“Can I know what you are looking for?” the girl at the counter, looked at him in anticipation.

Her husky voice, sweet & calm, was making him feel warm on the cold winter night in Paris.

The girl was in front of him, talking to him, and he couldn’t stop smiling to his ears.

What should he reply? He had no answer in his mind when he was there to just visit her.

“Can you recommend something?” “I’m not sure what I should get for myself?” he asked in Korean, waiting for her reaction.

“OH?” she watched him in amaze as he gave out a quick smile blinking his eyes cutely,

“Yes” she answered back in Korean, smiling back.

“The cream lemon pie of ours is really delicious” she continued speaking in Korean, “And?” looking at the cabinet before her that was filled with trays of all kinds of pies, pastries, macaroons, cupcakes, croissants, and breads, arranged beautifully, she stood there thinking for a while.

Her Korean was more fluent than her French or English, which he heard when she was speaking with other customers a while ago, which had brought comfort in her voice now, her voice seemed warmer & cheerful, talking in her mother tongue, as if she was missing speaking it.

“You must try our apple tart & macaroons too” he shifted his eyes from her to the cabinet, as she showed him the visuals of the delicacies she mentioned.

“Actually I have a sweet tooth” “So I’m a bit confused” he pouted looking at her, making her chuckle on his expressions, “I know how it is” she responded with her smile getting wider now.

Taemin was really liking however she was, all parts of her were not less than charismatic to him right now.

“How about you try some of them? And then it will be easy to decide?” while she was talking like a pretty woman, he couldn’t stop staring at her face shining bright in the yellow light from the lamp above her.

“I can make you taste our signature products here” “How about that?” she glanced at him suggesting as he managed to look away immediately in the direction of the cabinets.

“Ah!” “Only if you’re going to buy some of them, prosperously!!” she smiled looking down, running her hand through her ponytail embarrassed of bringing out her professionalism, casually.

He smiled at her cute but honest approach & nodded to agree, “I’m sure I’ll end up buying them all then” he confessed, watching her reaction as she smirked at him moving to the cabinet behind her, to take out a few dishes & the syrup bottles.

She was arranging the products on the dishes she had placed on the counter beside the reception a while ago when he came in.

Taemin’s eyes were smiling the whole time while watching the girl he had fallen for in the first eye.

He was curious too!

A bit!

No! Actually a lot!

About what? Exactly what music she was listening to, that made her so happy that she looked so beautiful grooving to it?

“Can I ask you something?” he moved closer to the reception, resting his hand on the desk now, leaning over the table that was high up to the half of his chest.

She looked at him in response observing him in surprise between the arranging, as her hands moved naturally on the products down in the plates.

Taking her attention as ‘yes’ as he anyway wanted that answer, he decided to continue asking, “Can I know your name?” he was looking at her in anticipation till she came to stand before him to speak up.

He blinked a few times in nervousness then, and she extended the platter of delicacies to him.

.......And before her voice would come out, it went mute, unheard, as always.

Taemin had dreamed of asking her name numerous times in different scenarios, some in Paris, some in Korea, but in all those dreams, he was always unable to hear her voice when she was about to tell him her name.

He would laugh waking up dreaming the same kind of dream in so many various scenarios for 6 months now, that he could write a drama, if he compiled all of them together.

When dreaming of Hyerin got usual & habitual, a real Hyerin was in front of him now, and not only he knew her name, but knew a lot about her now, except her real-self. 

The one he was seeing when she would smile effortlessly, just once in the whole time.

He had all the information about her family, her job & her last year in Korea, her loan for the café, and such materialistic data which was collected by the legal team for her background check two weeks ago.

But neither he was curious about her debt, nor was bothered by her family history, because it was what had made her a sensible person she looked now.

When she looked beautiful back there in Paris, he had thought to himself for a moment that she must be enjoying every part of her life then, but now he could know that she was escaping the real world, by immersing herself into the work she loved doing.

Her past showed her sincerity & passion to what she liked & that was the most impressive thing he could think of her to pick from her personality right now.

