Taecyeon looked at the ground as he walked along the sidewalk. He wore a worn navy blue cap over which he donned a gray hoodie, heavy jacket and jeans. He kept his head low to hide his face with his cap as he walked. There were a few people walking around, but they looked like lost tourists. He stopped at the next intersection and glanced up at the street sign. He referred to a torn square of paper in his hand and confirmed the street name. He looked down the street and saw a tiny sign for the restaurant she had mentioned. He strolled over and discovered he had to walk down a little alley to get into the restaurant.

He removed his cap and sat down at one of the 4 tables. The owner brought him some barley tea and he requested another glass and two bowls of samgyetang, telling her that he was waiting for someone who would be there soon. When she left he removed his hood, but kept his cap on and looked around. The shop was completely empty. He imagined the owner must have regulars because it wasn’t easily visible from the main road.

Taecyeon shivered and looked out the glass windows wondering where she was. A noticed a few flurries falling, but not sticking to the ground. The little shop wasn’t well insulated, so he moved to a table closer to the kitchen. He looked over as the door opened. In walked the girl he was waiting for, but he could barely recognize her because she was so bundled up.

“Brrr…,” she said as she plopped down in the seat across from him. “I’ve been here several years now, but I still can’t get used to this winter weather. It’s freezing,” she said in English.

She removed a pair of white earmuffs and began to unravel what seemed to be a never ending red scarf from around her neck. Taecyeon laughed and held the end of the scarf she was unraveling because her arms were getting tangled in it.

“Yeah, well that’s what you get moving to South Korea. I bet your friends in California thought you were crazy to come here all on your own,” he replied reverting to Korean. “At least the weather was similar this time of year in Massachusetts.”

“No kidding. I asked my friend Melissa to come visit me during winter break my first year here because I was homesick. She said, ‘Hells no Steph. They’d have to have an ambulance ready for me at the airport when my plane lands cause I’d freeze to death the minute I step off the plane,’” said Tiffany while laughing. She was finally free of her scarf and thanked Taecyeon as she put it on the seat next to her. She raised her hand to get the attention of the ahjumma.

“I already ordered for us, since I already knew what you wanted,” said Taecyeon. “But seriously, who goes out of their way to eat samgyetang in the winter?”

“Well it’s freezing and samgyetang is healthy for you with lots of nutrients,” she replied knowingly. “As a singer, it is especially important to not get a cold. Other people can keep functioning with a small cold, but our voices will mess up. Besides, not many people will come to this place during the off hours.” She blew warm breath into her hands, trying to warm them up. Taecyeon looked at her with a raised eyebrow that said ‘are you really going with that?’

“Yah, don’t give me that look,” Tiffany said. “Okay, fine. I just had a craving for samgyetang. Happy now? You always make me pick the place anyways.” Taecyeon grinned. Whenever they met, he always had Tiffany choose where because his fans knew all the places he frequented. When the members got hungry at the dorm or JYPE, they always just went to the closest place that had what they were craving. When the guys are hungry, it’s better to feed them quick before they get cranky. Admittedly, he was probably the crankiest of the bunch. Fans always waited around hoping to see them, so he could never go to those places to meet with other singers.

“Besides, you don’t want to start a scandal do you?” said Tiffany as though she was reading his mind. “Geez, if people got wind of this, they’d accuse me of being a hoobae flirt.” Taecyeon laughs at the thought of it. Tiffany was indeed friendly with all the hoobaes because it was her nature, but she also generated a lot of anti-fans because of it. If people saw her and Taecyeon together,