“I’ve never had butterflies with you,” Latte once told Jungwoo.

He smiled.

“I never thought I’d even love you,” he replied. “The first time I met you, I forgot about you just like that!”

She chuckled. “Sometimes love creeps onto two people who are imperfect and make them perfect for each other. I’ve never had butterflies with you, but..”

But, Jungwoo thought… But he’d go through hurricanes for her. He’d wake up at 3 am for her. He’d love her with all his heart and wish she’d love him the same.

“I’ve never had butterflies for you.” Latte winked. “But I hate butterflies.”

That’s why he loved her.

LATTE

2024

“Hey, coffee girl!” The shiny scalped bald man yelled out as I sped down the streets, trying to remove the apron from around my body. “Coffee girl! Come back here!”

Yeah… and get stabbed by a maniac? I looked back at the café owner running after me with whisk. I winced at the sight of his fat belly bouncing up and down when it didn’t occur to me that I was literally on the middle of the streets and a car was—

The brakes of the car screeched, and I yelped, my body freezing and bracing for impact.

Oh my god, oh my god… The thought of being in a near death experience made me place my hand on my heart just as the shop keeper appeared. There was a thud and the door of the car had opened, a man wearing expensive sunglasses looking pissed.

“Are you… out of your… mind?” He asked, his sunglasses being removed before he hung it on the front of his shirt. I glanced at the car noticing how luxurious it was and thanked the heavens one more time that there was no scratch. I didn’t have money to pay for anything.

“Finally!” The café owner hissed, stomping over to me with his whisk whisking the air. “How dare you steal stuff—”

He lifted the whisk in the air as if to attack me and I cowered, keeping my eyes on the ground when a shadow fell over me. I looked up just to see Mr. I-drive-a-Porsche with his hand blocking the café owner.

He didn’t say anything, the male lifting up an eyebrow. “I’m sure that is no reason to hurt a lady.”

The café owner spat onto the ground, his spit barely missing the man’s shoes by a little bit. “She disrespects me by coming in to steal from me. Who are you to tell me what to do?”

I was peaking from between my lashes when I crept to the side, trying to run away from the situation when another hand shot out, the man grabbing me by the back of my neck. I froze one more time.

“Let me teach her a lesson,” the café owner hissed, pointing the man in the face. “You stay away from my business! Come here and let me beat you up like you deserve—”

He reached for me, and I found myself blurting out the first thought that came to mind.

“You can’t just beat women up like how you beat your ex-wife!” I said, trying to remove myself from rich guy’s grip and trying not to get smacked by the rusty whisk he was trying to use a weapon. “Eeeek!”

“She deserved everything I do to her. A kleptomaniac like you shouldn’t be protecting a useless—” He lunged towards me, but I slipped away just in time when I turned and saw that the man had slammed the café owner against his Porsche.

I grimaced, the male calmly standing up and straightening himself up.

“Name?” He barked, the café owner growling and dusting himself off.

“What does it have to do with—”

“Name?” He asked again, the café owner aggressively telling him his name. “Your business is down that street?”

With that confirmation, I watched in awe as the man whipped out a business card, saying his name.

“I own that street.” He said it with not a hint of pride, not a hint of ego, more like he was stating a fact. “I want you out of your place by tomorrow.”

I watched as doom settled on his features and I also noticed when realization hit me. It was a feeling of triumph but also… uncertainty?

“If you do not abide, I will get authorities involved,” The man said, his eyes unforgiving. “Not so fast.”

I pressed my lips together, his hand reaching out to grab mine before he turned to me.

“I am also not done with you.”

“Your Porsche does not even need to see the car-doctor!” I whined at him.

He gave the café owner one look, directing me into his car and I ended up sitting in the front of an expensive car before he stepped on the accelerator and brought me to the police station.

That was the first time I met Kim Minseok.

The Police Station

I was no stranger to the police station.

That was why when I sat down, the head police came out and the look on his face faltered. I gave him a small wiggle of my fingers and he sighed.

“Latte.” His eyes landed on Kim Minseok was had his legs crossed over the other.

Most people knew me by Latte… Or at least most people in the police station because every time I got arrested, I would demand a latte and then proceed to make friends with everyone I know.

“Latte and Minseok hyung… What’s going on?”

It turned out everyone seemed to know who Kim Minseok was. Private Property and real estate development were almost a 50 – 50 percent between two conglomerate families. People called them the Powerful Kims. One family led by Kim Doyoung, another by Kim Minseok.

