“Are you sure about this?” Taeyeon looked up from the yellow post-it note Krystal had handed him.

“Yes, Coach. Never been so sure in my entire life!” Krystal said with a wide grin that had Taeyeon’s insides flipping.... in a bad way.

“But, cucumber cake? Does that even exist? And cucumber juice, cucumber salad.... cucumber fried rice? Everything in here is cucumber and does cucumber fried rice even exist?” Taeyeon asked once again. Everything written on the list sounds absurd, but what does he know about Jessica? Nothing, really.

“Because my unnie is different. What do you expect from a Jessica Jung? That she likes cold noodles and ice creams?” Krystal challenged, “Besides, she’s my sister. I know everything there is to know.” She added before sticking a hand out to Taeyeon, palm facing upwards.

Taeyeon hesitated before pulling out his wallet. He heaved a defeated sigh and put a bill on Krystal’s open palm.

She’s right. She’s the sister.

“W-where do I get these anyway? I don’t think any of the café’s here sells cucumber cake.” He glanced at the note again.

“I don’t know. Try Google.” With a shrug of the shoulders, Krystal turned to walk back to her classroom.

Taeyeon followed Krystal’s figure until it disappeared inside her classroom. He then took out his smartphone and started tapping on the screen.

After searching thoroughly, he finally came across a webpage that he was looking for. He smiled widely at the accomplishment but it soon dropped when he reads the address.

“B-busan?!” He exclaimed, earning weird glances from students which he just shrugged off.

He peeked at his wristwatch and nodded to himself. There’s no gym class today and he is free for the whole day, might as well use the time to do something productive.

**

The three and a half hour train ride was exhausting; he even had to drag himself along the streets of Busanjin-gu just to get to his destination. He would have boarded a plane if the tickets were cheap. But no they aren’t, and he needed all the money he could save.

His eyes scanned the streets, eyes glancing at his smartphone once in a while; looking at the address written on the web page. He walked a little more until a small café came into his line of sight. The corners of his lips immediately tugged upwards as he hastened his steps towards the café.

“Good day! How may I help you?” The tall, beautiful girl behind the counter greeted him as soon as the door opened. She was smiling sweetly at him and he returned the smile as he stood in front of her.

“I’d like to order a cucumber cake for take out.”

The girl Yoona --according to her name plate, nodded her head. “I’m afraid you would have to wait though.”

“Oh, how long?”

“Thirty minutes the least.”

Taeyeon contemplated for a bit before nodding.

Yoona smiled, “You can take a seat in one of the tables first. I’ll get my partner to start with the cake.”

“Thank you,” Taeyeon bowed before striding to the nearest table. He looked at Yoona as her figure disappeared inside a double door that he assumed was the kitchen. His gaze then scanned the small café; albeit small, the café had a cozy and friendly feel to it. There were paintings on the side and a portrait of a beautiful couple behind the counter where Yoona had stood earlier; he recognized the girl as a younger Yoona.

“Here..” a glass of lemonade was presented in front of Taeyeon, “something to keep you while waiting for the cake.” He looked up and saw a tall guy with a wide smile on his face.

“Thanks,” Taeyeon replied, mirroring the guy’s smile. For some odd ways, the smile seems contagious.

“Now worries. I’m Sooyoung, by the way. Me and my wife owns this café.” The guy, Sooyoung, said with emphasis on the ‘my wife’.

Taeyeon chuckled at the guy’s possessiveness, “Oh, hi I’m Taeyeon.”

He stood up but immediately regretted his action because the guy was waaaay taller than him. But he still stuck his hand out to the guy which Sooyoung accepted and shook almost immediately.

“Would you like to sit?” He asked politely and sat back on the chair he was occupying earlier.

Sooyoung nodded before sitting on the chair across from Taeyeon.

“I don’t think I saw you here before.” Sooyoung examined Taeyeon, “Nope. You’re not from here.”

