Work Text:
11:10am.
That’s the time, Yunjin has come to learn, the pretty girl with the mid-length hair and black bag comes in for her usual. Sometimes wearing thin wire-frame glasses, sometimes wearing workout clothes. But always with that damn pretty face and long, athletic legs. She comes maybe two or three times a week: Mondays and Tuesdays, and then again on either Thursday or Friday. Rarely both.
Yunjin works Thursdays. But… just on the off chance that super-pretty-girl-with-the-insane-abs maybe, just maybe, might come in on Fridays too, Yunjin goes ahead and adds Friday morning shifts to her weekly work schedule. Her manager never had a problem with more coverage, and if anybody asked, Yunjin could chalk it up to needing the extra money.
The things she does for a pretty girl…
God, she was kinda pathetic.
Yunjin shakes her head at herself, feeling mildly humiliated on this ripe Tuesday morning. They’re just about to open shop for the day, and she ties off her apron before putting on her nametag, as well as the small cornflower pin she always placed just beside it. It’d been a gift from her younger sister, Rachel, who knew it was Yunjin’s favorite flower, and wearing it every day helped Yunjin cope with just how much she missed her younger sister sometimes, now that Rachel was in college and they only got to see each other a handful of times per year. Yunjin supposes this was a part of growing up. But how interesting and gently heartbreaking that we let these people shape us for all those years, and then quickly have to go on. Life is strange in these small ways.
Yunjin sighs quietly, breathing in the warm scent of fresh espresso and enjoying the distant lulls of noise in their small building. Maybe she’ll make herself an iced latte or hot green tea before they had to open.
She takes a moment to pick out a playlist on her phone, never ever forgetting the days when it’s her turn on the AUX. After some slight debate, she decides on her shoegaze one, and presses play so the beginning track of Slowdive’s Souvlaki album starts to fill the cozy air of their cafe.
Yunjin hums along to the tune while she makes herself that hot green tea she thought of, reasoning that it was finally cool enough outside to comfortably enjoy a tea without them having to keep the AC on full blast. Leftover rain from early this morning is pattered along their doors and windows, and the crisp constant wind keeps them in an insulated, slight chill. They might even have to turn the heater on! This thought excites Yunjin. It’s nearly the end of October and they’d just suffered a heatwave, for crying out loud. If the universe decided it hated Yunjin and caused the weather to warm up later, that was fine. She’d save the iced latte for then, as a special treat. Plus, she’s sure she’ll be in a good mood by the time she gets off work, given that she’d be seeing you-know-who today. Aka Miss Pretty Girl.
Her name is Kazuha. Yunjin has it memorized from pretty much the first time she ever heard it, because it’s pretty and Japanese, and it was told to Yunjin by Kazuha herself, who is also pretty and Japanese, and who also has a gentle voice with the cutest little accent that she probably overthinks to death, because she’s always sporting the most adorable little blush on her cheeks and nose, and her tender brown eyes can never look at Yunjin the full two minutes of their interaction, and her Thank you is softer than cotton candy: just as sweet, and quiet like the moonlight in Yunjin’s apartment bedroom, here in New York.
Kazuha also lives in New York. Duh. Yunjin has gotten to know her a bit through the weeks as Kazuha’s come in. She knows Kazuha is from Osaka and works as a professional ballerina who’s been training since she was three years old. Right now she gives ballet lessons for small kids aged three to six, at a studio just a few blocks away from the cafe Yunjin works at. On her off days, Kazuha assists a few instructors at a junior ballet academy where they are rigorously preparing for this year’s showing of The Nutcracker.
Yunjin, for her part, was quite excited at the prospect of them sharing something in common. She tells Kazuha how she is a trained opera singer who does musicals here and there but works a second job because, though the money from the musicals is quite tremendous, opportunities were very sparse, and Yunjin had to make ends meet in-between shows. It’s a bit stressful, truth be told, and Yunjin always felt like money was just starting to become tight when a stroke of luck would strike and she’d be booked for another show. The good thing was that her parents were always willing to help her pay in case she needed it, and she had her best friend, Chaewon, and Chaewon’s girlfriend Sakura, who had a place of their own and told Yunjin she could stay with them whenever she wanted.
Would sleeping at their place make Yunjin less of a total chicken with her crush? Ughhh.
