[CONTENTID1]CHAPTER FIVE[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]It was a peaceful Saturday morning as I was walking to my working place. A small café under the name of `Baby Steps`. Why name it in such a way was beyond me,  but as long as it paid a reasonable salary, I was fine with almost everything.

The streets were busy as I was walking in them. People rushing back and forth, all for the destination to either their workplace or somewhere else entirely. All on their phones. Some with smiles other with frowns. Laughter from a bypassing group of girls resonated in my ears as they continued to gossip about something.

Not that any of my observations mattered to me. Those were only the small details of the world that I live in. Nothing unusual, if you ask.

The frowns will go to work and the smiles will go to the short holidays of two days maximum.

Then, of course, there were people like me. Simply blending in with the surroundings. A neutral face as they observed everyone around themselves, much like what I was doing.

A long sigh escaped past my lips. And this was my routine of every Saturday.

How exciting...

Unconsciously, I have reached my destination and was already opening the doors into the café. Warmth engulfed my body as the smell of waffles wafted through the air. This was, possibly, the only another good reason for me to work here apart from the money. The atmosphere of this café was always warm and inviting. A complete opposite of what I have to face at home or in school.

"Hi, MiRan!" yelled out another staff member from behind the front counter. Kim SeokJin, his name was. A handsome man only two years older than me. He had a nice pair of brown eyes and the hair of light brown colour. Not exactly tall, but still taller than me. Both his personality and face were very attractive which made me softer on him than the rest of the people that I know of. It was, perhaps, his motherly personality that made me that bit friendlier towards him.

"Hi." I answered back softly, raising my hand to wave at him. Not a single smile escaped past my features, but he knew that this was not because I was trying to be mean. Rather, it was because of the way that I was. Neutral.

In response to my small gesture he sent a small smile and returned back to his work at hand. Apparently, he was doing some accounting for the manager that was `busy`. Flirting with his one-time girlfriend, no doubt.

"You shouldn't be doing this, SeokJin." I murmured as I passed him.

A small twitch of a smile graced his handsome face and he shook his head silently.

"If that's how you want things to be, I won't intervene." and thus again, I sighed.

This was the benefit of having great observational skills and knowing a person for a year. It was clear as a day what he meant by shaking his head. `Be smart and don't get into this`.

Not as if I wanted to.

"Hurry up, your shift will start in a minute." he urged me, flailing his hand to the side while bobbing his head up and down.

"Yes, mom, I'm going." I whispered sarcastically, a hint of a smile on my else-why emotionless face.

He chuckled, "I'll just pretend that I didn't hear that, MiRan."

I opened the door to the staff room and stepped inside. The smell of a feminine perfume attacked my nose with a raging violence and my brows instantly furrowed from dissatisfaction.

A loud whistling erupted from someone as they came closer to where I was standing, and from behind a metal locker out came the manager of this café. He was fixing his tie and his hair was dishevelled. He also had swollen lips and some bright red lipstick on the collar of his white shirt. There was an overly happy aura around him, and it left me without a doubt of what he had just done in here.

"There's something on your collar, manager." I mumbled, the neutral expression back on my face.

His whistling came to a halt after my remark and he quickly turned around only to run back from where he came from. Precisely- the bathroom. I shook my head and shuffled to my locker.

The black apron was now tied around my waist and my hair high in a ponytail.

By the time I was done the manager came back again, only this time the blissful aura was gone and his face held a menacing grimace. "You saw nothing." ever so quietly I nodded my head and closed my locker. "Good." he whispered and hurriedly walked back into the main space of the café.

"Not as if SeokJin doesn't know of your dirty affairs, manager." I scoffed after the door to the staff room closed.

"MiRan, table five is yours." SeokJin patted my shoulder when he passed me, a tray in his other hand.

I quickly nodded my head and scrambled for my notepad.

"What would you like?" I asked the group of people sitting in front of me.

There were three girls and three boys. A group date, most likely. They were laughing, and seemed to have a good time, though the girls' eyes shined of boredom.

I wonder why...

"We would have three iced teas and three orange juice." the girl in the middle of her bunch voiced, her tone laced with a giggle. A fake one, at that.

This makes me surprised as to why the guys haven't yet left. Seriously.

"Would you want any snacks?" I asked, simply following the protocol of the café and letting my voice take on the polite trigger.

"I would've said if we wanted anything." the same girl snapped and I bowed my head, walking away from the table.

"Three orange juice and three iced teas." I informed SeokJin and he nodded, turning around and walking into the kitchen.

I sighed flopping down into a stool at the counter and leaning onto my hand.

"MiRan!" yelled a familiar voice from behind me. I closed my eyes and bit my lip. "You work here, too?! Whoa... Awesome!" Kim Tan's hyped voice bounced off of the walls of the café and into my ears.

"Why are you so loud?" I asked with a whisper.

"Why are you so quiet?" he asked back, blinking innocently as he sat down to my right side.