Taeyeon looked at him with surprised eyes, “You know all the people here?”

“Well, not all. But majority of them. Just their faces though. I grew up here so yes, I can tell if you’re from here or not.”

“Oh.. that’s why,” Taeyeon took hold of his lemonade, “I’m from Seoul.”

“Really? What brought you here?”

“The cucumber cake. They didn’t have any in Seoul.”

Sooyoung chuckled, “Are you really that desperate for a cake that you had to go all the way here?”

“Well, it’s for someone.. special, actually.” Taeyeon admitted shyly as he rubs the back of his neck.

“Now, isn’t that sweet?” A sweet melodic voice had the two guys turning their heads towards Yoona who was making her way to their table with a tray of cupcakes in hand. Sooyoung immediately smiled at the sight of his wife and stood up from his seat to help Yoona.

“Thanks hon.” Yoona said and Sooyoung nodded, beckoning for her to sit on the chair he had vacated.

Yoona smiled at Taeyeon before pushing the tray of cupcake towards him.

“Yoona baked them. You should really try them. They’re our best-sellers.” Sooyoung urged as he dragged a chair from the other table and situated it beside his wife; right arm immediately resting around Yoona’s shoulders.

Yoona rolled her eyes before patting Sooyoung’s lap twice, “Hon, no need to be possessive. He seems harmless.”

Taeyeon looked at them with questioning eyes.

“My husband tends to be possessive sometimes.” Yoona said and Sooyoung rubbed his palms against Yoona’s upper arm.

Taeyeon grinned at them as he took a cupcake from the tray, examining it before taking a bite.

“These are reallyyyyy goooood!” He said while chewing.

Sooyoung and Yoona chuckled at the childlike man in front of them.

“Thank you, mister..” Yoona trailed off.

“Taeyeon. Taeyeon Kim.” He said and was about to extend a hand out to Yoona but Sooyoung caught his gaze and he immediately retracted his hand.

“I’m Yoona Choi and this is my husband, Sooyoung Choi.”

Taeyeon nodded as he continue devouring the chocolate flavored cupcake.

“I wonder if Jessica would like these cupcakes too. But I think she’s more into cucumbers.” Taeyeon murmured loud enough for the couple to hear.

“Why don’t you bring her some of that then?” Sooyoung said, making Taeyeon look up to the guy.

“I’m sure she’ll like that since my wife bakes them with love.” He added before nuzzling his nose on the side of Yoona’s head.

Yoona blushed in response and tried pushing Sooyoung away playfully.

Taeyeon looked at the couple with envy, wondering if he’ll ever get to be that close to Jessica in the future too.

“I have to check on the cake,” Yoona said and pecked on Sooyoung’s lips before excusing herself to the kitchen.

“You two fit together perfectly.” Taeyeon commented as he finished the last piece of cupcake.

Sooyoung nodded, “It wasn’t easy winning her heart though. But it was all worth it.”

“Really? Why?”

“Her brother hated me with a passion.” Sooyoung chuckled and shook his head.

“Here you go.” Two boxes were presented in front of Taeyeon and he looked up to Yoona with furrowed brows.

“This one contains the cake,” Yoona said, pointing at the small red box.

“And this contains the cupcakes,” she added, pointing at a small baby blue box.

“Thank you so much.” Taeyeon smiled as he stood up from his seat.

Yoona smiled, “No problem.”

Taeyeon was about to pull out his wallet but Sooyoung stopped him, “No need, buddy. I’m giving it to you for free.”

Taeyeon looked at Sooyoung incredulously.

“You should really take that now before the tall guy changes his mind and charge you double.” Yoona smiled and wrapped her arms around her husband’s arm.

“W-well, thanks. I should get going now or I’ll miss the train.” Taeyeon said with an apologetic smile.

“Have a safe trip then and good luck with your girl.” Yoona said cheerfully before bowing slightly.

“Go win her heart, buddy.” Sooyoung added, patting Taeyeon’s shoulder.

