It was a Saturday, and knowing how "Momoland" usually was on the weekend, I decided to pick up lunch for Yeonwoo and Hyebin. I gave them a call earlier and Hyebin didn't want anything, but Yeonwoo asked for a grilled chicken sub. Knowing her, I also picked up a Kit-Kat bar; she's not one to eat a meal all at once - she's more of a snacker, and I knew that Kit-Kat was her favourite.
As I approached the store, I noticed that the shop was completely full and luckily for Hyebin and Yeonwoo, the line at the cash was dying down. When I opened the door, Yeonwoo immediately turned around to see who came in and after spotting me, she gave me a big smile and said, "Hey princess."
I strutted to the counter while waving the bag with her food in front of me, "Hey Yeonwoo-ahh," I looked over her shoulder, "hey Hyebin! How's everything going with you two?"
Hyebin dries a mug and comes in my direction saying, "It's been hell - the both of us have been running back and forth from the back room to constantly take out more milk." Ahh, that explains the dishevelled look.
Yeonwoo really suits the look though - hair tousled, apron ruffled, a slightly flustered look. I'd say she looks pretty dreamy.
"Yikes, thats rough... Is there anything I could do to help?"
"Nah, it's all good Nancy, we can handle it," Hyebin replies.
"Well, I'll be here - even if you need me to run to the store to get stuff, just give me a call!" and with that, Hyebin grins and goes back to drying plates and mugs.
Yeonwoo turns to me, "Ya, how much do I owe you?"
"Don't worry about it, Dabin. It's all good," I reach inside of my pocket and pull out the Kit-Kat, "annnddddd, I got you this too."
Yeonwoo eyes the chocolate in excitement - kind of like a puppy, "Awwhh, Nancy. You didn't have to get me that, seriously," she smiles.
"I know, but I wanted to," I shrugged.
"Come to the back with me."
At least there wasn't a lineup at the register at the moment, I wouldn't have wanted to get in the way of their work. I go behind the counter and into the doorway leading to the back room where the workers put their belongings. When I turned around, Yeonwoo was by the entrance, walking towards me with arms wide open and I run into her, wrapping my arms around her waist.
After what seemed like forever, we let go of each other and she thanked me for getting her food. But a few moments after, Yeonwoo's face drops a bit. "Dabin, is everything alright?"
"Nancy," she starts off, looking at me dead in the eyes, "I know it doesn't really concern you, but I couldn't get this off my mind."
As she continues to speak, I lead her to a chair so we could sit, "For these last 2 weeks, I've actually noticed this girl - maybe about your age. Every time she comes into the shop, she would never smile, never look at Hyebin or I in the eyes, and would look..." she pauses and shrugs, "...pretty dead. I-it's kind of h-haunting.
And every time I would go back to her table to clean up after she's gone, I would see messages or little notes on her coffee cup. But it's nothing like the movies - most of her notes would be so sad to read... Like one time, she wrote something on the lines of "I can't be here anymore" or "nothing's the same, I need help." I believe her name is Daisy, if I'm not mistaken..."
I saw concern in her eyes and I knew that Yeonwoo wouldn't make a big deal out of nothing. All I could really do was give her a sense of comfort by closing her hands in mine. Then, a thought came into mind, "Has she dropped by today?"
"Yes actually, she's sitting at the back of the store."
"Would you care to point her out?"
"Yeah, come on," and with that, she takes my hand and leads me to the door frame separating the shop with the back room. We both peak to the left of the frame and Yeonwoo points to the girl who's wearing an oversized royal blue crewneck, hair tied up. Her ears kind of stick out like monkey ears, which I thought was super adorable - but like Yeonwoo said, she wasn't smiling.
"Okay, I have an idea, just get back to work and lemme take care of this," I say after letting go of Yeonwoo's hand. I didn't even realize we were still holding each other's hands.
"Alright princess, I hope you know what you're doing."
I wink at Yeonwoo as a response - receiving a chuckle in return - and head my way towards Daisy. Since all the tables were full and Daisy was sitting all by herself, I decided to give her some company. When I got to her table, it didn't seem like she noticed I was standing right in front of her, so, I tried initiating conversation, "Hey, is it alright if I sit here? It doesn't seem like there are any available seats left."
Almost immediately, she looks at me with round and bright eyes and a surprised expression, but after a few moments, she looks down and replies with a whisper, "Yeah, go ahead."
After settling down, I noticed how pale she looked, even under the warm lighting, how her thoughts seem to be all over the place, and how her hands would twitch every now and then. She looked so vulnerable - I really hope I know what I'm doing.
Although I knew her name, I went for the most basic approach to get her to introduce herself. So, I present my warmest smile and say, "My name is Nancy, what's yours?"
She didn't reply right away and was looking at me with questioning, yet curious eyes. I took my time to look at her facial features and she reminded me so much of a baby chipmunk - she looks so precious, why is someone like her feeling so miserable?
But finally, she responds in a quiet and gentle voice, "I'm Daisy," she pauses. What she does next was super unexpected, but she flashes a small smile and whispers, "like the flower."
"Ah, well Daisy, that is a beautiful name. I think you're the first person I've met so far named after a flower," I received a chuckle from her and continue to speak, "and you know what Daisy, you should smile a lot more often, it really suits you." And it was true - when she smiled, she emitted some kind of bright light and genuine joy.
After saying this, she avoids my gaze and giggles a bit, but I noticed that the smile was wearing out. So I tired my best to keep the flow of our conversation going, "So Daisy, what brings you down here?"
