xo, minho | xo, kitty ff

e l e v e n :

soundtrack;
in the afternoon - josef salvat
alien (han) - stray kids

To say that Adelaide felt awkward was an understatement; seeing as how Minho and her were at an strange impasse, as if they had opened a can of worms and let it's contents spill all over. Despite her reluctance to interact with him after the eventful night that remained poignant in her memory, she somehow managed to maintain a calm level of civility throughout the wedding.

Perhaps being around Minho had taught her to be a better actor, she was a fraud: playing the part in a world she hardly belonged in. If her acting was enough to fool others, she could turn fool him. Upon closer inspection, Minho noticed the way Adelaide's usually gummy smile didn't meet her eyes, fading away into obscurity but he chose not to utter a word about it.

Truth be told, after the bold declaration of his feelings for her, he wasn't sure how to proceed- there was no way they could return to normalcy... but it was difficult to navigate the shift in their relationship. Despite being seated together, their distance never felt longer, a palpable tension lingering in the air.

As the six of them gathered together after the beautiful outdoor wedding ceremony, Adelaide made it her mission to avoid contact with Minho as far as possible. "We have time to explore Jeju before the flight, I say we do some café hunting!" Kitty said, brimming with vivacity.

Finally, Adelaide perked up in interest of a short getaway, "There's this really cool bookstore cafe I heard about when I was looking up places to go."

"I'm down with that." Yuri agreed after seeing the pictures. Looking between the slight puffy eyes that Adelaide had desperately tried to conceal with makeup, Minho's lingering gaze and their growing physical distance, they were all tell-tale signs that something had happened and there was an intervention to be had.

"It's a girls day only," She added on, winking with a coy flair. Q seemed unopposed. "Fine by me. I was planning on hitting up a local restaurant for some seafood." Dae nodded happily, "Got space for one more? I need to fuel up before cramming for tests next week."

"Sure. You coming, Minho?" Q directed his question the very clearly distracted boy, lost in his own mind. "H-huh?" He processed Q's words, his eyes landing involuntarily on the girl next to him before he spotted his mom. Shaking his head, he shoved his hands in his pockets defensively. "Nah, I'm good. Think I'm gonna spend some time with eomma before we leave."

"All right then, shall we go?" Yuri concluded with a clasp of her hand.

. . .

From top to bottom the book cafe held a vintage and homey vibe to it, a darkly stained wooden sign greeted their entrance as the tiny jingle of an  overhead bell announced the arrival of new customers. Right from the get-go, the store was divided into two parts, dim aisles of oak shelves containing a multitude of various books spanned the left side, and on the right stood an airy space with sunlight from the large window out front lending a warm glow to the cafe's seating area and counter.

As Kitty and Yuri took the responsibility of ordering their sweet treats, Adelaide took the time to peruse the shelves. The selection was mostly Korean, ranging from leather-bound hardbacks to soft plastic covers. Grateful to her half-Korean cousins and Korean language classes for teaching her the nuances of Hangul, she carefully picked a title with an intriguing excerpt.

"We're selling that book too if you're interested." An old ahjumma popped up from the aisle behind, her height barely reaching the third shelf as the silver chain of her reading glasses shook from her sudden movement.