Chapter 13

While Jessica was quietly eating her ice cream and Li Jingming was at a loss for what to talk about next, a melody suddenly came from Jessica's body—it was a phone call. Someone might ask, who is calling? The caller is the ultimate expert at saving the day.

Li Jingming, with a keen sense of the situation, nodded to Jessica and walked downstairs, leaving her a private space to take the call. This gentlemanly gesture was unintentional, a habit formed over time, but it left a good impression on Jessica.

"Hello, Pani," Jessica glanced at the caller ID, her eyebrows raised and her eyes twinkling as she answered, her voice still clear and sweet.

"Where have you been? Are you sick? Why did you get up so early today? We couldn't find you, where are you?" Pani's style was to speak with a tone of complaint, often saying a lot. Jessica, who was very close to this sister from the same hospital, even smiled a little on her usually cold face.

"No, I just went out for a walk and found a nice dessert shop." Jessica, not seeing any sign of a café, automatically categorized this LK as a dessert shop. She continued, "It's really beautiful here, why don't you come? It's in Cheongdam-dong, there's a place called LifeKindled." Recently, it was the last days before their debut, and the management was not as strict, and the company suggested they go out to adjust their mindset.

Jessica said, "Why don't you come," not "Why don't you all come."

Although they were preparing to debut as a group, a newly formed group couldn't be as close as sisters right away. Especially with a new member who didn't get along with her, just because she was a month older, she was deeply loved by the teachers and was appointed as the leader. That wasn't the main issue; the biggest problem was that she had taken Jessica's Pani.

This person who caused so much resentment was Kim Tae-yeon, a small girl with a childlike face and a plump, cute appearance. Cuteness and beauty are different; if Jessica gave off a beautiful vibe, Kim Tae-yeon was cute. Both were vocalists, trained by the same teacher, and the competition was intense and direct. Pani and Kim Tae-yeon were roommates and the same age, and their relationship had recently become much closer, while Jessica and Pani, both from San Francisco and born in the same hospital, used to have the best relationship. Now, with the addition of Kim Tae-yeon, Jessica felt like a third party had intruded.

After hanging up, Jessica noticed that Li Jingming was gone, but she didn't think much of it and continued eating, waiting for Pani to arrive. By ten o'clock, two women came upstairs, and Jessica realized something was off; the place was starting to get customers. The staff downstairs, knowing the boss was there earlier, didn't disturb Jessica.

The two girls who came up looked like they were out with friends. They were well-dressed and behaved properly, even their laughter was restrained. Thinking they were the first customers, they were surprised to see Jessica and nodded in greeting. Jessica quickly returned the gesture, realizing they were older than her.

"I'm telling you, the owner of this place is really handsome," the woman with wavy hair said to the one with long straight hair.

The one with long straight hair looked skeptical, "Sujin, I haven't been here, but I heard from Seonya that she has been coming here for over a year and has never seen the owner. Have you seen him?"

"Minji, you just got back from abroad, so you don't know. The atmosphere here is something we all like, and we are all curious about the owner who personally decorated this place. We even did some research, but in the end, we don't even know the owner's name," Sujin said mysteriously. "This LK has nine branches in Korea, each with its own unique features, but only this No.1 branch has a photo of the owner, pointed out by a young man downstairs."

"That's impossible. Isn't Yookyung's father in that institute? How could he not find out?" The woman named Minji was even more skeptical, thinking Sujin might be making it up. As a child, Sujin was the little schemer among the sisters, always tricking them.

"You silly, how could we use the institute's connections? It was just something we did for fun," Sujin said with a look of "you're so naive." "But the owner is really mysterious."

The two sat at a two-person table under a wall hung with photos, where they could see Li Jingming's photo. In the photo, Li Jingming's side profile didn't look overly young, and Minji glanced at it and laughed, "Oh, you really, he looks so young."

"This is a photo from 2004."

"Even three years ago, he still looks young."

"So what if he's younger? Is there a law that says you can't like someone younger?"

"Oh, you like him?"

"I do."

"But he's really handsome, and his aura is amazing."

The two giggled softly, ate for a while, and then went to the bookshelf to find things that interested them. About half of the books and CDs here were collected by Li Jingming, and the rest were gifts from regular customers, who had created a sharing space among themselves. Regular customers would bring things they wanted to share, and the store manager would categorize and place them. Li Jingming would also bring some of his new collections when he returned each year, so these customers always had the chance to find new surprises.

