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"Thank you! Please come again next time!" Hyun Ae said, opening the shop door for the customers that were leaving with smiles on their faces. She closed the door and then walked towards the main counter while going through the almost full-house shop at that time.

"Yoon Hee ah..." she called her friend out, eyes still glancing around the shop, full with mostly teenagers and some adults.

"So... what do you say?" Yoon Hee smiled, tapping her fingers on top of the counter.

"We're gonna need extra hands."

"On it," Yoon Hee remarked, pulling out her small notebook and a pen from her apron's pocket. "When is the interview?"

"Next week, of course," she confirmed, then letting out a sigh as she turned around and leaned her back against the counter. "Hah... I sensed something wrong."

"Hm?"

"Why does my shop suddenly have a mass number of customers these days?"

"Um..." Yoon Hee only hummed, scratching her head as she glanced at her wristwatch. "Oh! It's your lunchtime, right?"

"Hm?"

"Lunchtime. It's your turn. Look!" Yoon Hee exaggerated, showing Hyun Ae her watch, indicating the current time that was right on 1:30 pm. "Why don't you go out and eat something?"

"But I can just order delivery-"

"Nope. If you do that, your lunchtime will be interrupted by helping me. You never finished your lunch when that happens. Please..."

Yoon Hee began to grab Hyun Ae's bag and passed it to her when she gave her a suspicious look. "If you're hiding something from me, you better spill it out now."

"Eish. It's nothing, really," Yoon Hee snickered, untying the apron around Hyun Ae's waist before giving her a pat on her back.

"You want anything?" she asked Yoon Hee one last time before she pulled open the door to leave the shop.

"I'll text you." And with that, Hyun Ae left the shop, and Yoon Hee immediately pulled out her phone from her pants pocket, smiling as she scrolled down her contact list. "Hello? All clear."

***

Hyun Ae was wandering around the town for a while, getting some fresh air after she had her lunch. Her mind went deep into random thoughts as she glanced at the clear blue sky.

I can't believe my life changed instantly. Not in a bad way, but a good way-

"Oh!" she gasped, as she realized that she had bumped her shoulder against another guy who wore a face mask and a cap, only exposing his eyes to her. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay, sir?"

The guy only gave her nods and left her instantly, leaving her in a confused state.

"I was... polite? Huh, people nowadays..." she sighed, then continued to walk, back to her shop.

"Park... Hyun Ae?" the guy whispered and stopped in his track then turned back, watching the girl walked away, increasing the distance between them.

"Is that... really you?"

***

"What... is going-"

Hyun Ae began to walk slowly as she found out a long line of girls of various ages, moving slowly into her shop.

Curious about whatever was happening; she began to speed up her steps toward the entrance when some of the girls began to call her out.

"Bangtan Eonnie! Can we take photos, together?!"

She was flustered by the request, but then she took a few- well, a lot actually, of photos with the girls. One by one, group by group began to crowd around her, taking photos and saying 'love you, eonnie!' and 'thank you eonnie!'

Without wasting any more time, Hyun Ae ran up to her shop and entered, her eyes met the view of the shop becoming full, excluding the ones that were still outside the shop, lining up to enter the place, filling some more empty spaces.

"Whoa," she wowed, trying to squeeze her way through the crowds. She was approaching the counter when suddenly she heard a mic being tapped, getting her attention towards the mini stage area.

"Oh, the owner is here. Shall we start now?"

That voice had made her eyes wide opened, covering her surprised expression with her hands. "You guys!" she squeaked behind her hands.

Baby baby, you're a caramel macchiato

Your scent is still sweet on my lips
Baby baby tonight...

The customers began to cheer up and sing along with BTS as they continued to sing their old song that fits the location perfectly, 'coffee'.

"Eonnie!" Yoon Hee called out, pulling Hyun Ae's arm to get her out from the crowd and brought her behind the counter.

"You must be behind this too! And why are they in their barista... outfits?!" Hyun Ae began to ask, anxious feeling surged into her. "Yoon Hee ah, when I said that I need extra hands, I never meant this-"

"Shhh. Just... act as nothing happened."

