“Let me know what you think later.” The cute waitress said, winking at Yerin as she put the plate in front of her and turned around in a swift motion to serve the other customers.

It had been a few months now. A few months since Yerin became a regular at the Queens Diner where a miraculously cute, and perhaps somewhat attractive, waitress worked. One who had been giving Yerin meals that weren’t available on the menu for her to try and give her opinion on.

Just like that she had received a plethora of pancake recipes, sweet and salty ones, new sandwiches with the craziest ingredients and even a bunch of deserts. All thought up by SinB, the girl Yerin had been coming to see for those few months she’d been coming here for.

Now don’t get her wrong, all the way in the beginning she actually did come here just for the food.

~

“Yerin! Wait-”

“Sowon?” Yerin spun around on her heels as she heard the girl behind her call her name. “What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?? I’ve been trying to contact you for days but you’ve been ghosting me!” She whined. Yerin wasn’t exactly ghosting her but she also wasn’t not replying… Maybe she was, albeit not on purpose.

“Sorry.” Yerin said with a cute pout. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ve generally been MIA from my phone this week. Remember Stone? The lecturer we had a month ago? He ended up failing me so I’ve basically been catching up with his class every night just to do the damn retake exam.”

“MIA? Who’s that?” Yerin rolled her eyes. “Anyways, you’re coming with us today.”

“I am? Where to?”

“Yuju was telling us about this diner she and Umji found a week ago and she literally wouldn’t shut up about it so now we all want to go just to see if it’s really that amazing, long story short.”

“What’s the long story?”

“Umji confessed to Yuju there and Yuju just had the need to describe it very detailedly, not just the confession itself but also the interior and every single dish from the menu. Every. Single. Dish. Pretty sure I’ll get deja vu when we walk in there just because of her, or a .”

Yerin would have to call the two of them later to hear about all of this. Heck, she felt bad for a second being so busy she missed something as big as this… Lately she hadn’t been able to go out for lunch with them all because of the retake. She really didn’t want to fail this again, it was supposed to be her last year.

Her last year before she was finally able to do whatever she wanted to do, aside from the obvious like working and such. Yerin snapped back to reality.

“So, dinner, after school, you and?”

“Eunha.”

“...Hold on. I’m totally third wheeling here aren’t I? Is this some scheme?” Sowon diverted her eyes, Yerin was real scary at times.

“I knew it!! You sneaky… What are you planning on doing? Wouldn’t it be better if I, like… Wasn’t there? So you guys could be alone?” She wasn’t fully sure why exactly Sowon wanted her there, it wasn’t just to check out the diner that’s for sure.

“For… moral support? Please Yerin!! I already asked and she said yes, I can’t do this by myself… I was just planning on asking her out to the movies, and then you’d be like I can’t so we’d go, y’know?”

“So you ask us both and I say no, so you two go on a date?” The taller girl quickly nodded, hoping for a positive response. Yerin sighed.

“God… Alright. That diner better be worth it, and you’re treating me.” Sowon happily clapped her hands, she said she’d buy her whatever she wanted.

Fast forwarding to the diner, it wasn’t that amazing. Sure it was cozy, the place was clean and there were some nice dishes, but it was pretty mediocre. Until the current waitress finished her shift and another girl took her place.

SinB, her name plate said. They went for a 80s vibe here, with aprons and roller skates - including fancy name plates they all wore.

“Welcome to Queens Diner, did you decide what you’d like to order already?”

While Sowon and Eunha ordered, Yerin just gawked at the girl. Her dark hair bobbed as she skated around balancing the plates and drinks, with red lipstick adorning her beautiful smile she flashed at the customers. She was definitely a sight for sore eyes, especially after Yuju hyped this place so much up with it not being all that amazing in the end.

“What would you like?”

Yerin received a kick against her shins, Sowon glaring at her.

“Huh? Oh! Uhm, surprise me?”

SinB looked at her surprised for a second before giving her signature smile, dashing off.

“What was that?” Sowon asked, Eunha “ooo”-ing next to her.

Yerin embarrassedly buried her face in her hands, surprise me, really?

“Oh my god.” She could only let out.

“...Anyways, uhm- This new movie came out a few days ago and I was wondering if you guys would like to go?”

Yerin had to hold in her laugh from how robotic Sowon sounded just now. She was being way too stiff.

“When?” She asked, starting her performance.

“This Saturday? At 9, maybe?”

“Sure! It’s not scary is it?” Eunha happily chimed.

“It’s not! It’s uh, a romance. And you, Yerin?”

