A month.

It's been a whole month since Jimin visited Espresso Yourself. Jimin blames work for this, blames the fact that Sooyoung seemed to have thought it was a good idea to get them booked for probably the most important gig of their career that might secure them the coins and the cash and whatnot.

…Okay, maybe she doesn't blame Sooyoung for securing them a gig that can either make or break them. Jimin hopes it's the former though, so that she can finally stop living off cheap ramyeon from the local convenience store and take care of her kidneys for once.

Of course, during that time period, she'd been spending pretty much all of her time in their team's dance practice studio, learning the choreography and practicing it over and over again. Although it might not seem like it most of the time — Jimin blames her clumsiness — Jimin was a perfectionist. Probably why she's Sooyoung's favorite, because Sooyoung was obsessed with being perfect too. Stupid Ha Sooyoung and her stupid perfectionist and the stupid fact that it was starting to rub off Jimin too.

It was only when Heejin had dragged her tired out to get some coffee that she got the chance to come to her beloved coffee place again. Through her sleep-deprived state, she barely registers the familiar scent of coffee brewing and when she does, she looks at Heejin with disbelief. 

"No way! You brought me here?!"

"You've been here before?" asked Heejin, voice tinged with curiosity and interest as they fell in line. "I thought that you didn't like coffee?"

Jimin freezes, not knowing what to say to her. Heejin's eyes narrow with suspicion after noticing Jimin's sudden silence. "Well?

Jimin groaned. 

"Okay, fine! You better not tell anyone, got it?"

When Heejin pledges that she's not gonna tell anyone, she starts telling her about how this all started because of Yizhuo; how pretty the cashier was; how she's practically forced to drink coffee every time she visits because Aeri expects her to, and by the time Jimin's finished telling her story, they're in front of the cashier, and Heejin's trying so hard to stop snickering. 

"Can you stop giggling?" mumbled Jimin resignedly, nudging Heejin's ribs hard. Heejin groans at the pain, pouting.

"Maybe if you weren't stuck being a silly gay dweeb-"

"You're calling me a dweeb? Excuse me, the call is coming from inside the house-"

"Hello, welcome to Espresso Yourself. I'm Hyunjin, what can I get you?"

Jimin blinked. 

Oh right. They were still at Espresso Yourself. 

"Just the usual and maybe a croissant, thanks," Heejin answered, smiling at the cashier. 

"I'll have whatever drink she's having and maybe a blueberry cheesecake instead of a croissant," Jimin tiredly says, not really having the energy to scan the menu — she's also as blind as a bat at the moment — for anything that she's still gonna hate anyway and doesn't pay attention to what Heejin was saying to Hyunjin. And besides, Aeri wasn't the one taking their orders. She's stuck with Horror Hyunjin, and not Amazing Aeri. She doesn't have enough inspiration to get through the day, she thinks to herself gloomily with a heavy sigh, pushing her glasses up.

"You sure, Jimin?" asked Heejin, a growing smirk on her face. "This'll be too bitter for your pure and innocent soul."

"Shut up!"

"Shame, I thought that you were gonna order milk or tea again, like the last time we went to a coffee shop together," teased Heejin, making Jimin's ears heat up with anger and totally not embarrassment.

"Just you watch, Jeon Heejin. I'll prove you wrong!"

"That will be 8,200 won." Hyunjin's voice cuts their mini-argument off.

Before Jimin could even reach into her pocket for her wallet, Heejin beats her to paying for their drinks, sliding her card towards Hyunjin, who accepts it without a word. 

And then Hyunjin smiles.

As in, Hyunjin, the scariest person Jimin's ever come across in her life — even scarier than Miss Bae back in high school — genuinely smiled at Heejin. There wasn't any fakeness or hostility behind her smile. It was a real smile.

What the hell. 

That was more than enough to pump some energy back to Jimin, more than any caffeinated drink could ever do to her.

Jimin slaps Heejin's arm rapidly the moment they sit at their table. Heejin looks up at her with a dumbfounded expression on her face, looking very much like a confused bunny.

"What?"