"How can I? When did you guys plan this, huh?"

"You'll get your answers from them. They told me that they will tell you."

"They better be! I'll be in trouble! BigHit might think that I'm using them to make my business-"

"It's okay-"

"It's... not..." Hyun Ae's words began to shake, tears began to threaten her, and when a single tear rolled down her cheek, Yoon Hee began to calm her down because she knew that when Hyun Ae acted in such a way, there must be something that she wanted to prevent from happening.

"Eonnie? Don't cry!"

"I'm just afraid-"

"Park Hyun Ae-ssi?" a male voice called her out from behind the girls, on the other side of the counter.

"Oh!" Hyun Ae gasped, and quickly wiped her tears away as she turned to the person and bowed her head down. "Sir..."

"I'm-"

"I'm so sorry sir! I've told them-"

"Hey, it's okay. They told me about this last week."

"What?"

"They wanted to help an old friend, they said. I never thought that it was you," the BigHit boss chuckled.

The sudden appearance of the well-known Bang Shi Hyuk in her shop was already surprising, but him in an undercover outfit complete with a bucket hat and a face mask pushed down all the way under his chin then chuckled in front of her had made her more surprised.

Surely the head of these crackheads, she thought in her mind and couldn't help but to smile a bit.

"Namjoonie did the talk with me. I totally agreed with him, and I let them do this. That's why there are two days off for them. Plus, I'd do anything that my boys want, you know that yourself," he continued, biting into the croissant he had in his hand.

"But I don't feel right-"

"Because you felt like you're using them?" he smiled, before taking another bite before he resumed. "Nah... don't worry. They're doing this to help you, with all their hearts. This is their usual way to thank someone who had worked hard for them. And, when it comes to kindness, I usually allow them to do it."

Hyun Ae went quiet; her eyes gazed back at the boys who were having their mini-show with fans singing along with them.

"Just... think of that your life now had changed. The fate of you reuniting with your old friend is the biggest peak in your life. From that very first moment when you met him again, that was the moment where your new beginning of another story in your life had started. You're one of those lucky people in that life," Bang Shi Hyuk wisely said, finishing his croissant, and then asking for another one from Yoon Hee. "Oh. By the way, I love this croissant."

"Oh, thanks!" Hyun Ae laughed as she thanked him and urged Yoon Hee to give him an extra two of her best-selling treats. "On me."

"Oh, you're so sweet. Thank you," he said, with a smile as he took the paper bag filled with the treats and whispered, "and I'll get going now. They shouldn't know that I'm here, or they'll be nagging at me for diet something, whatever. See you next time."

With that, the BigHit boss sneaked his way out of the shop without the boys noticing at all. Letting out a sigh of relief, Hyun Ae and Yoon Hee turned at the group, and at the perfect timing, they had just finished their performance.

"Thank you, everyone!" Namjoon began to say, standing at the center of the stage with the others around him, clapping along with the fans. "Please enjoy your time here, enjoy the drinks and food here, I hope you will continue to support this café because it means a lot to us. Ever since this place opened in 2016, all the drinks that had replenished our energy came from here. This is our favorite place."

After the short speech, all of them descended from the stage and began to lead the fans to sit at the empty tables. In a blink of an eye, it became full-house for the first time since it was opened, and Hyun Ae became speechless when she looked around her shop.

"Hey," suddenly Hyun Ae felt a hand on her shoulder, so she turned. "Surprise!" Namjoon said with his happy face while the rest of the group were cheering and clapping their hands like happy seals.

"Hyun Ae ah? You're okay?" Namjoon called out again, now feeling a bit worried because there was no reaction from her, other than her glassy eyes staring at him intently as she walked towards him slowly.

"You... fool..." she muttered under her shaky breath. Then her fists came up and began to give him small punches on his chest as she broke down into tears. "You fool! You got me scared for a moment back there! I thought I'll get banned from seeing you guys again if BigHit find out-"

"Haha! Don't worry!" he laughed, placing his one hand on her shoulder while the other on her head, patting her softly. "It's alright, it's okay. I've talked with Bang PD, and he let us do what we just did there."

"But I don't deserve all this!"

