It was another late evening at the Kai Café. Most of the customers are wearing suits and ties as most of them just got back from work. Some were laughing and chatting with friends, some were hanging alone, some were so jovial and energetic and some just came with frowns on their face, hoping a sip of the café’s famous latte could release their burden of the day. Among them, there was a girl sitting alone at the corner of the café, quietly, too absorbed the laptop in front of her that she could barely noticed the table besides her was the noisiest one in the café, thanks to her headphones.

Let’s see. I need to finish this quickly since the due is next Monday. I can’t afford to skip this months’ issue. Getting short of cash here… She grabbed the cup on her desk and took a sip. Can’t beat the taste of Kai’s hot choc. She took a deep breath, savouring the smell of the drink.

Ideas, ideas. I really need them right now. Urgh. This is killing me. I had tonnes of homework due tomorrow and I can’t even think of any articles to write. Let alone a story. This is killing me.

Suddenly a familiar song intro came out of her headphones. She grabbed her mp3 in her right pocket. Infinite’s Real Story. Hey, this song can be the inspiration for my next story ! She thought to herself and smiled, glad that her love towards music could really help her survive. Tonight’s gonna be a looooong night, Sung Ah.

Suddenly, she felt a vibration from her left pocket. It must be Juniel, she thought.

“ Hi Juni-- “   

‘ YA, SUNG AH! Don’t tell me you’re spending your evening at Kai’s again! It’s already past dinner time! ’ 

“ I’m perfectly fine,jeez, thanks for asking, my so called bff. Yeah I spent my evening at the café’. It’s not like you’re not used to it already. I went there almost every— “ 

‘ That’s why I’m worried. You went there almost everyday straight from school, you only ate ppang for lunch and I know every single time you went there you ‘ll only have hot chocs! ’

“ That’s not true ! I sometimes ordered a slice of cheese cake you know. And I’m not hungry, I’ll be back when I am. Hehe ”

‘ I knew it. I saved some dish and rice for you. Just don’t be too late.’ Her voice started to sound flat, which clearly meant that she won’t make a big deal of the whole situation anymore.

“ Arasseo, arasseo. What will I do without you. Thanks Jun Jun.” You blurted a chuckle before hanging up.

Park Sung Ah is a graduating high school senior who lived with her best buddy, Juniel in a small terrace house twenty minutes from her school. They lived together since they were sixteen years old. Park Sung Ah came from a close but busy family since her father has a shipping business that has a concrete base in Sydney. Her family lived there, with only her as an exception because Mr. Park had promised Sung Ah that she will study in the same school until she graduates just because she asked for it. She only have a sister with a five years , Park Gaeul. Being an independent girl as she always is, Park Sung Ah writes articles and sometimes short stories and sends it to numerous publishing company in exchange for a sum of money. It’s not that her parents did not gave her allowance, they did, but she felt a responsibility of feeding herself since she was the one who asked to live separately. And she was really good at it. Majority of her works get published and it paid off well for her. She went by initials SA since she was not good in finding nicknames. Juniel however, is studying at a nearby private school since her father is a major shareholder of the school’s administration.

They were neighbours since elementary school, that was until Mr. Park decided that he needed to expands his business by going overseas.

Sung Ah started to feel numb. She started sitting upright, correcting her body postures while taking a deep breath. The headphones that was playing BAP No Mercy was pushed down her neck. She straightened her arms and cracked her knuckles. I can’t believe I am already sore. What am I ? An eighty six year old granny ? Blerghh. She pulled on her I-can’t-believe-myself-faces, with her left eyebrows raised and pouted.

She heard her name was being called by a familiar voice. Her attention was finally distracted from her laptop screen. The blue coloured Aspire One sat still in front of its owner. “Hei Kai.”

“Heiiii. Staying up late again, huh ?” The guy in a red-brown uniform was walking towards her with a plate in his hand. The uniform was worn by all the workers at the café’. A white collared shirt, a red tie, a brown vest and pants and a silver nametag written ‘Kai’. It always charmed you why the owner of the café wanted to wear the same uniform as his workers. When asked about it, Kay will only say, ‘ Hei, this uniform is my artpiece and I’m proud to wear it.’

“Yeah, I just got a call from Juniel. She went straightforward to babbling instead of going through the scheme of saying hi and asking basic wh questions.”

“ At least now you know how to pick up your phone. Before this she used to call my phone to get through you, remember ? “ Kai smirked.

“ Oh come on, Kai. You know me. I don’t really know what’s happening around me if I’m with my laptop.” She defended herself.

“ Uh uh. You are ignorance and oblivious. With or without your laptop. Good thing you have my lil sister watching your back,” he muttered before putting the plate that he was holding in front of you.

“ What’s this ? I never order—“

“ A treat for a regular customer,” he said before pulling a smile.

