Chapter Text
Sana stares blankly out their store’s front window, admiring the first snow of the season. She had been sick the entire week before so she was anticipating a lot of work on her first day back, but the weather has allowed Mina to do all of the upkeep without much interruption from customers. This means a peaceful shift, which Sana welcomes with open arms as her brain is still recovering from being bed ridden for a week.
The flower shop that she works at, Moonlight Sunrise, tends to slow down a bit in business when the winter comes. However, getting flowers for your loved one during the cold of winter can warm up anyone’s day.
The first snow is pretty heavy, so Sana takes her time in admiring the thick snowflakes that fall ever so slowly and pile up on the sidewalk outside. She’s not too pleased when winter comes around due to her difficulty with the cold, but she can’t deny how beautiful snow is.
She moves quickly suddenly though when she sees a figure approaching the door, and straightens herself up before making herself look busy, and not like she’s been staring out the window for the past few hours. The door opens, and the store is filled with the sound of a tiny bell as Sana looks over her shoulder, ready to greet whoever has come in.
“Oh, you’re back already!” she squeals, rushing over to help Mina take off her jacket.
“It was just something small,” Mina replies after saying a quick thank you as Sana rushes to put up her jacket. “She’s been getting faster and faster with each tattoo.”
“Show me! Show me!” Sana wiggles her butt in anticipation as Mina rolls up the sleeve of her red cardigan. And before her eyes is a fresh tattoo of a blooming rose on her wrist. “Did it hurt any less this time?” Sana asks, a bit of concern lacing her voice.
Mina laughs lightly before shaking her head, “It never hurts any less, I keep telling you that. But she’s definitely become gentler with her application, maybe because she’s getting more confident?” As she says that, she softly rubs against her wrist around the area of the tattoo, a fond smile painting her face.
Sana sees this and waggles her eyebrows before sporting a toothy grin, “I bet you already booked your next one, huh? I should really book one soon too so I can see this cute tattoo artist of yours.”
Mina blushes before nodding, “I did book my next one already, for next week actually.”
Before she continues, another figure comes through the door and the two girls are greeted by a snow covered Momo, “Sorry I’m late!! I got caught up in conversation…again.”
“It’s okay Momoring,” Sana says with a small laugh, “The two of you seem to be quite fond of going next door.”
“You go there every day for your lunch break too,” Momo retorts with a pout, a slight blush creeping on her face.
“Yeah, but I go for Tzuyu’s delicious fraps and Dahyunnie’s tasty sandwiches, you’re there to feast on more than that,” Sana wiggles her eyebrows again and is very pleased to see both of her friends blush so much.
Her two best friends have been extra adorable lately, tending so slowly but lovingly to their crushes. It’s easy, since the object of their affections work just next door. Sana has been lucky enough to get front row seats, watching both the fondness and embarrassment creep on her besties’ faces more and more with each passing week.
Momo’s has been going on for over five years now, since they’ve known the café owners since university, while Mina’s is a very new and budding crush, having started about a month ago when she decided to get her first tattoo at the shop above the café.
It’s been fun, teasing the two of them until they’re red in the face, but Sana is starting to feel a little left out. When will she get to start feeling butterflies in her stomach again? Or the warmth of embarrassment filling her face? It would surely help with the cold. Maybe trying out something new will help, like maybe getting that tattoo.
“Can I look at it again, Minari?” Sana asks, already reaching out for Mina’s wrist as the three of them hang out by the cash register. Mina nods with a quiet hum before showing her tattoo. Momo gets a closer look this time too and the three admire the work together.
“I think I’ll get the courage to get my own soon,” Sana says with determination as she looks at the fresh ink on Mina’s wrist. “The pain can’t be that bad if I get something small, right?” she asks more to herself than any of her friends.
“It won’t be too bad, I promise,” Mina responds with a giggle, “Chaeyoung is very sweet and she’ll check in a lot on you. You can take breaks if the pain gets too much and you can always start with something even smaller than this, like my first tattoo.” She then points to the small outline of a heart she got on her other wrist, the first of the several tattoos she’s received from Chaeyoung.
“This rose marks your fourth tattoo already, right?” Momo asks, an eyebrow raising, “I didn’t think you’d be the type to keep getting more.”
Mina looks at the newly carved rose and the corner of her lips tug upwards, “I didn’t think so either, but it’s a little addicting.”
“Getting tattoos? Or the artist herself?” Momo teases, a wide smile on her face.
“I wouldn’t be talking, Ms. Four Sandwiches a Day,” Mina snaps back, her eyes narrowing a bit.
