehun and the guy just ignored him before continuing with his work. 

Though, it was enough for Jongin to know that his friend was just masking the cool charade to throw away any teasings that will come in the future. 

And that makes him wants to tease the guy more. 

“Ah, I never knew this neighborhood would be so interesting.” Jongin walked into the kitchen, announcing his arrival with a soft humming, but Kyungsoo was too busy in his own thoughts to even notice the guy. 

Or the fact that Kyungsoo’s phone was buzzing too loudly might effected the guy’s hearing for a moment. 

“Hey - ” Jongin put down the tray - rather loudly to say, and somehow managed to grasp the focus of Kyungsoo and he stared at the younger. 

“Huh?”

“Your phone is ringing.” Jongin pointed out. 

Kyungsoo breathed out and shook his head. “Ignored it. It’s the same person.” 

“That friend of yours again?”

Kyungsoo kept mum. 

“Damn. He sure is persistent.” Jongin tried to lighten up the mood and balled a fist to himself. 

“Should I give him a good punch or something?”

Kyungsoo snorted at that. “You won’t win.”

“What? Is he that strong?”

“No...” Kyungsoo trailed off his words, before he kept mum once again. 

And the buzzing of the phone went stopping.

Before it continued again. 

Jongin was frowning, and Kyungsoo ignored it - focusing on his job and making another tray of baked goods. 

“Why can’t you just take the calls and...I don’t know - cuss him out or whatever...”

Kyungsoo kept mum once again. His mind was already travelling elsewhere. 

“I know I did wrong, and I’m gonna get her to forgive me.”

“You’re ing selfish.”

“Jongin, can you refill the flour, please?” he ignored the younger’s words and Jongin just rolled his eyes at that. 

As the younger went with his work, Kyungsoo was already in his own thoughts once again. 

He wondered what Joohyun was doing. He didn’t see her when he came to work, nor when he went giving Sora the baked goods that he had make early in the morning. 

Joohyun was probably missing on work and he wondered if it was because of what he had said last night. 

“We’re both selfish for our own goods.” 

Joohyun glared at him. She sent a look behind her, making sure that Sora wasn’t nowhere near before she grabbed Kyungsoo by the hand and lead the male somewhere else. 

Kyungsoo didn’t say anything, nor try to do something about it. He just let himself being dragged away and glanced at the way the girl gripped on his sleeves and his heart went swaying whether to tell the girl about the thoughts that was troubling him at the moment. 

“Don’t come near Sora.” Joohyun said that, the moment she pulled him far enough. But he just ignored that and stared at her. 

“He’s coming back to Korea.”

Just that simple line, Joohyun loosened her grip on his arm and Kyungsoo could easily see how the blood went drained from the girl’s face. 

“You’re lying.”

“Tell me why I should be lying.” 

She stared at him and the silence that went surrounding them went thicker. Until, she grew sick of every second that had passed and let go of his arm. 

“If he is, I would know.”

“And why would you think he would inform you if he’s coming back?”

Hearing that, she hesitated. Before walked away rather hurriedly - as if trying to chase on something, and Kyungsoo could only stared. 

There was a slight commotion inside a building in the busy city and the staffs there were dumbfounded when they stared at a girl who was marching like she had owned the whole building.

Some staffs tried to stop the girl, along with the securities at the back, but she didn’t even care. 

“Hey, you can’t go there, woman!”

Joohyun ignored that and pushed the wide doors to the top level office, making the staffs there gasping in astonishment and tried to pull her away. 

“Is he back?!” Joohyun yelled loudly. 

Inside the office, a woman sat comfortably in her own chair and she didn’t even seemed amused at seeing Joohyun marching inside. 

A staff bowed his head apologetically at the commotion. “I’m sorry, chairwoman. She is - ”

“It’s okay, just let her be.”

Joohyun pulled her arm that was being held by the staff rather harshly and glared at him, making him bowed his head unknowingly under the cold stares. 

As the staffs went out, Joohyun stared back at the woman.

“I see you still didn’t learn any manners.”

“And I see you still didn’t answer my question. Is he back?”

“Boss, are you okay?” Wendy asked, genuinely worried of her boss that was sitting inside her office and pouting ever since the stalker incident. 

“Yeah.”

“Are you sure?” 

Sora jutted on her lower lip - suddenly remembering Sehun’s cocky smirk and looks on her and her body went hot in anger. 

She went halting on her fists and groaned loudly, planting her forehead on the desk and huffed loudly. 

“I just have a bad day.”

Wendy gave a concern look and she just patted her boss for an encouragement on the back, before moving back to work. 

Sora spent a few hours in the office, before she dragged her legs out from the confined space and was jutting her lips when she saw the calm coffee shop of hers unlike another new coffee shop across hers that was jammed packed with people. 

“Stupid . He make me embarrassed and stealing all my customers away. I hate him.”