“ Another treat ? Come on, Kai. You know I did nothing to deserve this,” she tried to talk him out to take the treat back but ends up in failure when Kai swiftly walked to the counter while doing a ‘Zip It’ sign.

“ Thanks, Kai !” She grabbed the spoon on the plate. Slowly she took a bit of that cake. The taste lingered in . Smooth. The vanilla flavoured cheese cake was her favourite. She indulged herself into the sweet taste of the cake, ignoring others. That was her traits. She was always in her own world. Too absorbed that she never care less about what happened around her. She had been hanging out in this café for months but if you asked her how many waiters working there, she will draw a blank. Ask her about what’s special on the menu, she knew nothing of it except hot chocolate and vanilla Cheese Cake, her favourite usual. She only spoke to Kai the whole time, if she was even talking. It was her character. She can be observant if she wants to, but she chose not to.

You are walking down the road. You glance at your watch. Gosh It’s already 10.15 pm. I still have Maths and the essay about how history changes the world blablabla. This is torturing. Lucky I managed to finish my story in time. Suddenly you heard your stomach growling. I hope the food that Juniel left me is still good. You keep on walking until you reached the junction to your house. Why are my ears feeling hot ? Is someone staring at me ? You turned around and all you see is darkness. Well, maybe it’s just me. I guess I’m too hungry. And you continued doing what you did best, to ignore.

“ Juniel, I’m homeee..” You yelled, hoping that Juniel is not wearing her earpiece. No response. I guess she’s asleep. Or she is listening to EXO again. You roll your eyes. Juniel and her addiction towards good looking boys, you thought. The key that you used to unlock the door was put on the keyholder right on the tv cabinet. You take off the coat that you are wearing and hang it on the coat hanger by the door. The house is quiet, as usual. You grab the remote controller and switched on the tv.

Sung Ah’s house is as simple as she is, with a touch of feminine by Juniel. There’s a white fluffy carpet in front of the coffee table, right before the tv cabinet. Two sandy coloured couch facing the tv. A blue sand cushion beside it and a simple tall vase that comes from her family collection of antiques stuffs. Throughout the stairs, there are frames hanging of the picures of Sung Ah and Juniel’s family members, organised by time and even their childhood photos. The dinner room is small but spacious as it only consist of a round dinner table and two wooden chairs, one for Sung Ah and one for Juniel. Their room however, is organised and decorated by themselves, which means, pink for Juniel and blue for Sung Ah. Both of them often contradicts each other opinions, styles and in this case, their room decorations.

After you are done eating, you knock on Juniel’s bedroom. “ Jun Jun ahh. Are you asleep ?” After three seconds of waiting, you pulled the door knob and found Juniel lying on her bed, fast asleep with her spectacles on and Chemistry book wide open on top of her body. Aishh. She really should break out of her habits of falling asleep while studying. You walked slowly towards her and sit on the end side of her bed. You slowly pulled off t e spectacles on the end of her nose and put it on her make up desk. You closed the Chemistry book and heads towards the door. Chalja, Jun Jun. You switched off the light and the room went dark instantly.

Damn ! I’m so lateeee. You started fastening your pace. Another 50 metres from your school gate and five minutes before it will be locked. I can’t afford to be locked out anymore. It’s my third time since early this month ! Thanks to Seohyun, the strict and straight girl. Urghhh. You flinched upon thinking of her. You tried to take a look towards the school gate. I hope Seohyun is not in charge today. A silhouette of a tall and lean guy was  standing straight in front of the gate. Oh no ! It’s already 8. That’s it. I’m sooo dead. You turned your head from your watch to the gate directions. You saw the silhouette waving at you, as if calling you and signs you to walk faster. You almost run towards his directions. “I’m late, aren’t I ?” You muttered under your breath. Your breathing was still not stable from the rush before.  Your attention was focused on the ground, avoiding eye contacts and the embarrassment of being the only girl who was late. Again. “Just go. Don’t tell anyone I let you off the hook, and be careful not to get caught by others,” his deep voice caught your hearing. You were quite shocked , unexpecting that low , deep tone from a babyfaced guy like him. “ Thanks, erm . . .” You searched for his name tag on the left side of his white, clean schhol uniform, “.. Chanyeol ssi.” That’s the only syllabus of his name that you caught since you were in a hurry. The tall boy just nodded without looking directly at you. That’s very nice of him. He didn’t even asked why I was late. That’s the first time, though. Perhaps, today is your lucky day, Sung ah. And with that thought, your mind was set with a delightful euphoria, making unconsciously curve out a smile.

The guy watches as Sung Ah walks away. He stares at the ground, while playing with the sand with the tip of his black, leather shoe. He tries to recall what date and day it is today. Park Chanyeol, on Wednesday, 15^th of January 2014, in front of the school gate, is the first time you heard your name came out from . With that thought, he let out a wide grin, exposing dimple only on the left of his cheeks.