Episode 8: Later That Evening – The Café Down the Street

The cafe Jiho picked wasn’t far from the gallery. It was small, tucked between a bookstore and a florist, and smelled faintly of cinnamon and roasted beans. Inside, the lights were low, the atmosphere hushed. It reminded Eunji of her sketches—warm, quiet spaces where people could simply be.

They took a seat near the window, their drinks between them. Jiho stirred his tea absently while Eunji watched the steam rise from her cup.

“I didn’t think I’d enjoy it tonight,” she admitted after a moment. “I thought I’d be too nervous.”

Jiho smiled without looking up. “But you weren’t.”

“No. I mean, I was. But not in the way I expected.” She traced her finger along the rim of her cup. “It felt like… like I was finally letting go of something.”

Jiho nodded, his gaze steady. “Sometimes sharing your work is the first way to share a part of yourself.”

Eunji looked at him, considering that. “Is that why you draw?”

“I guess so. I’m not good with words.” He chuckled softly. “It’s easier for me to speak in color, in light and shadow.”

“I get that,” she said, then after a pause, added, “You’re good with words, too. When it matters.”

They fell into a comfortable silence, the kind that comes only when two people are learning each other’s rhythms. Outside, the city moved on without them—cars passing, the streetlights flickering on one by one. Eunji watched the world go by and wondered how many people were feeling what she felt now—something small, but profound. A shift.

“I was thinking,” Jiho said suddenly, “about doing a series on stillness. Like, the kind that hides something beneath it.”

Eunji tilted her head, intrigued. “Stillness can say a lot.”

“Exactly. Like your sketch—there’s movement in the stillness. That girl in the cafe window, she’s not just sitting. She’s waiting. Or remembering.”

“Or letting go,” Eunji whispered.

Jiho looked at her, his expression unreadable. “Letting go?”

She shrugged. “Maybe it’s me projecting. But I think that’s what I’ve been doing with my art lately. Letting go of the things I can’t name.”

He didn’t respond immediately, just nodded and sipped his tea. Then: “That’s brave.”

Eunji smiled faintly. “Maybe. Or maybe it’s just necessary.”

Another pause. Jiho leaned back, his eyes on the window now.

“Do you think,” he asked slowly, “that people are meant to cross paths for a reason?”

Eunji turned to him. “You mean like fate?”

“Something like that. Maybe not forever. But just long enough to help you see something differently.”

She thought of her conversation with him after class, the way he’d gently nudged her toward this night. How his quiet words had shifted something inside her. How her world had widened just a little because of it.

“Yeah,” she said finally. “I do.”

They didn’t say much after that. But as they stepped out into the night, Jiho walked a little closer than before. Eunji didn’t mind. The air had turned colder, but she felt warm in a way that had nothing to do with the temperature.

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