Way Back Home

Chapter 4: Forming Links

"My baby! You're here! Oh, Changsub also! Come in, sweethearts. Good thing I made enough breakfast for all four of us" Mrs. Yook greeted the two young men right in the front door.

"Four?" Sungjae questioned.

"Oh, yes. I have another guest. She is the sweetest. Come let me introduce you to her" Mrs. Yook motioned the two to follow her in the family room where Joy stood frozen.

"Wait! Ah, Miss Joy! You're here? That means today will be a lucky day for me again!" Changsub held out his hand for a high five. He was too excited seeing his savior once again. Joy returned the high five with awkwardness.

"Huh, you know each other already, Changsub?" Mrs. Yook asked with confusion on her face. As far as she knows, Joy just arrived two days ago.

"Yes, Auntie. She paid for my sister's napkins when a street kid snatched my wallet from me. She saved me from the wrath of my sister that day!" Changsub could only reminisce with a laugh.

"Oh, you are indeed a sweetheart, Joy. This other one is the son I was talking about earlier! No matter how old he is, he will always be my baby" Mrs Yook glanced at Sungjae with beaming eyes.

"M-mom, stop please. I love you too but this is a little embarrassing. I also know Joy already. We met yesterday for the contract" Sungjae stuttered. His face and ears were too red by now.

"Well, won't you look at that! I guess everybody knows each other! Let's cut the chase then and have some hearty breakfast! You kids need energy for the day!"

Everybody was now seated. Joy was a little too stunned to initiate a conversation. She can count in her fingers the number of times she ate breakfast with company. Changsub was the life of the house. He told way too many stories of his recent trips. Apparently, he just came home from a vacation with his girlfriend. His jokes were actually funny. Sungjae and Changsub seemed to be really close as well as Changsub would always find an opportunity to tease Sungjae. Mrs. Yook kept on putting food on everybody's plates. Joy has to eat slowly just so Mrs. Yook won't put any more waffles on her plate. This was probably the heaviest breakfast she had ever had.

This warmth... no. This is temporary.

Thinking that it would be too rude to not speak at all, Joy mustered the courage to speak. "Mrs. Yook, you cook so well. Thank you for this meal. My tummy has never felt so full!"

"Oh Joy, thank you for appreciating my cooking. I improved a lot as I always have hungry costumers" Mrs Yook looked at the young men bickering at each other and gave a laugh.

"Hey, Joy. If it's okay to ask, and I'm just really curious. What do you do? Did your work transfer here?" Changsub casually asked.

Oh crap. We are getting personal. I guess I have no choice.

"I um, bake. I sell it via an online platform." Joy wanted to keep it as brief as possible, hoping that the topic would be changed.

"Wait really? What's your website? I want to check it out! Please!!!" Changsub took out his phone hurriedly and looked at Joy with puppy eyes. Mrs. Yook and Sungjae were looking at her as well, expecting.

Aish. I'm revealed. Oh well.

"I- ugh, just search for Joy Delights I guess? That's the name of my shop" Joy couldn't help but fidget a bit. She was getting nervous. She hated talking about her. She definitely can keep up a facade and interact with people, but she gets anxious when it's about her.

Unknown to her, Sungjae has been observing her actions. He knew something was wrong but he didn't want to make Joy more uncomfortable by asking her right now. Maybe next time.

"Ah! I found it! WHAT?? You have 12,000 plus followers?! 5 star reviews?? You didn't tell me you were famous, Miss Joy! Quick, give me an autograph!" Changsub pretended to be a fan which caused Joy to chuckle.

"I've been going around. That's why my scope is pretty wide. I'm far from famous. I'm just doing this because I love it, and it's my means of living" Joy explained. It is the truth, anyways. She has been going around-moving from one city to another. As much as she never made successful personal relationships with anyone, at the very least she was able to establish a good reputation when it comes to her baked goodies. This is the reason why even though she has moved to another city already, she would still get orders from her previous city. Of course, the reason why she actually moves a lot will be kept a secret by her. For now, she will cover that part of the story by just saying it's for business.

"Looks like you got some good business sense" Changsub nodded with approval. "You should talk to this kid. I'm sure you too would click."

"Oh my dear Joy. You can help Sungjae with those apps thing and marketing. You seem like a pro!" Mrs. Yook said excitedly.

Sungjae, too stunned with the sudden turn of events, couldn't answer back righ away. Joy took this as a sign that he probably was expecting her to say yes as well.

Expectations. Here we go again. But what's wrong with lending a hand, I guess? This is probably in exchange of this hearty breakfast. You can never have anything for free, huh. This is why I shouldn't be interacting with anyone! Self, you always put yourself in trouble. Bet you'll only last less than a month here.

Thinking she has no choice, Joy finally responded. "That is fine with me. I only know basic strategies. It might work for your housing app as well. Nothing wrong with trying."

Sungjae was dodged by Changsub. "Oh, tha-that sounds great. I'm sure I can learn, ugh, a lot from you still" Curses, why am I stuttering?

"It's a deal then! You two should meet soon, separately of course. For now let's enjoy the rest of breakfast" Changsub grinned widely. Of course, he had another plan in his head. Perhaps his could keep Sungjae a little busy for a while.

As soon as breakfast was over, Changsub made sure that the two exchanged numbers so that they could set their first business meeting. By that, he actually meant date.

Ah, the start of something new.