“Hey! Dancing requires a lot of food, okay? I need my energy,” Momo retorts before crossing her arms. “Not my fault they’re the closest source of food.”
Sana laughs at both of her friends’ playful bickering before looking down at her phone, “Looks like it’s time for my lunch break! I’ll see you two soon!”
She quickly grabs her coat before exiting the store, not bothering to zip it up. There’s no need, for the café was only a few steps away. But she takes a moment before entering, glancing at the door to the tattoo shop that resided just above the café. It's a pitch black door with prints of vines and flowers along the edges and block red lettering that says, Why so lonely? Tattoo Parlour and Piercings. She has stared at the door many times in the past, hoping that if she looked hard enough, it would give her some courage. Her eyes glaze over the small flash samples and she could picture some of the designs on her skin, but the second she imagines the needle she shudders, before turning away from the black door and back to the pink and orange hues of the café.
She sees Dahyun and Tzuyu working diligently and excitedly opens the door to, CHEER UP CAFE!. It’s the usual lunch rush of people ordering coffee and various sandwiches before either sitting down for a minute or rushing back to their workplaces. Sana sits at her usual small table near the counter and sets herself down, taking her time to remove her jacket as she allows the lunch rush to cool down first before making her order. She watches as the two work quickly and incredibly efficiently to complete orders, and in ten minutes, the line dies down. It’s incredible how well they work together and can serve a crowd so quickly. But Sana sees the tired look on their faces and the small droplets of sweat on their foreheads. Maybe soon they’ll have enough spare funds to hire a third worker.
“Sana unnie!” Dahyun calls out as soon as the crowd disappears, and it’s only a few patrons left in the café. She reaches out her arms and Sana immediately hugs her from above the counter. Sana feels Dahyun relax into her hold and she rubs her back, knowing how bad the rushes can be some days. She's always admired their hard work though, to make their dreams of running a café since university come into fruition.
“Hi Sana unnie,” Tzuyu greets after taking a sip of water and wiping her brow. “Thank you for being patient as always.”
“Of course,” Sana replies before quickly hugging Tzuyu as well, “I have a whole hour after all, so no rush for me. Besides, I haven’t seen you guys in a while, it was pretty refreshing to just watch you guys work. As always, your team work is impeccable.”
“It has to be,” Tzuyu responds with a sigh, “Since unnie won’t hire anyone else. Guess we’ll have to see how long we can last like this.”
“Come on, Tzuyu! Have faith in us!” Dahyun pleads, not wanting to worry about hiring a part timer just yet. The café had opened about a year ago and they were still figuring out their finances, so the two had been working extremely hard ever since, even having to run shifts alone so the other could take a break occasionally. But it always ended in the other coming in anyway, feeling worried.
“I’d rather have a day off,” Tzuyu shakes her head, but she smiles fondly at Dahyun nonetheless. “Anyway, the usual Sana unnie?”
Sana nods vigorously, “Yes, I absolutely miss your food! And though the flower shop isn’t busy, you know I could always use a shot of espresso and lots of sugar!!”
As the two get to work, Sana glances around the shop to take it in. She notices the new addition of snowflake decoration and sees the usual customers, but then her eyes gravitate towards a new face sitting in the back corner booth. She squints as she analyzes the new guest - a big fluffy orange sweater with a daisy embroidered on it and black skinny jeans and black strappy boots. Her face is hiding behind a sketchbook, but Sana sees that she’s sporting a high ponytail. Soon, she lowers her sketchbook and takes a sip of an iced americano, revealing big and beautiful brown eyes. Sana watches as this new face takes a sizeable bite of the sandwich before her and scrunches her face in what seems to be confused pleasure, before she inhales the rest of it rather quickly. Sana feels a warmth spread throughout her chest, a warmth she hasn’t felt in a long time.
Dahyun and Tzuyu give Sana her order, but she doesn’t notice immediately as she’s busy watching the new girl in the corner. Sana frowns though, when her face becomes hidden behind a sketchbook again.
“Found yourself some new prey?” Tzuyu’s words snap her out of her gaze and Sana spins on her heels before glaring at the youngest.
“Do you really have to put it like that?” Sana pouts before reaching for her drink and taking a sip. “Mmm, just like I remember!”
“She’s not wrong,” Dahyun adds, a smirk on her face. “We know that look on your face. Why not go say hi? I've seen her once or twice before, but she started coming in daily last week while you were sick.”