“Ooou,” Yunjin is snapped out of her whining by her coworker, Beomgyu, who wanders in while carrying a pack of extra cups and lids to restock. “What are you making? Smells good.”
“Just some green tea,” Yunjin replies.
“No iced latte today?” Beomgyu wonders.
“Too cold for that,” Yunjin justifies. “My teeth could probably use a break from it, too, though. I should probably stock up on my whitening strips before I start again.”
Beomgyu laughs. “I think you’ll be fine. Doesn’t it usually take a bunch of years for those stains to be super obvious?”
“I think so.” Yunjin shrugs. “But who knows? I can’t risk it. I have a reputation to uphold, you know.”
“Ah, yes yes. That’s right.” Beomgyu finishes restocking and chucks the trash into the garbage. “I forgot you have Ms. Iced Americano to impress.”
Yunjin blushes, knowing he is referring to Kazuha and her usual order that he was strictly forbidden from making. Yunjin usually liked being the cashier and stayed away from the espresso bar as much as possible, but when it came to Kazuha’s iced americano, Yunjin was practically shoving Beomgyu out of the way and making it herself. If for whatever reason she was unable to, and Beomgyu had to make it instead, Yunjin would still make it a point to be the one to call Kazuha’s name and hand it to her herself. She always added a little Have a pretty day :) ✿ on Kazuha’s cup as well, and was left with a fluttery sensation in her knees when Kazuha smiled at her and took the beverage with another little Thank you. Sometimes their fingers would even brush, and Yunjin swore she was ready to get down on one knee and ask Kazuha to marry her.
“Yes. Yes, I do.” Yunjin gives a dreamy sigh, taking a long sip of her tea and looking wistfully out the window.
“Dude.” Beomgyu huffs. “When are you gonna just ask her out?”
“Are you dumb? I can’t do that! She’ll think I’m a weirdo and never come back here again!” Yunjin squabbles.
“It’s 2026, Yunjin. She’s not gonna pepper-spray you for thinking she’s pretty.” Beomgyu crosses his arms. “Besides, you’re the one who never shuts up about her abs or whatever. You really think she has those so she can make guys drool?”
“Well… I don’t know!” Yunjin groans. “You said it yourself: It’s 2026. There are guys that are into that. And there are women who let them.”
Beomgyu snorts. “Alright, fair. But still. I don’t think she’s like that. She’s always a wreck around you.”
“You barely even talk to her.” Yunjin glares at him, feeling defensive.
“Exactly my point.” Beomgyu iterates. “I’ve only ever interacted with her a few times, and even I can tell how nervous you make her.”
“I-...” Yunjin opens her mouth, about to argue some more, but she’s at a loss for words and even more so when she feels her ears grow warm.
“Ugh. Whatever.” She concedes. “C’mon. Help me wipe down the tables before we open.” She grabs a damp rag and throws it rather aggressively at Beomgyu, making him laugh.
***
Kazuha is wearing a brown leather jacket that day. And a wisp of her slightly-slicked hair drapes perfectly across her eye, curled to perfection and looking beautifully windswept.
She asks Yunjin how her day is going, and looks so close to being confident that Yunjin swoons extra hard, because Kazuha is just so handsome. But then Yunjin’s hair falls slightly out of its clip while she’s taking Kazuha’s order, and Yunjin feels embarrassed that she might look goofy in front of such a gorgeous woman, and so she reaches up to take it out and let her hair down all the way; and then, just as quickly, Kazuha feels short of breath at the sight, and all her potential alpha-ness falls straight down the drain. And she’s back to her usual pink-cheeked, nervous wimpy self.
Fuck, she’s so cute, Yunjin thinks. And Kazuha is barely one step out the door before Yunjin is already counting down the days until Thursday when Kazuha might be back.
***
Thursday is, indeed, the lucky day. But then again, it is an unlucky day, just the same. Because while it makes Yunjin’s heart explode with joy that Kazuha is here again, it also means that she won’t be here tomorrow. Whenever Yunjin worked Thursdays and Kazuha didn’t come in, yes she felt disappointed, but she also knew it meant Kazuha would be coming the next day instead, and this gave Yunjin something to look forward to.
When she comes on Thursdays, however, it means that once she leaves, it’ll be a whole three days until Yunjin sees her again. And that’s just plain torture.
(Yunjin was seriously starting to become a spoiled brat. But really! It’s Kazuha’s fault for being so stupidly good-looking.)