Never did he expected her to turn out having so many scars from life, and still stay this strong, not giving up on her dreams, when she didn’t have much to hold on to even now & back then.

Reading her life was another trigger for Taemin to run to her first, not that he could make it better but he knew she was too busy in her life right now to give him attention that easily.

----------------

Taemin was finally leaving the studio after shooting for his music stage.

All shinee members came to see him today while his minho hyung came right from the military base, and all the staff was enjoying teasing him which was full of laughter & fun then, till he went up to the stage to perform.

After the performance they did the live together before they left. And shawols were going crazy & Taemin was very happy that he was back with the members again, that his cheeks were hurting now, when he sat back relaxing in his car as he got inside.

He was tired now & had a great meal for lunch which was making him feel sleepy, so he lowered the seat to lay back & take some rest till he reached the company building, where they were heading now, to have final trials of the costume for the concert he had with another group tomorrow.

He was feeling the sleep take over his eyes, as he could feel the heaviness shutting them tightly, but the notification tone of his phone startled him to half-open his eyes, to take a look at the notification bar, opening the lock screen.

‘Hyerin - New message: ~video link~’  Hyerin’s name was enough to wake him awake to sit straight in his seat now.

He hurried to open the message as quickly as possible, unlocking his phone immediately.

Taemin, having two numbers for professional & personal use nowadays, had decided to give his personal number to Hyerin that day.

Maybe he was trusting Hyerin a lot & he didn’t have any reason for doing that.

Maybe he was acting childish again & shouldn’t jump to conclusions this early about such things.

But he knew he was clearly attracted to her. 

And now spending time with Hyerin was naturally the only thing on his mind, after completing all the schedules everyday.

As his schedule was loosened a bit now, he had night-time free as expected, and that’s why he was looking forward to going to Hyerin’s café as much as he can in that whatever time he had, to see her, meet her in the timeline he had, know her more however he can, now that he had successfully grabbed a reason to do so, using all his confidence by visiting her, in spite of the fear of all kind of rejection he could have expected that day.

He hastily reached to his bag to take out his ear-pods & connected them in less than two mins, before opening the link of the video Hyerin had sent to him.

There was the kitchen counter with big & many small bowls with some ingredients in it, with a fine view of camera showing the spot well enough to get the view of everything on the table, even though not perfect. Hyerin’s voice came suddenly from the background before he could analyze the situation in his mind,

“Okay! So I’m sending this video so that you would be just mentally prepared for what we will be doing”

It was already cute when she started with that note now,

“I just thought seeing everything suddenly & doing all the procedure out of nowhere would be really overwhelming” her voice was playing in the background, “Oh it’s already awkward” she whispered to herself before starting, as Taemin got that curtained smile back on his face, by actually sensing how awkward she was sounding through her shivering timid voice.

“I’m not used to using camera like this for teaching usually, but after watching something today I got this idea of sending you the shortcut of all the procedure before actually teaching you the one” Hyerin continued to talk fighting her nervousness, as Taemin stifled his laugh to not make it loud in front of his manager hyung.

 “You can try memorizing the ingredients & basic things I’m showing here” she warned in a soft voice, “You can learn in 1 or 2 days then”

She was sounding incredibly cute now, for him to blink impatiently, pressing his lips together to control blushing out.

“You won’t have to come here for the whole week in your busy schedule that way” she added while working on the ingredients, as Taemin's smile faded immediately hearing that. No he can’t afford that.

He absolutely shouldn’t memorize anything of this if that’s the case, he thought, panicking internally.

As Hyerin continued to add things one by one to that one large bowl, mixing & stirring in between explaining the procedures as briefly as possible, all Taemin did was watch her slender fingers work in the process in the while, till he realized that the video was ending soon, when Hyerin removed the round tray which she poured the mixture into, from the sight of camera as the counter seemed much empty now.

She was probably moving away from the counter, as her voice faded with her going away, being absolutely invisible over camera for more than 5 mins after that.