Sana looks over her shoulder again at the new girl and smiles when she watches her down her soup as enthusiastically as she downed her sandwich. Her expressions are so transparent and the joy on her face simply from eating starts a stirring in her stomach. When she turns back to her friends, they’re wearing identical smirks, which make her blush, “I don’t know, if she’s new, wouldn’t it be bad to already start making my moves? Besides, I’m feeling a little shy…”
Tzuyu scoffs at this and rolls her eyes, “You’re always so forward, I’m surprised you’re suddenly so shy.”
“Not always!” she protests, before glancing at the corner again, “Come on, I’ve always been shy!”
Dahyun raises her eyebrow before deadpanning, “I don’t know, you kissed my cheek within the first two hours of us getting to know each other.”
Sana giggles at the memory, “It’s not my fault your cheeks looked so soft! Besides, I was probably tipsy at the time since we met at Momo’s party. Anyway, I- I need to think about this first, maybe I should eat. I’m pretty hungry.”
However, as Sana moves to pick up her tray with her food and drink, Tzuyu puts her hand on her before nudging her head to motion for Sana to turn around.
The three watch as the new girl in the corner tugs at her big orange sweater, and removes it, revealing a grand expanse of skin as all she’s wearing underneath is a cropped black halter top. Aside from her firm muscles, her skin is practically covered in tattoos of various flowers and other beautiful motifs. Sana gasps rather loudly at the reveal, but luckily not loud enough for the girl to notice.
“Unnie, you’re drooling,” Tzuyu points out before taking a rag and wiping the side of Sana’s mouth. Dahyun bursts into laughter, causing Sana to turn red, but she tries to calm down quickly, noticing the other patrons turning to look at her.
“You say you're feeling shy, but if you’re not careful, that girl is going to catch you staring,” Dahyun strains to say quietly, her body still shaking slightly from laughter as she picks up Sana’s tray for her. “I’m gonna put this down for you at your table so you can pick up your jaw first.”
Sana is dazed for a moment, but shakes her head and composes herself before the girl in the corner can notice her predatory stare. She needs to maintain her girl-next-door vibe and her honour so that she doesn’t seem too obvious about her attraction. But when she takes a step towards her table, she doesn’t realize how weak in the knee she feels and is very grateful that Dahyun took her tray for her. However, with Tzuyu still behind the counter and Dahyun already walking towards her table, no one is there to save her when she trips on herself and falls to the floor. The fall isn’t too bad, but Sana feels her body turn flush with embarrassment, and she’s praying that the girl in the corner didn’t notice.
Suddenly though, she hears rapid footsteps and smells a waft of an unfamiliar perfume with woody notes and jasmine. It smells pretty and somehow grounding, and she feels intoxicated as she looks up and makes direct eye contact with the brown eyes she was admiring earlier.
“Are you alright?” the cause of her weak knees is offering her hand out to her, and Sana can’t help but grab it instantly, feeling an almost electric heat coming off it. She shakes a little, and she can no longer tell where in her body she feels weak. But the hand that is offered turns into arms and then into a whole body, as the girl in the corner helps her up and allows Sana to put almost her entire weight on her.
“Hello?” the voice calls out again, and Sana realizes that she’s just been staring blankly at the other girl, practically hugging her as she regains her composure. Her hands are gripping her arms now and her skin is so soft, but so firm at the same time and Sana has to use every ounce of self-control she has to not squeeze this stranger.
“Are you okay?” the stranger repeats again, this time shaking Sana a little, and even brushing some hair out of her face. Sana is shocked, not expecting to be so close to her so soon. She feels like her whole body has melted, not having expected the girl in the corner to sound like this either. Her voice is deeper than she’d imagined, with a raspy quality that makes her stomach churn. Suddenly, Sana feels an elbow to her back as Dahyun passes behind her and she finally snaps back to reality. She straightens her body as much as she can, but does it so quickly that she nearly falls over again. However, the body of the stranger is so sturdy that she manages to stay upright.
“I-I’m fine,” she finally manages to say, and she takes a step away, “Thank you for helping me.” She still feels like jello and misses the sturdiness of the stranger’s body against her own, but she knows very well that the proximity would’ve made her weaker with time. Plus, she had to regain some of her dignity.
“It’s no problem,” the stranger says, a wide toothy grin spreading across her face. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay, the fall was so sudden.”
Sana fights the blush on her face, trying to prevent herself from getting even more red. “I’m sorry, I’m pretty clumsy.” The laugh that comes out is bubbly, but a little awkward, and she can see Dahyun and Tzuyu holding back their own laughter from the corner of her eye. “And I’m sorry I held on for so long, I didn’t mean to bother you.”