“Thank you. I wish I could have stayed longer.”

“Oh but you can always come back. And next time, bring her along. Okay?” Yoona said.

Taeyeon’s smile widened at the thought of Jessica travelling along with him.

**

It was already seven in the evening when Taeyeon arrived in Seoul and went straight to the hospital where Jessica was working at.

“Hey, Eli.” He knocked on the wooden desk and the guy sitting on the chair immediately looked up.

“What’s up bro?” Eli asked, eyeing the red and blue boxes that were laid on top of the desk.

“Is Jessica on duty?”

“Yeah, she just went out for a break.”

“Alone?”

“Nope.”

“Oh..”

Eli rolled his eyes at the dejected expression on Taeyeon’s face, “She’s with Sunny-bunny.”

“Is that a girl?”

“Obviously, yes.” Eli stopped himself from knocking on Taeyeon’s forehead.

“Oh, here they are.” Eli announced as he stood up from his chair.

Taeyeon froze for a moment as nervousness settle in.

“Nurse Jung.. Kim Taeyeon is looking for you.” He heard Eli say as his back stay turned towards the hospital entrance.

“Kim who? Is that a relative of yours?” He heard Jessica reply as her footsteps sounded closer.

“This guy over here.” His eyes widened when Eli pointed at him, leaving him no choice but to turn around and show his face to Jessica.

“H-hi.” He sheepishly greeted as he caught Jessica’s gaze.

“Oh, it’s you.” Jessica’s voice sounded as nonchalant as he first remembers hearing it.

“Y-yeah.”

“Is there something that you need?” Jessica asked in a much calmer tone than their first encounter in the same hospital.

“Oh, ah, I-I just wanted to d-drop these. I, uh, passed by a café nearby.” Taeyeon said, palms sweating like mad as he passed the boxes to Jessica.

“Ah, thanks? But you didn’t have to, really.” Jessica eyed the boxes briefly before eventually accepting them.

Taeyeon smiled as his confidence built up, “I wanted to.”

“What are those?” A short brunette girl wearing the same uniform as Eli asked with curiosity.

Taeyeon’s smile widened before answering with confidence, “Cucumber cake—“

“What?!” Jessica’s eyes widened and Taeyeon could see the horror in the girl’s face, making him confused.

“Cucumb—“

“I heard you! But why would you bring me that? Do you really want to kill me? First the melon juice, and now cucumber? You’ve got to be kidding me!” Jessica wanted to rage on the guy again but remembering how the admin had talked to her after her little outburst the last time the guy was there; she couldn’t.

“W-what’s wrong?” Taeyeon shifted his gaze from Jessica to the short girl behind her and eventually settling to Eli’s who shook his head at Taeyeon.

“I-I’ll take these then,” Jessica’s short companion took the boxes from Jessica’s hands and sent an apologetic smile to Taeyeon before strolling off to the hallway.

“P-please.. please just.. if you’re trying to piss me off, this really isn’t the time. Please just leave me alone.” Jessica stated in stern voice before following the other short female nurse, leaving Taeyeon in confusion.

Taeyeon turned to Eli with sad eyes, “What did I do this time?”

“Nurse Jung is afraid of cucumbers. I think it’s a Jung thing, though. Her sister, Krystal, is like that too. They don’t even like the smell of it.” Eli answered and sat back down on his chair.

“But it doesn’t even have a smell! Cucumbers don’t have smells.” He groaned in frustration. It just doesn’t make sense to him.

Eli shrugged, “They claim that it has a smell, though. And we can’t really do something about that.”

Taeyeon clicked his tongue, “I messed up again, huh?”

Eli looked up at the dejected guy, “Why cucumber though? I mean there are a lot of cakes around Seoul.”

“I..” Taeyeon fiddled with his jeans’ back pocket, “All the things in this list are cucumbers.”

Eli rolled his eyes at Taeyeon’s pouting lips before taking the yellow post-it note from the shorter guy.

