Chapter 1 – The Escape

3^rd person POV

Present Day – 00:34 AM

It’s a quiet night in the neighborhood. Lights are off, the gates locked, and everyone is sleeping peacefully. But if you look to the second floor of a house on the corner, you’ll see one window is slowly creeping open. A head poked out looking left, right, and across the street making sure there’s no one in sight. A satisfied grin spread across the person’s face as they pulled their head back in and headed towards the bed.

Grabbing a thick comforter, the person dropped it right outside the window. Then turning back to grab a backpack and a suitcase to throw it out the window, the falling sound muffled by the comforter. Glancing at the note left on the nightstand, the person climbed onto the windowsill and jumped onto the comforter. Grabbing the suitcase and backpack with a hurried pace, they walked over to the gate and left. Yongsun’s excited face is finally shown under the dim streetlight.

“Holy crap! I did it! I’m out of the house. Alone. In the middle in the night”, she thought as she did a little on the side on the road.

“Okay now I have to head to the bus station”, thinking for a bit she continued, “are there still taxis around at this time of night?”.

Yongsun decided to head to the main road in hopes of finding a taxi or a taxi stand. After walking for a bit, luck seems to be on her side this time as she managed to a taxi. And with that, she is on her way to the Busan bus station.

Present Day – 00:58 AM

Arriving at the bus station, she quickly pays the driver and heads to the automatic ticket stand searching for the next bus heading to Seoul.

“Lucky! The next one’s leaving at 01:10”, Yongsun quickly purchased her ticket and heads to the bus.

Just as she was about to board the bus, she was stopped by who someone that looks like a security guard. “Excuse me, Miss, may I see your ID please?”, he asked.

Confused, Yongsun reached for her wallet and takes out her ID, giving it to the man. “Do people need to show their ID these days?”, asked Yongsun.

“Oh no, it’s just you look like a high schooler. We can’t exactly let a minor ride a bus on their own at this time of night. I’m sorry Miss Kim for the inconvenience. You can get on the bus now”, he said as he hands Yongsun her ID.

“Ah… that makes sense, thank you”, Yongsun said as she grabs her ID back and watch the guard walked away.

“The bus is about to depart, please present your ticket, store your luggage, and take your seat”, the bus driver announced.

Panicking, Yongsun quickly gave the driver her ticket while shoving her wallet in her back pocket then went to store her suitcase in the compartment on the side of the bus, not realizing that her wallet had slipped out of her back pocket. Immediately after taking her seat, the bus door closed and started moving. Taking a sigh of relief, Yongsun looked down at her hand to see that she’s still holding the ID.

“I should put this back in my wallet”, she muttered as she reaches for her back pocket only to feel nothing.

“Where is my wallet? I’m pretty sure I shoved it in my pocket. Is it in my side pockets? No? What about my backpack?”, she rummaged through her backpack only to find no wallet.

“Oh no. Did I drop it? Where did it go?”, cold sweat starting to form on her forehead.

Groaning, she was faced with the fact that she must have dropped it when she was storing her suitcase. “Great, I only have a little loose cash in my bag”.

Deciding that there’s nothing she can do right now, Yongsun leaned back on her seat and closed her eyes. “I’ll sort it out after I get to Seoul, right now I should get some sleep”.

And Yongsun slept through the whole bus ride.

Present Day – 05:36 AM

Yongsun woke up as the bus comes to a stop. Rubbing the sleep away from her eyes, she wears her backpack and got off the bus to grabs her suitcase. Stepping out of the Seoul bus station, she looks around on the empty street. Spotting a coffee shop across the street, she made her way there. The bell chimes as she opens the door alerting the girl behind the counter preparing the shop for the day.

“Sorry, we’re still closed. We open in about half an hour”, says a dimpled cheek blue-haired girl who seems to be the barista.

Glancing around the shop, Yongsun realized that a lot of the chairs are still stacked on top of the tables. “Oh no, I’m sorry I didn’t know”.

Smiling, the barista said, “it’s okay, I really should put up a closed and opened sign on the door”.

Hesitating, Yongsun asked, “um… is it okay if I wait in here. I just got off the bus from Busan and it’s been a while since I’d visited Seoul”.

“Sure, feel free to take a seat on one of the stools”, the barista said. “My name is Jung Wheein, people usually call me Wheein. Nice to meet you”, Wheein said as she stretches out her hand for a handshake.

