Doubler || NCT || Completed

Epilogue

"I do know how to do a cartwheel!" Loud, angry voice startled everyone in the café, drawing their attention towards the dreamies who were huddled in one corner, immersed in a quite agitated conversation. After realizing that it was just Haechan being dramatic, all of the pack members turned back to their own conversations. Yujin went back to foaming milk for Johnny's cappuccino behind the counter.

Chenle laughed at Haechan's face. "Not when you're drunk."

"Give me two bottles of soju and we'll see!"

"Don't be stupid", Renjun chimed in, "You'll pass out before you're done with two bottles."

Haechan jumped up. "Is that a challenge?"

His eyes were gleaming.

Yujin sighed and poured the milk over the espresso shot. "Can you turn up the music?" she asked from Xiaojun who was eating cookies with Yangyang next to the laptop they had connected to the speakers. "I have to listen to their endless bickering at home, I don't want to deal with it outside as well."

Haechan heard her. "Who told you to live with us? Feel free to move out", he hollered to her before turning to Jeno. "Do you have money? I want to buy soju."

Yujin didn't answer to Haechan provocation attempt, instead focusing on the milk foam art she was making for Johnny. Xiaojun had turned up the music, drowning out at least part of the dreamies' competitive mess. When she pushed the drink to the older member, who had been watching the process with utmost interest, she allowed herself to look around the Dalah Café.

It was the first time she had visited Dalah after all the craziness had gone down in the spring, ending up with her selling her part of the cafés to a bigger franchise.

Now it was almost October, and the new co-owners wanted to do some changes in the café before the autumn turned to winter. For that reason, Taeil had booked the place for the pack for just a few hours on that quiet Wednesday evening, so that they could hang out there before it would go under reconstruction. In a way it felt like a memorial service.

The summer and autumn had entailed both bitter endings and sweet beginnings for Yujin. She was doing an internship at a marketing company, waiting for the spring when she would start graduate school together with Jeno. While she was excited about it, letting go of Dalah so suddenly had been painful. Returning to Seoul from Norway and not being able to go back to her café had been a process of its own. Letting go wasn't easy.

She leaned over the counter to look at Jeno.

He was laughing with the others, teasing Haechan with Mark and Chenle, and ruffling Jaemin's hair. Jisung and Renjun were seated on another couch, deep in a conversation of their own. Time with the pack had done wonders to Jisung's self-confidence and he was studying hard, hoping to get into university before Chenle would graduate.

At the same time, Renjun wasn't doing that well. Unlike Yujin, he hadn't gotten his doubler side back, and it had weighed him down enough to make him quit his job. But when Jisung said something to him in an over-exaggeratedly cutesy voice, his serious face cracked into a disapproving smile. They would hold him up until he found the strength to stand on his own again.

When Yujin's gaze turned back to Jeno, he noticed it, looked up and smiled at her.

She smiled back.

"Stop working, hyung, we're supposed to have a party." Jungwoo's words caught Yujin's attention, and she winked at Jeno before looking over at Taeil and some of the other members who were sitting on the other side of the café.

"I'm not working", Taeil defended himself against Jungwoo's complaints, showing his empty hands as an evidence of his idleness.

Jungwoo shook his head in disappointment. "I know that you're thinking about work stuff, you look so determined."