Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“you let her kiss you.”

leehan squinted his eyes and slightly raised a turquoise eyebrow. “it was on the cheek. i had no idea she was going to do that.”

just fifteen minutes ago, leehan had walked up to jaeyeon and ordered one tall mocha frappuccino, one grande caramel macchiato, and two birthday cake pops. it was a slow tuesday morning, and the starbucks jaeyeon worked at was only half as packed as it usually was. their building was near a high school, so most customers were your typical commuters on their way to work and packs of students trying to get their fix before classes started. the scent of bleu de chanel mixed in with coffee beans and milk to create a woody, citrusy concoction that felt like what summer was supposed to be if jaeyeon was a vlogger instead of a wage slave. a couple of people recognized him, but nobody was freaking out in the way that jaeyeon was deep inside, realizing that the kim donghyun had real, moving lips.

“can we take a selfie?” jaeyeon asked with a big, pearlescent smile. she pointed to her silver iphone 5, slightly cracked on the bottom right corner, but just subtle enough to miss. leehan smiled back and nodded, grabbing her phone and slightly raising it up to fit both of them into the picture. the pair immediately settled on a peace sign as their pose of choice, leehan differentiating himself from her with a wink. he clicked the white circle a couple of times before handing jaeyeon her phone back. 

“thank you so much!” jaeyeon was so visibly excited that you can practically see her heart beating out of her chest. it was almost pathetic. “i really like your surfing vlogs.”

“thanks.” leehan responded with an awkward grin. he slipped a 10 dollar bill and some change into the tip jar. despite the other “influencers” that frequented the place, this was the largest tip their starbucks had ever received from one person. fueled by gratitude, jaeyeon immediately left the register to prepare his order.

the back room was a bit less miserable today. everyone was six hours into their 5 am shifts, and her coworker hanbin was on the verge of defeat. he was always the earliest here, and since he worked a much quicker paced shift at the drive thru, most of the onomatopoeias jaeyeon heard from him were mellow mixes of groans and sighs. he slipped a raspberry swirl pound cake into a brown bag and sulked as the tip jar on the windowsill remained borderline empty. they both were supposed to have two hours and thirty minutes until they could go home and begin their real lives, touch some sun-kissed grass, throw themselves onto a comfy couch or an even comfier bed. unfortunately for hanbin, he had a mysterious second job he refused to tell jaeyeon about, so there was never truly an end to his suffering. it’s probably what made him look so lifeless half the time. jaeyeon walking in seemed to bring the light back into his eyes. somehow, her smile and effervescence was contagious. 

“you look really happy.” he said, looking at jaeyeon’s side profile as she devoted her attention to pouring a shot of espresso. “and you’re moving really fast.”

“i have an important order.” 

“all orders are important.” hanbin replied with a hint of sarcasm in his tone. he was writing names on cups in cursive, holding each one carefully to ensure the lines came out smooth and elegant. jaeyeon wished she cared that much about something.

“yeah, but this one’s for—” before jaeyeon could finish her sentence, hanbin walked up to the drive thru window to hand over three drinks and the pound cake. 

“who’s it for?” his other coworker asked. miyeon and jaeyeon weren’t very similar people, but bonded easily over becoming baristas to earn money for college. she was fun to talk to when hanbin was busy.

“leehan!” jaeyeon squealed. miyeon gave her a confused look. the two girls' similarities started and stopped at liking twilight. it was difficult for jaeyeon to comprehend that anybody could survive without binging leehan videos. 

“i don’t know who that is.” miyeon said, scooping some ice into a drink she was making for herself.

“he’s a surfing youtuber.” jaeyeon replied, putting a lid on leehan’s mocha frappuccino. “he does beach day vlogs and goes all over california, and—”

“I ASKED FOR NO ICE!” an older woman yelled, so loud that even jaeyeon and miyeon could hear. being the nosy person she was, jaeyeon attempted to move closer to the window as she poured vanilla syrup in a grande cup.

“you asked for an iced vanilla latte.” hanbin replied.

“with no ice.” the woman retorted. “are you morons aware that you get paid to listen?” 

“actually, we get paid to make drinks.” hanbin stated, miraculously maintaining a positive attitude despite the situation at hand.

“poor hanbin,” miyeon grimaced. “he always gets the worst customers. oh, what were you saying about leehan and beaches?”

“he does surfing vlogs.” jaeyeon repeated.

“oh.” miyeon paused to take a sip of her drink. jaeyeon could tell from her face that it was probably amazing. “i don’t really watch that kind of stuff. i watch niki and gabi, though. do you like them?”

not really. jaeyeon shrugged. “i’ve seen a video or two.”

after quickly shoving two birthday cake pops into a small bag, jaeyeon put the drinks in a tray and carried them to the cash register. hanbin would have to tell her about what happened with the no-ice-iced latte later. 

“leehan?” 

he walked up to jaeyeon and grabbed his order. “thank you.”

“who are you waiting for?” jaeyeon asked bluntly. leehan would’ve choked if he had started drinking his mocha frap.

“uhh, just my girlfriend.” he said. “she’s only been in a few of my videos, but you might know her from tumblr.”

jaeyeon’s mouth was agape. not only had she met her favorite youtuber, but she was about to meet arguably the most beautiful girl in the world, wearing a pine tree green apron and a basic black shirt with zero makeup on. she could’ve died inside if it wasn’t for sheer excitement keeping the blood rushing through her veins. leehan had no idea how to respond to her reaction and slowly walked back to his table. jaeyeon didn’t notice.

the only thing that took jaeyeon out of her frozen state was the door swinging wide open. there, in an AM album t-shirt tucked into ripped black jeans was taeri with eyebags. my god, she looked like she hadn’t slept in a million years, but she still looked absolutely gorgeous. she had on a mini leather backpack that would only come out of hiding when she walked to leehan’s table. 

fast forward to now, 11:29 am on a tuesday, in which not a single drink or cake pop has been touched. leehan is staring intensely at taeri.

“um, did you hear me?”

for a second, jaeyeon forgot she had a job. she redirected her eyes to the girl in front of her, who was glaring impatiently. jaeyeon subconsciously analyzed her appearance—whoever did her balayage hated her. 

“sorry, what did you say?” jaeyeon asked, quickly plastering a customer service smile onto her face.

“i wanted a grande caramel ribbon crunch frappuccino with extra caramel drizzle.”

“right, right, of course.” jaeyeon nodded. “anything else for you today?”

