epilogue

"i want this to be something."

-i love you 3000

"welcome south korea's rising stars, ateez!"

eunbi's ears perk at the sound of the band name, and she stops her hands from moving the broom along the floor of the café. looking up at the tv, she sees her favorite kpop band appear on screen, their smiles shining as they wave at the viewers and the audience. she slightly leans on the broom and softly smiles at the sight of her friends.

the bells at the entrance suddenly ring and the woman immediately turns around to see one of the workers leaving. briefly, she bids them a goodnight and tells them to stay safe, earning a small nod from them. once they depart, she resumes sweeping the floor again, being the only one here to clean up and close the place.

after graduation, eunbi decided that she didn't want to go through with the idol life despite her love for singing. it was surprising for everyone because it was expected for one of the best singers of the school to pursue that kind of occupation. she also thought that the idol life would be to her liking, but she took more time to think about it and realized how more stressful it is than she assumed it to be. it could be similar or even worse than her experience at the beginning of her attendance at the performing arts school, so she chose to live a simple life as the magic shop café owner.

her cousins and her brother have gotten relatively popular through busking, and they eventually got noticed by an entertainment company. similar to her friends, they have gotten popular, really popular to the point where they couldn't manage the café since they are so busy now. they are known throughout the entire world as the bangtan boys or bts, which is pretty catchy. with their fame out of control, they had to find replacements for their characters and left the café in their little one's hands.

simply because eunbi didn't pursue the idol life doesn't mean that she has given up the hobby she loves. she still sings for the customers, goes busking once in a while, and has a youtube channel. she can never give up something that brings so much joy to her.

as she listens to the interview occurring on tv, she hears the phone ringing and she rushes over to pick it up.

"hello, this is magic shop. how may i help you?" eunbi settles the broom and dustpan leaning against the counter as she places the phone close to her ear, anticipating an answer from the other side of the line.

"ah, is this eunbi?" a masculine voice speaks, and she recognizes it immediately.

"oh, manager kim! it's been a while, how have you been? are the boys doing alright?"

"the boys and i are doing fine, we're actually about to head to the company building to go practice for their upcoming performance for this show they will be appearing on soon. they seem very tired since they're really packed with their schedule, so i was wondering if you are still free to make some coffee for them and the staff. we'll pay you of course, just let us know the amount and-"

"that's fine!" the female interrupts, balancing the phone between her ear and shoulder as she makes her way to the kitchen. "you guys helped us promote the café and we've received a lot of profit from that, so this will be on the house. if you can, please send someone to help me bring the drinks over because i don't trust myself with so many drinks."

the manager closes off the call once he confirms that one of the staff members will be coming by to help her with the coffee load. putting the phone back to its original place, eunbi goes to work her magic on the drinks. cups are laid out on the counter, coffee's brewing, and the place has become alive again.

after countless hours of making a multitude of drinks, the staff member arrives and picks up half the load. the female takes the rest, including some of the special ones she made specifically for her eight friends, and closes the café completely before heading to the company building.

parking her car in the parking lot, some of the staff waiting outside of the building come and greet her as they relieve some of the load of the coffee. eunbi takes the eight special drinks and makes her way to the practice rooms.

when she opens the door, all eyes are on her, her lips curving into a sheepish smile in response to the sudden attention. the sound of quick footsteps echo in her ears, and she immediately places down the coffee onto the table provided since she knows that someone will barge in any minute to tackle her.

and... she was right.

"eunbi!" someone is quick to greet her and embrace her in a tight hug. they nuzzle their head in the crook of her neck, inhaling the scent of the café that lingers on her. a pleased hum leaves their lips as they hold her in their arms for some time.

she pats their head with a smile, taking the time to appreciate this moment. "it's been a while, wooyoung."

he looks at her, a pout present in his facial expression. "i missed visiting you at the café. it's so tiring with these guys hanging around me all the time."