“Oh, hmm…” Yerin looked at her phone in an exaggerated way. “Dang… I can’t make it that day, sorry guys. You two can go without me, of course.”

“Oh no! That’s a shame.” Sowon said, though she was totally smiling. She really owed her.

“Maybe next time!” Eunha was actually sad. Though Yerin was pretty sure she also looked forward to it. Good for you two, she thought.

Right as their play finished, the beautiful girl with the red lipstick came to their table again, holding the two plates of pancakes for Eunha and Sowon, and a slice of red cake for Yerin. Before she could say something, SinB had already resumed her tasks and left their table.

“What’s that?”

“I’m not sure?” Yerin replied, looking at the cake. “Red velvet, maybe?”

“Was that on the menu? I don’t recall seeing it…”

“And Yuju didn’t mention it either.” Eunha noted.

Strange. Then, Yerin saw the pink napkin under it.

Hey, one “surprise” for the cute girl at table 9.

This cake is red velvet, with cheesecake filling and white chocolate icing. What do you think? Hope you like it!

Then, a short list of things like “flavor”, “richness”, “appearance” and more, with a score box. Was this a recipe she had come up with herself? So Yerin was a taste tester, basically?

She lightly folded the napkin and took a bite from the cake, the soft spongy texture immediately melting in . The cheesecake filling was sour, but also sweet. The icing was pretty thick, but in combo with the cake and the filling it wasn’t too heavy like she often noticed with other cakes. It was amazing, did she really make this?

From the corner of her eye she noticed the girl sneaking a glance, curious to her reaction. Yerin’s heart did a little jump, she was way too cute. Taking the pen that was folded with the napkin she started scoring and even wrote a nice little comment about how good it was and if she made this.

Was she making additions to the menu, she wondered?

By the time they finished the evening was setting, the lights of the diner replacing the natural sunlight. Sowon had called the waitress over, paying for all tree of them flexing with her big-brand wallet as the waitress started emptying their table, including the napkin.

Right in time, Yerin quickly managed to grab it before the waitress took her plate, politely thanking her before they got up putting their jackets back on and set out to live for the day.

Luckily, SinB was right next to the entrance taking the order of people that had just come in. Yerin brushed against her side, trying not to be too obvious about it, sliding the napkin into her apron pocket. The two exchanged a smile and Yerin left the place.

~

That was a few months ago. Now, Sowon and Eunha were happily going out, as was Yerin with SinB… in her mind.

All that had really been going down was her coming over regularly, mostly on Thursdays, to try some of SinB’s new recipes.

She wondered how she did it, everything she made turned out to be amazing. Sure, some were more to her liking than others. SinB was grateful that Yerin didn’t shy away from saying things as they were, when she liked something or not, giving feedback where she could.

This was something she’d read on a napkin SinB had given her.

At first it was just the regular “Let me know how you liked it” and then the scoring part, over time they also started to add short messages to each other.

Did this have saffron in it? I loved it. The pudding itself was nice and sweet, while the rice wasn’t mushy yet soft enough.

Hey, it did. Thank you. I tried to preserve them so it wouldn’t turn out mushy, so I’m glad you mentioned that. Is there anything you’d like to try next time?

I like anything as long as you make it.  Not really, I like anything you make. Maybe pancakes? BTW, noticed you’ve been making more savory dishes for me lately. It’s good.

Don’t want you eating too much sweet stuff, definitely not if I’m the one responsible for it. Thank you. Also, I can still read what you wrote even if you strike through it. ;)

Ah… In that case, maybe I should take a break from seeing you? I didn’t have another tissue to write it again, but since you read that anyways I might as well go all out. Thank you for the pancakes. I’ve tried to put extra effort into my “review” today.

:( Thank you. Really, I’m grateful for you taking the time to do this. (And for not telling my boss) <- shh. Another request?

Your phone number? Unless you meant food, in that case, something with fruit for a change, maybe.

Bold. Okay, because it’s you <3 I wrote it on the receipt. The fruit used was grown by my family, they’re well known in our town. Did you like it?

<3 I sent you a message so you have my number. You can put it as Yerin. Really? It was wonderful. The combination with the lime sorbet made it even better, I’d like to see where the fruits were grown sometime. I bet you grew up in a nice place. :)

Yerin? Pretty name. I put you as Yennie. We’re getting 4 more flavors next week, I’ll have you try them. And maybe someday, but don’t expect too much. You’ll meet my mom, she is a nice person. The others too, of course (haha)

They had each other's phone numbers for a while now, but aside from the message Yerin sent to give SinB her number neither had sent anything. Yerin always kept the napkins she got back, she wondered if SinB did the same.

