The sparkling, cheerful tones of Elyane Celis were entertaining us as I completed an ice cream cone for a customer. These old comforts, something simple to do but so obvious. When Nikki had suggested we serve ice cream today, I didn't hesitate. 

It was a soft reopening. No cakes or pastries. I wasn't ready yet, though something in me felt ready. Ice cream felt like the most I could do. These large containers were from the Nguyens' grocery store, even the brands on the sides of the containers in ice buckets in our display. Nikki had taken the usual shelves out himself, causing a warm feeling in my chest as he took them out lovingly and with respect.

As I handed the mint chocolate chip ice cream cone to the smiling woman in front of me, that something in my heart was healing. One ice cream cone at a time. As I looked beyond her, I saw a sight that warmed my heart even more. Healed me, even more. 

"Hold the coffee server like this," Nikki was instructing Gyeong-Wan. He adjusted it in his hands, rearranging his fingers. "Don't tilt it too much, or pour too fast. You'll end up with a big mess that will be burning. You don't want to burn the customer, do you?"

The customer in question edged a little bit away from them, but he looked amused anyway. Further causing my heart to soar, there was a new and pink copy of the Rainbow Edition on the table next to him. Minoru had delivered a whole stack of them this morning. Showing life goes on, life was good. It was as if nothing had ever happened, as if everything was normal.

Things were far from normal, but we were adjusting. A soft opening here, a gentle lesson there. 

"Yes. Pour it. Yes, like that."

I could only see Gyeong-Wan's back, but his movements were slow. Taking so much care, with this one cup of coffee. The feeling in my heart bloomed. Distracted by him, remembering in a flash of sudden memory, one like this. How in the beginning, I'd watched his back like this. Longing to know him, blushing with Nikki and Miyuki about him. Well, now I knew him. And how wonderful he was. And now, he was working here...

"That's it. See, it isn't so hard. Just don't get over eager. It'll come naturally eventually. Muscle memory. You won't want to pour it so fast. That's motto of this place, isn't it? Things go slow. We take our time. We enjoy life."

"Oh, enjoying life?" Gyeong-Wan's response to Nikki's lecture. He sounded so happy about it. I felt myself blush. 

"Yes, that's what Kazu always says."

My hand was over my heart before I knew it. Another customer stepped up to the counter, indicating to the pink strawberry ice cream. I nodded to her, my smile so genuine and full of love. I felt so young, maybe like a middle schooler in love, but... Gently, I swung around to the waffle cone maker and poured batter into its awaiting mold. The perfect amount, and just thinking about teaching Gyeong-Wan how to make this? His developing a muscle memory for the right amount, just like me. Just like how to pour the coffee?

Yesterday, I'd been so worried. He hadn't come back for so long. I'd panicked, wanting to go over to the hotel to see what was wrong. Just that freedom to do that, feeling like I could go over there. There wasn't any more intimidation about it. I'd been over there. Realizing that, but thinking he might not be there. They might have made him leave, taken him right to the airport. Higher ups in his company had been there, they might have taken him with them. 

When he came through the door after, I'd been so relieved. Beside myself. He could have told me anything, but I was just so relieved he was back. To see him again. Wanting to hear his story, but most of all wanting to see his face. To touch his hair, feel his warm skin. I'd clung to him and didn't care who watched. 

He'd quit his job at the hotel. That's all he'd told us since then. Now, he was here with us. Mostly unspoken, but he was working here now. Nikki had embraced it, and I couldn't officially say the words. It was natural, the most correct thing in the world. He belonged here. I'd known that months ago, I'd known that when he'd made chocolate with me. When he'd taken my cakes out of the oven. When he'd watched me make pastries. He was one of us. And with quitting his job, he was finally one of us.

The bell chimed above the door, and a brief fear struck my vulnerable heart. But, oh, the next sound.

"Welcome to French Cup!" Gyeong-Wan and Nikki called out cheerfully to whoever it was. And my goodness, who it was. 

The sound of a cane and a long sigh. I knew that sigh. I couldn't turn around though, because the waffle cone was still cooking. It was almost done, but I had to tend to it. It belonged to a precious customer, and was therefore so important.