Li Jingming didn't have a membership system, but everyone was very默契 (默契 means默契, which can be translated as "in sync" or "in tune" in this context) about the things here and took good care of them. In fact, many places had invisible thresholds, such as prices.

Jessica, lost in thought, felt like she had been waiting for a long time, as if 24K gold had passed through her mind in nines. Just as her patience was about to run out, a slightly plump girl appeared in front of her and called out, "Sica, this place is really beautiful."

This was Tiffany, a bit plump and a bit dark, with a bold and slightly hoarse voice, and a loud speaking voice. Pani was Tiffany's nickname, her Korean name was Hwang Mi-Young, and she was also a Korean-American who had returned from the United States. Tiffany had no resistance to anything beautiful and cute, and she was now excitedly exclaiming. Myeongdong was a place they often visited, buying things on holidays, but they rarely came here and had not yet discovered this unassuming street corner with such a refined dessert shop.

Actually, LK was not strictly a café; it mainly served coffee, but its desserts were also famous among customers. The old books and vintage CDs had become its hallmark, and it should be called a leisure spot.

"Pani, is this a place to speak loudly?" Jessica, who had a fear of being looked at, would get nervous when many people looked at her. Noticing that some customers were looking over, she glared at Tiffany.

In fact, there was no sign in LK prohibiting loud noise, but everyone kept quiet, forming a tacit agreement. The Japanese conducted an experiment where all the people in an elevator faced a specific direction, and the uninformed person who entered would naturally face the same direction, demonstrating group tacit agreement.

Tiffany saw that everyone was reading and speaking softly, and only she had called out. Her face turned red, and she stuck out her tongue, making an innocent and pitiful expression. Jessica, seeing her expression, felt helpless; she couldn't do anything about this cute Pani.

Behind Tiffany, a little girl ran up the stairs, and Jessica's gaze immediately locked onto her. This was her younger sister, Jung Soo-kyung, whose English name was Krystal and nickname was Little Crystal, who was only fourteen years old.

"Pani Unni, that looks really delicious," the smiling girl exclaimed happily, but then saw her sister's cold stare and Pani quickly made a shushing gesture.

Jung Soo-kyung, whose attention had been on the dessert counter downstairs, now noticed the atmosphere. She quickly grabbed Jessica's arm and pouted, "Hehe, Unni, why are you so scary?"

"How did she follow you?" Jessica asked Pani.

Tiffany smiled awkwardly, "I thought you were lost, and Krystal came from the company to find you. Everyone was going to practice, and I remembered you had a call."

"What do you mean 'lost'? Why are you talking so incoherently? Speak in English," Jessica knew her friend's Korean was even worse than hers.

"Everyone was going to practice, but you weren't there. We thought you had gone to the company first, but Krystal came from the company to find you, and I realized you were lost, so I called you," Tiffany finally expressed herself fluently in English.

"What do you mean 'lost'!" Jessica was very dissatisfied with her friend's description of her. She wasn't a child who would get lost. However, Krystal following her was a bit of a headache. This girl was a little glutton, and she would even argue over food. Now, her sweet and cloying pouting was probably because she had her eye on something delicious.

Krystal took Jessica's camera and started fiddling with it. She had noticed the empty cup in front of her sister, which clearly had ice cream in it. According to Krystal's understanding of her sister, anything beautiful would be photographed, and sure enough, she found the evidence in the camera.

"Unni, I want to eat that too," Jung Soo-kyung pointed to the picture on the camera and started to pout.

"I didn't bring money when I came out this morning," Jessica's face turned red. She remembered how strongly she had insisted on ordering the ice cream, and now she realized she had come out on a whim without any money. If the owner, Li Jingming, had asked for payment, it would have been embarrassing.

"Then what is this?" Jung Soo-kyung pointed to the photo of the ice cream, which looked very exquisite. "You have money to buy it for yourself but not to buy it for me?"

"No, that's someone else's. I just thought it looked pretty and took a picture," Jessica said, a bit flustered.

At this point, not only was Jung Soo-kyung speechless, but Tiffany also opened her mouth wide, looking at Jessica. Jessica followed their gazes and realized that the empty cup was still in front of her.

---

Page AD starts

Page AD ends