“no.” she replied.

despite the girl’s frown, jaeyeon continued to appear overjoyed. “alright then, that’ll be $4.65. can i get a name for this order?”

“alyssa.” she paid in cash as the couple continued to argue.

“i just wish you were less touchy with other girls.” taeri said. “why is that so hard for you to do?”

“you don’t even show me affection anymore,” leehan was trying his best to be quiet, but it wasn’t working. jaeyeon had never heard him upset before. “but then you get jealous when other girls do. girls that you know i don’t like in that way.”

jaeyeon would have to rewatch the video they were talking about before he could judge.

taeri lowered her voice to a whisper. “i’m not doing that because i don’t love you anymore. i literally only go on youtube to watch you, and you know that.”

“then why?” leehan asked, much softer this time. “why do you act like you hate being around me now?”

“there’s a lot going on in my life that i can’t explain.” taeri sighed. “i thought you would understand, leehan.”

leehan took a deep breath, then held taeri’s hands on the table. 

“i want to be there for you.” he said. “i want you to be comfortable with telling me all of your feelings.”

“it’s hard to do that when things like this happen.” taeri’s eyes began to look glassy. jaeyeon’s heart stung, and it wasn’t even any of her business.

“are you gonna give me my receipt?” alyssa asked.

“i’m so sorry.” jaeyeon quickly tore off the paper and handed it to her. alyssa snatched it out of her hand. 

leehan wiped the budding tears with a napkin. “i really didn’t expect her to do that. that’s why i pulled away immediately. you trust me, right, taeri?”

“i don’t know.” taeri sniffled. 

“can we trust each other with our feelings?” leehan asked. “please?”

“i don’t know, leehan.” she repeated. taeri stood up, pushed in her chair, and left with only her drink. leehan tried to grab her arm but she pulled away. 

after a while of sitting there speechless, he did an objectively depressing walk of shame and defeat towards jaeyeon. “sorry about… everything. you can have the other cake pop.”

“it’s fine, just another tuesday.” jaeyeon tried to comfort him with a positive attitude. leehan smiled for only a second. “thank you.”

he left the establishment quietly. jaeyeon saw this as her cue to make alyssa’s drink.

“what’s up with you, jae?” hanbin asked. he was making a shaken green iced tea (yes, with ice this time). “you’ve slowed down a lot since your last order.”

“i can’t be normal after meeting both of my idols on the same day.” jaeyeon replied. she paused making the caramel ribbon crunch to show hanbin her phone. “look!”

he stared at the picture and gasped. “leehan was here?”

jaeyeon nodded. “yeah, he just left.” 

“you should’ve told me!” hanbin whined. “i could’ve gotten a peek at him!”

“i figured it was a bad time.” jaeyeon said apologetically, putting her phone back in the pocket of her jeans before finishing up the drink she abandoned. “what happened with the pound cake lady?”

hanbin groaned. “i don’t want to talk about it. some customers are just assholes.”

“that sucks.” jaeyeon replied, putting a lid on the venti cup before quickly scribbling ‘alyssa’ with a marker. “we leave in a couple of minutes.”

“thank god.” hanbin sighed with relief. “today was terrible.”

jaeyeon chuckled and walked back to the register. “alyssa?”

the girl walked up and picked up her drink. jaeyeon waved her goodbye as celebratory confetti began to burst in her brain. that was her final order today! she was finally, finally free!

the door swung open once again, this time revealing familiar cotton candy pink hair. “hey jaeyeon.”

jaeyeon beamed. “riwoo!” 

riwoo always visited jaeyeon after her shift to drive her back to their apartment. thanks to the hard work of riwoo’s parents in the software industry, being the pastel goth lead singer of an indie rock band would be her first and last occupation. jaeyeon couldn’t lie that she didn’t envy her just a bit, in the way any friend filled with admiration would. some people are just luckier than others.

today, the cross on her sweater matched her hair and sneakers. its sleeves covered her hands as she waved hello. “aww, did i miss taeri?”

“you did.” jaeyeon pouted. “i got a photo with leehan.”

“no way, let me see!” riwoo leaned over the register as jaeyeon pulled her phone out of her back pocket. her photos app had thousands of images of her with flower crowns and pink roses, and the picture she took with leehan stuck out like a bruised blue thumb.

“i can’t believe you met him at your job.” the last word of that sentence came out like it was the worst place to possibly be caught. jaeyeon definitely agreed, but damn. “what’s he like?”

“he’s very…” jaeyeon thought about the ordeal she just witnessed, then reflected on him ordering and tipping her. “casual. he tipped $10.”

“a man who tips.” riwoo grinned. “what about taeri?”

jaeyeon debated on whether or not she would tell riwoo about what happened. ultimately, she decided not to. “she seemed sad today.”

“huh.” she replied, crossing her arms. “i thought she was cold and emotionless. that’s how she seems in pictures.”

“you need to watch leehan’s videos with her,” jaeyeon moved from behind the counter to walk besides riwoo. she felt a tinge of second hand offense from riwoo’s comment. “you can see a lot more of her personality there.”

“sure.” riwoo said, opening the door for jaeyeon. “ready to head home?”

“i’ve never been readier.” her first step of liberation felt like a warm hug, mainly due to the golden ball of light glistening directly above them. riwoo opened the door of her silver 2014 audi a4 and turned her keys in the ignition, allowing a cold yet necessary breeze to float through the vehicle. jaeyeon laid back in the passenger seat and closed her eyes. 

“i can’t believe i met han damin in this uniform.” jaeyeon muttered. her eyelashes fluttered open ever so slightly, like a door creaking and ajar in a haunted house. she turned to riwoo, who was focused on reversing out of the parking space they were in. “how was practice?”

“good, we have a couple new songs coming out.” riwoo said, tightening her grip on the steering wheel. “it’s a little different from our old stuff.”

“oohhh.” jaeyeon’s eyes had fully opened now, and she sat up straight as if it’d help her hear better. “are you guys doing metal now? pop punk maybe?”

“definitely not pop punk.” riwoo responded, briefly moving her eyes all around to view all of her mirrors. such a responsible driver! “metal goes a lot more with our image.”