“Detective Kai,” I said, looking at him with a “I don’t want to be here, he brought me here” look.

“What did you do?” Kai asked and I pointed at Mr. Rich Dude. “Hyung, what did she do?”

“Ran into me from stealing things from the café she was working at.”

“You promised last time you wouldn’t steal anything anymore!” Kai exploded and I my lips.

“It was for the greater good!” I began to tell them with massive hand gestures that I went back to retrieve the stuff for café owner’s ex-wife. She decided to leave him because of the excessive beating and forgot her bag, her laptop, and a bunch of other things. “And then he caught me while I was trying to steal the coffee machine.”

“That was for the ex-wife?” Detective Kai asked. I shook my head.

“No, the coffee machine was for me.”

Kai stared at me. I stared back.

“Jail. Now.” He pointed and I lowered my eyebrows into a glare. “Now.”

“Okay. Get me a latte,” I told him before I entered the jail that was meant to be temporary (obviously).

I could see Kim Minseok’s smile turning into a chuckle and I sighed, sitting beside a homeless man. He waved and I waved back.

“Nice shirt,” I complimented him, and he grinned. “Really old though. Here.” I handed a ten-dollar bill that he accepted gracefully.

I gave him a stern look. “Buy a new shirt. Don’t spend it on drugs.”

A cup of latte was stuck through the bars and I thanked Kai for being attentive and adding enough milk this time. He grunted. He then began to tell Kim Minseok about how he met me multiple times before.

Sometimes it would be from stealing.

Most of the times, however, it was because I was trying to save the trees.

Flashback to a month ago

“Get down from the tree,” the detective thundered for the hundredth time that night.

I stuck my tongue at him, my hands gripping the branches that were holding me up.

“Or what?” I asked, the lean and handsome policeman. I made googly eyes at him, the male placing his hands on his hips. He had the expression of a father being disappointed at his child “Or what, Detective Kai?!”

My voice echoing through the empty field was enough to make Kim Kai, detective and head of police of Seoul district, throw his hands in the air.

“Or I will take you to jail!” Detective Kai answered, rubbing between his eyebrows. “I will take you to jail this time! I swear I will!” He paused, looking around warily before lowering his voice.

“I had a long night, Latte. If you agree to get down from the tree early today, I will make sure I won’t log the report of yo—”

“Giving up already? It’s only six hours,” I said to him, pouting at him. Kai gave a defeated sigh, kicking the foot of the tree. “You spent 10 hours last time trying to bribe me.”

“Exactly. I am a policeman. You are supposed to bribe me, not the other way around!” Kai hissed.

“I tried to bribe you last time. It did not work!”

“You tried to bribe me with one doughnut!”

“It was a good doughnut—"

“Get down from the tree!”

“Oh,” I feigned innocence, pressing my ear against the tree as if I was talking to it. “She says she’s lonely. How about no?”

“Latte!” Kai exclaimed, slamming his palm against his expensive watch as if to indicate the amount of time that had passed. “Wait, ‘she’?”

“Yes, she! And she wants you to tell the government of South Korea that there is simply no need to turn this place into another mall!” I replied hotly, raising a finger at Johnny.

“Go to talk to the government yourself! I am the police!” The detective answered with exasperation before groaning in frustration.

“Well, Mr. Police, do your job and tell the government!”

“What makes you think it’s my job to…. Nevermind. Never-ing-mind,” Kai raised two hands in the air in defeat, as if he knew that there was simply no way he could argue with me.

“Hey Detective….”

“I said, nevermind! Stay there and don’t go down for all I care— Latte!”

I guess I was lucky that Kai reached me in time before the branch snapped fully, a scream pausing in my throat before I found myself safe in the arms of the taller male.

“Nature is tired of you,” Kai said, and instead of me putting me down, he began to walk towards the police car. “Even the branch gave up on you. When was the last time you showered?”

“Two days ago,” I told him, shrugging. “What can I say? I’m dedicated. Besides, do you really want me to be holding me right now?”

“What do you mean?”

“I think I’ve peed on myself a few times in six hours,” I told him, Kai’s eyes widening before letting go of me. I was ready for it, however, and I bounced up right up to run back to the tree. He grabbed the top of my oily head, violently shoving me into the cop car.