"aw, i missed you too-"

"wooyoung, move out of the way!" mingi shouts, abruptly shoving the male off to the side to hug his friend. "it's my turn to hug her."

a chuckle makes its way up her throat as she returns the gesture. he lets her go and grins at her before backing away to allow the other members to greet her. she receives a lot of hugs from everyone, even jongho embraced her when he's the type of person who dislikes physical affection. exchanging greetings with one another, most of them eventually follow wooyoung's lead and find themselves a coffee drink at the table .

the second-to-last person to greet her is yunho, who immediately hugs her and spins her around. she squeals out of surprise, laughing in joy at the sudden movement. "i missed you, best friend!"

he eventually settles her down and steps back to take a good look at her, hands still in contact with her shoulders. "wow, it's great to see you after a long time."

his comment earns a playful scoff as a response from the female, sarcastically rolling her eyes at him. "maybe it's because you've been too busy to make time for me."

"hey!" he ruffles her hair. "i told you that you could have came to some of our scheduled events."

"well obviously, because who else is going to run the café? i'm in charge of the place and i need to make money too, you know."

they start bickering for a bit, but it quickly resolves into giggles. eunbi pats yunho's back and drags him to her level before rubbing her knuckle on his head. "be glad that you get to see me today. i took the time to make you coffee when the café was already closed."

he lets out a playfully yet painful 'ow' as he manages to switch their positions, now rubbing his knuckles on her head. the woman lets out a lighthearted cry, attempting to get anyone to save her from her best friend, and all the staff enjoy the show being put on by the two. "well, that's because i suggested to manager kim to get us coffee since we're staying up late today so you should be glad that you get to see me."

suddenly, a hand pries yunho's hands on the female and eunbi is sent flying into someone's arms. with the side of her face pressed against the person's chest, she can hear a low rumble vibrate within them and looks up to see the person who is holding her.

"sannie," she says, looking up to see the man staring down at his bandmate with a stern face. "what did i tell you about this?"

san averts his glaring attention on his band member, who has his hands up in the air, to the female in his arms, his scowl changing into a grin and he embraces her tightly. "sorry my love, you know how i am when it comes to you. i just missed you so much, eunbi."

he kisses her on the cheek and the woman smiles in response, nuzzling herself closer into the hug. it has been so long since she has been in the arms of her boyfriend as the warmth from his body radiates into hers. she feels safe, comforted, loved, happy being around him, and she never wants to get rid of those feelings.

"yah! get that couple stuff away from here!" the both of them look to the side to see jongho pretending to vomit at the sight, and eunbi breaks the embrace to make her way to him while she rolls up her sleeves.

"little apple, you're asking for it." a sinister smile makes its way to her lips, and she chuckles mischievously. she cracks her knuckles loudly, wanting the male to hear her annoyance as clearly as possible.

noticing her action, jongho's eyes widen and places his coffee down before sprinting away from eunbi. the woman follows after him, arms stretched to catch him at any moment, while she furiously shouts at him. all the other members chase behind them to either join the fun or try to stop them from this chaos, which all eventually simmered down into laughs and smiles.

one by one, they all tumble to the floor and their chests rise up and down quickly. their heads face one another and form a circle as they look at each other lovingly, grabbing the hands beside them to link them as one. they take the time to appreciate this small moment, recalling all the memories they shared when they were in high school.

eunbi turns to her right to see san looking right back at her, that beautiful, dimpled smile making her heart race as it always does. a light blush decorates her cheeks while she scoots closer to the man and places a small kiss on his nose.

her journey has come to an end now that she has found the place where she belongs, where life's perfections are at.

a/n:

'JOURNEY TO UTOPIA' has finally come to an end! thank you all so much for the love and the support for this story, i was not expecting this amount of people to enjoy this story. i'm glad that you guys loved reading this as much as i do when i'm writing it.

also, thank you to my friends for proof-reading/editing the majority of my story. it really helped me build my confidence in writing, so i appreciate it a lot. :)

if you want to read more of my stories, i have a few short stories completed already and am working on two longer stories (one of them have been posted already ^^). don't be afraid to post a message or privately dm me!i hope you have an amazing day/night, and i hope to see you at my other stories <3