“I just told what we will be mixing to make a cake here” her voice was a bit more clear, as she was speaking in a upraised tone, considering the distance now probably, “After we meet again let’s discuss what kind of cake Taemin-ssi’s mom would like so that we could decide the type & flavor & other decoration for it then”

She kept going but Taemin was busy being sad about the video ending now, “After all you will have to learn that kind of extra procedure then” she added without coming on the camera till the end now, “See you soon Taemin-ssi”

“Sorry if I disturbed you with this long video” she ended the video leaving him with mixed feelings.

As the video closed, he saw another message below it saying, ‘Watch it when you get free, it will take some time of yours’

Wasn’t this the cutest gesture one could do for almost a stranger?

He smiled, staring at the message for another five mins & grinned again sheepishly before closing the message box, closing his eyes, leaning back on the seat,

“How long is it gonna take more hyung?” Taemin asked with his eyes closed.

“15 mins more” “can’t sleep?” Euisoo-nim watched him lying back, eyes closed, as he continued driving watching him in between.

Taemin stayed silent trying to sleep but as soon as he had closed his eyes, all he could see was Hyerin’s hands from the video, with her delicate slender fingers doing all the smooth work there.

It was hard to understand if it was really allowed to imagine such things with closed eyes, not that he wanted to think of it very enthusiastically, but that was all his mind was occupied with for now.

He tried distracting himself by thinking about his dance choreography for the new songs of the concert, but failed on it, going back to the flashes of the same view again in few minutes.

Struggling with his own innocent & creepy mind going back & forth, he finally heard Euisoo manager’s voice for him to wake up as they had reached their destination already, "Taeminah, we're here!"

The girl was mysteriously awakening some parts of his mind, which he thought were out of function long ago.

Feeling butterflies in his stomach, which sent shivers down his spine up to his feet, to experience that electrifying wave, to extent of squeezing the toe inside in reflex.... it had not happened with him in long years.

Being busy 24/7 dedicating himself to his passion for music & dance & thinking about fans & members was always overwhelming & emotional but this new feeling of new start, out of zero, budding in him like a new branch of a tree, was fascinating & good.

Thinking of a new person coming in his life was a completely new experience.

------------

The concert and pre-concert preparations itself took Taemin’s almost 32 hours, where he couldn’t move away & was practicing with the team, doing costume rehearsals & stage rehearsals, and so more.

And when he finally was free of schedules after the concert, he was so tired that he decided to go home straight away after having dinner with the organizing team & SuperM members together.

After reaching home at past nine, he wanted to lay down in his bed & go to sleep, but having shower before bed must have been so refreshing that he couldn’t go to sleep now & was awake lying on the bed for almost past 15 mins.

His phone was out of battery since the concert so he was checking all the messages finally after 6 hours now, from the last time he had checked his phone.

As Taemin scrolled down to the last unread message he apparently came across Hyerin's message with the video link. And he could remember the view with her hands again, embarrassing him a bit now of his thoughts again. 

He didn’t know exactly why he was so shy to remember it, but he knew, he was red in seconds then & there, being thankful, that no one could see him right now, as he managed to calm his emotions.

Jumping on the bed to sit, he opened his phonebook to press the call button on Hyerin’s number.

It was his first time, they would be talking on call after that unexpected confusion, which took both of them to police-station back in time.

His heart was practically racing for a while as her ringing tone continued to ring, till it suddenly stopped when he actually heard Hyerin’s voice on the other side.

“Hello” she replied as Taemin was too surprised to answer right away,

“Hello!” “Taemin-ssi” she repeated herself, hearing the silence on other side knowing it was Taemin’s number as they had already exchanged those numbers that day.

“Ah-” "Yes-" “Hyerin-ssi!” it took him few more seconds but Taemin was back with his brain functioning normal again to bring out words on his lips.

“I called because-” maybe he should’ve rehearsed the lines before actually hitting the call button, “I called because-” the nervousness after hearing her voice & his heart beating so fast at the same time, were killing him in union.

“Yes” “I’m listening, Taemin-ssi” Hyerin replied in a calming tone, waiting for Taemin to speak further.

“I was going to visit you but I had to attend a team dinner after the concert today”

Did I called to tell her this? 