"No, no. Don't say that," he softly said, almost in a whisper. So soft that Hyun Ae was frozen inside as Namjoon made their eyes meet at the same height. "You deserve this, Park Hyun Ae. Now, if you excuse us. We got work to do."

"Oh, we're run out of pastries. I'll make more," Jin said, flashing a smile at her and waved before he entered the kitchen immediately, followed by Suga who also flashed a knowing smirk at her.

"Orders coming in," Jimin and Taehyung snickered, rolling up their sleeves and beginning to stand beside Yoon Hee, ready to help her in making the orders. "Thank goodness we learned the basics through Run BTS."

"Pen and paper," Hoseok and Jungkook showed their pens to Hyun Ae before they began to reach the customers and began to take orders.

"And let me..." Namjoon whispered in his low tone voice as he placed his thumbs under Hyun Ae's eyes as he spoke, "wipe those tears away."

"Thank... you..." she whispered, giggling though still with a shaky breath.

"No. Thank you," he smiled, and for a moment there, the silence between them kicked in. The distance between these two was so close that it was an awkward moment for the two.

Hyun Ae was sure her cheeks had turned faint red so as she cleared her throat to break the moment, she felt a pair of lips landed on her forehead in a second, and warmth began to seep into her face at the moment she felt the soft touch of Namjoon's lips on her skin as if he was afraid to break a china doll.

"Now, just sit back and relax," he said, in the softest way Hyun Ae ever heard in her life and her ARMY mode began to rush in through her veins, but she knew that she had to hold it in, so she began to speak in a strict tone.

"No, I can't just sit-"

"And now you should. You need to rest a bit," he smirked, showing his beautiful dimple, making her even weaker inside, but then she began to pull out her apron from below the counter and tied it around her waist.

"Like you guys, I never know when to rest," Hyun Ae said, full of determination when she gave him her intimidating smirk, making the leader chuckle as he rolled up his sleeves.

"Whatever. By the way, you were totally red," Namjoon pointed out, giving her a wink before he left her there, standing in embarrassment. By then, she knew her whole body had turned red.

Eish, this guy.

**

"We're done!" Jungkook hollered, as he wiped clean the top of the last table. Everyone gathered around the main counter as Yoon Hee turned the door sign from 'open' to 'closed'. Hyun Ae let out a sigh and smiled at the view of everyone standing around her.

"Hyun noona, how were we doing?" the maknae asked, flipping his hair to one side as he threw his arm around Jimin's shoulders.

"Good job, I'd say. You guys did a good job," Hyun Ae said, passing them a few tins of cold beverages from her small fridge, which they took happily and began drinking it. "And oh, I'm still curious. The customers, how did they-"

"This guy here did all that. From the very first time, we know it is your shop, he promoted it on Twitter. And that's how the customers began to increase," Jungkook revealed, shaking Jimin who was drinking his cola sheepishly.

"Oooh, Park Jimin-ssi," Hyun Ae wooed, shooting mini finger hearts to the shy guy, making him even shyer.

"It's nothing. And please call me 'oppa', don't call me that," Jimin requested, staring at his drink with a small smile carved onto his face.

"Fine," Hyun Ae said, then scooted closer to him and tilted her head to one side, getting his attention to her, then said, "Jimin oppa."

When Jimin let out a chuckle, Taehyung suddenly tapped his shoulder. "You actually love that, right?"

"No, I'm not!" Jimin whined, shaking his head as he looked over at his friend.

"Said the one who lied," Taehyung mocked, then holding up his cola and pointed to the red part of the tin. "You looked red as this. You know that we know our ARMYs well, right Hyun Ae ah?"

"Hmph. As expected from our V oppa," Hyun Ae smiled, crossing her arms over her chest then giggled. They began to have random conversations, and waves of laughter filled the night at the closed café, making them unaware of the time that had passed by.

It's a very eventful night. And I love it.

Hyun Ae then quietly glanced at the boy who was standing at the very end of the counter, smiling at whatever the conversations they were having now. She couldn't help but to warmly smile at the boy.

Maybe Yoon Hee was right. 

*********************************************************************************

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