Wendy and Irene bought drinks from one of their favorite cafés. Wendy ordered a ham and cheese croissant with a cup of americano while Irene only bought hot chocolate for herself. Wendy had just finished her midterm tests, thus she could finally take a walk with Irene.

Tall ginkgo trees could be seen everywhere on Seoul's streets. They walked for ten minutes before they reached a small park near their home. 

It was a peaceful Saturday afternoon. They held hands all the way here and when they reached one of the entrances, Irene let go of her hand and charged forward. In the next few minutes, she just looked around, then trotted to a bench excitedly.

"Seungwan, here!" Irene waved at Wendy. She returned Irene a smile and approached her.

There were some ginkgo leaves on the right side of this bench. Irene picked up one of them excitedly while Wendy raised her head to look at the canopy silently. The leaves turned golden from bottle green and it clearly showed that summertime already gone. 

Wendy wasn't the type to be sentimental when seasons change. They were just natural phenomena for her. 

She was just a little confused when she found there was only one ginkgo tree behind this bench while there were more that a couple of them or some other trees everywhere else.

"Unnie, why are you picking these leaves up?" Wendy turned her attention to Irene.

"Because they're beautiful." Irene smiled like a happy kid while lifted a leaf to the air, "Don't you think so?"

Wendy smiled softly and took it from Irene's right hand, then sat down beside her. She stowed the leaf in the right pocket of her grey hoodie before proffering Irene the hot chocolate she had ordered. When the younger woman was about to take a bite of the croissant, Irene looked straight at her, "Seungwan."

"Em?" Wendy's eyes were full of affection — she loved the way Irene called her real name.

"I suddenly want to eat some bread." Irene's gaze fell on the croissant in Wendy's hands, "Can I have a bite of it?"

Irene didn't eat much for her lunch since she worked to a deadline until noon. She was contributing to magazines though usually, her works could be ultimately accepted after being presented to several magazines because the publishers were quite strict especially with students. She also didn't feel hungry before she took the first sip of her hot chocolate. After drinking something warm, she now felt her stomach rumble.

Wendy smiled brightly while nodded, "Sure."

Wendy usually waited until Irene said she wanted something to eat herself. She knew it could be extremely stressful to meet the deadline and it was not that Irene was procrastinating. It's simply because she had numberless things in hand all at once.

They ended up sharing it between them — Wendy split the croissant down the middle and handed half of it to Irene. The elder woman said "Thank you" softly and took a mouthful of the bread. She ate it slowly to prevent stomachache.

Wendy was close to full after consuming half a cup of coffee with her piece of bread since she had other things at noon. However, she was sure Irene would still feel hungry. After all, half a croissant is not enough. She could give the whole bread to the other woman earlier, but it was certainly true Irene would reject this suggestion since she wanted Wendy to take something as well.

Wendy saw Irene finish eating, thus she said, "I'm still hungry so I'm going to order more." 

Irene sipped the hot chocolate while staring at her surprisedly, then she understood what did Wendy really mean here. 

"Please wait a little while, unnie. I'll be back soon." Wendy hugged Irene before she stood up with the cup of coffee in her right hand.

Irene looked at her with a shy smile, "Thanks. Please come back soon."

On her way there, Wendy finished her coffee while thought about what she needed to purchase. Maybe a bagel with a few butter rolls for Irene and a pudding for herself.

The coffee house was still filled with the aroma of fresh coffee and chocolate. However, Wendy entered the room only to find there were just a few trays in the place where cakes and bread was served. 

Wendy glanced at her watch in frustration, then realized that it was a quarter past four in the afternoon. People were now heading home to prepare dinner. Before they went to grocery stores or supermarkets, they preferred to buy some desserts for themselves to end a perfect day. And now, inevitably, this place was full of customers.

Wendy blamed herself inwardly for not taking note of this. 

"I'm sorry but was the café sold out of all products except drinks?" Even if the answer was clear, Wendy still asked the female behind the counter that question. Not only croissants, but there wasn't even a single bag of sliced bread or biscuits left. This café was popular among youth but since there were still a large number of goods on the shelves earlier, Wendy didn't really expected things would turn out like this — before that day, she also never came here on Saturdays or Sundays due to her assignments.