“Dude, seriously? Where did you get this, anyway?”

“Krystal gave it to me.”

Eli laughed while shaking his head, “You seriously believed the little devil?”

**

Sunny’s eyes shifted from Jessica to the pastry boxes; Jessica just sat on her chair, busying herself with the papers on her clipboard. She clicked her tongue before reaching for the boxes and opening it one by one.

“Oh, look! It’s a chocolate cupcake,” Sunny said in a loud voice, hoping to get Jessica’s attention. But to her dismay, the head nurse didn’t budge.

She looked at the cucumber cake on the red box; it looks rather delicious although she haven’t heard anything like it before. She took a plastic fork from her drawer and tasted the cake. Her eyes widened before a hum of approval escaped her lips; the cake tastes so good, even better than her favorite cheese cake.

“Nurse Jung, it’s really good. It doesn’t taste like cucumber at all. It’s like a banana cake,” she said and continued devouring the cake.

Jessica looked at her with disgusted looks before turning her attention back to the papers on her hand.

“I wonder where he brought this. I’d like to buy one too, my mother would really love this.” Sunny said as she examined the box for an address, and when she saw it, her eyes widened in surprise.

“B-Busan?” Sunny exclaimed a little louder, making Jessica turn her head towards her again.

Jessica raised a brow, “What are you talking about?”

“The cake was from Busan. The contact number and address is written on here,” Sunny turned the side of the box where the information was printed towards Jessica’s direction.

“S-so?” Jessica’s voice wavered a little as guilt settles in. She feels a little guilty that she had raised her voice at the guy again. Just a little, though.

“..so what you did was just rude. The guy travelled to Busan just to get you these,” Sunny pointed at the red and baby blue boxes.

Jessica cleared , “I never asked him though.”

“But he still did. You could have just thanked him for the effort.”

“I already thanked him, Sunkyu.”

“But you raised your voice at him again,” Sunny pouted, taking another bite from the cucumber cake.

“But cucumber? Of all cakes?”

Sunny shrugged, “Maybe he didn’t know you were allergic.”

“But cucumber? I mean, normal guys would give chocolate cakes or cheese cakes, not cucumber cake.”

“He brought you chocolate cupcakes though. And they look delicious.” Sunny looked at the head nurse with pleading eyes, “You don’t mind if I eat them, right?”

Jessica rose from her seat, “No. That’s mine. Why are you even eating my cake?”

She then moved to get the baby blue box from Sunny’s desk before exiting the room.

“But you said you don’t like this cucumber cake,” Sunny mumbled and pouted.

**

“Kyoungjae, where’s the short guy?”

Eli turned his head and saw the head nurse looking at him expectantly.

“H-he just went out, Nurse Jung.”

Jessica groaned before walking past him.

“His name’s Taeyeon Kim, by the way!” Eli yelled just before Jessica exited the hospital.

Jessica turned her head from left to right hoping to find Taeyeon outside, but to no avail. There was no single soul in sight. He shrugged her shoulders and turned to return inside the hospital but was stopped midway when she felt a coat draped over her shoulders. She turned again and was greeted by the sight of a smiling Taeyeon.

“Were you looking for me?” Taeyeon asked with hopeful eyes.

“I—“ Jessica’s cheeks heat up, “N-no. I was lo-looking for… Eli.”

Taeyeon looked at her incredulously before looking over her shoulder and waved at Eli through the glass door, “He’s there, though.”

Jessica mentally face-palmed herself, “Fine, I was looking for you.”

Taeyeon looked at her again, smile growing wider each second. “Really?”

Jessica nodded, eyes looking at anything but Taeyeon. “I just wanted to say t-thanks.” The last word was said shyly and it made Taeyeon’s heart flutter.

“No problem.”

Jessica hesitated before asking, “Was it really from Busan?”

Taeyeon rubbed his nape, “I.. it’s just from a café around the corner.” He felt shy, not wanting Jessica to know he was that desperate to get her, her supposedly favorite cake.