Even he wasn’t sure why he hit that call button in those few seconds, as if his mind was possessed or something in those miniseconds.

“Uh?” she sang, remembering about his concert now, “That’s okay” “As long as Taemin-ssi learns faster, you can bake a cake in a day” she was laughing softly, making him smile then.

“It’s not actually that big of an issue” Hyerin had a long answer in return, interrupting all the thoughts going on in his subconscious, with the mention of word "faster"

“No!” Taemin almost screamed for Hyerin to get startled on the other side, “I mean” he added, this time lowering his voice & tone,

“You may not know, but I’m really bad at cooking” he nodded to himself, blinking his eyes cutely, explaining Hyerin about his bad cooking skills only to convince her “And it’s a big deal for me” he was a bit nervous too now, “It’s for my mom after all” he continued in his voice trembling with the speed he was speaking for that long explanation.

“Hyerin-ssi might not know but I always eat boiled eggs because I can’t crack them properly” he himself didn't know what kind of point he was trying to make with that sentence.

“Are you getting what I’m trying to say here?” he asked, doubting his effort, waiting for Hyerin to respond, but all he could hear after his words was short & soft grunts of laughter now, which increased in pitch slowly, as he stopped himself from interrupting even by his breath now. He was just silently listening to her on other side.

Hyerin’s laughter coming through the phone was cute with the raspy soft grunts she would make in between while laughing, he had a smile on his lips reaching his ears instinctively, till she caught up on her breath again to speak further, “Ah really?” she was still giggling, making him blush now.

“I get it” she tried to stifle her laugh, clearing to speak again, “I get it now” she tried her best to not laugh again, as Taemin found himself smiling wider, feeling proud of himself now to make her laugh all by himself.

“But who knows Taemin-ssi may do better than you think” she tried to encourage knowing that Taemin was a hardworking kind of person.

“Not when it comes to cooking” “Trust me I’ve tried my best” he continued, now actually being disappointed in him that why he was ruining his own image in front of her by himself saying this things on their first call.

“You can just do your best” “Leave everything else to me” her confidence in him was way too much & he was worried now that he’s gonna embarrass himself in front of her, as cooking was quite that kind of area for him.

---------------

18 NOV 2020, Your Moments Cafe, Seoul, Korea.

Hyerin was already rushing to the door hearing the multiple & continuous knocks when she was up at the wash-basin to clean her hands soiled with the cookie batter she was busy making a few minutes ago.

Opening the door, and Taemin stood there smiling sheepishly at her like a 4 year old.

“Taemin-ssi!” “Do you want all my neighbors to see you here?” she scolded him but her voice was still very soft to call it a scolding.

“There’s not a single person on this street” he answered unaffected by her tone, instead worriedly looking out on the street, before looking at her again,“Aren’t you scared of staying late here?”

He entered inside taking a last look at the empty lane in front of the café which went long upto the beautiful lake on the other otherside.

“No” “It’s not scary at all” she was used to that silence now, it was her neighbourhood afterall, “Because people around may gather immediately if I shout out loudly here” Hyerin pointed to the front yard of her café smiling widely, “Want to try?” she gave him a teasing look, as he chuckled watching her smirking face.

“You must be famous here then?” he laughed, taking a proper look at her cafe from inside this time.

Though he was visiting for the second time, watching it so carefully was first time today, as last time he was quite focused on Hyerin to notice anything else.

“Not that much” she crinkled her eyes cutely, taking his soft smile again, “But everyone is just very sweet to me in this neighborhood” she said, following him inside, as he moved past her into the cafe now, observing the interior.

“Don’t underestimate yourself, Hyerin-ssi” “You get what you give” he turned to look at her with the smile still stuck to his lips, making her halt at her place, “Hyerin-ssi must have a sweetheart too” he complimented, staring at her, as she ended up staring back with a blank face,

“Taemin-ssi must be habitual of comforting your fans like this” she moved passed him with a pouting smile.

Maybe he was habitual of always talking comforting words back to cheer his fans as a habit now, but less that Hyerin knew how Taemin in his wildest dreams didn’t want Hyerin to misunderstand the purpose of his words like this.