"Yes, sonnim," The brown haired female said, "Our bakers are preparing baking materials but they'll finish it soon. Would you mind waiting a little longer…?"

It was not a bakery, therefore, it's understandable they only prepared limited products apart from coffee. Wendy managed a smile, "Yes, and thank you so much for answering me."

"We will tell you when your order is ready."

She nodded then looked around the room and found the two customers who had sat in the corner just left, so the places there were now available. As Wendy seated in the far end of the café, she gave Irene a call and said she would have to wait half an hour until it was her turn.

"I'm really sorry, I didn't expected…" Wendy stared at the number written on a small piece of paper and was too upset to finish her speech.

"It's okay. I'll wait for you while drinking the hot chocolate. The view here is also lovely so I won't get bored." Then Wendy heard something, "Look! Aren't these wild flowers beautif— Ah, sorry, I forgot we're not on a video call and you can't see it." The elder woman was amused by her own behavior so she laughed. Wendy also felt better after hearing Irene's voice, thus she joined in the laughter.

Five minutes after they ended their call, Wendy noticed that the weather was getting worse. She bit her bottom lip unconsciously. The weather in autumn is always like this — it can be bright and sunny at first but cloudy or even rainy only an hour later. What's worse, once it rains, it will last long and cause the temperature to drop dramatically. Therefore, it's easy to be suffering for a cold in this season.

Thankfully, she and Irene dressed warmly when they went outside, thus even if it rained later, at least they didn't have to worry about catching a cold.

Wendy tapped her fingers on the tabletop lightly while looked outside through the floor-to-ceiling glass window. Several customers passed by her with takeaways in their hands. 

At the meantime, Irene was staring at the overcast sky nervously. She reached into the left pocket of her caramel coat and produced her mobile phone. However, after hesitating for a moment, she finally put it back. She didn't want the younger woman to feel she was pushing her or something. Furthermore, Wendy didn't contact her, thus there's a possibility that she was still in that café.

The wind was getting stronger and Irene almost buried the lower half of her face in the scarf. Suddenly, she felt something flash past her face — that was another ginkgo leaf. She lifted her eyes and a moment later, plenty of leaves flied together from above just as the golden rain. 

Irene couldn't tear herself away from the magnificent scenery. Her eyes followed these leaves until they all fell to the ground, landing at her feet and turning into part of the earth.

Ten more minutes passed, they finally called the customer who was ahead of her. At this moment, the only thing Wendy needed was for the rain to come down later. However, as if the weather was deliberately trying to work against her, a few spots of rain began to fall. She was about to give Irene a quick call, then she remembered there was a folding umbrella inside the elder woman's bag. (Bringing it with her was one of Irene's habits.) Thus, she didn't press the green button on the screen. Additionally, if Irene was trying to put up her umbrella, it would be totally inconvenient for her to answer a call instantly.

Then, the rain became much heavier in a moment. Some customers began complaining, while others were saying they would wait until the rain eased off before leaving. 

The window was misted up. Traffic lights were flashing in the distance.

The ginkgo leaves were still falling in the rain. As Irene was ready to get up while holding the umbrella, a butterfly rested on her left forearm abruptly. She turned her head in surprise to see it, however, it flew away in a flash. Without noticing, Irene started following it. As if it knew what Irene had in mind, the butterfly flew in the direction of the café.

The streets were fogged up owing to the rain. 

That butterfly vanished into thin air in the blink of an eye, so Irene started to run while breathed heavily. She charged full tilt and almost bumped into some passengers. It's obvious that the distance between the park and the café was short, but she felt like she couldn't see the end of this road.

"I am wondering, wondering
if it sees the same view as I do
…………"
 
"Our 29th sonnim, here're your bagel, pudding and three butter rolls."

Wendy said "Thank you" to the brown haired female and asked for a ribbon. Then, she used it to tie a bow around the plastic bag to protect the food from the rain.

Wendy was not going to wait as some other customers. She knew bread got cold easily, plus she was abso