“Fine, fine, fineeeee,” I finally submit to his efforts. “But please remember that if the demolisher is coming tomorrow, I’ll be right back on that tree, okay?”

“Sure,” Kai said, sighing. “You make my work a hundred times harder, woman. Other people would already put a restraining order on you.”

I made a face, putting on the seatbelt before yawning. “Restraining order on me against the tree?”

Flashback ends

“She protects trees for a living,” Detective Kai said, and I scowled.

“It’s not my fault these companies can’t leave natural landmarks alone!”

“What is it about trees you like so much?” Kim Minseok asked, raising an eyebrow at me every so calmly.

“They talk to me,” I replied, cocking my head to the side.

“Really?” Both met asked in unison, and I made a face.

“Bro, do you think I’m Pocahontas?”

I’ve been living my life like a nomad, stealing when I had to (very little items from places I’ve worked at). I was a janitor, a cashier, a waitress at least once. I was even an ice cream scooper. A trash keeper. A camp organizer (Didn’t end well. Organizing things weren’t my forte!).

I did all that because I was trying to earn money to live the minimalist life and stop companies and the government from running down nature and commercializing the areas into resorts, malls, and so many more things we didn’t need.

“It’s not like you’ll need to worry about me anymore anyway,” I told Detective Kai. “I’ve saved enough money to travel the world.”

“Really?” Detective Kai asked, looking excited.

“I’m going to go on a global quest and join all the nature reserve lovers in fighting against bad men who try to tear places down,” I told them proudly, punching my chest as a sign of domination.

Kim Minseok had a look on his face before he smiled. He didn’t look like he was judging me, nor did he look like he had anything bad to say. The look on his face was filled with curiosity more than anything else.

“Where are you going?” He asked, Kim Kai waiting for my response.

“To save a temple,” I told both of them. “In Thailand!”

Jungwoo

December 2024

It was another Monday. A typical one, Jungwoo thought to himself as he leaned back and stared at the 3D model in front of him.

It was coming. It was every architect’s nightmare.

The creative drought.

He turned the 3D model around again, the door opening just in time to see one of his best friends and his boss. Kim Doyoung, the oldest of the Kim family, brother of Kim Bunny (Honestly, no one ever called Bunny ‘Kim Doyoung’s brother’ anymore. Since she got with Jeno, it was the other way around.) and his father stepped into the room.

“Jungwoo!” The older Kim called, the old wrinkles on his face making his smile kind, but Jungwoo knew otherwise. Kim Doyoung’s father was tough to please, meticulous to detail, and very self-absorbed.

Doyoung did not turn out that way. Doyoung winked at Jungwoo from behind his father when the older Kim grabbed him and gave him a hug.

A hug?

Jungwoo blinked, his eyes widening, and his thick lips pressed against each other to what he hoped looked like a smile and not like he had a bunch of McDonald’s burgers and was now constipated.

“We won the Interior Design Asian Awards for that design you created!” Doyoung’s old man exclaimed, moving his hands widely in front of Jungwoo like a helicopter. “What a talent, what a talent…”

Then the muttering stopped, Doyoung’s father practically skipping out the door as he left his son and his friend together. Doyoung leaned against the door, Jungwoo looking down at the piece of hard paper in his hand.

His picture was plastered on the certificate.

Oh, his face was horrendous. He had dark shadows from staying up consecutively for three days. Before that, he was getting two hours of sleep per day, designing, and rendering for the project assigned to him.

Hard work paid off but the following days to come, he found himself in Kun’s hospital and asking (begging) for sleeping pills and Jeno’s office for a free consultation because that damn polka dot wall design was haunting him in his dreams.

“Can’t believe your indented polkadot wall actually won something.” Doyoung closed the door behind him for privacy. This way, he was Jungwoo’s friend and not his boss. “What was the inspiration again?”

“For the colored holes?” Jungwoo asked, placing the piece of paper on his table. He’d rip it up and burn it when he got home. “The block of cheese I puked out after that night of drinking with you.”

“No wonder you were awake at 4 am drawing something that night.”

“Awake? I didn’t sleep.”

“Congratulations on the award.”

“Thanks.”

Both of them went into awkward silence. The tension was high. Jungwoo chewed the inside the side of his cheek. The conversation happened the night after they sent in their design and were about to present. Jungwoo was exhausted, emotionally, and mentally.

Much more so, creatively.

“I’m going to quit being an architect,” Jungwoo announced that night with a groan. Doyoung looked up in surprise.

