AquariusRose usually posted a video every two weeks but since Chaeyoung just moved in a new place, she has not yet found any new topic to share with her followers on her social media account. When she first opened the broadcast channel, she was just trying to fill her time outside of her job as an independent tutor and found that sharing about her travel was the niche that got her engagement the most. From travelling tips and recommendation videos, she slowly added random videos of her activities outside of work, which helped her channel to grow.
After a month of settling in at Crista Haven Apartments, she finally found new stuff to share with her followers. She decided to introduce her new pet and do a short broadcast of herself enjoying food from her newest favourite place, GoldenGrove Cafe.
"Welcome to GoldenGrove.", she was greeted by an unfamiliar staff that morning as she entered the cafe.
"Good morning, miss. Can I take your order?", the female staff asked as she approached the counter.
"Oh, Ms Park. Hi.", a familiar voice greeted her from behind.
She turned around, looking at Jungkook tilting his head at her before going beside the female staff behind the counter.
"Hi, Mr Jeon.", she replied to him.
"Noona, it's okay. I know her. I'll serve her order.", she heard him say to the female staff with the name tag 'Lee Jieun'.
"You sure?", Jieun asked him.
He nodded, "Yes, it's all good."
"Okay.."
Jieun reluctantly went to the kitchen while her eyes observe him and Chaeyoung quietly.
"Alright. So, Ms Park. I haven't seen you in a while. Even at the apartment. How are you doing?", he said while Chaeyoung was looking through the pastries in the display cases.
His words somehow left Chaeyoung stunned a little, and he quickly realized that he might have worded it wrong.
"Um, I'm sorry. I'm used to having a small talk with my customers. And you, you're my customer and practically also my neighbour so...", he tried to explain himself.
Chaeyoung nodded and gave a small smile at him, "I understand, Mr Jeon. It's just...you caught me off guard a little."
Jungkook nodded, "I know. I'm sorry."
She shook her head, "No, it's alright and to answer your question, I'm great. It's just that...I'm a little busy these days so I didn't have the time to come by as much."
"I see. So...what can I get you today?", he replied, no more small talk and direct to the point.
Chaeyoung chuckled as she watched him opening the cover of the display case, ready to pick out whatever she wanted.
"Actually I'm looking for the mochi but..."
"Oh...I'm very sorry we don't have it for today but we do have another special menu. It's this one, I call it Golden Stacker Sandwich. One set has four pieces, perfect for a healthy breakfast and...we have this special sauce you can dip the sandwich with.", he picked out a tray of the said sandwich to the counter.
Chaeyoung looked at the sandwich stacked on the mini wooden skewers with interest. Then, her eyes went to the special sauce beside the tray. The light green and the smooth texture of the sauce intrigued her curiosity of the ingredients for the sauce.
"If I may ask, may I know what's in the sauce, Mr Jeon?", she asked.
Jungkook smiled, "It's a secret. You'll know when you try it."
She smiled back, "Secret, huh? What if I have an allergy of its ingredients?"
"Do you? If you do, I'm sorry-"
Chaeyoung shook her head, "I'm just joking."
She did have an allergy to avocado but it was not due to health reasons and she had eaten something with it from the cafe so...
"I can eat anything.", she told him.
"You sure? Because if you have any food allergy, you should let me know. I won't let you eat something you can't eat.", he sounded concerned.
Chaeyoung nodded a few times, assuring him of it.
"Okay, then. Is this good for you? If you want something else, you can tell me. This is just my suggestion for you anyway.", he said.
"Yeah, this is good. What you suggest must be good, right?", she replied to him.
He smiled in return, "Eat here or take away?"
"Take away, please."
He nodded before proceeding to prepare the sandwich into its packaging. While waiting for it, Chaeyoung could not keep her eyes away from her car that she parked in front of the cafe. Jungkook noticed the way she looked at it as he was preparing her sandwich.
"It's ready, Ms Park.", he stated, gaining her attention again.
"Oh, okay. How much is it?", she asked.