Shaking her hand, Yongsun replied, “my name is Kim Yongsun. Please call me Yong or Yongsun, and nice to meet you too”.

“So, what brings you to Seoul this early in the morning? You must’ve gotten on the 1 AM bus if you arrived at this time”, Wheein asked as she brews a big pot of fresh coffee.

“Um… Actually, I have no idea why I’m here”, admitted Yongsun bashfully. To be honest, Yongsun did not think her plan through. All she wanted was to lead an independent life away from her family. That’s why she chose Seoul, a bustling city. And now that she’s here, she has no idea what she wanted to do. Back in Busan, she has a loving family, friends, and a stable job as a junior manager in her father’s small company. In Seoul, she has nothing. She started to get nervous about her decision to leave home when Wheein snapped her out of it.

“Hey, are you okay? You have a panic look in your eyes. Wait, you’re not being chased by bad guys like in the movies are you?”, Wheein joked to try and calm down Yongsun.

The joke seems to work as Yongsun giggled, “no, I’m not being chased by a bunch of bad guys. Actually…”. Yongsun then proceeded to tell her story to Wheein. Yongsun has no idea why she unloads her backstory onto a stranger so easily. But something about Wheein just tells her that she could trust her and hopefully won’t think that she’s stupid.

Wheein’s eyes got as wide as a saucer after listening to Yongsun’s story. She doesn’t know whether Yongsun is courageous or crazy impulsive. But after a while, Wheein decided that she admire actually Yongsun for her bravery to just leave the safe comfort of her hometown.

“Woah, that’s…”, Wheein is still speechless.

“Stupid and impulsive?”, helped Yongsun.

“I was thinking more on the crazy brave side”, laughed Wheein.

“Crazy brave? I’ll take it! It’s way better than stupid and impulsive”, Yongsun laughed along.

“So based on your lost wallet part of the story, I’m guessing you currently don’t have any money?”, asked Wheein.

“I’ve got some loose cash in my backpack. But it’s only enough to last me for about 2 days I think”, said Yongsun.

Wheein seems to be thinking of something. “Why don’t you work here for the time being? I mean, I don’t think I can pay you the same amount of money when you worked as a junior manager but at least it’s one way you can have some income while you look for a more suitable job”, Wheein offered. “And I could also use another set of hands”.

Yongsun is genuinely surprised by Wheein’s offer. “Really? I would love to. But are you sure? You don’t even know me”, asked Yongsun.

“I mean you did just unload your whole backstory on me. So, I think I can guess a thing or two about your character and way of thinking. And I think you’re quite an interesting existence”, laughed Wheein.

“Then I would like to take up your generous offer”, said Yongsun smiling.

“Okay, let me get you an employment application to fill out”, Wheein said as she heads towards the back office. After a minute she came back with a slip of paper and a pen. “Here you go”.

“Thank you”, Yongsun took the paper and pen then begin to fill out the application. After 5 minutes, she handed the filled-out application and pen back to Wheein.

“You’re older than me?”, Wheein asked as she scan the application, surprised. “You look like you’re the same age as me. I should’ve been calling you unnie”. Leaning over the counter, Wheein squint her eyes at Yongsun and asked in a serious voice, “what’s your secret unnie? Do you have some kind of ritual?”.

“What? Of course not. What year were born in Wheein? It can’t be that far apart”, replied Yongsun laughing.

“I was born in 1995. We’re four years apart. It’s not that big of a gap, but still, you don’t look your age unnie”, said Wheein.

“I can’t decide if that’s a compliment or an insult Wheein”, laughed Yongsun.

“It’s a compliment obviously unnie. Anyway, let me explain some of your duties as we’re about to open for business”. Yongsun listened tentatively as Wheein explained to her that she would be the one to take the customers’ orders and ring them up. Wheein also teaches her how to use the cash register seeing as she never operated one before. They then set the chairs properly and the first customer of the day came in. The morning rush flowed smoothly. Yongsun seems to have a little bit of trouble operating the cash register, but after the first 3 customers, she started to get the hang of it. Both Wheein and Yongsun worked well together despite it being their first day working together.

Present Day – 11:14 AM

Five hours had passed since the shop opened and the flow of customers had slowed down significantly. “Unnie, we almost ran out of coconut creamer. I didn’t know that it was going to a popular choice for today. Can you run to the grocery store around the corner and get around 7 cartons of it?”, asked Wheein.