“i agree.” jaeyeon giggled a bit at the immediate rejection of her second idea. “how do you think your fans will take it?”

riwoo thought that was funny. “there’s only 5 of them, so i think we’ll be okay.”

after a 20 minute drive back to avocado heights, the pair had finally arrived at their off white two bedroom apartment. jacaranda branches swayed in front of a sign reading “ROSEVIEW RESIDENCIES” in a sickly salmon pink, as though they were a royal’s violet flags surrounding a much more inferior empire. this was jaeyeon’s favorite part of this place, possibly even her favorite part about california in general. jacarandas were the western world’s glamorous cherry blossoms. 

jaeyeon opened the door to their apartment to find two beady black eyes sticking out of tawny fur. getting a dog was riwoo’s idea, but jaeyeon eventually warmed up to it after some months. nowadays, she can’t even begin to fathom a world without their third roommate.

“awww, hi mandu!” riwoo crouched down to pet their golden retriever. mandu stuck his tongue out in response. 

“are you hungry?” jaeyeon asked in a calm voice. “we should have some hill’s left.”

“i’ll pick more up at the grocery store tomorrow.” riwoo sighed before going into the pantry to open the borderline empty science diet bag. mandu’s tail wagged in blissful ignorance blended with anticipation. “hey, do you wanna play minecraft later?”

jaeyeon gritted her teeth. gaming was more riwoo’s thing, but jaeyeon liked playing alongside her to pass the time. however, this tuesday, she had other plans. “i’m actually gonna be kind of busy tonight.”

“oh, okay.” riwoo said, pouring the food into a black dog bowl. “let me know when you do.”

jaeyeon gave riwoo a thumbs up before disappearing into her room like a ghost, throwing her apron onto the floor and fading into the blankets of her bed.

-

with the midnight blue sky came a heavy shower of rain, loud pitter-patters and boisterous thunder that terrorized the walls. using her blanket like a tent, jaeyeon spent the rest of her evening scrolling through taeri’s tumblr on her laptop. she preferred to use the website to get the “full experience”, particularly the mustache cursor that taeri coded into her blog. everything was soft grunge bedazzled with glitter, aliens, and indie music alongside some classic rock. the most reblogged picture by far was of her and leehan sitting in front of green balloons with alien eyes drawn on using a black sharpie. in the midst of those 81.4k strangers, jaeyeon had reblogged the post to her own account 10 months ago. the world felt so vast at times, but it was beginning to seem smaller and smaller every day. she had really seen taeri, not just as a person who laughs and cries, but how she handles conflict, how she communicates any grievances, the kind of person that she is when you’re beginning to know her. 

was leehan’s video really that bad? jaeyeon opened a new tab to find out.

after an ad for febreeze played, she scrolled past all of the normal surfing and beach stuff before stopping when she saw a girl in a pink and aqua triangl bikini enter the frame. 

“i heard from minju that leehan’s good at taekwondo.” she said, putting her hands on his arms and looking up at him adoringly. “that must be why he’s so strong.”

leehan gave her a nervous laugh. “i haven’t done it since middle school.” 

“but you haven’t forgotten anything, right?” the girl asked, batting her eyelashes and fidgeting with her fingers. her voice was kind of annoying. “you could still take me down?”

leehan froze for a bit, as if he was wondering what the best way to handle the situation would be. in jaeyeon’s opinion, he usually ended up going with an action that was incredibly impassive considering the circumstances, or way too over the top. for this video, he decided to go with the latter over the former, pretending to roundhouse kick the girl who pretended to fall on the sand in response. leehan crouched down to make sure she was alright, and then it happened.

she raised her body to give him a peck, to which he immediately pulled away, and the two laughed hysterically about it. 

why not edit this out? jaeyeon asked in her head. but at least he didn’t kiss her back. it’s just weird that he laughed about it.

after shutting down her laptop and going onto her phone, jaeyeon looked at the photos she took with leehan once more. despite the uniform, she actually looked really good. it hardly aligned with the flowery “keep calm” profile she had curated over the years, but nonetheless, she posted the photos on instagram and tumblr before falling asleep.

-

it was now wednesday, which would presumably be a much busier work day for jaeyeon than tuesday was. she expected to wake up to a normal life—make a bunch of drinks, start some small talk, go back home with riwoo—the usual boring routine. instead, she woke up to over 1000 notes on tumblr and 5000 likes on instagram (but who’s counting?).

“what the fuck?”

she took some time to read a couple of the comments on the instagram post.

@sohee.html: you’re soooo pretty

jaeyeon knew sohee from high school, so this was a typical comment from her. she hearted it and moved on to the other replies.

@tarotaro00: omg 😍

@hxnbin.exe: didn’t he cheat on @han.damin?

jaeyeon’s smile dropped. holy shit. how stupid could she be to post a picture with leehan after getting a front row seat to what happened between him and taeri? 

before she could rush to delete the photo, she realized that taeri had already liked it.

not only that, but she followed her back.

taeri followed jaeyeon back.

Chapter Text

riwoo opened the door to jaeyeon’s bedroom and flicked the light switch on, illuminating her body in a graphic t-shirt with a zombie cat drawn in an awfully cringeworthy art style, one you’d see constantly from certain musical fandoms on tumblr, and skeleton shorts, the kind of outfit she’d only wear when going grocery shopping. “you know it’s 4 am, right?”

“so?” jaeyeon was lying atop plain white bedsheets, distracted by the follow from taeri. you’d think it was a dali painting, the way she tried to pick apart the deeper meaning behind it in her head. did she simply think she was pretty? did she see her gawking at her when she walked in and give her a pity-follow? was she going to become famous after this? her hair was a cloudy mess, tangled and frizzy from rolling around obsessing over her thoughts. she turned back to the open door and remembered she wasn’t alone.

“so you have work in an hour and you haven’t even showered yet.” riwoo walked over to sit on jaeyeon’s bed. the girl kind of reminded her of her mother this way, back when she was still in high school. only thirty minutes before classes start and you’re still at home? if you keep this up, you’ll work at starbucks your whole life! maybe things were meant to be like this forever, poor jaeyeon stuck in a time loop of early morning “hurry up and leave” talks and rushing to get ready in response. 

jaeyeon’s smile faded when she remembered for the third time this week, she had a job. “fuck, dude.”

“yes, dude.” riwoo said, a tinge of judgement in her voice. “what are you even looking at?”

jaeyeon dropped her phone on her sheets for riwoo to see before jumping out of her bed in a striped tank and black shorts she had no recollection of putting on. everything beyond stalking taeri last night was a thunderstruck blur. she stretched her arms in a circular motion and yawned before finally answering riwoo’s question. “i went sorta viral on tumblr and instagram, and taeri followed me back.”

