Yongsun took a deep break, stepping closer to the counter. A caramel macchiato, please. There was only one more person to order a drink before it was her time. She nervously squeezed the paper bills in her hand once again. A caramel macchiato, please. The simple order was on a loop in her head since the minute she entered the coffee shop. She hated interacting with people since she was a little girl, but it couldn’t be that hard, right? People did it every day. Usually, she convinced Hyejin to order for them but she was alone this time. Yongsun considered going one more day without coffee, which would be the third one, but she needed to see her.

She had a crush on one of the girls who worked at that cafe. She had brown hair and the most adorable smile. Yongsun’s heart was racing and she had to focus so she could breathe properly around the girl. The older guy finished his order and walked over to another part of the counter to get his drink. A caramel macchiato, please. Yongsun took another deep breath, staring at her feet and taking a step closer to the counter. A caramel macchiato, please. A caramel macchiato, please. A caramel-

“Good afternoon”, the girl greeted and Yongsun didn’t even need to look at her to know she was smiling. She forced a smile and the girl behind the counter chuckled. If she ever had a chance with her it was over now. She wanted to hide and never see another human again. It was totally different when the girl smiled like that to her.

“I-hmm, I mean-” she rubbed her forehead, trying to remember how the whole language and communication thing worked.

The girl chuckled again, making Yongsun slightly annoyed.

“Let me guess, a caramel macchiato?” she asked, still smiling.

Yongsun held her breath, surprised. How did she even know that? Byulyi, who she knew the name of because of the silver nameplate on her black apron, frowned as if she had said too much.

“It’s your usual,” she explained, Yongsun almost thought she was embarrassed. “And your friend always orders tea. Green tea.”

That made more sense. Hyejin was a lot more memorable than herself.

“Yeah, a caramel macchiato,” she confirmed, trying not to feel bad about the whole thing. “I guess I’ll have  a medium one.”

“Right,” the girl quickly typed some stuff into the register. She stopped for a second and bit her lip. “Name?”

Her voice had something different asking that question, maybe curiosity? Some cafes were too busy to ask every client’s name and ended up just giving them numbers instead and they might have changed something the days she didn’t go there.

“Yongsun.” The other girl slowly repeated it while typing into the machine.

“Cash?” she asked, staring at the crumpled bills Yongsun held out, smiling again. She carefully got it, quickly checking and trying to smooth them before putting it in the small drawer. Byulyi looked at the shop, glad Yongsun was the last client she had to serve for now.

“Wheein-ah,” she called the girl who was making the drinks on the other part of the counter. “I can do this one. Why don’t you clean the tables and take a break before the next clients arrive?”

The other girl, who seemed younger than them agreed. She got a clean cloth and some type of cleaning product before heading to the tables. Yongsun slowly walked to be in front of the big machine to get her coffee, waiting for Byulyi.

The girl got one of the plastic cups from the pile and a marker from her apron’s pocket, taking a minute to write something on the cup, checking on Yongsun before heading to the machine. Yongsun could feel her cheeks burning and used all of her energy to try not to stare at Byulyi while she made the drink. She looked at a couple talking and sharing a meal at the corner of the store, watched a bird on the other side of the street through the window, and even took some time watching the other girl cleaning the tables, but it was like Byulyi was too pretty to be ignored.

She thanked all the possible gods when Byulyi finished her drink and was ready to get it and walk out of the door and never come back again when she saw the brown-haired girl walking to the part of the counter where some baked goods were exposed. She carefully chose one of the cookies and put it in a small paper bag before walking to Yongsun and trying to give it to her along with her coffee.

“I only ordered the coffee.” Yongsun corrected her, confused.

“I know. The cookie is on me.” she smiled. “I hope you like chocolate? I can get another one if you don’t.”

If her cheeks were red before, Yongsun couldn’t even imagine how they were now. She bit her lip and put a lock of hair behind her ear, trying to stall and get a few more seconds so her body could remember how good breathing could be.

“I- Hm, thank you,” she mumbled, getting the coffee and the cookie carefully.

Her original plan was to get out of there and back into the safety of her bedroom as soon as possible, but she couldn’t. So she chose a table, one she didn’t even like, and sat there to stare at Byulyi a little bit more. Yongsun wasn’t sure how, but she figured taking the smallest sips while checking her phone to be there as long as possible was a good choice.

Some kind of lo-fi music played in the background and she could see Byulyi playing with her marker as if it was a drumstick on the counter. She smiled, still trying not to stare so much. Yongsun checked her Twitter, Instagram, a lot of other social media, including her old Tumblr before the other girl - Wheein, was it? - came back from her break and it was time for Byulyi’s. She got a drink she just made for herself and walked to Yongsun’s table, occupying the chair in front of her. Yongsun slowly put her phone down, barely believing what was happening.

“Do you really like chocolate?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, I do like it, I just…” Yongsun stopped, realizing she didn’t have a good enough explanation of why her cookie was untouched on the table.

Byulyi nervously adjusted the black cap on her head. For the first time since Yongsun could remember, her hair was down and she looked even more beautiful like that.