While she was having fun regularly visiting the diner, it dawned on her the next semester’s exams were coming up. Her retakes a few months ago went well, but she didn’t want to retake anything this time, meaning she’d be too busy studying to visit for a while.

Sadly, she wrote her message on the napkin, tucking it into SinB’s apron as usual. SinB already read it before she headed out, looking up at her sadly. Yerin waved back with a smile, she’d only be gone for about a month and then they could continue.

Or so she thought.

In reality, it ended up being almost two and a half months before Yerin could return. Even worse, after a week of so after her diner-visit break she dropped her phone from the second floor going down the stairs and it was totally ruined. All of her photos and contacts were lost, though she still had the napkin with SinB’s number on it but she didn’t dare ask her if she had sent something out of fear for the other saying no.

Not that she had to send her something, but she didn’t want to seem desperate. So, to let the girl know she’d be coming, she sent her a quick message she’d be visiting again that day. SinB responded with an “Okay, see you there”.

The first day she went back to the diner however, SinB wasn’t there. She called in sick, they said. Shrugging her shoulders, Yerin left for home again. Better luck next time. She did wonder why the girl hadn’t let her know, but it didn’t bother her that much in the end.

The week after, she had a feeling she’d be more lucky.

It was chilly that night, Yerin had her hands tucked firmly into her puffy jacket as she stepped out of the bus. There was no stop close to the diner, she always had to walk quite a bit but it was cool with her.

She’d walked down this exact route so many times, she already had the stores and sightings around her memorized. First, the wide street she had to cross. One of the lights never worked so she knew that if none were burning, she could cross. Not exactly the safest situation but she got used to it.

Then she’d arrive at the other side of the street, where they had a small outlet. It looked pretty crappy truth be told. She went inside once though and learned that it was owned by an old couple, sometimes one of their kids helped out. However, it didn’t run all that well so they didn’t have the money to upgrade the shop. It was fine as is, in the end. Yerin hoped more people would stop by, they had some pretty nice clothes - like the jacket she was wearing now.

After passing by the outlet she’d have to walk down the street for 5 minutes, some of the street tiles being broken or loose, having her watch her step. One of the people on that block had a dog who’d occasionally be out, so she always said hi to it. Meanwhile on the other side of the street, the people also had a dog. Neither of them liked each other very much so they could often be heard barking at each other from far away.

Once you got to the end of the street, you’d have to cross the street once again - this time without a crosswalk but the street wasn’t that busy - before you arrived at the parking of the diner. During the day it was pretty packed, the diner being quite popular. Not that popular, but well enough.

Since it was pretty late already, however, only a few cars were parked, and there was a figure sitting next to the diner resembling SinB. Yerin got close.

Never actually having seen her outside or off work they actually hadn’t gotten to talk yet, aside from their usual napkin conversations. So to say Yerin was nervous would be a bit of an understatement, though she tried to play it off.

SinB was sitting on the pavement surrounding the diner, resting her chin on her hands as one hand was holding a cigarette. Yerin wasn’t a fan of smoking since it smelled badly but she had to admit, SinB looked hot. When did she not though.

“Hey. Are you on break?”

The girl looked up at her, her eyebrows raised. When she saw who it was however, Yerin saw a dozen of emotions showing on her face, not able to pinpoint which ones or why. If she had to guess, it was probably because Yerin had basically dipped for more than two months while saying she’d be gone for only one. She should apologize for that.

“No.” SinB sounded. The answer was short and sharp, but Yerin had a feeling it was infinitely softer than if SinB would’ve been talking to someone else. Maybe she was just having a bad day.

“I quit my job.”

“What?” Yerin didn’t even have time to think before speaking up. She gasped mid talking, did she really just say that? If she hadn’t noticed the girl in front of her not seeming in the best of moods she might’ve honestly cried, it was like their little world got shattered just by those four words.

Would this really mean the end of… whatever they had going on? Was that how it ended, SinB quitting her job and them never seeing eachother again? Perhaps this was just Yerin being overly dramatic, but the thought hit her like a train. She quickly collected herself.

“If.. I may ask, why?” She bit back her tears.

“My mom passed away, so I’m going back to living with my dad. I don’t need to support myself anymore so there was no use keeping the job.”

Yerin wanted to slap herself. How was she able to have those thoughts without thinking what SinB might be going through.

Losin