“no way.” riwoo gasped, looking down at the screen without actually touching jaeyeon’s phone. jaeyeon wouldn’t have minded if she did, but she liked that riwoo was the kind of person who wouldn’t do that without asking. “people don’t just follow people just because they met them. if you were ugly, she’d probably have just liked it and moved on with her life. that means—”

“han damin thinks i’m cute?” jaeyeon screamed, falling back onto her bed with a cushioned thud. riwoo laughed at her theatrics. even amongst strangers, jaeyeon was always this vivid kaleidoscope of emotion. it was no hidden gem to slowly dig out, it was just sort of shoved in your face, like a baby seeing the world for the first time. you don’t get to prepare, you don’t even get to ask. her existence was as precious as life itself.

“how many people is she following?” riwoo asked. “it’ll be more obvious if you check that.”

jaeyeon grabbed her phone from the covers and looked at taeri’s following to followers ratio. “she has 108k followers… and follows 419 people?”

that was all riwoo needed to hear. “she definitely thinks you’re hot.” 

jaeyeon fanned herself with her hand, getting up from the bed to pace around the room. “i’m about to faint.”

“you better get to starbucks before that happens." riwoo warned. “i’m getting food for mandu today.”

“i could tell.” jaeyeon sneered, eyes drifting down to the shirt. she didn’t want to be rude about it, but it was so difficult to resist poking fun at. 

riwoo clutched her imaginary pearls. “i wear this shirt other places sometimes!”

“uh huh.” jaeyeon chuckled at the thought of riwoo wearing this shirt to one of her performances and receiving some complimentary tomatoes. “fuck bro, i hope i make it.”

“i’ll get my bag and start the car.” riwoo said, standing up and walking towards the door. before she left, she turned the knob and looked back at jaeyeon. “hurry up.”

upon entering the bathroom, jaeyeon carelessly threw her clothes in the laundry basket and stared at herself in the mirror. she got compared to justin seagull all the time, particularly their facial features themselves, but not the shape and structure of her skull. “you could be his younger sister!” seemed to be the accusers’ favorite phrase. whether or not she saw the similarities was irrelevant—she found him pretty hot. that meant, by association, that jaeyeon was pretty hot. 

it was a gratifying enough conclusion to push her to hop into the shower. jaeyeon turned the handle ever so subtly to keep the water as cold as possible. the hotter it was, the longer she’d stay, often treating the h2o like a blanket straight out of the dryer instead of one of many devices for cleaning. her hair melted onto her skin, frosty and damp, and she suddenly became extremely aware of every single part of her body. it was incredibly uncomfortable; her body felt like melted mochi with each tiny clear river that trickled down her skin, weirdly lukewarm on the inside and somewhat chilly on the outside. gross. at least that meant her plan was working.

she hummed some one direction to time herself. ‘best song ever’ was three minutes and twenty two seconds, and if she sang that three times, she’d have been in the shower for ten minutes and six seconds. time was only understandable to her in rhythms and beats, in freezing droplets of water, in shivers per minute and harsh white marble. this was her daily reminder she was real, like when one pinches themself to make sure they can feel pain.

after finishing all three humming sessions, she immediately grabbed her towel off the rack and started drying herself, hoping the slight warmth provided by the black terry cloth would at least attempt to put up a fight against the combined efforts of the air conditioning and the remaining crystal blobs stuck to her. out of the restroom and into the bedroom, she decided on yet another boring outfit that would fit into the company’s dress code, throwing on a black alien sweater from brandy melville and skinny jeans with white low top converse. nobody cared about her outfit any more than they cared about their coffee, but it still hurt her pride to be perceived as bland. she let out a long sigh, threw her hair in a ponytail, and ran out of the door with her green apron and a strong sense of urgency.

“i don’t think you’ll make it.” riwoo said, eyes darting to the time on the dashboard. the location she worked at was a 22 minute drive with highways, and it was 4:39, 21 minutes before her shift started. 

nevertheless, jaeyeon was a relentless optimist, too busy hurriedly tying the apron to cross her arms. “not with that attitude, i won’t.”

palm trees passed by so slowly when time was of the essence. drenched in a brash yellow light and fluttering back and forth, back and forth, perpetually dancing in the heat of early july. the audi’s black leather seats were scorching, but it was easier to deal with remembering it’d get cooler with time. riwoo seemed unphased, but you could tell she was trying her best to go as fast as she legally could, occasionally going up to 12 miles over the speed limit, before slowly pressing on the brakes every time she felt like a police car could be nearby. how do you know? jaeyeon thought about asking her. i just do, she’d probably answer.

successfully evading capture resulted in a measly fifteen seconds of rejoicing as riwoo tried to fit her tires inside of the white lines. jaeyeon arrived to her 5 o’clock shift at exactly 5:01. her manager looked as disappointed as you’d expect.

“mornings are our busiest hours.” zico said with a narrowed gaze. jaeyeon couldn’t take him seriously whenever he was being stern. “you know this.”

“i’m really sorry, zico.” jaeyeon bowed about 20 degrees. zico still wasn’t pleased. perhaps she should have dropped to the floor? “ it was my mistake.”

“don’t come late again.” he warned, leaving jaeyeon to stand all alone, nodding profusely. she walked over to the employee-only sink to wash her hands, taking a deep breath to conjure up her classic customer service smile. at least she didn’t get fired. luck was still on her side, regardless of how many mistakes she made (and would likely continue to make).

hanbin was there, too, and he seemingly overheard her being reprimanded. “why were you late?” he asked.

“i stayed up longer than i should have.” jaeyeon sighed, grabbing a couple more paper towels than necessary to dry her hands. only using one never made her feel clean enough, and there was a sense of security in the layers of flattened pulp. hanbin didn’t seem to mind.

“stalking taeri, i assume.” he turned on the sink for his own hands, as if the sounds of water gushing from the faucet represented a period at the end of his statement. looking at the man’s arms near the tap made jaeyeon pout. someone this good looking shouldn’t be living paycheck to paycheck—not that ugly people had to—but just that she could tell hanbin was meant for so much more than washing his hands in a cafe employee sink. it reminded her of their conversation around this time last year, where they asked each other about their dreams and college majors, and jaeyeon told him about how she was majoring in business management and minoring in poetry.

“okay, i expected business from you, but poetry?” 

their shift had just ended, and hanbin was making a java chip frappuccino for himself before he had to leave for his second job. he bleached his hair at the time and looked a bit like a male aurora, or maybe just like a twinkling star. jaeyeon looked like any other girl next door standing near the exit watching him. “uh-huh. i paid off half of my tuition for the first semester with a poetry scholarship.”

