Oppa—what are you doing…

Taeng—no—

Get away from me!

Wait…

Not only Sunny was Taeyeon’s first friend, but she was also her closest friend at the moment. And it seemed like Sunny didn’t have anyone to hang out with other than her. That was why when Sunny invited her to have lunch outside she said yes immediately.

Taeyeon decided that it was such a beautiful day after all. She wasn’t actually just having a lunch with the blonde girl, they were actually working their assignments on music class. Taeyeon was a bright student, but Sunny was no less bright than she was, thus they had no hard time finishing their tasks.

Taeyeon noticed that Sunny constantly peeked at her watch for hours already. During the five days she knew her friend, she never saw her anxious like this. “Are you okay? Looks like you’re waiting for someone.”

Sunny just smiled weakly, “I’m fine.”

Minutes later, Sunny’s face grew tensed as she looked to a certain direction. Taeyeon turned her head and her attention shifted to a baby faced man walking towards their direction. She turned back to face her friend and noticed Sunny’s red face. Ah, this must be Lee Sungmin.

“Hi,” the guy greeted Sunny as he pecked her cheek.

“Oppa, this is Kim Taeyeon. She’s my new friend, just transferred to our school.”

Taeyeon slightly got up from her chair and gave a bow. The guy then offered his hand which was then shaken by her. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Sungmin.”

Taeyeon gave a sneaky glare to Sunny. “Ah, of course, Sunny told me so much about you.”

Sunny just stared at her with sharp eyes while Sungmin giggled. It was true though; Sunny never stopped rattling about the guy. There was never a day went by without Sunny’s story about Lee Sungmin. But Taeyeon would never get annoyed with them, she found that quite cute how Sunny was really fond of Sungmin.

Although she really wanted to ask her why they broke up, Sunny always managed to avoid that topic.

“Well, I should get going anyway,” Taeyeon said while packing her things inside her bag, “It’s nice meeting you again, Sungmin-ssi.”

“Like wise.” Sungmin smiled back.

Moments after Taeyeon finally disappeared, Sungmin finally grabbed the chair across Sunny, which was Taeyeon’s former seat, and sat down. “That’s the Kim girl?”

“You know her?”

Sungmin adjusted himself at the cozy mahogany chair. “We talked about her during the meeting. Heechul hyung was the one who identified her. He said she wasn’t one of us.”

Sunny somehow felt relieved.

She then remembered about something. She promised herself that she would ask the guy about this because she had been dying out of curiosity. “Oppa,” she leaned closer, “Does Leeteuk oppa know her? As in—acquainted?”

Sungmin’s eyes were widened. He wasn’t quite sure about the younger’s question. “What makes you think that?”

“Taeyeonnie owns a sketchbook. I was looking at her drawings and found Teuk oppa’s sketch. And she wrote ‘Jungsoo’ on the bottom corner of the picture.”

“That’s his real name.”

Sunny nodded in agreement. But Sungmin just crossed his eyebrows.

There was no way she would know about Leeteuk. Leeteuk had been staying under the radar for almost five years ever since he graduated from college. He never met girls or anyone he didn’t know, let alone a random mortal like Kim Taeyeon.

“She said she has been having dreams about him.”

Sungmin crossed his eyebrows even more. This made no sense at all. “That’s weird. Hyung isn’t the type to mingle. His circle of friends isn’t really that wide.”

Sungmin then called for the waitress and ordered some drinks. The topic was definitely over. But Sungmin still had something in his mind that had been eating his head for the past days.

It only took one glance for Sunny to realize there was something bothering the guy in front of her. “Oppa. Is something wrong? You sounded weird on the phone.”

Sungmin looked up to Sunny and gave a straight face. He sighed loudly making the girl understood immediately what he was going to talk about. Sunny then leaned backwards and looked down.

They had been through this talk so many times, and they knew this would never come to an end. Not without sacrifice one must made. “Did you also discuss about me during the meeting?”

Sungmin looked at her eyes. Those eyes were showing him various things. He could tell she was angry, pissed, afraid, scared and in love at the same time. Sungmin then nodded, making the girl in front of him chuckled.

“Of course you did.” She closed her books and settled them at the side of the table. “The elder soon will find out and you must take action, oppa.” She then sipped her iced tea which was already bland. “Just erase my memory—“

“No.” Sungmin unintentionally raised his voice.

Sunny saw seriousness mixed with anger in his face. She knew how much he hated it whenever she asked for that. But there was no other way. She didn’t want Sungmin to jeopardize his self only for her. She didn’t deserve him like that.

Sungmin leaned closer and grabbed her hands. He looked at her eyes and turned gentle in an instant. Sungmin’s pleading eyes never failed to make Sunny’s heart melt. She realized the second Sungmin asked her something she would just give in right away. But the next words definitely caught Sunny off guard.

“Let me turn you.”

Kawi-bawi-bo!

                Kawi-bawi-bo!

You lose! Now carry me!

                But you’re heavy Taeng…

There she was, sitting inside her car looking blankly at the steering wheel. She had been spacing out a lot lately, at school, at home, even when she was driving. This had become a routine ever since she came back to Seoul.

She looked across the street and noticed that white coffee shop again. This was already the fourth time this week she had been coming to the place. She was still curious with the shop, because somehow it felt familiar to her yet she only went there once and it was also unintentionally just like this time. She didn’t even know how she ended up in that place.