She seemed a little hesitant to respond, but says, "Well, I've been coming here often because I was out one day and I just stumbled upon this cute coffee shop and I kind of made it my mission to try out all the drinks and pastries this place offers."
"Wow, spontaneous I see."
She mumbles something but I catch her saying, "... anything to be out of the house..."
It made my heart drop. Even though I don't know her much, I felt the need to hug her and take care of her until she feels happier. No one deserves to be sad all the time - especially not her.
I snapped out of it after Daisy asks me, "What about you?"
"Ah, actually, I'm really good friends with the workers here and today, I decided to bring in some food for them," and at the mention of food, Daisy's face lifts up instinctively.
"Really? thats pretty cool that you know them."
"Yeah, they're great people. If you want, I could introduce you to them sometime?"
"Wow, I don't know... I'm not so great around strangers -" GROWLLLL.....
Daisy flings her hands over her stomach and her face turns so red, it reminds me of a tomato. Why is she acting like that?
GROWLLLLLLLLL....
Ohhh, it's making sense now... It explains why she didn't have anything on her table.
"Hey, you alright?" I ask.
"... Yeah..."
"Let me get you something to eat," I say as I take her hands into mine. They were dangerously cold. After Daisy kept on rejecting my offer, I look into her eyes with a serious but gentle expression and ask, "Was there something you wanted to try today? Please, it's my treat."
"Please don't spend your money on me..." she whispers, "I'm not worth it."
"Ya, don't you ever think like that. You are a beautiful and radiant person and you will always be worth something. Heck, you are worth more than a coffee and some pastries. Please, let me get you something."
Again, she didn't reply right away and it looked like she was in a deep predicament. Her nose was scrunched, mouth turned into a frown, and her gaze rested on our hands. But what surprised me was how quickly she began to relax her facial features. Daisy looked into my eyes for a while and was trying to analyze every part there was on my face - maybe she thought I was crazy?
"Surprise me."
The little angel on my right shoulder was flipping in excitement. She was smiling! If you were to ever look at Daisy's smile, it would've been so hard to believe that deep down, she was miserable.
The corners of my lips couldn't help but stretch out into a wide grin, "Alright, just give me a few."
I walked towards Yeonwoo who was on cash, and the first thing she asks me was, "Are you an angel or something? How did you get her to smile like that?"
"Honestly, I'm surprised myself, but I'm not complaining. Can I please have a few pastries? Surprise me with those. And may I also have one vanilla latte? For Daisy?"
"Coming up princess," and after fishing out a $20 bill from my wallet, Yeonwoo whispers, " don't worry, it's on the house."
"Please Dabin, just take it," I say while waving the bill at her face, but she laughs and leaves me to prepare my order. She is always so stubborn.
When she hands me the bag of pastries and the latte, she winks at me. My heart is fluttering - damn. I instinctively stuck out my tongue but said over my shoulder, "Thank you!" earning a laugh from Yeonwoo.
When I got back to Daisy, she bowed her head slightly to thank me and began devouring the food almost instantly, and I couldn't help but giggle. Once she finished eating and drinking her latte, she pulled out a black marker from her little bag and began writing on her coffee cup. I recalled that Yeonwoo mentioned she would always write down something depressing, so I couldn't help but ask, "What are you writing on your cup?"
When Daisy finished, she showed me the cup:
"I'm happier today
than yesterday"
This little note warmed my heart, but I was still curious as to why she writes on the cups, so she responds, "I don't really know. I just write down what I'm feeling on that day and I guess I write it down to get myself out there - that maybe I'll be noticed by someone or that what I wrote has value to someone else.
You know, you are pretty much the very first person who has taken the time to approach me and talk to me. The world needs more of you." she says as she flashes a genuine smile.
I was left a little surprised, and I didn't really know what to say, but she continued to radiate a sincere energy that I couldn't get enough of. The day was still young and so, we spent most of the day talking and the more comfortable she became around me, I began to realize how charming and funny she truly was. I even got a chance to introduce Daisy to Hyebin and Yeonwoo, and they welcomed her right away.
She also shared some background about herself and how she hated being home because of how her family's judgements were constantly attacking her. She told me that she wanted to find a place to stay to get away from them - she said it was about time anyways.
"You know, if you ever need anything, you can always count on me and the workers in "Momoland," I said, "we can be your new home."
She smiled back, "Thank you."
...
Daisy ended up staying until the shop closed and before leaving, we exchanged numbers. When she left, a smile was plastered on her face and there was a noticeable bounce to each of her steps.
"You are actually a miracle worker," Yeonwoo teases.
"Mmm, she just needed a place to start," I say as I turn to her.
That night, I decided to help them clean up and once everything was done, we kind of chilled by the counter and talked about Daisy. I told Yeonwoo and Hyebin all about her and brought up how it is so crazy to think how some people are so good at masking their feelings sometimes.
"Yeah, I totally agree. And it's kinda scary that you don't know how someone feels sometimes. It could lead to misunderstandings or it could ruin relationships. It could even be holding you back from doing what you really want to do. But honestly, communication can definitely destroy that barrier," Yeonwoo says while glancing at me.
Damn, if only you knew Yeonwoo.
...
Hey again, this chapter (as you can tell) focuses more around a growing friendship between Nancy and Daisy. In future chapters, I'll be sure to introduce the others as well!
As always, leave comments on ideas and thoughts, I'm open to anything!
Thanks for reading! til next time,
- S.A