“Sure, which brand should I get?”, Yongsun asked as she takes off her apron.

“It’s this one unnie. And here’s the money for it”, Wheein showed her the carton and hands Yongsun some cash.

“Okay, I’ll be right back”. Yongsun exited the coffee shop and lightly jog towards the direction of the store. Going inside, she headed to the dairy section, scanning the shelves. Finding the coconut cream that Wheein wanted, she took 7 of them and put it in her shopping basket then head to the cashier. The cashier rings her up and bags the items. After paying, she grabbed the bag and jogged back to the coffee shop. As she was about to turn the corner, Yongsun ran into someone knocking her to the ground. The bag in her hand slipped and fell causing some of the cartons to break and the cream to splashed on her clothes.

The woman that Yongsun ran into started cursing, “what’s the matter with you? Can’t you watch where you’re going? Honestly –“. Her rant seems to be cut short after she realized there’s no one in front of her. Looking down, her eyes widen as she looked at Yongsun’s sorry state.

“Miss, are you okay?”, she crouched and asks Yongsun.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m sorry for running into you”, replied Yongsun looking at the stranger in front of her.

“No, no it’s my fault too, I should’ve also watched where I was going”, the stranger said as she hands Yongsun a handkerchief. “Here use this, you got some on your face”.

Blushing, Yongsun take the handkerchief, “thank you”.

“My name is Byulyi. What’s your name?”.

“It’s Yongsun”, she smiled.

Byul’s POV

“This is just great! My ing car broke down and I’m officially late to the damn meeting”, I thought as I ran towards my company. Yeah, you heard that right. My company. I own a multi-billionaire company and yet somehow, I’m reduced to travel to it by foot. This is ridiculous. Seoul’s traffic is so bad that if I had waited for my chauffeur to bring me another car, I would’ve been even later.

My phone has been vibrating violently for the past 10 minutes. Answering the call, I was greeted by my VP’s panicked and annoyed voice, “unnie where are you? The meeting’s supposed to start 20 minutes ago!”

“I know Hyejin! I have a damn clock, I can tell the time. My car broke down and I’m running towards the company as fast as I can”, I growled out annoyed.

“Well, run faster. The client’s getting impatient. I don’t think I can stall them any longer”, Hyejin replied.

“That’s it!”, I thought. Today is not my day. I’ve enough on my plate that I really don’t wanna deal with an angry client. “Tell them if they want me to work with their puny and insignificant company they’re going to have to wait until I get there. If not, tell them to leave. Losing this one client is not going to have any impact on our company’s annual income anyway”, I finished and hung up.

I ran into someone as I rounded the corner. I can hear something falling and breaking followed by the sound of liquid splashing. I looked down to make sure I got none on me and started cursing. “What’s the matter with you? Can’t you watch where you’re going? Honestly –“. I stopped and looked down.

There, sitting on a sidewalk is a girl covered by what smelled like coconut cream. There was a panic look in her eyes and tears started to gather at the corner of her eyes. Without thinking, I crouched down, “Miss, are you okay?”.

“What the hell am I doing? I’m late, I have a company to run. And why am I crouching?”, I thought as I looked at her. “No, no it’s my fault too, I should’ve also watched where I was going”.

“And now I’m apologizing? There were only 2 people I’ve ever apologized to, my parents. And it only happened once”. She blushed as I offered her my handkerchief. I caught myself thinking that she’s cute. A pretty face with warm brown eyes and adorable chubby cheeks.

“My name is Byulyi”, I introduced myself. “What’s your name?”.

“Yongsun”, the name suits her I thought. And her smile is sweet like a ray of sunshine. I watched as she attempts to get up but struggled because of the coconut cream. “Ah… I see. So, she’s an adorable defenseless klutz”. Biting back a grin, I helped her up.

“There you go. Are you sure you’re okay?”, I asked her one more time.

“Yep, I’m fine. I’m pretty tough”, she smiled back.

I helped her picked up her ruined grocery run, “so what are you doing with liters and liters of coconut cream? I highly doubt you planned on bathing with them today”.

“I’m actually running an errand for my boss right now”, she replied chuckling.

“Why does your boss need that much coconut cream?”, I asked a little bit concern.

Yongsun laughed, “oh no, it’s not for anything weird. She runs a coffee shop, and we ran out of coconut cream. I probably should’ve led with that”.

“Well let me buy reimburse you for these coconut cream then. I don’t want you to get in trouble with your boss”, I said.