Yunjin takes her sweet time making Kazuha’s drink, even going as far as to tell Beomgyu they’re out of ice cubes and he needs to go get more from their freezer.
(A bold lie that he becomes aware of when he goes to refill their ice chest and sees it’s still halfway full, but he’s not about to sabotage his friend’s way of shooting her shot, so he shuts up and just does as he’s told.)
Kazuha even orders a pastry that day, and Yunjin makes sure to pick their very best one, warming it up just right to be enjoyed. Beomgyu goes to wipe down a few tables and pick up some dirtied napkins, and it’s while doing so that he notices something sitting there.
“Check it out.” He says, holding up a small bouquet of flowers so Yunjin can see it while he walks back behind the espresso bar. “Somebody left this on one of the tables.”
“That’s so sad,” Yunjin says, sounding sincerely a bit upset. “I wonder if they realized.”
“Maybe they got it for somebody and then something happened.” Beomgyu speculates.
“Yeah, maybe.” Yunjin agrees. “I can’t imagine somebody receiving flowers and then just forgetting about them. If it were me, I’d never let them go.”
“Did your ex ever get you flowers?” Beomgyu asks, half-curious but also half-being an asshole, because he knows how awful Yunjin’s ex-boyfriend was.
“God.” Yunjin rolls her eyes, exasperated at the mere thought. “If he ever did, it was only because I literally asked him to.”
“How romantic.” Beomgyu pretends to wipe a tear, pressing the bouquet to his heart.
Yunjin nearly flips him off, refraining from doing so only because she remembers Kazuha is still here and she doesn’t want to be too unclassy in front of her.
She finishes making Kazuha’s order and calls her name gently to notify her.
Kazuha walks over to the pick-up counter, taking the drink and pastry from Yunjin’s hands.
“Thank you, Yunjin.” She smiles. “Have a nice rest of your day.”
Dang it, Yunjin realizes belatedly, once she’s home from work and has sufficiently come down enough from her high of touching Kazuha’s hands and hearing Kazuha say her name.
She didn’t say have a nice weekend.
Yunjin flops onto her bed, groaning.
She hates me. It’s so over.
***
Yunjin doesn’t realize it when she wakes up on Friday, but this day is about to be the best of her life.
She goes to work as normal and even manages to not feel too sad about not seeing her crush for the entire weekend, but it’s around lunchtime when everything goes down.
She has to admit that she still holds out the tiniest smidge of hope on Fridays that Kazuha might miraculously show up. Hey, it’s happened once or twice before, okay?! You can’t kill a girl for wanting to believe.
But 11:10am passes. And so does 11:45. And then noon, and then 12:30pm, too, and Yunjin starts to let the dream go. They’ll be closing up at 1pm for lunch, and when they reopen at 2, it’s only for another hour before closing for the day. The perks of opening at 6am.
It’s 12:51pm when the last of their midday customers leaves, and Yunjin has to spend the next few minutes praying harder than ever in her life for no one else to come in before the clock strikes 1pm.
It’s barely at 12:58pm when she caves, though, but she reasons that it’s a Friday and they deserve a little extra time to relax. Two whole minutes of extra time, to be exact. Beomgyu has just gone out to pick up their order of food, and Yunjin’s stomach growls with anticipation.
She flips their sign to its Sorry, we’re closed side and locks the door, turning and walking just a few steps when she hears it.
Knock knock knock.
Three gentle taps on their window, which make Yunjin stop and turn around to look.
There, standing just outside, in a soft-looking grey longsleeve, with dark denim jeans and black boots, is Kazuha.
Kazuha holding a small bouquet of blue flowers.
But not just any flowers. Cornflowers.
Yunjin’s favorite.
Yunjin blinks, slightly frozen in shock and because of the way her heart is hammering like a roll of thunder inside her butterfly-laden chest.
Kazuha gives her a shy smile, feeling slightly awkward while she waits to be let in.
“O-oh! Right!” Yunjin snaps out of it, scrambling to the door and unlocking it to usher Kazuha inside.
“Thank you…” Kazuha mutters, sighing a bit with relief at how nice and warm the cafe is.
Yunjin turns to lock the door again and leans her back against it, her hands tucked behind herself, swallowing hard to try and not throw up out of excitement right now.
