Closer Than Before

A few days later…

December 1st.

The first snow had finally fallen, along with the first dangerous sheets of ice covering the streets. Yuna and Jax stood by the café window, watching people carefully walk outside with scarves wrapped around their faces.

Yuna caught herself staring at Jax again. More specifically, at the way he smiled whenever he laughed softly to himself.

Why is she staring at me like that…? Jax panicked internally. Do I still have toothpaste on my face?! Oh no…

Meanwhile, Yuna quickly looked away, her cheeks warming.

He’s actually really cute… especially on those posters.

Both of them blushed at their own thoughts.

Yuna turned toward the café instead, noticing how crowded it had become lately.

“There are way more customers since the collaboration…” she mumbled.

Jax followed her gaze, but unlike her, he noticed several people discreetly pointing tiny cameras toward them. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“…I knew this would happen eventually.”

Yuna immediately reached out and placed the back of her hand against his forehead.

“What? Are you okay? Why are you sighing like that?”

There was genuine concern in her eyes.

Jax instantly turned red and looked away while adjusting his glasses.

“Keep your hands to yourself…”

Yuna stepped back with a small pout, ready to complain, but before she could speak, one of the “customers” approached them.

“Excuse me… are you Jax Solace?”

Jax sighed again and scratched the back of his neck.

“No, but people say I look like him.”

The journalist laughed nervously, clearly sensing he wasn’t welcome.

“I only wanted to ask you a few questions. Does this collaboration with this café mean you plan on republishing your research?”

Yuna looked between them awkwardly before speaking up.

“Excuse me, but I don’t think he wants to answer questions right now…”

The journalist glanced at her, then smiled mischievously.

“Are you his girlfriend?”

Yuna immediately started stuttering, her face turning bright red.

“N-Not at all! You’re misunderstanding everything!”

Jax looked at Yuna as she desperately tried to defend both him and herself. After a deep breath, he stood up.

“Let’s talk somewhere else. You’re disturbing the employees and customers.”

The journalist quietly nodded and walked outside to wait in front of the café.

Jax packed his things while Yuna watched him nervously.

“Are you sure you want to talk to him?”

Jax sighed, but still smiled at her.

“The faster I answer him, the faster he’ll leave.”

After that, he stepped outside to join the journalist.

Outside, the journalist bombarded Jax with questions nonstop, jumping from work topics to personal matters.

Jax finally stopped him.

“Please don’t come back here again.”

The journalist blinked.

“Sorry? Ahaha, I promise it was just a coincidence.”

Jax pulled an invitation card from his bag and handed it to him.

“I know it wasn’t. So leave, and ask your questions next week at the conference.”

A few minutes later, Jax returned to the café. Before leaving again, he waved goodbye to Yuna from across the counter.

Yuna felt a small ache in her chest watching him leave so quickly, but she didn’t even have time to think about it.

The customers were waiting.

December 13th.

For once, Chloé had closed the café for the day, which meant she and Yuna could finally walk around the city together.

“Can you believe it hasn’t even been a year since I opened the café?” Chloé laughed. “You and Jax have seriously taken care of it for me.”

Yuna coughed lightly before sitting down on a bench.

“Me and Jax? I’m the one cleaning spilled drinks, not him.”

She slowly swirled her latte inside the cup.

“…Though it’s true he hasn’t come by in a while.”

Chloé grinned and pulled on Yuna’s cheeks.

“Aww, do you miss your astronaut boyfriend?”

Then she pulled out two invitation cards.

“Good thing I grabbed these for us.”

Yuna stared at the cards.

“I like stars and stuff, but attending a scientific conference? No thanks.”

Chloé waved her hands dramatically.

“Wait, let me read the guest names first.”

She started listing names while Yuna barely listened, more interested in deciding what they were going to eat for lunch.

Then one name slowly registered in her ears.

Jax Solace.

Yuna froze for a few seconds before suddenly snatching the invitations from Chloé’s hands.

“I’ve always loved space! Rockets, black holes… fascinating stuff honestly.”

The two burst into laughter.

Then Yuna looked down at the date written on the card.

“December… 13th?”

She slowly raised her head.

“Chloé. That’s today.”

