Gaeul entered the entrance of the cafe as it was already 9:05 am and she was on her time as usual.

Hyerin saw her coming in as she got her coffee beans grinded, getting out of the grinder now.

Should I ask her ?

But then what will I say? What was I doing there?

Hyerin, knowing how bad she was at lying, decided to skip the questioning part for now, fearing that she would have to answer more questions instead.

But she had definitely seen Gaeul standing in front of Taemin’s apartment for a while, when she was waiting for the taxi on the next street last night.

Hyerin was super-confused about Gaeul’s attitude, she saw with her eyes yesterday. It was hard to ignore that Gaeul seemed like a different girl from what she knew of her.

Gaeul & Soobin had joined the cafe at the same time, last year, as part-timers. And Hyerin had a soft spot for Gaeul especially since then, because of the fact that Gaeul had lost both her parents three years ago and the girl was taking care of her grandmother from last two years now, because of which she had to work as a part-timer at various places while attending her college. Hyerin wanted to be of some help to her, knowing how lonely she must be feeling everyday. And regardless of the emotional empathy, Gaeul was efficient & productive in her work at the cafe & Hyerin didn’t want to lose a useful helper like her.

She didn’t want to doubt Gaeul for something insane but, as she trusted both of her girls, after spending all these days with them, but anyhow she thought of her attitude yesterday, it was suspicious & disturbing now.

Why was she staring the apartment for so long with that smile on her face?

Hyerin’s phone beeped as the screen flashed an incoming message from Taemin.

Hyerin ran to the reception desk, wiping her hands with the towel, to pick her phone, as she opened the message.

‘Good morning, サンシャイン'        (sanshain - sunshine in japanese letters)

She smiled reading her new nickname.

Here he was sending a good morning followed by a nickname in a whole new language as his everyday ritual. She was amazed by how he finds all these new words from different languages everyday in his daily busy schedules.

She copied the word to the search bar to know the meaning coming across the fact that it was just a romanized form of 'sunshine' in Japanese.

‘Am I the sunshine today?’ she typed to send waiting for his reply for a while now.

‘Hmm’ ‘A bright & warm one’ His reply made Hyerin giggle, impulsively. 

She laughed to herself a bit loud to catch Gaeul’s attention, as she walked to her after getting into her apron smiling softly.

‘How about a warm hug from the warm sunshine then?'  Hyerin was smiling, focused on her screen.

‘Should I come there right now?’ ‘Don’t scold me then when you see me there’ 

He was quick to reply, as if he was waiting for her reply too, without leaving his phone.

‘Warm hugs are better in cold nights’ She typed as her fingers danced on her keyboard and a smile crept up to her cheek as they got hot, with the thought of it, while talking to him, inspite of their physical distance.

‘I’m curious how much better now?’ She found her stomach scrunching inside with the butterflies that were forming there now, as she read his cringey reply. 

“You seem to be in a very great mood today” Gaeul said, reaching for the showcase trays, from the cabinets above Hyerin, startling her and making her move back, pressing the screen of her phone, near her chest.

It was the immediate reflex of Hyerin, as Gaeul watched her confused by her unusual response.

“Yeah” “Good morning” she smiled at Gaeul who got busy with her work again after greeting her back

Hyerin moved out of the reception area walking towards the kitchen door, looking at her screen again to reply, ‘It will be getting hectic in the cafe’ ‘Is it okay if I call you during the lunch break?’ Hyerin sent, waiting for his answer, standing in the middle of the cafe.

‘Yeah’ ‘I’ll be waiting for it’ she smiled reading his reply as she slid the phone in the single pocket of her apron & started to walk in the kitchen.

Gaeul was arranging the cookies & donuts in the display cabinets in the front, which Hyerin had finished baking as per the morning menu today, a while ago before she got busy with her coffee business.

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Gaeul was walking on the street to her home with a smile on her face, scrolling through her phone’s gallery, not bothered even a little by the silence & darkness on the street.

There were multiple pictures of Taemin from the photoshoot he had today, her friend had sent them to her in the afternoon as soon as the event ended.

From him monitoring his shoot with the director, to him changing his outfits in the green room, there were all kinds of intimate photos, she was scrolling down with a smuggy smile on her face.

She came across a picture where the makeup artist was fixing his hair as he was standing squatting down a little before the lady, trying to match her height.

Her eyes changed from joy to fury, as she stared at the picture for a while and let out a chuckle suddenly again as her eyes got softer again.

“Oppa is very professional when it comes to his work” she smiled now focused on Taemin for a while when her eyes shifted slightly on the lady before him again, “But how dare you smile at him like that?” her eyes turned white when she mumbled a cursing word in , and clicked on the editing option to select a devil emoji and scrolled it on the lady’s face, to cover it.

She scrolled down to look into more pictures as her face lightened up after watching Taemin’s face again.

Eonni did a good job taking more of his close pictures this time. 

I should change my mind then. I will not have to change to another agent now. 

This eonni is good at her job & is cheaper than the ones I know. It is better to stick to her for now.

“It’s so hard to get a glimpse of oppa these days”

“It’s been weeks since I last saw you in person” “Don’t you miss me?” She was talking sweetly to Taemin’s picture taken after the music stage, him smiling to the fan’s cameras when he was leaving the venue.

“I wish I could delete all your photos from that Soobin's phone” Gaeul was talking to the photo in her phone, “Can’t she mind her own fangirling?” 

‘Aren’t you a fangirl too?’

“Of course I'm a fan of your dance but I know we are more than that.” Gaeul answered simultaneously as if she heard a non-existent question in the brief silence she had while watching the picture.

“I know you like to tease me a lot” “But only I know you more than other fans” “So I should be special right?” She had a shy smile on her face now as she walked ahead, almost bumping into the pole of a street-lamp, as she took a turn to walk around.

“Ah!” “Hyerin unni chose you over Taeyong that day as more manly person” she chuckled rolling her eyes, “I was a bit upset for a while” “but who cares she’s just a ordinary person like others” Gaeul added giggling to her own on the silent street.

She was already near her apartment now as she looked around.

“I had to lie that I’m not a fan” she looked in the direction of the stairs walking straight into the elevator, without looking up.

“It’s irritating when they talk like they know you in front of me” “So it’s better to say I’m not a fan” she added, smirking at her phone standing in the elevator.

“Since we met during the MAMA awards it's been a really long time” “I want to see you again soon” she was pouting as she got out of the elevator walking to her apartment.

“We’re home” she said smiling at the phone before getting her hand on the lock-pad of the door to unlock, as she entered her house then, walking straight into the room inside.

The room walls were filled with Taemin’s posters & pictures that she had collected for the last few years, since she started craving for his content more and more. She had rented this house last year, after running away from her parent’s house, when they started keeping a watch on her activities.

Gaeul was working as part-timer at 4-6 places per day, and would spend her entire salary in buying his merches & paying the agents who were providing her these personally clicked pictures when she would be busy with her work & was unable to go behind him on his schedules.

“I love you so much oppa” “See you soon” she ran to one of his posters to land a kiss on it as she smiled watching his face.

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