"I'm back!" Ayane announced like a whirlwind. "No, don't lead me to a table. Am I an invalid? I'm not an old woman. That's a good boy."

The waffle cone maker dinged and I lifted the lid. Carefully, I picked up the warm and soft waffle folded it in on itself, this so familiar motion. I sealed it with water just like so many other times in my history. Turning quickly to scoop the cold ice cream in the still hot cone, the best of two sweet worlds for this customer. This combination the real treat. Liberally, I scooped up two big balls of pink ice cream for her. 

"Chocolate sprinkles, please," she said, grinning at me. She was enjoying watching, too. I just knew it. I nodded to her so eagerly, taking a long silver spoon and sticking it deep into the bowl with the shining chocolate pieces. It rattled around satisfyingly, and I brought them out. I shook them on, going back for more. Covering it, adding more into the gaps of the cone so she got the most. She breathed out a sigh of joy as I handed it to her. 

"Thank you so much," she breathed, her eyes unable to leave her delicious ice cream. 

"No, thank you," I countered, giving her a small bow of my deepest gratitude. She handed me seven hundred yen and I bowed to her again. I watched her take her seat and then beheld Ayane before me as she took her rightful place to order as it should be. 

She still looked worse for the wear, bringing me back to reality. I was trying so hard to ignore it all, but... She was leaning on a cane that looked very medical. No doubt, she was feeling the effects of her fall from the day everything became wrong. I breathed in, closing my eyes and preparing myself. But, before I could open them back up-

Strong hands were on my shoulders. Squeezing them. My eyes opened like a doll toy that had been squeezed. She was giving me such an assuring smile. So unlike her. 

"What's that look for?" She asked in her usual gruff manner. "Are you annoyed to see me or something? Give me a strawberry ice cream, that looked good. The one that girl you just served had. Did you make the sprinkles yourself?"

Relief surged through me. Oh, my smile was back, along with an embarrassed blush. Something had tried to wreck this new world I was cultivating, but I had to remember one important thing: 

We hadn't let them win. It seemed like it was all over now, but Ayane was standing right in front of me reminding me it wasn't. There were scars left. Things that might heal, but maybe not completely. We were in this new world now, trying to pick up pieces and make something beautiful. Maybe something new and beautiful. It would never be the same, but maybe it could be something else that we didn't expect.

Behind her, I observed Gyeong-Wan nervously trying to pour coffee for someone else. This one was a challenge, because the customer had the coffee cup up off the table, holding it out for him. The customer wasn't paying attention, reading a book. Gyeong-Wan looked unsure how to proceed, but Nikki was right there, arms crossed and patient. Watching with a laser focus to make sure he got it right, but it wasn't anything like Gyeong-Wan's old job, I was sure. This filled me with peace again. Something like peace, and that was all I could really ask for.

I turned back to Ayane. She'd been watching them, too, as I'd been thinking to myself. 

"I didn't make the sprinkles. Maybe they'd be too sweet, in that case."

"Oh yeah, then no sprinkles. You're right, it'd be too sweet."

I nodded, taking a deep and silent breath. I went to the counter, lifting the lid of the waffle maker and pouring the batter in. As I watched the waffle maker as it cooked, just like for any customer's cone, I was lost in my thoughts again.

Where would we go from here? It brought me back to where I was last night. This jarring thing, seeing Ayane now with a cane even if it was temporary. Gyeong-Wan. He was working here, but was he allowed to work here? What was the protocol? We'd never hired Yash officially, so I didn't know anything about hiring someone from a foreign country. How foreign was Korea in terms of the law? Was it the same as hiring someone from Europe, from America? Were there more friendly laws? Were there some old rules from the past, things that might not have changed historically between our two countries?

It wasn't lost on me, how things had been historically. I hadn't thought of it before, but it was always there at the edges. Because Gyeong-Wan is Korean, it might be harder to hire him here. Was that the case? I hoped so hard it wasn't. That maybe somewhere, the law wasn't so harsh. What was the procedure? Did we need a certain number of Japanese people working here before we could hire him? Did it have to be a job that only Gyeong-Wan could do? And if so, how could we qualify him to do it?