“no way.” hanbin squinted his eyes, as if getting a better look at jaeyeon’s face would enable him to uncover the verse deep inside her brain. “what grade are you in, again?”

“i’m gonna be a junior this year.” she replied. the words coming out of her mouth felt nauseating, a perturbing reminder that her life was getting more and more serious by the minute. it felt like yesterday that she was 16 saying this about high school. “you graduated like…”

“three years ago.” hanbin finished her sentence, grabbing a straw for his drink. the way he opened it made her eye twitch. instead of slamming the straw onto a surface until it pushed itself out of paper, he ripped off the top and slid it out. “i got my bachelor of arts in music at cal state.”

“and that’s why you’re here with me.” jaeyeon patted him on the back. it was supposed to be humorous, but instead came off as patronizing.

the two headed out of the door and hanbin scoffed. “business majors are always so full of themselves.”

a year later, jaeyeon supposed that he was right, that she thought about where certain people deserved to be far too much, and that just wasn’t how life worked. why is a “bad major” even a thing? shouldn’t we all be encouraged to pursue our passions? and what did it matter that it was taking so long for hanbin to pursue his? that had nothing to do with what he had said though, if she could remember it. “what?”

“i said, you’re stalking taeri.” hanbin dried his hands with just one paper towel before balling it up and shooting it into the bin like a basketball to a hoop. he scored! jaeyeon gave him a slow yet condescending round of applause.

“I’m not a stalker.” she whined. “i’m just a fan.”

this was an unsatisfactory answer. “what does she even do to warrant having fans?”

jaeyeon contemplated what she would say next, but she couldn’t come up with a good enough reason and simply just shrugged. “her outfits are cool…?”

“she wears band t-shirts and combat boots.” he retorted. “so innovative.”

jaeyeon was starting to feel weirdly defensive over this girl she had only ever seen in person yesterday. “okay, well, she’s pretty!”

suddenly, the door swung open, and miyeon was behind it. she looked stressed, which was probably difficult for a real life barbie. “there’s a long line at the register.”

“fuck.” jaeyeon had a habit of saying this, but never actively trying to remove herself from situations that would prompt her to feel such a way. she walked past miyeon to go behind the register, face to face with several impatient teenagers and young adults. the first customer of the day is always a gamble, or rather, a blind box that you don’t get to shake or put on a scale to gauge its value. the results will place you in an alternate universe, one that always leads you to a series of what ifs. what if this wizened elderly woman didn’t piss you off today? what if this group of lanky teen boys with shit-eating grins didn’t make fun of you for their friends' approval? what if you received one hundred dollars in tips, or one hundred pennies? would everything change? would you die at forty instead of ninety-two, all because you opted to feel happiness in this specific moment? or was the cruelty all just pointless, and you’d have died at ninety-two even if the customers were kind? 

there was no time to wonder when she received hundreds of orders, to the point she had lost the ability to concoct the drinks anymore, and was demoted (or, in her opinion, promoted) to just listening to people. it was delightfully refreshing, hearing long lists of syrups and ice levels and cup sizes that she wouldn’t have to think about beyond pressing a couple buttons. the sheer variety made her appreciate the place a lot more, like how being driven by riwoo instead of actually having to go on the road by herself made her appreciate a long car ride. the people came and went, and they got what they wanted, and it was all so simplistic that it became comforting to have expectations. 

by this time, jaeyeon should’ve learned to stop expecting things. 

taeri entered the room wearing doc marten boots and black jean shorts. her shirt supposedly said “get lost” in japanese, but jaeyeon couldn’t confirm that—she was just going to have to trust the manufacturer. she was barefaced and beautiful, wearing a stretchy rubber choker and brandishing pins referencing witchcraft and marina and the diamonds on her leather jacket. taeri didn’t come here often, if at all, but she’s been here twice this week; two times more than she should have. the first time was by chance, but a segment of jaeyeon’s heart wanted to believe that the second time was for her. 

“good morning, taeri.” jaeyeon said with genuine excitement, not the kind you fake to make a customer feel special. it was weird knowing she had spent so much time gawking at a simple click from her that she was late to this very job. taeri would never know that, much like jaeyeon would never know the intricacies of the other customers' lives. it was mildly unfortunate. “same drink as yesterday?”

“yeah, and two sausage croissant rolls.” taeri responded. her voice sounded a lot less tired than the day before. it warmed jaeyeon’s heart. “i heard it’s new.”

“we actually just got it!” jaeyeon exclaimed. she calculated the total for her order at a speed that didn’t come naturally to her. “that’ll be $10.90.”

taeri paid with an amex gold card, not that jaeyeon was paying too much attention. her nails were colored in with a black permanent marker, which somehow made her look feel more complete than genuine nail polish. “keep the second roll.” 

“oh my god, you don’t have to.” jaeyeon was extremely grateful, especially since she had no time to eat breakfast, but she had to get this through zico first. “i don’t even know if i’m allowed to accept that.”

“i insist.” taeri replied. “it’s an apology for what you had to see yesterday. maybe you could ask your manager?”

zico might’ve still been upset with her, but it didn’t hurt to try. “thank you.” jaeyeon said. “are you doing better?”

taeri pursed her lips as she searched her brain for an answer. “i think so.”

she turned to look at the seven other people behind her, and jaeyeon could see a centimeter of copper brown hair, which was a far cry from the black roots she had expected. she tried to hide her baffled expression when taeri turned back around to wave at her. jaeyeon waved back, and the interaction helped give her the confidence boost to take on zico.

she found the older man watching over miyeon and some other baristas in the cold bar. “hi, zico.”

“what’s up?” he asked.

“a customer bought two croissants and asked if they could give me one.”

“after your shift, or tell her no.” 

“oh!” jaeyeon said. she hadn’t expected this response from him, a man who treated her like his own blood at times. there were days in which he’d let her take two cake pops, make her a venti espresso when it was cold out, ignore when she’d abuse her employee discount, joke with her and the others while they were on the clock. she presumed his indifference was from her late arrival, which kind of stung. “okay. i’ll just get back to work, then.”

“good.” he said, and nothing else came after that. ouch.

jaeyeon did a walk of shame back to the register. she expected to be greeted by familiar lilac hair, but taeri had already left, and a slender, freckled man walked up to her at full speed. she vaguely remembered taking his order before, but she wasn’t expecting him to be back so soon, and with a fist clenched so tightly that whatever rage was inside of it must have been invaluable. 

“excuse me!”