“You’re joking, right?”

Jungwoo’s silence was the answer.

Doyoung understood.

Jungwoo had been working with him since he was an intern. He had faced a lot of prejudice from everyone in the beginning because he was Doyoung’s friend. He moved up rapidly, Doyoung helping him any way he could.

Both of them spent countless nights together. Doyoung handled the finances and he handled executing designs. They were a perfect career match.

They made an agreement.

That the next milestone Jungwoo would achieve, he’d take a break. He’d maybe finally go and rest somewhere and disappear from the architectural world for a while.

“Is it time?” Doyoung asked and Jungwoo blinked rapidly. “For you to resign for a bit?”

He had wanted to. He still wanted to.

But he couldn’t. For good reason.

“I…” Jungwoo’s voice trailed when there was a simultaneous ping from both their phones. Reaching into their pockets, they lifted up their phones and glanced at the screen. It was an email from none other than Nakamoto Yuta.

Forgetting their initial conversation, their eyes widened at the identical invitation that was sent to their email. It was designed very nicely, and they could see a small logo of Jung Jaehyun’s company on the corner.

Very small, but also not very good advertising for Jeffrey since the invitation was only sent to the other boys and their spouses.

“You are formally invited to my wedding—This motherer,” Doyoung cursed. “He refuses to reply to my texts and now he’s getting married? Didn’t he just get back together with Charm the beginning of this year?”

“You married Simonsays noona after like… a month,” Jungwoo pointed out. Doyoung began to proceed to tell them that they signed papers and she is now legally his wife. “I don’t see a loca—”

A ring.

From both of their phones.

Jisung started a group video call

“HI? HELLO??” Jisung’s voice exploded from the speakers, Doyoung reaching up to cover his ears. Distant music can be heard in the background. “Hello hyungs and their significant others?? CAN YOU HEAR ME?”

A few more people joined. They could see Yuta’s screen appear. He was typing something like he usually did in his free time. Jisung was tilting his head at the camera, the sound of music loudening.

“Jisung, where are you?” Johnny asked. Johnny seemed like he was making an arrest, the clicking of the handcuffs could be heard and the blinking of the turning red light from his siren making his features change through the screen.

“I AM INTERVIEWING ROCKSTARS FOR MY INTERNSHIP!” Jisung’s eyes turned into crescent moons, everyone on the call wincing at his scream. “I PLAYED THE DRUMS!”

Lee Haechan muted Jisung

Jisung is typing…..

Jisung: Sorry hyungs I know its loud
Jisung: I noticed no location on the invitation
Jisung: Can I have a location, I need to ask permission from my noona

“Oh, yeah. Where is the wedding?” Kun’s voice asked, turning to the side and saying something. “Scalpel.”

“Are you operating right now?” Ten asked, everyone’s eyes widening as Kun stared at the camera. He shifted the camera to show everyone that he was cutting open a dead body. “Ew, Kun. No!”

“Kun, remember you have a session with me after your… whatever you are doing.” Jeno looked at the camera, the view panning to his arm being clamped down by a very aggressive fiancé. “Say hi, Bunny.”

“Hi.” Bunny smiled, blinking twice at the camera.

“Hey, back to the question. Yuta, maybe you can use one of our venues,” Doyoung said. “Free of charge.”

Yuta looked uncomfortable.

“Or maybe,” Doyoung continued, noticing the look on his friend’s face. “Maybe we can go to Busan or something. We also have—”

“Thailand,” Yuta answered. Haechan smirked.

A chorus of What’s echoed from the call.

Yuta sighed. “I lost a bet, okay?” He looked annoyed at the thought.

Jungwoo knew Yuta just wanted a small garden wedding. He and Charm were minimalistic at best. Heck, they wanted to ask Renjun if they could use his backyard.

“And it was either Thailand or the Easter Island.” Yuta huffed. “Do you guys know what Easter Island is? Do I look like I would want to marry Charm and kiss her with one of those statues looking at me? No offense, they hold a long history but—”

Jungwoo searched up the Easter Island, Yuta’s voice droning in the background. He understood why Yuta did not want to get married at the Easter Islands.

“What did you and Haechan do?”

“He’s just a sore loser,” Haechan mocked the older man who pointed a middle finger to the camera. “I beat him in chess.”

