"But we have a lot of time."
"Don't speak much. Just come."
"Alright..."

_____________________________

"Where are you taking me?" Sunoo was being pulled by her majesty, Y/n, to a café with a boarder that read 'Honey bun Bakers'.

"What is honey bun?" The male could barely keep his uncomplacence to himself. Y/n did not answer a single of the questions, he had.
"We're here..." She said.
"This is not Café O'clock."
"I know. We're gonna wait here for the bus."
"Why can't we just be at the bus stop?"
"Shs!" And with that, Kim Sunoo was hushed from bringing up another question.

The fresh smell of bread and cake hit their nostrils on entering the small bakery. It was a clean and yeasty aroma with a spray of flavours, devouring the the senses as one inhaled them.

The interior of the pâtisserie looked ethnic with wooden tables and chairs and bamboo decorations on the wall.

"This is the oldest bakery of our country. Once, they called it Ppanjib Gaage and now Honey Bun Bakers." Y/n took a seat at the farthest corner of the bakery.
"Ooh!" He said inhaling some of the warm smell of the fresh bakes that felt like a blanket on a cold winter night.

"They sell the cheapest bakes here." Said Y/n. A woman, wearing a white hanbok who looked not a day over 60 walked upto her regular customer. She was old with wrinkles on her skin but her eyes reflected the same passion and enthusiasm a 20 year would have when they recieved their first pay.

"Halmeoni..." Y/n stood up and greeted the woman as the woman gave her a light hug, embracing the joy of the presence of the girl.
"What brings you here on a Sunday, neoui cheonsa...?" Asked the lady.
"Just wanted to have that bamboo flavoured bread with a friend while waiting for the bus." Replied Y/n.
"Oh! I see... So, should I bring two breads today?"
"Anibnida. Just one."

The woman nodded and trod slowly towards the counter of the bakery. She came out with a plate of just baked bread that smelt of freshly cut bamboo, growing near some fresh water fountain.

Inhaling the piquant scent, Y/n thanked the woman with gratitude and paid for the bread. This old and quaint build was the only existing bakery where the human's cooked.

Almost all other places, starting from the dainty restaurants to high office buildings and even homes, people with money had no manual jobs. Everything was well handled by electronic machineries.

So the price of human labour was way more than what they had been, even a rough 60 years ago. But Honey bun Bakers still ran a human powered bakery in the very traditional and ethnic style of baking with moderately priced goods.

Sunoo looked at Y/n as the latter cut the bread into two pieces, one for herself and the other for him.

"Why are you giving this to me?" Sunoo's inquisitive eyes looked at Y/n's globose hazels while advancing towards the bus stop, through the empty pedestrian street.
"To eat, of course." Although her sharp tongue never left her, she seemed to not have the power to stare back at those dark eyes.
"But we ate Soobin Hyung's baking."
"We did but this bakery is my favourite, so I brought you here."

Sunoo's physiognomy remained unchanged with dissatisfaction at the her ambivalent reply.

"I'm just happy, that's why. Now don't ask me why." She replied, eating her slice of bread with occasional smiles.
"I won't ask you why you're happy. You need no reasons to be happy. But I do have a question, now that you're happy, why were you unhappy before?"

First time throughout the stroll did Y/n look up to face the tall boy next to her with an astounded expression. As if the guy had asked her a blasphemous and heretical question.

"We are at the bus stop. Let's talk later." Y/n dodged the question and sat on the bench. Sunoo was not the one to give up but kept the question aside for another day.

The main road was pretty fast paced with electricity oriented cars and busses. The sound of horns and tires was a complete noise pollution. There still ran some old-fashioned petroleum powered cars and other automobiles.

A couple sat next to Sunoo and Y/n, holding hands and enjoying the tranquility of mid July. The rain had just stopped a few hours ago and the sky was still covered by the sheet of clouds. Tiny droplets of water had collected on the adaxial epidermis of the leaves. The smell of wet soil reminded Sunoo about the little memories he still had of her.

"Sunoo?" Y/n waved her hands infront of his eyes to grab his attention.
"Hmm?" He hummed without sparing a glance.
"The bus is here." She said as Sunoo looked back at Y/n with a moderately serious expression and boarded the bus, following her.

The bus ride was fast. Due to the high powered engines of the bus, the ride between two cities would be as smooth as gliding on a frictionless floor.

Some people were dressed in light summer clothes, indicating that they were going to the grand opening of the water park by LBTC Pvt Ltd.

Some people were in casual clothing, heading to their own destinations while some were dressed in little dandy dresses, probably heading to one those All day long Shivoo.

