‘Fo-llow… Me…’ Janet read his lips movements.

‘He told us to follow him, Junhong. Maybe he knows where Secret Garden is.’ Janet’s voice rose with excitement, pulling Junhong towards the direction of the mysterious male. Junhong’s feet seem to be rooted to the ground, his mind somewhere else.

‘Junhong?’ Janet turns around to find Junhong staring into the eyes of the mysterious male; engrossed. Janet nudged Junhong at his waist, ‘Let’s go, Junhong.’

‘Ye--Yeah, Janet’ He smiled awkwardly; Janet couldn’t help but feel insecure.

His grip tightens as they approach the mysterious male whom slowly rose from his seat, turning his back to lead the two into an alley. The afternoon light slowly diminishes with each step they make into the alley, their shadows becoming part of the walls within the alley.

‘My name’s Yoo Youngjae.’ The mysterious male said, lower his red hat; his voice was mellow and calm. ‘You can call me Jay.’

‘Hi, I’m Janet and he’s my ro-bo’ Janet paused, recalling the first rule to Secret Garden is no discrimination between humans and robots, ‘He’s my boyfriend, Junhong.’

Youngjae peers from his sides, his side profile looks extremely dashing, his brown pupils constricts as he examines Junhong with a sinister smile across his face, ‘I see.’ He nods. ‘We’ll be there soon.’

The walls starts closing in, allowing only a single person to pass, Junhong pulls Janet back, taking the lead, holding onto her sweaty palms tight. There was an unexplainable tension going on between Junhong and Youngjae; Janet doesn’t understand why, moreover it’s the first time they’ve met. That’s definitely not the right way to treat a stranger who's guiding them to their destination.  She tried to calm herself by looking up into the single straight line of blue sky, the only opening to the outside world, she doesn’t remember what time it is or how long have they been following this mysterious man named Youngjae, but one thing’s for sure, the awkward silence is slowly being replaced with chattering, gushing of hot steam, the air starts to flow with a faint aroma of coffee.

The narrow alley expands to a small town, the roman lettering clock was on her right.

‘Did you just bring us back to where we came from?’Janet’s frustration was as bright as her voice.

‘Nope, this is Secret Garden.’ Youngjae smile, his hands gesturing to the Coffee Shop right beside the Roman Clock. This small town seems to be a replica of Korean Town in a smaller scale just that it has more greenery and warmth; the streets were only filled with good looking males & females, too good looking to be real. All these must be robots, Janet thought. Youngjae laughs hysterically, his shoulders shaking, pinching his nose; waving his fore fingers at Janet telling her what she thinks is a big ‘No-No’.

‘You can read my mind?’ Janet looks at Youngjae; confused.

Youngjae nods.

‘I know everything. Everybody’s secrets’ He grins, ‘Enjoy your afternoon, time stops for everybody here. In Secret Garden, Time is infinite.’ He turns his back and walks back into the alley, slowly merging into the shadows, disappearing into the dark.

‘Time stops?’ Janet checks the clock on her right. It says 10.15 AM. Time stopped from the moment they stepped into the alley into this Secret Garden. All the shops were closed, they only shop that was opened was this Secret Garden’s Coffee Shop. At Secret Garden, there’s serenity; there’s couples lying on the grass, kissing, sunbathing, and enjoying their coffees. Children chasing one another, Children blowing bubbles, Children playing hopscotch drawn by chalk on titled floor. Everything in this place looks like a Story Book scenario. But what caught Janet’s eyes was a group of girls sitting at the glass tables outside the Coffee Shop, chattering away, laughing and shoving one another loudly with the Barista.

Janet tugs Junhong’s arms, ‘Shall we have some fun & make some new friends?’ Janet smiled and realized Junhong’s eyes were no longer blue, but dark brown. Junhong looks like a normal Human being; his pupils dilate into a large blackness, he stares into Janet’s eyes; with such innocent puppy eyes. Janet’s heart starts to excite its own muscles, pumping hot blood faster into her veins; she gulps hard and pulls Junhong into the Coffee Shop.  

Janet looks at the Menu. The Menu was a large black chalkboard pinned onto the top cupboards with chalk drawings along the storyline of Adam & Eve and the drinks were written in bold capital letters in chalk:

WELCOME TO SECRET GARDEN

TRY OUR HOUSE BLEND: EVE’S BLEND

HOUSE DESSERT: ADAM’S APPLE & CINNAMON SUGAR TART

TODAY’S SPECIAL: DOUBLE TROUBLE CHEESECAKE

‘Hello! How can I help you?’ A cute looking male asked enthusiastically. His lips were thick, his voice deep. You can barely see his eyes when he smiles. His name tag says he’s Daehyun.

‘Erm… Can He drink too?’ Janet points to Junhong and ask Daehyun softly; afraid that she would be driven out of the coffee shop for pointing out that Junhong is a robot.

‘Of Course he can, we are all the same here. Remember?’ Daehyun eyes brighten, so does his smile. He nods repeatedly, laughing at her question. ‘So what can I get the both of you?’ He asks again.

‘I would like to have a Eve’s Blend Mocha Frappe and …’ Janet ponders for a long time, she doesn’t know what Junhong drinks. Junhong has never drank anything in front of her before, he just watches her do her thing most of the time. opens, looking up at the menu.

‘The usual’ Junhong replied, lowering his head and scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

‘Iced Coffee with Ice Cream & Whipped Cream?’ Daehyun asked. Junhong nodded. Daehyun giggled. ‘Do you wanna try our desserts? I made the Cheesecake myself, it’s my favourite.’ Daehyun recommended. Junhong shot Daehyun a dead stare and pouted, pulling Janet close to his chest. Confused, Janet accepts Daehyun’s offer to have a piece of Cheesecake and also ordered an Adam Apple & Cinnamon Tart too for Junhong.

‘I’ll be back in a while, Janet’ Junhong whispered, Janet nodded and proceeded to pay for the orders. ‘He really cares about you, Janet.’ Daehyun said sincerely as his fingers dug her for change in the cashier, Janet’s heart stopped.

Why does Daehyun know about how Junhong feel about her?

How does he know what Junhong usually drinks?

There are just too many questions running through Janet’s mind. She’s so frustrated by the fact that everyone in this Secret Garden seems to know everything except for her. She’s here for answers but she ends up having more questions, more questions about Junhong.

Janet stares at the drawings on the Menu trying to get her mind off these annoying questions that bombards her mind. In the drawing, the tree was filled with red apples which looked like heart shapes with a stalk but neither Adam nor Eve was holding an apple, they simple stood beside the apple tree coiled around by a black & red stripped snake. Although it may seem like a simple biblical drawing with the correct characters in it but the plot of this ‘story’ doesn’t seem to fit into its original plotline. 

This place is weird, the people here are weird. Janet starts to feel so small in this Secret Garden. She turns around to find Junhong at the back of corner of the coffee shop, out in the alfresco talking to a few other extremely good looking males.

Does Junhong come here often?

If so, why didn’t Junhong tell me?

Just have many things is he hiding from me?

Will this place answer all my questions?

Once again, Janet caught in the whirlpool of her own questions, lost in her own world of insecurities & fears.