We were staring at each other now, my usually loud voice unable to produce words at the moment. My body was beginning to tremble. I could feel myself crying already, I didn’t even fight it.

My mouth finally opened, “Y-Yoona?” I managed to stutter, it was better than nothing.

Instead of waiting for her to reply, I ran up to her and engulfed her in the tightest embrace I could muster. Without warning I spun her around and started laughing but my tears still wouldn’t stop.

“It’s really you!” she exclaimed as I stopped her from breathing clearly. She was squirming under my hold but I refused to let go, I couldn’t let go. Not this time.

“How have you been?” I asked her. I wasn’t sure if I was clear enough since my tears led to some unwanted saliva.

She reached her limit however as she started resisting my hug and muttering something along the lines of “I can’t breathe.” I let her go but I cupped her face in my hand, wondering if maybe this was a dream.

“I’ve been good,” she replied breathlessly, rubbing her cheek into my hand. My tears didn’t stop and I was certain that they weren’t going to stop anytime soon. As if straight out of my memories, she didn’t cry either, but I could tell that she missed me too.

Suddenly, I remembered that there were eyes on us.

“Yoong…” her friend mumbled from behind her. She had a small smile but her eyes were filled with confusion. She wanted some questions answered.

“Ah, Hyunnie! Sorry, don’t you remember Sooyoung? I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about her before,” Yoona responded, grabbing her friends hand and pulling her closer.

This Hyunnie directed her gaze at me and I could feel her eyes scanning me. I started to shift under her gaze and a part of me wanted to pose for her, but I decided against it. She nodded slowly as if understanding and her smile grew wider. Her eyes nearly disappeared as her lips reached them.

“You’re the infamous Sooyoung,” she finally said before bowing before me. I offered my hand to her and she took it in both hands, shaking it gently and bowing once more. “Yoona never stops talking about you.”

I felt something touch my heart and cursed Yoona because it looked like the tears really weren’t going to stop anytime soon. Then I felt a finger poke my shoulder and I turned around to see Taeyeon looking at me with eyes coated in concern. She wiped away the salty water coming from my eyes with her fingers before giving me a tissue. She smiled softly at me, I could always count on my older sister.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,” Hyunnie continued once my tears calmed down. She and Yoona were holding hands tightly as her other hand covered to hide her giggling. Yoona was making fun of me. “I’m Seo Joo-hyun but you can call me Seohyun.” Seohyun was adorable and so polite. Her voice was almost angelic.

“I’m um…” she continued. Her puffy cheeks suddenly turned pink and I immediately caught on.

“She’s my girlfriend,” Yoona proclaimed proudly, holding the girl closer and kissing her cheek tenderly. I knew I had to get the story out of her as soon as possible.

“Are you here to apply for a job?” Taeyeon interrupted, wanting to get down to business. I glanced over at the clock on the wall and noticed that it was about time for closing.

“Yes!” Yoona exclaimed excitedly, handing her dropped resume over to my older sister. “Are you the manager?”

Taeyeon nodded, “Sooyoung and I are the managers actually.” She then smiled brightly at Yoona and bowed at her, “I’ve heard a lot about you Yoona, I hope you do well here.”

“So I got the job?!” I almost felt my ear drums burst at the volume of her voice.

“How could I not let my best friend get the job?” I replied with a wide smile to match hers. She jumped on top of me and for some reason she felt like feathers in her arms.

I was so happy I could have burst.

Unfortunately we didn’t have much time to talk since she had to take Seohyun to the hospital. I wanted to ask for more details but I didn’t want to be so invasive when we just reunited. We waved goodbye to each other but not for long. She’d be back the next morning for training and I didn’t even try to hide my excitement.

Clean up that night was filled with singing, dancing and maybe one or two dropped cups.

It was 9PM when we finally finished closing up. The three of us let out a sigh of relief in unison as Taeyeon locked the place up. I unfortunately didn’t sell all of my baked goods for the day, so I held them close to me packed in a box. They would make a good snack when we got home and I’m sure Yuri was exhausted from her day at the gym.

“That was a good first day,” Taeyeon declared proudly as she gazed happily at the closed sign. We all worked really hard.

“You guys didn’t screw up as much as I thought you would,” Sunny teased, patting the both of us on our back. I wanted to for having to go on her toes to reach my shoulders but I decided to hold myself back since we were all tired.

“And you must be glad that we didn’t end up getting the elevated tables Taengoo wanted at first,” nope, couldn’t help but about her height.

“I’ll have you know that our customers seem to appreciate my cute and vertically challenged size,” she retaliated while sticking her tongue out. I just patted her on the head and enjoyed the growl that came out of next.