"Did you see that?"

"...See what?"

Jimin rolled her eyes and gestured toward the cashier.

"Grumpy Cashier smiled at you!"

"Er, does she not normally smile at anyone else other than me…?"

"Yeah!" Jimin half-yelled heatedly, startling Heejin. Embarrassed, she shakes her head. "Yeah, she never smiles at people! You're literally the first person she's ever smiled at!"

"Jimin, I actually do think that you're overreacting a little," whispered Heejin, chuckling nervously at the scrutinizing eyes from other occupants of the café who seemed annoyed by Jimin's loud accusations. When Jimin looks at her, offended, Heejin shrinks under her gaze. "I said 'a little'."

"Look, Heejin," Jimin stood up determinedly, slamming her hands on the table, making Heejin flinch. "I'll go up to her right now and prove my point. Just you watch."

Ignoring Heejin's despaired 'Jimin, come back!', Jimin pompously makes her way to the counter. However, she could feel herself growing smaller and smaller as the grumpy girl's glares intensified the closer she got to the cash register. 

Suddenly, she regrets all of her life decisions when she stands in front of the counter. Despite the fact that she was taller than Hyunjin, she felt small.

Not really knowing what to say to the cold girl, she just… stands there. She's lucky there weren't any people who were in line behind her. That would've been a little bit more embarrassing for her.

Okay. Jimin comes up with a brilliant idea.

She looks back at Heejin, who was pointedly glaring at her with a pout, before snickering to herself silently. Looking back at Hyunjin, she clears .

"Hey, come here and I'll tell you a secret," Jimin says, gesturing for Hyunjin to lean closer to her. Hyunjin was evidently unamused by this but leans in anyway.

"You know, I think that my friend sort of likes your smile, so do me a favor and ask her out on a date or something," whispered Jimin as though it was meant to just remain a secret between them. Hyunjin blinks and frowns, raising a brow. Seeing that the cashier opened to say something to her — probably a threat or 'No way I'm doing that, you're crazy' but Jimin doesn't really care — Jimin stops her with a slightly trembling finger to shut her up.

"Now hush, thank me later by asking my friend out to a date tonight," Jimin says — she's surprised at the fact that she confidently said it without her voice shaking out of anxiety — before proudly waddling back to their table. She glances at Heejin before breaking into a wide grin, holding her thumbs up. The type of grin you would find on a toddler itching to tell their mother about a sandcastle they managed to build on the beach.

"I got you a future girlfriend! So that you wouldn't have to be a useless lesbian for the rest of your life!" announced Jimin proudly, as though expecting Heejin to react like the happiest woman on Earth from her words. Heejin just stares at her, confused.

"But I already have a girlfriend?"

Jimin's smile drops. Heejin, noticing this, crosses her arms and fixes a stern gaze on Jimin.

"Jimin, what did you do?"

Jimin cringes. She doesn't like it whenever someone asks her that question, fearing for the worst when she answers them with the truth. So she merely gives Heejin an embarrassed smile and doesn't say anything. Pinching her nose, the younger woman lets out a resigned sigh.

"Why am I even still surprised at this point?"

"Hey, in my defense, you never told me you have a girlfriend!"

"Jimin, Hyunjin literally delivers my iced americano to the dance studio every day," deadpanned Heejin. 

"Why do you need to share the fact that Hyunjin delivers your iced americano every day while we're on the topic of your unnamed girlfriend?" asked Jimin dumbly.

Heejin silently fixes an unnerving stare at her and Jimin just stares back, not knowing what to do.

"Uhm… is Hyunjin your special delivery friend or something?"

"Jimin."

Heejin's eyes narrowed even more as she continued to glare at Jimin, who slumped into her seat more. She doesn't even understand why Heejin looked so annoyed at her right now—

And then it hit Jimin.

"Holy crap, is she your girlfriend?"

That made even more sense than the idea of Hyunjin being Heejin's special delivery friend or whatever dumb conclusion Jimin made a few minutes ago!