“yes sir?”

his brows furrowed. they were a bit like fat, bushy clementine caterpillars. “i ordered a venti iced hazelnut macchiato with oat milk, and you gave me a grande with whole milk.”

jaeyeon gasped. “i am so sorry—”

“we asked for an orange mango smoothie and you gave me strawberry.” an older woman chimed in, so furious that she looked like the average fire hydrant. “my daughter is allergic to strawberries!”

“oh my god.” jaeyeon was starting to panic. this sounded like something out of her many work-related nightmares over the past five years of being an employee. a part of her was hoping to wake up in a cold sweat, panting as though she had just run a marathon, with her hand on her heart like every fast paced beat of reality would bring her comfort. “i’m very, very sorry.”

“in what world does orange mango sound like strawberry to you?”

jaeyeon didn’t have a good response for that. sorry i poisoned your kid out of negligence? the words were scrambling and shaking in the box of her mind, and it was hard to pick out the letters she wanted to give the two customers a respectable answer. “i really…”

“i want to speak to your manager.” the man demanded. “‘now!”

jaeyeon hurriedly scurried to zico once again. at the very least, anything he could say to console them would be much better than what she could come up with. beads of sweat bloomed on her forehead, then trickled down the rest of her face, cheeks rosy with embarrassment and dread. he didn’t look pleased to see her back so soon.

“what is it now?” he asked.

“two customers want to speak with you.”

she followed zico to the front like a baby duck hiding behind its mother. the customers furiously explained everything, to which jaeyeon shrunk smaller and smaller, until she was positive that nobody would have noticed her at all. zico apologized profusely on her behalf, and mouse sized jaeyeon just nodded at his every word, anxious and ashamed. zico dragged her to the back room after the debacle was over.

“you zone out when taking orders, you come late…” zico said.

“i came late once.” jaeyeon added, hoping the reminder would help. 

“you can’t keep making tiny mistakes.” zico said. “they add up over time. if you want to spend your day talking and having fun, you are free to do that outside of our establishment.”

“…you mean i’m fired?” her heart tumbled into her stomach. “but zico, it was one day.”

“i’m really sorry, jaeyeon.” he said, words reminiscent of her at 5:01 am. “you were a good employee, but your productivity has been declining for a while now. if there’s something going on behind the scenes, this would be a good time to figure it out.”

he walked away, and jaeyeon stood silently, surrounded by an audience of unempathetic cardboard boxes, plastic cups and syrup bottles. this had been her life since she was sixteen, and now it had spilled down the drain over a six letter word and a late night scroll on tumblr. none of it felt real, the loss of income, the “figure it out”, the angry customers and the long lines of people. was this a really bad dream, or a really bad movie? would she be able to step off of the set and snore her way back into her normal, normie life? or were the nutmeg tiles under her sneakers very, very real, and the tears welling in her eyes actually wet? she stuck a hand near the back pocket of her jeans to grab her phone and call riwoo.

“are you okay?” the older asked. “aren’t you at work?”

“long story.” jaeyeon sighed, blinking rapidly to clear her vision. the tears never made their way out, not even into her vocal cords. “you have to pick me up early.”

when riwoo arrived at the front of the building, she was wearing the same shorts but with a similar tank top, black phalanges, metacarpals, and carpals covering baby pink cotton where her chest would be. bullying works.

“he fired you?” riwoo asked, genuine surprise in her voice. “for being late for one minute, one time?”

“i did a lot more than be late.” jaeyeon confessed. while waiting for riwoo to pick her up, she had hanbin sneak her one last chai tea latte, a venti (because she poured her entire heart out into this company), and add some whipped cream with caramel drizzle (because she deserved it, and why not?). as of right now, she was halfway done with it, taking frequent sips due to the stress of the whole situation. “i accidentally gave a vegan whole milk and gave a strawberry smoothie to a kid with a strawberry allergy.”

“holy shit.” it took a lot to make riwoo gasp, but this definitely did the trick.

“i might have to start stripping.” jaeyeon cried. 

“fuck this.” riwoo reached out to hug her, and jaeyeon immediately rushed into her arms. she smelled like ten sprays of velvet orchid, sweet and floral with a dash of rum and wood. “your life isn’t over. you can actually enjoy your summer now.”

“enjoy what?” jaeyeon asked. “what the fuck do people even do after getting fired? go home and sulk?”

riwoo had a much better plan. “we could go to venice beach, distract you from what happened, relax for once.”

distracting yourself truly only worked with things like relationship troubles, not when her ability to pay bills and tuition were on the line. however, jaeyeon was at a point in which she no longer cared. “why not?”

-

when you’re an employed adult, the scintillating charm of vacation spots is often forgotten. getting the boot was a temporary blessing in disguise, the summer heat’s sunshine halo of a trip to what was supposedly eternal relaxation. riwoo stopped by the apartment to get a beach towel, her black wayfarers, and some coca cola bottles. “if there’s anything you want to pick up, i’ll wait for you in the car.”

jaeyeon went inside and changed into something far more suitable for their mission than what she currently had on, sky blue denim shorts with a boho style lace trim and a white tank top loose enough for you to see her bra on the side. she finished the look off with heart shaped sunglasses, which wasn’t really a choice since they were the only pair she owned. 

“i look cute, right?”

“you always do.” riwoo said.

jaeyeon simpered. “then we can go.”

as cacti, mountains and towering buildings faded into even more palm trees, jaeyeon began to reflect more on her current predicament from the passenger seat. “what would you do if you were kicked out of onedoor?”

“i’m the lead singer.” riwoo replied, slowing down behind the myriad of cars in front of them. traffic was always the worst at this time of year. “i can’t get kicked out.”

“sure you can.” she said. “all of the other members could leave and start a new band.”

“but it wouldn’t be onedoor.” riwoo said. “it’d be something a lot less talented.”

jaeyeon wondered if what she provided to starbucks since 2009 had been as essential as riwoo was to her band, the life force that kept the place floating above all other coffee colored waters. it didn’t take long for her to realize the answer was no. it was hanbin, him and his hunger for a universe where his degree made him somebody, that was the glue of the entire cafe. she was only an anchor, and there was no use in moping about that. 

the soft beige sand reminded jaeyeon of the days before she had to work to survive, days of sandcastles and sunsets, when your biggest enemy was a rogue wave that had half the mind to realize it was destroying a fraction of your world. you’d pout, maybe cry, and then life would somehow go on, and there’d be many more sunsets after that. nowadays a castle costs you thousands, and it’s a lot more minimalist, but a bit harder to take away.