 “The box says it was from Busan though.”

Taeyeon just sheepishly smiled at Jessica.

“Anyway, thank you again, Taeyeon-shi. And I’m sorry for how I’ve been acting. I have no excuse for that. It was rude, I know, but you really pissed me off with the melon and cucumber.”

Taeyeon nodded in understanding, “I’m really sorry, Jessica. It won’t happen again.”

“And I forgot to thank you for the food last time. So, thank you.”

Taeyeon grinned before extending a hand towards Jessica, “Hi, I’m Taeyeon Kim.”

Jessica rolled her eyes but accepted his hand and shook it, “Jessica Jung. Nice to meet you again, Taeyeon-shi.”

Taeyeon pouted, “You’re too formal.”

Jessica shrugged her shoulders, biting the inside of her cheek to stop herself from smiling. The pouting guy in front of her looked like a kid.

She cleared , “I-I have to go back inside now.” She awkwardly retracted her hand but Taeyeon held it a little tighter, still shaking it.

Taeyeon looked down at their hands, “Oh..” he then let go of Jessica’s hand, “I-I’m sorry.”

Jessica nodded before turning to walk back inside the hospital, only to stop when Taeyeon spoke, “W-would like to have c-coffee with me? N-now?”

Jessica looked at her wrist watch; she still had fifteen minutes to spare but she didn’t feel like going out again. She turned to face Taeyeon again, ready to reject his offer, but Taeyeon’s expectant eyes made her say the unthinkable; “S-sure. I could use some coffee.”

And before she knew it, she was already being dragged by a giddy Taeyeon to the nearest café.

**

Jessica finds herself seated inside a café that was occupied mostly by the hospital employees. Their table was at the farthest corner of the café and she could see Taeyeon’s back who stood in front of the counter to order them coffee. The girl behind the counter was smiling at Taeyeon but he was busily looking at the menu. Jessica could only roll her eyes at how the girl was exerting too much effort in flipping her hair, only to be ignored by the guy in front of her.

She waited for Taeyeon to come back to their table; and when he did, he had a big smile plastered on his face.

“I hope espresso’s fine,” Taeyeon said, laying the tray he was holding onto the table before sitting on the chair across Jessica.

Jessica nodded and took the cup from the tray, “Thank you.”

“C-can I just say?”

Jessica raised a brow at him, signaling for him to continue.

“Y-you.. I.. n-nothing.. never mind.” Taeyeon lied, not wanting to ruin Jessica’s mood once again. She likes this Jessica, anyway. No need to tell her how different she was from last time.

Jessica looked at him once again; her stares were cold and questioning. Taeyeon just sipped from his cup, avoiding Jessica’s questioning gaze.

His eyes caught the box Yoona had packed the cupcakes with and a smile grazed his lips once again, “Hey, you have to try those,” he pointed at the box, “Those are really good.”

“There’s no cucumber in it,” Taeyeon added when he noticed Jessica’s hesitation.

Jessica did as told and her eyes lit up as soon as the chocolate cupcakes came into view; it had blue icing on top of it and a big snowflake candy. It was mouthwatering.

Taeyeon was surprised when Jessica handed him a cupcake without any word, but he gladly took it and immediately munched on it. He smiled when he heard Jessica hum as she bit on her own cupcake.

“Do you like it?”

Jessica nodded and took another bite from her cupcake.

As they munched on their third cupcake, Taeyeon started asking questions. Jessica’s answers were short, but for Taeyeon it was better than nothing.

**

“Thank you, Taeyeon-shi.” Jessica said as they stood in front of the hospital entrance.

Taeyeon smiled, “You are welcome, Jessica.”

Jessica bowed as she bid goodbye to Taeyeon, forgetting to hand him his coat back.

Taeyeon, on the other hand, walked to the bus stop with a smile on his face. His trip to Busan was worth it.