Chloé laughed nervously.

“…Oops?”

Yuna glared at her.

“You know I’m blind without my glasses! I thought it said the 8th!”

Without wasting another second, Yuna grabbed Chloé’s hand and dragged her toward the nearest subway station.

Several hours later, they finally arrived.

The entrance was already closed, but thankfully the conference was being held in a park. They settled near the fence with a surprisingly good view of the stage.

At that moment, Jax was speaking about the sky and weather conditions.

“Of course the color of the sky affects our mood. I wouldn’t even be standing outside right now if the sky were gray.”

The other engineers laughed.

Then Jax noticed a journalist holding a coffee cup, and his expression softened with nostalgia.

“…Well, maybe there are exceptions,” he added with a faint smile.

“If you associate a certain color or weather with a good memory… then you’ll start appreciating changing weather more.”

On the other side of the fence, Yuna smiled brightly and applauded, but Chloé quickly silenced her before she attracted attention.

The conference continued.

Yuna looked at Jax with pure admiration while he spoke… but she clearly wasn’t the only one.

It was already 4 PM, meaning high school students had finished classes, and suddenly waves of teenage girls gathered around the park just to see Jax.

Some stayed calm, fascinated by his looks.

Others were completely hysterical, screaming loud enough to interrupt the conference.

One journalist suddenly asked:

“With your popularity, have you considered starting a modeling career?”

Jax looked up at the sky in annoyance and crossed his arms.

“Are we at a scientific conference or a fashion show?”

The journalist awkwardly shrank back.

Despite trying to continue, the constant screaming distracted the engineers enough that they eventually announced a short break.

As everyone stepped down from the stage, Chloé and Yuna approached with trays of coffee. They had finally managed to get inside by explaining the café collaboration with Jax.

Yuna handed drinks to each person one by one.

When she reached Jax, he obviously recognized her immediately, but he was far too shy to openly acknowledge his new friends in front of his coworkers.

Yuna smiled while offering him the cup… then suddenly pulled it back.

“Jax, it’s been forever since you came to drink coffee at our café. And you used to come so often too.”

This is my personal revenge for not inviting us, she thought smugly.

Jax instantly turned tomato red.

“I-I’m sorry, I’ve been busy lately. Besides, I didn’t come that often, right?”

Chloé leaned closer with a grin.

“Not that often? Yuna always kept the same table reserved for you. Or that one time you waited for her after—”

Jax immediately cut her off, grabbing both girls by the wrists and dragging them away.

“Raaah, Chloé, I get it! I’ll start paying for my coffee now, okay? But please stop before people start useless rumors.”

Yuna froze slightly.

Useless…? Does he think our friendship is troublesome?

She turned her head away, her thoughts becoming messy.

Both Jax and Chloé noticed immediately.

Chloé quietly decided to leave them alone and instead started chatting with Jax’s coworkers… especially one engineer who had already caught her attention.

Meanwhile, Jax guided Yuna toward a bench in the park, trying his best to ignore the endless screaming from fans behind the fence.

“So…” Jax started awkwardly. “I honestly didn’t expect to see you here.”

Yuna laughed softly while looking at him.

“Why not? Did you think we were too uncultured to care about space?”

He’s completely right though. I already forgot what they were talking about five minutes ago.

Jax shook his head before glancing at the sky.

“A little bit, not gonna lie. Who even takes time to look at clouds these days?”

Yuna stared at him for a little too long before quickly looking away.

“Didn’t you say earlier that you preferred gray skies over blue ones? …What you said made me really happy.”

She lightly bumped his shoulder with hers before standing up and looking toward the winter sky.

“Knowing that I could make your life even a tiny bit brighter… makes me really happy for some reason.”

Yuna smiled brightly like always.

Jax had seen that smile hundreds of times already.

But this was the first time his heartbeat actually sped up because of it.

He stared at her silently for a moment before standing up himself.

“Liar. I know you’re gonna fall asleep if you stay for the rest of the conference.”

Yuna immediately followed him.

“Doesn’t matter! Chloé can record it on her phone. We could even play it as a podcast in the café!”

And together, the two of them returned to the others so the conference could continue.