“mandu would love the view.” jaeyeon remarked as she looked out the window. “speaking of mandu, i didn’t see him while i was changing.”

“he’s spending some of the day with my bassist.” riwoo replied, turning off the car.

“oh, sungho?” jaeyeon asked. “you’ve gotta let me meet your members someday. kinda fucked up you’d leave our dog with somebody i’ve never seen.”

“you will eventually.” riwoo pushed the door of her car and then locked it. “also, mandu was mine first. i can do what i want.”

jaeyeon playfully flipped her off which resulted in her getting shoved. there were hundreds of people in front of them, far more than the amount of customers who watched her get scolded, and it began to sink in that life was so much bigger than her work.

“great scenery for developing your tumblr fame.” riwoo said.

jaeyeon spoke with a sing-songy rhythm. “if only i had a photographer…”

riwoo face palmed once she realized what she got herself into, but it was only a farce. she enjoyed these components of friendship, being dragged along by jaeyeon to adventure, jaeyeon dragging her along back, even if she was a much bigger introvert than her. in a way, riwoo liked to think that they shared social batteries, and that she could last longer in the hellscape of conversation as long as jaeyeon was right beside her.

jaeyeon ran across the beach for some minutes, doing duck lips and peace signs and pretending to look wistfully at the blue waters and their inhabitants. riwoo covered all bases and even took some faceless photos to highlight her outfit, the lace meshing perfectly with the whitecaps of the waves. after things started to get repetitive, jaeyeon opened snapchat and took selfies for her other friends to see just how much her life has (seemingly) improved. 

“snapchat should add more interesting filters.”

“like what?” jaeyeon asked, taking her sunglasses off with her free hand and attaching them to the neckline of her top.

“i dunno, things that put stickers on your face.” she shrugged. “maybe a flower crown for you.”

“huh.” what an odd concept.

after their low budget photoshoot, riwoo (whose only form of entertainment was her earbuds and her phone) was passing the time by braiding jaeyeon’s hair on their towel as the younger scrolled through instagram. sohee had posted a photo with her boyfriend seunghan, somewhere in new york eating a mouth-watering pizza, and it made jaeyeon come to a weird realization.

“i’ve never had a boyfriend.”

riwoo blinked. “you’re straight?”

jaeyeon’s smile disappeared. “why would i be gay?”

“your obsession with taeri is not straight behavior.” riwoo said. “also, you could be bi.”

“my obsession—” jaeyeon closed her mouth in horror. amazingly enough, she had never thought deeply about the overlap between her admiration for the purple haired girl and romantic feelings prior to this moment. “oh my god.”

“i can’t believe i’m the reason you found out.” riwoo replied. 

“oh my god, this is horrible.” jaeyeon put her head in her hands. seeing her as this charming, coruscating unicorn was one thing, but it was another thing to want to alter the laws of the USA to marry her. her mind wandered off into a flowering abyss, where she imagined herself kissing her soft, eos strawberry sorbet covered lips, and came to another realization that she didn’t mind it. in fact, she had never wanted anything so badly, and it scared her to think a desire could feel so much like a stab wound, pulpy trenta sized dragonfruit being blocked by the push of a hand, or the barricade of a bandage, and the thick gauze doing it’s absolute best to contain the overwhelming amount of mush.

“you’ll be fine.” riwoo patting her shoulder brought her back down to earth. “she’s pretty gay looking.”

“she kinda is.” jaeyeon felt at ease thinking about this. she’d be worse off if she had a crush on someone like sohee, obsessed with victoria’s secret and PINK, and a lot less likely to know what a pride flag was. taeri’s grunge aesthetics meant that even if she wasn’t gay, she’d probably be supportive, right? “but she’s still with leehan. i’d feel so bad if i, like, randomly swooped in.”

“that would be terrible,” riwoo said, tying up the end of the second and final plait. “but i can’t say it wouldn’t be deserved. i finished braiding.”

“could you take a picture?” jaeyeon asked. riwoo nodded and pulled out her phone. she had one of those decoden cases that looked borderline edible, complete with pastel frosting pumps of paint and purple candies. jaeyeon waited for a couple of seconds until riwoo handed it to her to see for herself. 

“woah, good job!” jaeyeon gave riwoo a hug.

“okay, just because i hugged you when you were crying doesn’t mean i’m the girl who likes hugs now.” she said, reluctantly returning the embrace. “but thank you.”

jaeyeon pulled away with a quiet “sorry” before rotating 180 degrees to stare at the water. “the only thing worse than finding out i’m in love with her would be seeing her directly after.”

“there’s someone over there who kinda looks like her.” riwoo pointed to a tall figure wearing a black one piece in the distance. “or maybe it’s just the purple hair dye. it’d be really funny if it was her, though.”

“fuck, it is!” jaeyeon’s eyes widened. “should i…?”

“i wouldn’t,” riwoo said. “which is why you should.”

fear didn’t exist in jaeyeon’s fantastical little world, which is why she got up from the safety of riwoo’s presence and walked over to the woman, who was currently reading ‘the catcher in the rye’ through big, circle lense sunglasses and using her legs as a table. there was a tote bag next to her, but jaeyeon couldn’t see it well, and the walk there was starting to become a challenge as to whether or not she could figure out what it looked like. the closer she got, the more obvious it became that this couldn’t be anybody else.

“you keep popping up everywhere i go.” jaeyeon said.

taeri looked up and slipped a plastic bookmark inside of the pages. “if i didn’t know any better, i’d think you were stalking me.”

jaeyeon sighed. “that’s the second time i’ve heard that today.” 

she rarely got nervous, but she wasn’t sure how taeri would interpret what jaeyeon said. luckily, she responded with a smile. “then it must be true.”

“taeri!” a voice called from the distance. they both looked over to see leehan in a superman snapback (that reminded her quite a lot of 2012, much simpler times…) and striped blue and white trunks. jaeyeon was almost too distracted by his abs to hear his voice. whatever he said after taeri’s name went in one ear and out the other. all she managed to pick up was what he directed towards her: “oh, hey.” 

“hi.” jaeyeon gave him an awkward (yet genuine) smile. leehan maintained a neutral expression. 

“by the wind sailors?” taeri asked him.

“they’re a bit similar to jellyfish.” leehan clarified, sitting next to taeri and holding her hand. that must have been what jaeyeon missed. “how did you two come across each other?”

“i’ve been spying on both of you for weeks.” jaeyeon joked. “i wanted to be in one of your vlogs.”