“I’m so sorry, I know it’s your lunch break. I just really didn’t think it’d take me so long to get here.” Kazuha begins to ramble nervously. “But the flower stand across the street didn’t have cornflowers so I had to call three different places to find them, so I took a taxi but got stuck in traffic. And then the subway station next to the flower shop to come back here was closed, so I had to go to the other one, but it was delayed. And I really don’t mean to take up your lunchtime, but I just… I really wanted to give you these, and also I really wanted to see you, and I—”
“You wanted to see me?” Yunjin says, her voice an awestruck, lovely squeak. She’s looking at Kazuha with the biggest, most adorable eyes ever, all sunny and cuddly while she hides a smile. She’s never seen Kazuha this talkative before.
Kazuha blushes deeply, glancing away because she feels extremely flustered.
“I-... Y-yes.” She admits. “I wanted to-… I was hoping to talk to you. But I mean-... I really d-don’t wanna take up your lunchtime, or anything, and really that’s more important, so I can j—”
Yunjin cuts her off entirely by gently taking Kazuha’s hand.
Kazuha’s breath hitches softly, heart skipping as she feels Yunjin’s fingertips graze her palm and trace lightly.
Yunjin smiles at her. “Are the flowers for me?” She whispers.
Kazuha gulps, feeling like a puppy caught redhanded. “Y-Yes…”
Yunjin feels like she wants to kiss Kazuha’s cheek right then and there, and not let go of her ever.
She tries not to cry. “How’d you know cornflowers are my favorite?”
Kazuha looks down at the floor.
“Your pin.” She says meekly. “You always wear it, and I’ve seen it because I-... It’s what I look at when I’m…. y’know…. too nervous to look at you...” She holds the flowers tighter, that reflex for when you feel shy.
Yunjin swears she’s about to fucking melt right into the floor, and she wipes away a tear that almost slips out of the corner of her eye, trying to cool herself down before she has a full-blown sob fest.
It’s just that Kazuha is so, so fucking ridiculously insanely cute. And no one has ever done this for Yunjin before.
The blonde girl fans her eyes, sniffling to try and subdue the emotions.
“Kazuha,” she says softly, waiting for the Japanese girl to look at her. “Do you wanna stay and have lunch with me?”
Yunjin starts to twine their fingers together as she says this, and Kazuha smiles at the gesture while offering the flowers for Yunjin to take.
“I’d like that very much.” The younger girl accepts, squeezing Yunjin’s hand affectionately.
Yunjin beams at her, taking the flowers and pulling Kazuha along.
***
After lunch that day, they exchange numbers. Yunjin has the habit of sending cute selfies as she goes about her day, and Kazuha doesn’t know how much longer she can pretend they don’t drive her insane.
On this particular day, Yunjin has just finished a session of vocal touch-ups for her upcoming performance in a musical. Kazuha’s almost done with her ballet class, and Yunjin sends her a picture of a thumbs up with a cute little smile on her face and winky eyes.
Kazuha, from her place inside the ballet studio, feels her phone buzz. She takes it out, smiling at the messages and typing quick replies while her students get their ballet shoes off.
yunnie ☀︎ | 1:16pm
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yunnie ☀︎ | 1:16pm
done for today!
yunnie ☀︎ | 1:16pm
btw i was thinking, are
you still off tmrw? i was
gonna ask if you want to
meet after my rehearsal
and we could get something
to eat :) there’s this place
that makes fresh takoyaki
yunnie ☀︎ | 1:16pm
not as good as the
actual thing in japan,
i know i know T-T but it’s
supposed to be pretty good!
Yunjin sees the three little dots pop up on Kazuha’s end, and she smiles like a dummy while imagining Kazuha’s cute face.
zuzu ⏾ | 1:17pm
gosh you look so pretty
zuzu ⏾ | 1:17pm
also i’d love to!
that sounds amazing :D
zuzu ⏾ | 1:17pm
if i get to to the theater
a bit early, it’s totally
not to be sneaky and
hear you sing or anything
zuzu ⏾ | 1:17pm
:p
yunnie ☀︎ | 1:18pm
you’re only hurting
yourself!!! if you
would just be patient,
then the actual show
will be a surprise…
yunnie ☀︎ | 1:19pm
but YAY!! takoyaki
tomorrow, here we come
Yunjin blushes, burying her face in her pillow and giggling like a schoolgirl at Kazuha’s next messages.
zuzu ⏾ | 1:19pm
it’s a date<3
zuzu ⏾ | 1:19pm
>_<