His cappuccino swirling in his cup, Woohyun stared into the smudged glass of the window. His fingers ghosted across the warming ceramic of his mug and the steam wisped upwards, the bottom of his chin. He gazed out at the leaf-covered streets. A light breeze picked up a crimson leaf and carried it onto the window sill directly beneath Woohyun's gaze.

It was fall, the beginning of Woohyun's freshman year. A time for orientation, roommates, classmates, introductions, new friends, adventures, and the start of independent life. 

For everyone else.

For Woohyun it was terrifying. Suffocating. Lonely.

So he ran away. Darted into the first wood-paneled, friendly-looking establishment smelling of coffee beans and quiet contemplation. He didn't even know what the place was called. But the barista hadn't tried to flirt with him, even though her smile was warmer than the coffee, and the tables stayed empty and his only company was the loudness of his own mind.

College had been a bad idea. One of his only dreams, his only hope to get away from his home town, the familiar eyes, and the same routines. He had hoped, stupidly, foolishly, that things would be better at college. That something would click inside his own screwed-up brain and he could be normal and carefree.

But such was not his fate. His palms still sweated, his tongue still grew thick and heavy and clumsy in his mouth, and suddenly everyone was too close and too loud and all he could think was to run.

And he ran and ran. He was still running now, as he sat in his old wooden chair and stared at the cappuccino that was quickly cooling in his hands. He took a tentative sip, but set it back down with a sigh.

His life was empty. Useless pointless. One sip. A different flavor. There was no point. Everything always tasted the same. 

The bell on the door rang cheerily. Woohyun involuntarily shrank into himself and curled himself over his cup. Practically praying for the cup to swallow him whole, he chanced a glance at the new patron. 

His breath caught in his throat. And not from panic this time, which was so alien that he had to pause and wonder at the feeling of his heart speeding up not from skin pressed too hard to his or voices too loud in his ear.  

Her long brown hair stretched down to the middle of her back. Her posture was confident, and her voice was loud and sweet. The kind of voice that rang above the others in a crowded restaurant and made your ears pay attention without even realizing it. She was everything he could never be. Could never have. And yet he had never wanted anything so much in his life than for her beautiful eyes to be looking at him, and her beautiful laugh to be ringing out because of something witty that he had managed to produce from his overstressed brain. 

He would see her every morning, like clockwork. She would grab a steaming cup of coffee and sit in a corner table opposite from his own. Sometimes she came with a few friends and chattered and smiled. But more often than not she sat alone, smiling lightly as she worked on whatever she had in front of her. The hair that she had tucked behind her ear would slip away and fall lightly onto the paper beside her. Sunlight from the window reflected off her soul and made her glow like an angel.

It took him exactly four weeks and three days before he had the nerve to grab the sole waiter's sleeve lightly and quietly utter his question.

"That girl... Over there... Do you know her name?" He probably sounded creepy. The waiter would just stare at him and then go over to her and tell her how creepy that guy over there was, and her eyes would change and she would never come back...

But he only smiled. "That's Hyomin. She's a senior psychology major." As he rose out of his seat, he patted Woohyun on the shoulder and added, "I heard that she's single." 

Woohyun could not even imagine... He could never.

No. 

And so he kept watching. 

And fall changed to winter. 

But everything stayed the same.