“Uh, I’m sorry… Are you waiting for someone? Boyfriend?” she risked, clearly nervous. “Girlfriend, maybe?”

“No one. No boyfriend.” Yongsun laughed, shaking her head. “Or girlfriend. I just wanted to get out of the house for a little bit, my friend, Hyejin, was busy so I figured I could try and explore the outside world alone today.”

“Really?” Byulyi chuckled. “Explore?”

“I’m a big introvert,” Yongsun admitted, not even sure why. Talking to Byulyi was a lot easier than she imagined. “I don’t often leave my house or talk to strangers without the emotional support of my friends.” She joked, but it was actually true.

“Well, if my opinion is worth something, I couldn’t even tell.” Byulyi smiled, reassuring her. “I’m, uh, glad you came here today.”

“Sorry?”

“I, hm-” Byulyi bit her bottom lip, seeming nervous for the first time. “We get used to seeing the clients every day. It gives a sense of normality. You haven’t been here for the last few days so… it’s nice, seeing you here.”

Being noticed by Byulyil made Yongsun have this weird feeling in her stomach and she couldn’t exactly know what it was yet. She couldn’t tell how many times she made up scenarios with Byulyi in her head, talking to her, flirting, being her friend… (because it was safer than actually talking to people). Yet, she could never make up a scenario where Byulyi was the one to make a move. This was scarier but better than she could ever imagine.

“It’s nice being here” with you , she wanted to add but didn’t have the courage. Yongsun got the cookie out of the small paper bag and cut the cookie in two with her hands, handing the slightly bigger piece one to Byulyi. “Here, it’s your break, you should eat something.”

Byulyi reached out and their fingers touched for what should be less than two seconds, but Yongsun could still feel Byulyi’s skin against her own for a long while. She took another sip of her coffee, hoping that would make her brain function again. Byulyi was shaking her leg nervously, giving the impression she couldn’t be still for long.

A voice in the back of her head brought Yongsun back to reality and she decided to listen to it before it was too late.

“You want Hyejin’s number, don’t you?”

It took a few seconds for Byulyi to understand what was going to her mind, but she quickly shook her head, almost outraged with that conclusion.

“What?! No- Yongsun, I don’t, I’m not interested in her,” she assured. “I don’t get me wrong, she’s very pretty and I’m sure Wheein would love to have her number, but that’s not the point here…” she took a deep breath, thinking carefully of her next words. “I know this is going to sound very very weird, but I’ve been wanting to talk to you for a while, but you’re always with your friend, Hyejin, I suppose. Poor Wheeinie can’t stand listening to me talk about the macchiato girl any longer and she made me promise I’d talk to you the next time you came, so… here I am.”

Yongsun felt her cheeks burning once again, seemed like a recurring thing when Byulyi was around, so she took another sip of her drink, unsure of how to act or answer to the other girl’s confession. She wanted to say a lot of other things to her but she had a hard time figuring it all out.

She was about to finally say something when the bell ringing above the door got their attention.

“I have to head back to work, teenagers are getting out of school and they’ll be here soon.” Byulyi got up, but it didn’t look like she wanted to go. She bit her bottom lip, thinking about something for a few seconds before speaking up. “Do you want to go out any of these days? Get a macchiato someplace else or something?”

Yongsun was pretty sure she looked like a surprise cartoon character, still trying to process the question. Byulyi. asked. her. out. Out of all people in the world, her . The younger girl was fiddling with the black marker in her hands, waiting for an answer.

“Hm, yeah- I, I mean-, I would love that.” she smiled.

“Great!” Byulyi smiled and Yongsun could see how red her cheeks were. She leaned in her direction and tapped the side of the plastic cup in her hands. “Call me later?”

Yongsun raised the cup, confused, turning it around to see a phone number written on it. This was what took Byulyi so long to write before. She looked at Byulyi again and she shrugged, embarrassed.

"I didn't think I was actually going to talk to you today, so I had to take my chance." She admitted, nervously fixing the black cap on her head. "I get off at six so if you can call me after that so we can actually talk, it'd be good. But it's okay if you can't, message me and I'll answer whenever I have the chance."

"Don't worry, I'll call you at six," Yongsun promised, smiling. Byulyi quickly ate the rest of her cookie and awkwardly waved her goodbye, rushing back to the counter.

She watched Byulyi for a few minutes, reliving in her head everything that happened since the moment she walked into that cafe earlier. She talked to Byulyi. Byulyi gave her a cookie. They sat together to chat and Byulyi basically confessed to her. It was like in a matter of a few hours, her life turned into one of the rom-com movies she loved to watch. She got the phone from her pocket and carefully saved Byulyi’s number, quickly typing a message to her.

hey, its Yongsun

i just wanted to make sure you had my number too :)

She watched as Byulyi stopped what she was doing to get her phone on the counter next to the cash register. She smiled and typed something back, avoiding looking in Yongsun’s direction. The older girl looked down at her smartphone the second it vibrated on her hands and couldn’t contain the big smile on her lips reading it.

it’s so good to finally meet you, macchiato girl ^~^