She glared at the coffee shop and yelped loudly when Sehun coincidentally walked into her viewpoint. 

“Is boss okay?” Seulgi asked, glancing at Sora who was hiding from the glass window. 

“Don’t stare. It’s infectious.” Joy joked at it as she make a coffee for a customer.

And Sora was hiding herself away until the moment they were about to close on the coffee shop, pouting to herself when she was left all alone.

The others had finished with their shifts and she was left with the closing - that she was doing rather slowly because she hoped that she wouldn’t be bumping with Sehun - that stupid jerk.

Sehun seemed busy with closing too - standing behind the counter of his coffee shop and cleaning swiftly. 

Her eye was twitching annoyingly at staring at his handsome figure that was moving around. 

“Stupid brat.”

She could be cussing even more - until she noticed that Kyungsoo was making his way out from the coffee shop. 

He was talking to Sehun, probably bidding the younger a goodbye before he walked towards her coffee shop next. 

And she grew anxious at his incoming pace.

When he walked closer, she was preparing herself for any situation that she should be dealing.

‘Hey!’ Kyungsoo mouthed from outside the coffee shop and Sora just forced a smile on her face.

At that, she quickly left her chores for a while and went to open the door for the guy. She didn’t want to be rude and ask him to stay outside while staring at her cleaning. 

“Hey...”

“I hope I’m not disturbing.” Kyungsoo smiled sweetly. 

“You’re not, actually...I’m just closing up.” Sora make her way for the guy to enter the coffee shop, before locking the door once again so other people wouldn’t be disturbing her closing hour. 

Kyungsoo stared at her, noticing her rigid posture but didn’t make a comment about it and just smiled. “Are you alone?”

“Umm, yeah.”

“Joohyun?”

“She somehow had some stuff to do at her house this morning so she couldn’t come to work.” Sora answered swiftly, while walking back to her chores. 

Kyungsoo kept mum at that - he somehow had an idea what kind of stuff that Joohyun would be doing. 

“You want to meet with Joohyun?”

He shook his head at that, standing close to the counter as he stared at her diligent works. She seemed so focused at it while trying to humor his existence. 

“I want to meet you.”

“Me?”

“Let me walk you home tonight.”

Sora snorted at that. “You don’t have to. I may be small, but I’m not a kid.”

Kyungsoo didn’t let go off his smile on his lips and softened at her. “Just let me be, Sora. I miss walking you home.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“Please?”

“You don’t have to.” Sora pressed down a smile, but Kyungsoo was still with his suggestions.

“I feel like I should to. It’s dangerous.”

Sora chuckled at that. “This is a small neighborhood. It’s not that dangerous - ”

“He is back.”

She bit down her own words, couldn’t even say more when Kyungsoo uttered those statements. 

“What?” she asked in a heavy breath. 

“I should tell you much earlier.” He couldn’t even meet her eyes as he talked. “But it just keep slipping off my mind.”

Sora breathed out slowly.

He is back. 

Is it a joke? 

Her heart thumped loudly - as if blazing an emergency alarm for her own consciousness. 

But she just snorted out loud and focused back on her work. “So what?” 

was drying.

“It has been years. So what if he’s back?” she turned her back to Kyungsoo and proceed to clean other places. 

“He probably forget about me already. I mean, I have forgotten about him.” she laughed at it. 

But she couldn’t stop the way her hands were shaking and how her eyes were shifting uncomfortably without Kyungsoo’s knowing. 

“You...forgotten about him?”

She turned to Kyungsoo, grinning prettily. “Of course.”

Sehun glanced at the coffee shop across his as he finished locking the door. Apparently Kyungsoo was with Sora and was busy talking inside the coffee shop. 

It’s not like he was someone who like sticking his nose in someone else’s business and relationships - but he didn’t know how Kyungsoo and Sora relationship works. 

Because the last time he saw them together, Sora looked like she was far from comfortable upon Kyungsoo, despite the guy said that they were friends.

Friends don’t make such fake expressions. 

He sighed, shaking his head upon his own thoughts. 

He was just a stranger and shouldn’t be saying much about their relationship and friendship. 

Fixing on his bag and clutching on his phone, he began walking away.

It seemed a bit weird not having to tease Sora after he closed the coffee shop. 

He walked away, eyes looking around the streets out of habits and noticed an expensive car parked just nearby.

But he just looked away and focused to go home safe and sound. 

“Kyungsoo, you sly bastard...” a deep chuckle gently arise.

“Young master, should I park the car?” the driver politely asked and there was another small chuckle from the backseat. 

His smile grew wider when he saw Sora walking out from the coffee shop along with Kyungsoo. Out of habit, the tip of his tongue grazed over his teeth - as if finding a new prey for the night. 

“No. Let’s just go.”

The driver nodded at that and proceeded to drive away silently.

“I mean it’s rude to show up without any gifts, am I right?”