With a gentle gesture, Jungkook pointed at the amount shown on the cash register.
"Here you go.", Chaeyoung gave him the money for the sandwich.
While giving her the balance, he asked if she was okay as she looked a bit tensed.
"I'm great. It's just...I just adopted a puppy.", she was trying to keep it to herself but she could not handle it when someone was attentive to her.
Jungkook looked slightly surprised to hear it, "That's cool."
His reaction was genuine in a good way and it put her at ease to share more with him.
"Yeah, and he's in the car right now. It's his first time going out of the house so I'm a bit worried about leaving him alone.", she told him.
"Oh, I see. How old is the little guy?", Jungkook asked.
"He's six months. His name is Hank. And he has a very happy tail.", she smiled as she answered him more than he asked.
Jungkook laughed softly, looking at how happy Chaeyoung was as she spoke about her new puppy.
"And I guess he's the reason you're busy at home?", he asked her.
While covering her mouth, she admitted, "He's so small and before I adopted him, he was sick and just recovered so it took time for him to create a bond with me."
Jungkook nodded, "I understand the feeling. Bam was pretty similar when I first adopted him."
"Oh, speaking of Bam, how old is he?", Chaeyoung asked.
"Just a month older than yours.", he answered.
"Really? Then, Hank can be his friend. They're almost the same age.", Chaeyoung said excitedly.
Her reaction almost made Jungkook flinch.
"Yeah, and if you need any help about puppies, I can help you too, Ms Park.", he said to her.
She nodded with a smile before her phone began to ring, "Oh, it's time."
"It's time?"
"I set a 15-minute timer to leave Hank. I should go now. I see you next time, Mr Jeon.", Chaeyoung said as she hurriedly picked up the sandwich.
"See you, Ms Park.", Jungkook replied as he watched Chaeyoung rush out to her car. "Why are you so cute?"
"That's a long conversation, Mr Jeon.", Jieun appeared in a second beside him.
He turned to her with a fake smile, "How long were you listening in, noona?"
Jieun refused to answer it, "Who is she? I haven't seen her around."
"Ms Park, my neighbour next-door. She just moved in a month ago.", Jungkook answered.
"Ms Park? Your neighbour next-door?", she repeated.
Jungkook nodded, "Please don't make any assumptions, noona. We're just having a small talk."
Jieun rolled her eyes, "Small talk? I heard you say she's cute. That wasn't a small talk between a customer and a seller, Jungkook."
"Noona, you should stop listening in others' conversation.", he tried to end the topic there.
"Not if I can help them.", Jieun replied. "I can help you if you really like her.", she added, smirking at Jungkook.
The younger man looked at her in disbelief, "What makes you think I like her?"
"Well...you practically shoved me away when you saw her, you sounded excited talking with her, and what was that with helping her about puppies? You were wishing to get closer to her, Jungkook.", Jieun stated every point she could to stop Jungkook from denying his feelings.
He blinked at Jieun's words, "I'm going to the back."
Jieun nodded, "Yes. That's right. Run away while you can."
♡♡♡
Back to her apartment, Chaeyoung carefully put Hank back into the doghouse before she went to the guest room, where she turned into her broadcast room. She had planned to film a video to compile along with the ones that Lisa had edited from the dog shelter. The video introducing Hank was too short for her so she planned to combine it with this upcoming video before she upload it to her channel later. After setting up everything in just a few minutes, she sat down on the chair and began filming.
"Hi, guys! It's me, AquariusRose aka Chaeyoung, that you guys have been missing a lot. I saw your comments, Your responses. A lot of you asked where I disappeared."
She took a sip of water before continuing, "I'm a little thirsty, I'm sorry. Anyway, where was I again? You miss me, yeah, don't worry, guys. I'm not disappearing, I just took some time off since I just moved into a new place."
Chaeyoung smiled shyly, "I was a bit busy settling down in my new place and adjusting myself with the areas around so...I hope you understand."
She was bowing down to the camera to say sorry when she saw Hank entering the room, "Oh, it's my baby."