Just the idea of hiring him officially. We'd have to sponsor him. How much would it cost? My heart blipped in this thought. Skipping a beat. We'd have to make more money. There was no question. I was prepared for that. I'd work twice, no three times as hard if it meant he could stay. There was not a bone in my body that denied this. 

But this lack of knowing about the law. How hard it might be. There were a lot of people in this neighborhood who knew what it took to stay here as a foreigner. Could I ask them? Would they possibly know the answers? Would we need a lawyer-

 "AHHH! NOOOO! GYEONG-WAAAN!"

I jumped up so hard. Spinning around to the opposite counter. Seeing Ayane's red coat, just that color, as I looked beyond her with every part of my being. 

"Gyeong-Wan?!" I cried out, gasping, already running towards them. The little door to the back of the counter flipped around as I crashed through it. 

"Shit," Nikki sighed deeply, looking at the brown liquid on the floor. It sloshed towards more of the black and white tiles, flooding each one as the mess spread. "Did you hurt yourself? Let me see your fingers."

As I reached them, Gyeong-Wan was standing there sheepishly. He was still holding the coffee server, but he wasn't acting hurt. Brown coffee was dripping off his coffee server still, and he was hesitating to put it down on the white table cloth of the table in front of him. He was so shy and nervous. Somehow, I felt a smile on my lips despite my fear. Without a word, I took the coffee server from him and he looked so relieved. 

"Oops," he said quietly, like an adorable little boy. It only made me grin.

"No more pouring coffee for you. I sentence you to scooping ice cream. At least you can't burn yourself that way," Nikki said, taking the coffee server from me. It looked correct in his hand. Well, for now he'd be the one on coffee duty, as was the right away of the world, I felt. It all was so natural. 

"Yay, let's go scoop ice cream," I said lightly, unable to contain my grin. Smiling so wide. I saw his dimples deepen as that same sheepish smile became larger, too. I grabbed his hand and he willingly came with me, way too cute. 

"Your waffle is burning," Ayane called loudly to me. 

I gasped, going faster. "Oh, shoot."

Gyeong-Wan held the little counter door open for me as I swooped inside, fussing over the waffle maker immediately. It was true, it smelled burned. In the chaos, I must have missed the ding of it to show it was done. Even if the heat was off, the waffle would continue to cook. That's why it was so important to take off immediately. I lifted the lid now, and it was definitely a dark waffle. 

"That's fine," Ayane said behind me. "It'll offset the sweetness. I like that."

"No way, no way," I said quickly, lifting it off the hot black iron. "You'll get a new one. I can't serve it to you like this. That isn't the French Cup way."

Behind me, I heard a small giggle and it made my heart lift and fly. Gyeong-Wan, laughing so freely. 

"No, I want it," Ayane said, clearly not listening. 

I spun around, still holding the waffle at the edge of my fingertips gingerly. "No, that's not the French Cup-"

I could see why Gyeong-Wan was giggling now. Ayane was mid-word, mouthing what I was saying, having heard this phrase so many times. 

"Heyyy," I said, my lip out in mock offense. 

"Give me the waffle. Don't waste it. I love it. Aren't you going to make it a cone before it cools? Isn't that how it's done? Go on then."

I sighed again, really not wanting to give her burned product, but it was true she did like burned things. Even on her flan, she liked the caramel to be very dark. It cheered me up a little bit, remembering like this. The way things were, and how it was coming together into the now. These same things, continuing on their way. I loyally wrapped the waffle into a cone shape, just as she'd asked. It was cooling quickly in my hands, and I knew what was next. I sealed it with water, and handed it over so gratefully to Gyeong-Wan.

Such relief was in my heart. Seeing him standing there in front of her, with her currently being a piece of work. She stood there demandingly as always, despite having a cane. Watching his movements, the same gentle ones as when he'd been trying to pour coffee. Leaning over into the case to scoop up two big balls of ice cream, seeing his familiar shape in here. 

How warm my heart was. For the first time in what seemed like a long time, despite any difficulty we might face, how warm my heart was.