The sound of door chimes greets, and the aroma of freshly ground coffee beans reminds her of college days, when she spent every single day of her college life desperately clutching a coffee cup in one hand while skimming through lecture notes in the other.

It’s been five years since her last visit to this coffee shop, owned by her grandparents’ bestfriends. The old couple and their children were already family to her. Seungwan is not even surprised by the endless plates of pastries placed on the table, stating that it is “on the house”, she definitely is aware that Grandpa Kim is probably investing his free time on making new recipes for his pastry journals.

Not that she’s against it though, who wouldn’t want baked muffins every hour or so?

As she was about to ask for a refill, someone poured brewed coffee into the cup. She smiles, Grandma. She immediately stands up and engulfs the old woman into a warm hug. “Granny, I missed you.” she sighs, hugging the woman tighter. 

Grandma Kim chuckles in delight, Seungwan has indeed grown into a beautiful, fine woman over the years. She remembers the first time she met Young Seungwan, who found her undying love for literature and coffee when she accidentally ordered a latte instead of tea as she was distracted by the stack of fiction books waiting to be read. 

Seungwan spends the rest of the day catching up with them. There’s so much to catch up on, that one in particular. The one topic that the old couple have started to notice Seungwan has been avoiding. 

She helps Sejeong, the Kim’s eldest daughter, in stacking the chairs to close for the night. Sejeong overheard the conversation a while ago, and has been spending the entire hour contemplating whether to ask or not. But being the curious girl that she is, she clears and approaches Seungwan, who’s busy wiping the tables.

“Uh… Seungwan-unnie?” Sejeong begins. “C-can I ask you something?” 

Seungwan smiles, gesturing to her to continue speaking and turns around to continue her work.

“How's Joohyun?" Seungwan freezes, and immediately composes herself upon hearing the name she has unconsciously forgotten over the years.

Joohyun.

Her first love, Joohyun.

The one who left her without saying goodbye, Joohyun.

Sejeong notices her unnie's silence, and she freaks out. She laughs awkwardly, understanding the tension of the atmosphere is getting worse as soon as the name or the forbidden name escapes her lips. She braces herself for a round of It's none of your business! or Why do you care? erupting from her unnie.

Instead, Seugwan smiles. "All's good Jeong. She's fine, for sure." Sejeong awkwardly nods and goes back to the counter.

If Sejeong didn't turn a few seconds more than she did, she would've witnessed how Seungwan's smile changes into the the same painful look that she has expertly hidden from anyone, unable to accept the fact that it was forever etched into her face the moment she was greeted with an empty closet five years ago.