“Thank you, that’s very generous of you”. She continued, “but I don’t think they’re going to let me enter the store dripping like this”. She looked down at her outfit and cringed.

I followed her gaze, “oh yeah. You’re right. Wait here, I’ll run to the store and get the coconut cream super quick”. It took me 8 minutes to go and get the coconut cream and come back to Yongsun. I think I ran faster than I did on my way to the company just now.

“Let me walk you back to the coffee shop”, I said as I reaches for Yongsun’s hand.

“Oh, you don’t have to. I can manage from here”, she said as she takes the coconut cream out of my hand.

“I insist. You’re covered in coconut cream. What if you slip and fall on your way back?”, I pressed.

“Then I’ll just walk slowly so I won’t slip and fall down”, she replied.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re definitely going to slip and fall.”

Yongsun looked offended, “what’s that supposed to mean?”

“You struggled to get up just now because you kept on slipping on the coconut cream. What do you think is going to happen when you move at the speed of 1 km per hour?”, I raised my brows.

I didn’t think Yongsun could look even more offended than she did before. Her expression shows that she’s annoyed, maybe even angry. But the way she puffed up her cheeks is just too adorable for me to ignore. Without thinking, I reached out and squeeze her cheeks. Her annoyed look was replaced by her surprise look for a second before she slapped my hand away and glares at me. If looks could kill, I would definitely be dead by now.

“What do you think you’re doing touching people like that?”, Yongsun reprimanded me.

“Your cheeks are just too adorable for me to pass up on”, I replied grinning.

"Listen here miss, I know karate and I won't hesitate to karate chop your head. So, if you could just, please leave me to my own devices", she said irritation is evident in her voice.

"Lady, who you're trying to lie to? I know that you don't know jack- about karate", I said amused. I would know, I practiced martial arts. And a person as clumsy as her will not last 5 minutes in her first class.

Yongsun looked like she’s about to say something but decided against it and turn around to leave instead. “Wait, be careful”, I followed her. Yongsun continued to ignore me, so I just keep on following her. Catching her a few times when she was about to slip. Eventually, we arrived in front of a coffee shop.

Yongsun stopped in front of the door, “why’d you stop? Aren’t you gonna go in?”. She then turns around and muttered a quick thank you before dashing into the shop. I was left dumbfounded by her behaviors. One minute she was all smiles and friendly the next minute she’s willful and shy. Just like a rabbit. This is fun, I found an amusing person. Oh, and did I mention that she’s adorable too?

As I was about to step inside the coffee shop, my phone buzzes. It’s Hyejin. . I still have a company to take care of. Glancing at the coffee shop for the last time, I turn around and started to make my way towards the office while answering the call. “Unnie! Where the hell are you? Are you dead?”

“Calm down Hyejin-ah, I’m on my way”, I replied breezily.

“Well, you seem to be in a good mood all of the sudden. Did something good happen?”, she asked.

“Yeah, I found a wild bunny on the road. It was illegally adorable that I lost track of time playing with it”, I said grinning.

Confusion was clear in Hyejin’s tone, “a wild bunny? In the middle of Seoul? Unnie… are you high?”.

“Of course not! Why would I get high when I’m about to go to work? That’s a stupid thing to do. Oh, I found a taxi. I’ll call you when I arrived in the lobby”, I hung up and tell the driver my company’s address.

“Why didn’t I ask for her number before I annoyed her?”, I wanted to kick myself for forgetting the one thing that I always do. Asking for a girl’s phone number is basically my second nature at this point. It usually happened on autopilot that I don’t even remember half of the girls on my phone.

The taxi stopped in front of my company. After paying the fare, I got out and was immediately rushed by Hyejin upstairs to meet our client. During the entirety of the meeting, my mind keeps coming back to Yongsun. Maybe I can visit the coffee shop after work. It’s on my way home anyway. And I also need coffee to pull an all-nighter. It’s not like I’m going there to just stalk Yongsun. For that reasons, I focused back on my meeting to get it over with.

A/N: To the people who decided to subscribe to this story, first of all, thank you 😊. Second of all, are you guys sure you wanted to continue reading it? Cause I intended this story to be a romcom, which means there’s going to be A LOT of cringe scenes in the future. Just a heads up that there’s definitely a health hazard attached to this fic; you guys might suffer from secondhand embarrassment and a lemon face 😅.