She stepped out of the car and fixed her broken white colored blazer. Two beeps indicating her car was locked. She looked carefully to her right and left before crossing the street.

The bell above the door chimed a couple times and the smell of fresh baked pastries tickled her nose. She went straight to the cashier to order. She then picked a random seat and waited for her order to come.

She sat down and settled her bag on the table. God knows how clumsy she was; she dropped her bag less than two seconds after it landed on the wooden table.

She sighed feeling pissed at herself for being so gawky. She gathered her scattered cosmetics and threw them harshly inside her bag before getting up. She looked up only to be startled at a sudden appearance of a blonde guy in front of her smiling, showing his dimple. He wasn’t unfamiliar though.

The dimple guy then handed her a lipstick which apparently belonged to her. He was still smiling and somehow Taeyeon fell in love with that dimple.

Surprisingly, after Taeyeon said her thanks the guy remained on his position and didn’t move a muscle. “Are you waiting for someone?”

“No. I came here alone.” Taeyeon managed to give him a sincere smile.

“Mind if I—“ he gestured at the empty chair across the table.

“No. Not at all.”

He then landed his self on the chair. “I’m Leeteuk by the way. Park Leeteuk.” He stretched his hands.

Taeyeon hesitated a bit, but then decided that the man in front of him looked harmless. “Kim Taeyeon.”

Just when their hands finished shaking, Taeyeon’s order came. The waitress somehow looked nervous and gave a bow to Leeteuk before placing Taeyeon’s cake and iced coffee in front of her. Leeteuk just smiled softly in return. After settling down everything, the waitress turned to Leeteuk and gave another bow.

“Do you need anything, Sajang-nim?”

Taeyeon shifted her gaze from her cake to the man in front of her as she heard what the waitress was saying. She saw Leeteuk just smiled and shook his head before saying “No thank you.” The waitress then bowed before retreating her back.

“Wow, it’s such an honor to have met the manager.” Taeyeon smiled.

Leeteuk chuckled and crossed his legs, without looking so highly of himself, “I also own this place.” Taeyeon started slicing her carrot cake and was about to feed . “By any chance, do you remember me?”

Taeyeon stopped her hand before it even reached her face. She looked back at him and thought for a while. He was definitely familiar. True, she met him the first time she visited the shop, but she felt there was something more than that. She felt like she already knew him way before their first meet.

The more she thought about it, the more she left the man in awkwardness. She just gave up and smiled at him, giving the most obvious answer. “Ah, that’s why I thought you were familiar. Yes of course, I remember you. We met a few days ago, right?”

So you still don’t remember me, huh? Leeteuk smiled sheepishly and just stared at the girl. Should I remind you a bit?

Taeyeon started eating her cake, not minding the guy in front of her watching her every move. She knew it was sort of rude to just enjoy her dish alone, but the guy in front of her gave her nerves that she wouldn’t dare to look at him.

“Are you a regular costumer?”

Taeyeon put down her fork after her first mouthful. She put her hands down to her lap, trying to show some manner. “Don’t be disappointed but I’m not.” She flashed her smile.

“Well then I need to know what you think about the place since you're a new costumer here.”

Taeyeon hummed for a couple seconds, trying to think of a good thoughts. Not that she was going to sugarcoat everything, it's just that she really thought the place was nice. This was only her second visit so she wasn’t sure what to tell the owner. She then decided to just be honest.

“The place is so cozy. Somehow I feel like I’ve been here millions of times. There is something about this place that keeps me coming back, though I’m not sure what it is. I feel like—I feel like home.”

Taeyeon seemed surprised by her own opinions. She was supposed to be talking about the cakes and the beverages they sold there, not giving some narration on how she felt whenever she stepped foot in that place. Oh well, that Leeteuk guy asked her what she felt about the place anyway, guess Taeyeon scored this time.

Leeteuk’s smile carved back on his face. He remained poised like how an owner supposed to be and kept smiling at his customer. He finally looked down to his hands on his lap when Taeyeon decided to chop another slice of her carrot cake.

Taeyeon realized the guy was observing her every second and that made her slightly nervous. She grew more nervous when she heard Leeteuk chuckling that she just fiddled with the poor cake. The cake was almost a mess now.

“This is a special place for me too. This used to be a park. My friend, she and I used to play here when we were younger.”

Taeyeon stopped whatever she was doing.

“Thank you for coming here—Taeng—“

Taeyeon’s eyes widened and a flash of vision ran through her mind.

Come on oppa, faster!

                But you’re seriously heavy…

You’re a boy, oppa, don’t whine…

                You love torturing me don’t you?

Don’t worry oppa, I’ll massage your back after this…

                Promise?

Promise.

Taeyeon was awakened by the clanging sound of the fork she was holding. She blinked her eyes a couple times only to realize she was sitting alone on the table. She looked around and noticed she was the only customer in that place. That Leeteuk guy had disappeared.

She bent down to grab the fork on the floor and felt her head slightly hurt. She rubbed her temple as the headache grew stronger. She closed her eyes, still rubbing her temple. She saw a white flash blinding her tightly closed eyes, making her frowned out of pain.

The pain didn’t last long though. Soon she managed to open her eyes and the ache was completely gone. She then decided to just go home, afraid that if she stayed longer at the place she might experience the pain again and she might not able to drive.