“He beat me in chess to get a bottle of 30-year-old fermented sake,” Yuta said, Haechan’s eyes widening when panic flashed through his eyes. “And to choose my wedding location—”

Haechan was frozen still, everyone wondering what he was up to when a face appeared on the screen. The beautiful face of his wife, Sunshine, and her calm mature glory smiled. It was kind (to them), but her voice was laced with poison.

“Did you give him the sake?” Sunshine asked sweetly, her hand placed naturally on her husband’s broad shoulders. Haechan tried to shake his head slightly, trying to communicate with Yuta with his eyes.

But Nakamoto Yuta was an evil, evil man. He took one look at Haechan and smiled.

“Yes,” he said simply. “And he drank all of it.”

The rest is history because Haechan’s camera went dead and everyone wondered if he would again be grounded like a high school child who always went against behind his mother’s back.

Jisung has been unmuted

“THAILAND?” Jisung wailed. “Oh no! MY NOONA WON’T LET ME GO!”

Jungwoo opened up his apartment door, his nose in the air when the sudden realization hit him.

“Argh!” Jungwoo cried out, rushing to his kitchen which took like… ten steps to put off the burning gas that he had forgotten to do so when he was making eggs in the morning. He sighed when the hissing stopped, the gas smell lingering in the air. “Ugh.”

He fell to the ground, his eyes falling on the bottles of beer that had accumulated the past few weeks. He had downgraded from wine to cheap whiskey, to beer within years and years of his career. He wasn’t an alcoholic, nor did he drink to cope, but he did enjoy alcohol after a hard day of work.

Most of his creative designs sprung to life from nights of when he was intoxicated.

He didn’t drink much, Jungwoo thought to himself and looking around his dingy apartment. One would think he was rich… Oh, well-established architect that obviously had everything.

Unbeknownst to them, Jungwoo had a string of bad habits. He was an addict to things that gave him an adrenaline rush. At first, his career gave him a thrill until he got bored of it.

Then it became poker with Hendery (he at it and lost a lot of money, but Hendery went easy on him).

Then it was betting on horses.

Then it was the gambling pinball machine.

Then it went on and on and on.

He was an addict to all things that made his heart race. He woke up to his coffee every day, sometimes praying that it would bring back the same rush it had when he was back in university and tried his first sip.

Oh, did he need something to occupy his mind. He had gambled his money away over the years, downgrading from renting his two bed-room apartment to a studio, then to this… a room that was on the bad side of town.

Even with this, he was behind on rent. Jungwoo tugged off his suit, one that he had borrowed from a friend before he sat down in front of his laptop. A ding came from his phone.

New York: Booked tickets for everyone. Please send the money to this bank account.

None of his friends knew. Jungwoo was glad of that fact. Doyoung had his suspicions one day when he dropped off Jungwoo in his old place (he no longer lived there anymore) and he had sat in the lobby while feigning a phone call to wait for Doyoung to leave.

“You’re still staying over at Oracle, right?” Doyoung asked the next day. Doyoung was quick-witted. Jungwoo knew that he was the type to sense certain things.

“Yup,” Jungwoo answered calmly despite his heart racing.

“Mhm….” Doyoung nodded. “Weird. Because I stayed in the parking lot for a while to send the powerpoint and when I went out, they asked me to pay a parking fee. I gave them your room number since my car is registered under it, y’know. I send you over a lot after work. They said the room was empty.”

“Oh?” Jungwoo’s voice raised before he cleared his throat. He had to lie. He did it so easily. “I… forgot to tell you that I moved rooms. I now live on the 6th floor.”

The sound of the pages of the book turning made the situation seem tenser than it was. After a while, Doyoung hummed. That makes sense, Doyoung said. He told Jungwoo to let him know his new room number so he could send Jungwoo home if needed be without paying for a parking spot since Doyoung liked to work from his car.

“That won’t need to happen anymore,” Jungwoo blurted out.

“Why?”

“I… have a girlfriend.”

That too, was a lie, of course.

Doyoung wanted to be introduced. Jungwoo said no. That he wasn’t ready. The problem was that he had no girl that could pick him up and he could see Doyoung always coming down the elevator with him when it was time to leave work.

So Jungwoo had to think fast. On one Wednesday evening, Doyoung was once at it again. But Jungwoo had it all planned.

“Psst! Pssttt, oppa!” A voice called out from the front; the windows rolled down. Jungwoo caught sight of the car and rushed towards it, seeing Doyoung glance curio