Even though Sunny didn’t live with us, she lived only a floor below with her own set of roommates so she walked home with us. It was dark out and there were only a few people out but our loud voices seemed to boom throughout the streets.

“I wonder if we’ll get regulars,” Taeyeon mused out loud, a hop in her step.

“I bet we will!” Sunny joined in on her skipping, the two obviously happy with the day’s success. But as I watched them, I wondered if I was really the youngest out of the three of us.

I looked around and saw that the very few citizens that were wandering the streets were watching us with curious eyes. Normally, I’d feel embarrassed but I almost never do in the public eye.

“To our success!” I suddenly screamed into the night air, jumping to join my older sister and her best friend in a type of victory dance to no music whatsoever.

I must have gone a little overboard for they stopped not even a minute into my dancing.

“Taengoo, put a leash on your sister.”

I smacked Sunny on the head.

---

The next morning came faster than I had expected. It was wonderful waking up with a spring in my step, excited about the day ahead. After years of barely getting out of bed, not wanting to go to my classes or to go to financial meetings about the café, I could finally wake up comfortably with a smile on my face.

6AM felt like nothing.

Taeyeon prepared breakfast burritos, one for her, one for Sunny and three for me. We gobbled them up as we walked half asleep and half wide awake on our way to the café. It was our second day and we were more than ready to tackle the business for the day.

Yoona was waiting at the door with a smile on her face. She started waving at us as soon as she spotted us from afar, jumping up and down while calling my name. She seemed to have a lot of energy.

It felt like some sort of miracle and blessing to be able to see her again. She certainly looked the same, just a little taller and leaner. Her eyes were closed as she gave me a toothy grin, like how she always did.

“You guys are late!” she exclaimed as soon as we were in ear shot.

“Did you not sleep or something?” I shouted back. Whenever the girl was excited she lost sleep for the entire night. But then I remembered her tendency of waking me up early in our childhood and wondered if maybe she just continued that trend, even into her adulthood.

“I was so excited about working, I woke up exactly on time,” she answered, giving us a twirl.

“Sooyoung, you said she’s the same age as you right?” Sunny asked, a yawn emerging from . She was clearly tired. Despite her appearance in front of our customers, she was always the most tired among us no matter how much sleep she got. “She has the same energy as a ten year old on Christmas morning.”

“Looks like you’re the one who’s going to have trouble catching up with her,” Taeyeon joked, elbowing her best friend in the side.  She then turned to the girl waiting in front of our café. “I’m glad to see you excited about working today, Yoona.”

Yoona just rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment and gave my older sister a thumbs up.

She talked to me about her morning, about Seohyun waking up just as early to make her breakfast and about how she ran over despite having plenty of time to walk. Apparently it was her first part time job in the city since they just moved a couple of weeks ago. We certainly had a lot to catch up on.

Taeyeon fiddled with the door for a moment, but she unlocked it nonetheless. We all spilled in through the door while Sunny the light and opened the blinds, allowing the sun to fill up the room.

“We’re home!” I cried out into the empty little café. Did I fail to mention the title of our little business? Taeyeon and Sunny agreed that it was a little cheesy, but I didn’t think any other label was even close to being as perfect as ‘Home’.

“Who designed the place?” Yoona asked as she admired the interior once again. I guess she didn’t get a close enough look the other day.

“Taeyeon’s other friend and Sunny’s roommate is an interior designer,” I answered, remembering quite clearly the meetings we had discussing the colour schemes for the place. Jessica was definitely creative and picky, and she gave us the greatest results we could ask for.

“Her name’s Jessica,” Taeyeon added, the wall’s pastel green colour. “You’ll meet her soon, she promised she’d come by the café when she could.”

“You’ll get to meet all of my friends!” I declared happily, making my way to the kitchen now. “Yuri said she’d come by today and she said she was going to bring Hyoyeon. Do you remember her, Taeyeon?”

My older sister nodded as she followed me into the kitchen, “The supposed dancing queen, right? She’s an aerobics instructor at the gym Yuri works at. You told me that they’re super close.”

Before we opened the door to the kitchen, Taeyeon turned her head to Yoona, “We’ll be opening up in an hour, so Sunny will show you the basics until then. Sooyoung and I will be preparing in the kitchen if you need us. Work hard!”

Yoona nodded enthusiastically before giving her a thumbs up, “Count on me, boss!”

I smiled at her seemingly endless amount of energy, “Don’t screw up!”

“Got it, other boss!”

I tossed her the uniform I had ready in my hands and looked over at Sunny who just nodded at me and gave her traditional wink. I knew Yoona was in good hands.