Hyunjin delivers Heejin her iced americano every day because she's her girlfriend. Hyunjin didn't need to ask Heejin what the 'usual' is because she's her girlfriend. Heejin was surprised to know that Hyunjin doesn't usually smile at people because Hyunjin always smiled at her because she's her girlfriend.

Hyunjin smiled at Heejin because she's her girlfriend.

Huh. Strange.

"Took you long enough," grumbled Heejin, shaking her head as though disappointed in Jimin.

"Is she really your girlfriend?" asked Jimin, still in disbelief. When Heejin opened to speak, Jimin cuts her off immediately, shaking her head. "You know what, never mind. I'm more confused about the fact that you've managed to cement yourself as the only person she probably ever smiles at than the fact that you're in a relationship with mean ol' Kim Hyunjin."

"Hey, Hyunjin's not mean!" defended Heejin and Jimin rolled her eyes.

"Of course she's not! To you, because she's your girlfriend! And she'll obviously treat you better than she will treat other people!"

Luckily for Jimin, Heejin doesn't get to tell her her response, because at that moment, Jimin smells strawberries — her stomach does a wild somersault — and a tray is being placed on their table.

Jimin looks up with a smile and sees Aeri looking back at them.

"Two iced americanos, one croissant, one blueberry cheesecake, and one affogato. Enjoy."

And with that, Aeri took her leave, not sparing them another glance. For some reason, Jimin felt like something was wrong. Like she had done something that might've upset Aeri without knowing it. Maybe because Aeri barely smiled at her. Hell, Jimin's not sure if Aeri even smiled at her. Was Aeri mad at her?

She pushed back that uncomfortable thought by coaxing herself into thinking that maybe Aeri was just stressed from the amount of work being a cashier and a barista at this coffee shop required her to do. Jimin understands the stress, she does. They were both grown adults who were working hard to make a living. So she understands where she's coming from, really. 

"Hey, Jimin?" 

Jimin's rudely snapped out of her thoughts by Heejin's voice and she suddenly remembers about her friend's existence, forcing herself to stop herself from overthinking even more.

"Yeah?"

"You okay? You were pouting the whole time and you weren't paying attention to what I was saying."

"Sorry," apologized Jimin meekly, scratching her ear. "I was just… thinking…"

"...About?"

Jimin briefly considered telling Heejin about her worries regarding Aeri, but decided against it, figuring that she already suffered enough without more of Heejin's teasing.

But Heejin confronts her anyway without needing Jimin's words  — and Jimin did not like the way the brunette was smirking tauntingly at her.

"Are you having girl problems with your crush?" 

"You're making it sound like I'm in high school again, hopelessly crushing on a pretty girl who's completely out of my league!" exclaimed Jimin indignantly, huffing at Heejin angrily.

"Because that's exactly what it looks like," said Heejin matter-of-factly. Jimin was about to retort but holds back, shaking her head as she reached for her cup. 

But then she fails to do so, her tiny right hand not quite able to wrap itself around the cup completely, almost spilling the drink on the table.

"Hey, is this normal? Why is the cup so huge?" whispered Jimin in horror.

"It's a secret menu thing," Heejin whispered back. "But I think Hyunjin was bullting about it actually being part of the secret menu. She knows that I like my coffee this way. And maybe you'll like it this way too." Jimin doesn't miss the way Heejin sounded smug and said her words in a sing-song voice.

God, Heejin truly is the evilest person Jimin's ever befriended. 

Maybe even eviler than Yizhuo.

"And what's this?" demanded Jimin, pointing at the small glass that housed a generous scoop of ice cream. Honestly, she's actually pretty curious to know what this would taste like, intrigued by the way the dairy treat was slowly melting in the brown pool of what seemed like coffee. Maybe this wouldn't taste as bitter as the drinks she's already had, she thought to herself hopefully.

"Affogato," Heejin says, already munching on her croissant. She let out a loud sound of satisfaction, taking another bite. "Oh wow, they really do make the best croissants ever."

"Is it like dessert?" asked Jimin excitedly, looking at Heejin with hopeful eyes. Heejin stopped halfway through taking another bite from her croissant before shrugging.