“Do you want the long version or short version?” Wendy asked, half hoping Irene would ask for the short one.

“Long version, of course.” Irene leaned forward, both elbows on the table. “I want to know everything.”

“Everything?”

“Everything.”

“Wow, it looks like I won’t be able to hide anything from you, sweetie.”

“Do you have many things to hide?”

Oh, you have no idea. Wendy smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “It depends.”

“You’re making me curiouser and curiouser.”

“Well, where do I begin? My name is Wendy and I run a café called Aix.”

“And?”

“Before starting Aix, I spent two years in a company doing corporate work. It was very stressful and I would visit cafés to relax, to take my mind off things.”

“That’s why you decided to open one of your own?”

“It’s one of the reasons.”

“Ah, and that’s why you said you want everyone to be comfortable in Aix.”

Wendy couldn’t help smiling. “Yes.”

“What about the other reasons?”

“I used to work at a café when I was a university student.”

“In Seoul?”

“Toronto.”

“Canada?”

“Mhm, I studied in Toronto for a number of years. From high school to university.”

“What did you major in?”

“Business, management. I did that for four years and worked as a barista the entire time. It was a lot of fun. In my final year, I was lucky enough to work at one of the cafés that did cuppings. They taught me so much about coffee, it really made a difference for me, as a barista.”

“What’s a cupping?”

“Coffee cupping. It’s a taste test for coffee. Different coffees. We learn about the coffees and as a barista, I learn more about how I can serve coffee better, sell coffee better. The last café I worked at did it a few times before I graduated. I got to learn from the full-time baristas, listen to them discussing, critiquing. It was great.”

“It sounds like that was very helpful to you.”

“Oh, it was for sure. A great help. They encouraged me to take barista courses to get some formal training. As a part-time barista, it was a lot of learning from this and that, here and there, so the courses helped a lot.”

“You must have missed being a barista after coming back.”

Wendy nodded. “You’re right. I did miss it. Being a business management consultant wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t enough for me. Spent two years of my life on it.”

“Two years isn’t too long. And now you know what you really want to do.”

“You didn’t even need two years to know.”

Irene smiled and shrugged. “I got lucky.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that, sweetie. I think I got luckier. I’m here at the hottest bar in town, with the hottest sweetie in the city.”

Irene let out a short little giggle. “For a moment, I forgot that you tend to say things like that to people.”

Wendy bit her lip. “I don’t say things like that to everybody.”

Irene stared at the soju bottle a little too intently before looking back at Wendy again. “Not at all?”

“Well, I don’t call complete strangers ‘sweetie’. And I definitely don’t call everybody ‘hot’.”

“I was a complete stranger when you first called me ‘sweetie’.”

“No, you were a customer. That’s different.”

“You mean, customers don’t aren’t complete strangers?”

“Of course not. Customers are my friends. Customers who become regulars are my family.”

“Does it mean I’m your family?”

“No, no, no. Not you. You’re different to me.”

“You . . .”

“Me?”

Irene stared at the soju bottle again. “You’re honest and frank.”

“Is it making you uncomfortable?”

“A little.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, I don’t mean it like that.”

“What do you mean then?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“What do I mean?”

“Yes, I’m not sure.”

Wendy blinked. “Okay, now I’m lost. Rewind. You said I’m frank, and I asked if it makes you uncomfortable. You said a little, but you didn’t mean it like that. So do I make you uncomfortable or, no?”

“It makes me uncomfortable, but not in a bad way.”

“I’m having trouble understanding what you mean.”

Irene emptied her soju glass into and stared at the empty glass. “Would you tell me why you asked me out for drinks? Frankly.”

“Frankly, I asked you out for drinks because I like you.”

“Like me as a customer-friend? Or like me as a customer-family? You said I’m different. What does that mean?”

“This conversation is going to a weird place, Irene.”