“you could’ve just asked.” leehan said, confused.

tough crowd, jaeyeon. “i’m joking.”

taeri (like anyone else with a brain) could tell things were getting increasingly awkward by the minute, so something seriously had to be done. “why don’t we play beach volleyball?”

“oh, no.” leehan said. “you know i’m only good at marine sports, tae.”

“that’s the fun part.” taeri smirked. “do you suck at volleyball, jaeyeon?”

“i’ve never even tried it before.” she confessed.

“perfect.” taeri said. “we’ll all look like a bunch of fools. i bought one on the way here.”

they didn’t come in the same car? jaeyeon thought to herself. she watched as taeri unearthed a clean, unscathed white ball, as pure as a ball could ever be beyond the freshness of a factory, from that trending american apparel bag covered with the names of cities (montreal/paris/london/new york/berlin/chicago/anybody who’s anybody knows the one), which wasn’t nearly as new looking. “the net’s all the way over there, and nobody’s using it.”

“could i ask my friend if she wants to join?” she asked.

“fine with me.” taeri said. “after all, there’s two of us, and one of you.”

“hi!” jaeyeon was elated. sure, she often had a positive expression on her face, but riwoo didn’t know it could get as big and bright as a surgical lamp. 

“you look way too happy.” riwoo said. “what happened?”

“do you wanna play volleyball with me, taeri, and leehan?”

“and leehan?” riwoo said, in a way that made the boy's name sound like a slur. “hell no. i’m just gonna lie in the sun and listen to music, and you can go flail your arms around and homewreck.”

“homewrecking is a serious accusation!” jaeyeon whispered, eyes shifting side to side to make sure nobody heard the two of them. the world had no right to know of her schemes. “but you do you. have fun being boring.”

on the walk back to taeri, jaeyeon overheard a conversation she’s 99% sure was not ever intended to reach her eardrums.

“you’re usually shy.” leehan was attempting to whisper, but it didn’t work at starbucks, and it definitely wasn’t working now. “when we met, you thought i was a weirdo for approaching you the way i did. now you’re being really friendly with our barista?”

“i’m trying to get out of my comfort zone.” taeri said. “so i can be happier.”

“i hope you’re not forcing yourself to do anything for me.” leehan said, gaze softening. he moved his hand from her palm to her chin, thumb tracing invisible circles on her skin. “i don’t want you to feel like you have to pretend to be happy.”

“i’m not.” she said, though it sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than leehan. “i’m not forcing myself.”

“hey guys!” jaeyeon had the opportunity to do the funniest thing ever, and she took it. the two suddenly shifted their positions, attempting to hide the conversation they were having before. 

out of a mix of pity and homewrecker’s guilt, jaeyeon pretended like she didn’t hear anything. “she said no.”

“bummer.” taeri frowned. 

“we should go while it’s still empty.” leehan said. “more people are coming.”

“right.” taeri got up and threw her bag onto her shoulders. jaeyeon followed the pair like their annoying, hyperactive child, feet sizzling every now and then from the sand. with the amount of people they passed by, it was genuinely surprising they were walking as slow as they were, savoring moments they weren’t even sure they had, having light-hearted banter about how they’d destroy each other, rather than running to create some sort of heat protectant breeze.

supported only by wooden aqua mini skyscrapers and bordered by five DEPT OF BEACHES AND HARBORS from top to bottom (making a grand total of ten) was the wide and long-awaited net. jaeyeon put her hands on her hips like a proud mom as taeri and leehan wandered to the opposite side.

taeri took out the ball and replaced it with her sunglasses. “well, since i dragged you guys here, i guess i’ll serve first.”

leehan and taeri’s passes were the leading contenders for the worst bumps and spikes of all time, but jaeyeon was actually surprisingly good at this (perhaps her, albeit unrelated, reflexes from soccer paid off!). leehan and taeri would either hit the ball with their right hand or both hands, while jaeyeon would alternate between both, one of many perks of being ambidextrous. at one point, taeri slipped and fell onto leehan, and she laughed hysterically as leehan ruffled her hair and showered her in butterflies of pecks on her forehead. it was adorable and sickeningly saccharine, and jaeyeon felt so bad thinking about the terrible things she’d do to get to do that too.

they went at it over and over again until it was painstakingly obvious who the winner was, at a humiliating score of three sets of 25-7.

“i can’t believe you beat both of us.” leehan laughed. his laugh was kind of odd, like he was an alien forcing himself to be human. it made jaeyeon laugh too, though, and who could judge an agent of cheerfulness?

“i’m a natural.” jaeyeon flipped her hair. 

taeri put the volleyball back in her bag, the two finally matching each other in their now off-white appearances, and the trio abandoned the net for someone else to take on. she was gasping for air every couple of seconds, and leehan put his arms over her shoulder as if that’d help. “there’s no way you’re a beginner.” she said.

“you guys are just that bad.” jaeyeon replied, trying not to be jealous of all the bodily contact they were making. leehan left another kiss on taeri’s forehead, as if he knew what was festering inside of jaeyeon’s heart, as if there was something he needed to protect inside of her skull, perhaps taeri’s ability to change her mind. 

“you know,” taeri said. “leehan’s actually having a party at my house friday night. it’s just gonna be a bunch of other influencers, but we’d love if you came.”

jaeyeon couldn’t help but think about their conversation regarding taeri getting out of her comfort zone, wondering if this was a result of that thought process. taeri looked somewhat sincere, and leehan surprisingly didn’t look upset at all. 

noticing her silence, taeri quickly followed up with another statement. “it’s okay if you don’t want to.”

“no, i’d love to!” jaeyeon exclaimed. “could i bring some friends?”

“bring as many friends as you want.” she said. “i could use a couple of normal people around me.”

“am i not normal enough for you?” leehan asked with a pout. taeri looked at him like his hair was the 71% of blue that made up this wonderful earth, like he was handcrafted by the gods, or some big, cosmically important event, and his beauty was never ending. he had now transferred his hand to her waist, gazing longingly into her eyes, blinking sweet nothings, then moved his eyes to her lips, and kissed her again before she could answer his question. jaeyeon felt that her mere presence was ruining the energy of this moment, and if she could just do them a favor and finally disappear, then leehan would be able to give her seventy more kisses, or seventy thousand if she stared at him just a little longer. though the walk lasted for some minutes, it was more of a three hour romcom in her opinion, and at some point, jaeyeon pretended like she couldn’t see anything else except a sea of onlookers, the tiny cracks of what were once magnificent shells, and the miserable tranquility of the leehan-colored ocean touching his skin-colored shore.