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The aroma of brewed coffee is thick on her senses when Jennie walks inside the Rome Coffee Shop. She immediately spots Yeonjun, snapping his comic book shut to give a gauche welcome, only to deflate when he realizes it's just Jennie.

The writer should be offended by the lack of importance shown to her, but again, she has been a regular to this place for a week now. A small evening escapade when her house becomes hauntingly silent. When she starts realizing how lonely she is.

"Welcome back, Jennie." Yeonjun grins, he has even dropped honorifics with her and yet Jennie can't bring herself to be mad, "You'll take your usual?"

"Yeah, Thanks Yeonjun-ah."

Jennie begins to lift her hand, her fingers itching to ruffle the younger boy's hair in a similar way she has seen Jisoo or Haein doing it, but her nerves are too heightened for that. So eventually she forces down her fist and makes her way to the sitting area instead.

The café today is bustling with life, which makes sense since it's the weekend, and many people from nearby cities come to this countryside in search of peace, or maybe just a simple family picnic.

She sees Haein on his mini-stage as usual, strumming his guitar slowly, and Jisoo running in and out of the kitchen to serve the orders. When the older girl notices her standing, she immediately strides towards her.

"As you can see, we are on a shortage of seats today." Jisoo motions to the myriads of customers, an apologetic smile on her face, "Would you mind sharing?"

"No, it's alright." Jennie waves off, she is not good with strangers, and she tends to act stupidly and make an enemy out of them (kind of what happened with Taehyung). But in just a week she has gotten addicted to Jisoo's coffee, and the chocolate pastry she serves.

So with an encouraging nod, she scans the area to see any empty seats. Her eyes land on a seat near the window, where just a single woman is sitting, engrossed in her book with a peculiar mass of blonde hair falling down her shoulders.

Jennie hesitantly approaches her and utters a simple 'hi' when she is close enough.

The girl looks up, her face is framed in thin silver-rimmed glasses and she immediately gives a polite smile on seeing Jennie. "Hello, can I help you?" Her Korean sounds rough on the edges, with an unknown accent in her voice.

"The rest of the seats are full; can I sit here?" The writer replies, motioning to the chattering people around the space.

"Of course, please sit." Maybe it is because she has a beautiful voice, but Jennie's leftover hesitation gets washed away as she takes her spot opposite to the blonde.

The cool wind of the fan dries the hair sticking to her forehead, Jennie brings out her handkerchief and dabs it around her jaw and nape, the summer has finally arrived and it's joyfully brutal, to say the least.

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⏰ Last updated: Jan 21 ⏰

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