She stood up to call him before he jumped on her lap. She giggled as she kissed the bicolour puppy and showed him on the camera in front of them.
"Hankie, look to the camera. My baby Hank, say hi...", she smiled before kissing Hank's head. "Guys, this is supposed to be a surprise but I guess Hank wanted to surprise you himself.", she added. "Actually, today's video is about him, I want to introduce you guys to him. I've actually prepared a short video for you guys but here he is. He was sleeping earlier but I guess he's up to see everyone."
After the surprise appearance of Hank on the filming, Chaeyoung paused the filming process to play with him for a while. When Hank got sleepy, she put him back to sleep in his doghouse and she continued where she left off with her video.
♡♡♡
Lisa was with Bogum when Chaeyoung appeared at her apartment with Hank. The two were watching Chaeyoung's latest video when she surprised them from behind. Her presence made Lisa paused the video titled 'AquariusRose's Happiness Pt 9' to greet her heartily.
"Gosh, I thought you won't come here anymore after getting Hank.", Bogum said after Chaeyoung hugged him.
"I told Lisa I'll come by tonight. She didn't tell you, oppa?", Chaeyoung asked while looking at Lisa cluelessly.
"Why would I tell him?", Lisa replied while taking Hank into her arms.
"Well, because he's here with you.", Chaeyoung pointed at the elder guy.
"Oh, he just came to give me snacks for my cats.", Lisa said before calling her pets out of their room. "Guys, look who's here...", she put Hank down to play with her cats and dog around the house.
Chaeyoung eyed Bogum with pity before whispering, "She's so oblivious. I'm sorry, oppa."
"I'm used to it.", Bogum replied quietly. "Anyway, how come you can still enter this house freely? This is a breach of privacy, Chaeyoung.", he added as he watched Lisa walking to the kitchen, leaving him with Chaeyoung in the living room.
"Oh, yeah. I keep the spare key. Lisa said I could come here anytime so.", she smiled widely to him.
Bogum shook his head, "You have your own house already."
"Oppa, move.", Lisa suddenly came back with two bowls of popcorn and sat between Bogum and Chaeyoung at the sofa. "This one's for you, Chae.", she handed one bowl to Chaeyoung.
"Thank you."
Bogum pouted, "What about me?"
Lisa shrugged, "You weren't invited, oppa."
Chaeyoung chuckled, "Yah, Lisa. Don't be like that."
"What? It's true. It's our girls' night. He shouldn't be here.", Lisa replied, purposely trying to annoy Bogum.
"Right, I'm just here to give your cat snacks.", Bogum stood up, acting as if he was ready to leave.
"Oh, come on.", Lisa pulled his hand. "Sit down, oppa. Let's share this together.", she told him.
Chaeyoung smiled, seeing the cute interaction between her best friend and Bogum.
"Now, where were we again?", Lisa ignored Bogum after he sat down and pressed play on the video they were watching earlier.
"Oh, you guys were watching my video?", Chaeyoung asked, realizing that they were in the middle of watching her latest video she had just uploaded a few hours ago.
"Of course. Didn't I tell you I will support your work, my twinsis?", Lisa said, smiling.
Chaeyoung's cheeks went red, "I know you love me, Lisa."
"Where did you get the sandwich, Chae? They look delicious.", Bogum chimed in as they watched Chaeyoung eating a sandwich in the video.
"Make a guess, oppa.", she replied.
"Seriously? You're gatekeeping the place?", he asked while eating popcorn.
Chaeyoung laughed at him, "Watch it till the end. You'll find out."
As they were watching the video, Chaeyoung got her phone out to check the comment section of the video.
g.min: That's a cute puppy!! Just like me! 😗
aquariusrosebiggestfan: I'm so happy to see you happy, Chaeyoung! Keep being happy and healthy, baby!!
hank_enthusiast: I'm so happy you adopted a puppy. Keep inspiring us, AquariusRose! #adoptdontshop #iamnumberonehanksfan
virgo_den: Hank is so cute, just like you.
♡♡♡
Four chapters are finally out. What do you think so far?