"Café O'clock..." Muttered Y/n, looking for the café, their dealer had fixed.
"That one..." He said, pointing at an enormous building with vine plants all around it, adorning it a simple yet elegant touch.

The two walked inside the café and looked for the man they were to meet. A man, around the age of 50, waved his hands towards them. He was short and darker than most Korean people with small eyes and a big smile.

"You must be Lee Y/n. I am Song Sooman." The man greeted the two as both of them bowed to him. It was pretty unnatural for the Gen AlphaX to bow to the older generation. But these two had bowed traditionally.

"Great, Great. Your parents taught you both very well. So let's not beat around the bush and get into buisness." Said the man, Song Sooman.
"Yes."
"As already stated in the website, you're rent is around a $3 per month for 2 people. Since the rent is less, I expect you both to maintain a few guidelines everyone follows."
"Alright." Sunoo did not utter a word. Since the beginning Y/n was the only one to speak, just how she had instructed him.

"No pets, No extra furniture and No bringing in of more than 1 person. We also want the house to be cleaned atleast once a week."
"No problem." Said Y/n.
"Good then. Here's the paperwork. Sign it and you can shift today itself."
"Thank you Sir." Said Y/n taking the paper and giving it to Sunoo. The man got up from his seat and excused himself to the washroom.

"I will sign?" Asked Sunoo.
"Hmm... You're gonna stay. Not me. The house should officially belong to you and hence the contract needs to be signed by you."
"Okay, give me some time. Let me read it."
"What's there to read? You already know the contact. You are staying in that small 2BHK apartment for 3 years. In between you have to get a job and settle yourself. That's all!" Y/n kept on speaking without a single pause, a single breath. It flowed like a rap, faster than the vintage artist Changbin and Agust D of the 2020s.

"Shut up!" Sunoo pulled up his finger infront of her lips, making her have an abrupt hault between her speech.

He bent down and looked into her eyes which could hypnotize one's own soul. He doesn't behave seriously all the time, but when he does, he is serious.

"You dare talk to me like that! I'm taking your responsibility and here you are speaking on my face!" She fumed more over the parcelled guy.
"You speak too much at times. A contract should never be signed without reading it through, get that in your head. It is an official paper by law and if you sign it for some scam or fraud, you can never get your possession back." Sunoo's words knocked some sense into the girl who was infamous for taking hectic decisions.

"But what would happen?" She questioned back.
"What could not happen?" Sunoo launched a rhetoric question at her.
"What could not happen?" The reply almost came like a whisper.
"Anything or Nothing. Everything is possible. You can get scammed, you can get phished, your signature can be used for several underground malpractices. Who knows the papers are not of drug dealing if you hadn't read it? Or maybe trafficking? Prostitution, Rape. Maybe it's a contract where you are selling your own body without any knowledge. So many can it be."

Sunoo sure had a huge idea about how the world works, be it in the future, the past or present. He was not wrong about a contract. Y/n's brain rang an alarm on hearing the word "rape". Afterall, that is why she's financially at the edge of the Poverty Line.

"Does it have any such thing?" She asked.
"Hmm... No but did they tell you, you're not supposed to be homosexual, prior to the meeting?" He asked.
"Mhm... Nah!"
"Hmm, it's written here. You can't be any sexuality under the umbrella word of LGBTQ."
"That's disrespectful." Y/n has always been a supporter of the rainbow community who even after ages, don't get enough social rights and respect.

"I know. I'm not exactly straight I mean." Said Sunoo.
"You're Gay? Bi? Trans? Queer? Pan? Asex?" Y/n had several questions sparking at the same time.
"None. I'm Demi. I need emotional attachment with a person before falling for them and that person can be man, woman, trans, queer, fluid, agender, third-gender, anyone."
"Aren't most people then Demi?"
"Not as long as you're not compatible with any sexuality."
"Doesn't matter. Just don't date a guy before you get a job with stable earning."

Sunoo laughed at the justification of how to not get kicked out of a low rented apartment.

"Did you sign it?" Asked the man, rubbing his hands with a tissue napkin.
"Yeah..." Said Sunoo, signing the 2 years contract for the appartment. He handed the man the papers as the man rechecked it.

"Where do you stay, ahjussi?" Asked Y/n.
"That building." He said, pointing at a white building across the street.
"Oh..."
"Alright, see you soon then. Rent to be given exactly on the first day of the month."
"Okay." She replied.
"Deal?"
"Deal!

_______________________________

Hey
My Hunny bun
Sugar plums!

How are you all?
Been long since we had a chat.
So tell me,
How do you like it?

You're left with some questions right?
Well keep on having questions because you need to remember some of the smallest details here.

Anyways,
ByeBye...