The girl who sits in the corner laughs before shaking her head, “No need to apologize, I’m just glad you didn’t hurt yourself or anything. And don’t worry about holding on, I never mind when a pretty girl uses my body as support.” She sticks out her tongue playfully before rubbing the back of her head bashfully. Sana feels herself melting even more, and kicks herself for feeling unable to flirt back. She feels the wind knocked out of her, and honestly wants to retreat into her seat as soon as possible. She digs into the vast expanses of her mind for any kind of response, wondering where in the hell her usual confidence went. But she ends up not saying anything, which causes the stranger to laugh nervously, “Anyway, I need to finish up my lunch break then head back, but hopefully I’ll see you around?”
Sana’s mind goes on alert as she realizes she may miss an opportunity here. Her brain latches on to her entire romantic history, desperately trying to grab enough courage to allow her to say something, anything.
“Head back where?” finally, her bashfulness is gone and immediately replaced with her nosiness.
“Oh, I recently started working upstairs,” the girl in the corner admits, a bit of pride shining in her eyes. “I don’t know if you can tell, but I’m pretty into tattoos.”
“I totally didn’t notice,” Sana lies, her eyes betraying her as she scans the tangled branch of apple blossoms blooming over the stranger's collar bone. After she finishes trailing the lines of the branches, she reminds herself to not look so disrespectfully and tries to maintain eye contact as well.
The stranger raises an eyebrow at her response, but laughs anyway, “Well, I started apprenticing in the shop upstairs. I think I’ve seen you in this café before, so you must be familiar with it.”
Sana thinks about how this stranger has noticed her before, meaning she must have come here often enough, even before she had gotten sick. She kicks herself again for not noticing her earlier, how could she miss such a charming person? But she tries not to get lost in her thoughts so she can at least finish this conversation with some dignity.
“Oh yeah, my friend’s been getting tattoos there lately,” she replies, wondering if Mina has noticed this girl as well. But she feels a sense of relief, being a new apprentice means she can’t be the one who’s been tattooing Mina this whole time.
“We’re a great shop!” the stranger announces with pride, giving Sana a thumbs up. “If you ever feel inspired to get something done, you should come up.” She glances at her phone and her eyes go wide, “Oh shit, anyway, I really gotta get going. It was nice meeting you?” She looks at her expectantly, and Sana bites her lower lip to prevent herself from getting lost in her gaze.
It takes her a second, but she introduces herself with ease after calming her blush into a faint flush, “Sana, my name is Sana!” She bows slightly before giving the stranger her most brilliant smile.
“My name is Jihyo!” she replies with an even more blinding smile, “It was really nice to meet you. Though, I hope the next time I see you, you’re a lot more careful.”
Sana bites the inside of her cheek, trying her best to restrain herself from hugging Jihyo, “Ah- for sure! I’ll be more careful.” Her body betrays her as one of her arms raise, but she manages to catch herself and lowers it to rub her other arm instead.
“Good, I’ll see you around Sana,” Jihyo waves and gives her another flash of her pearly whites before turning back to her table. After Jihyo packs up her stuff, she quickly finishes the remaining food on her tray and takes her iced americano to go before exiting the café to enter the door adjacent to it, leading to the top floor.
“Wow,” Sana exhales dreamily, smiling to herself and trying not to stare too hard at Jihyo’s muscles tensing against the cold air before she enters a different door. She seemed to be in a rush, not even putting her sweater back on before leaving.
She turns around to see Dahyun and Tzuyu with shit eating grins on, both of them shaking from trying to hold in their laughter. Dahyun is the first to break, with Tzuyu following not long after. They don’t even say anything, as Sana finally goes to sit at her table and eat her food, with the both of them occasionally glancing at her and just laughing. She doesn't have the strength to fight back, understanding very well how embarrassing that was and how there was no saving herself from that. She feels another wave of relief knowing that at least it was Dahyun and Tzuyu who witnessed this blunder, and not Mina and Momo. She knows Momo would never shut up about it.
“Please don’t say anything to the others,” she says weakly and rather pathetically, taking a bite from her now cold sandwich. The owners of the café give her an okay signal with their hands before continuing to chuckle, even while taking new orders.
But still, despite the unwelcomed flush from her embarrassment, Sana welcomes the warmth now blossoming in her heart. She gets to join Momo and Mina in their love sickness a lot sooner than expected, but she smiles at the thought and feels the thrill of her budding new feelings.
Perhaps this winter will be a lot warmer than expected.