A young girl leaned against the wall behind the counter of an empty coffee shop. The last customers had left a long while ago, and the sky was now jet black with loud and heavy rain bombarding everything outside. She wasn’t the only one working at this late hour, but the other employee, a young boy she was good friends with, was cleaning the backroom. Soft music came from the speakers, and the coffee smell was all over the room, not strongly, though. The young girl yawned and closed her eyes for a moment, wishing the time would pass by quicker, so that she could go home a catch some sleep before her next morning classes. She swore she could fall asleep standing if something didn’t shake her in the next minutes or seconds.

Suddenly, the door behind her opened up, and the young boy called her name, making her jump a little.

“You tired?” he asked with a little smile, and she nodded with her eyes half open. He chuckled at her zombie-like state and wrapped his arms around her slim body. She felt too tired to even hug her friend back, and just let her arms hang by her sides and her head rest against his firm chest. “Don’t fall asleep on me now,” he said quickly after realizing how quiet she was. He stepped back and patted her cheeks a little, trying to wake her up. “I’ll continue cleaning now, but I’m soon finished, so at least try to stay awake until I’m back, okay?”

“All right, I’ll try,” she replied in a yawn, waving the boy off. She hoped this night would be just like all the other nights, which meant that she would fall asleep, he would look after the shop for her, and they would leave together once their shift was over, which also meant she had to be there for another hour.

The bell over the entry door suddenly rang, and she became instantly awake. She put on her kind smile and looked up. There, soaking wet, stood another young boy, dressed in black from top to bottom with a hood over his head. As he approached her by the counter, he brushed his hood off and ruffled his wet, light brown-dyed hair, but kept his gaze low.

“Welcome, what can I get for you?” she politely said the standard sentence she’d said uncountable times throughout the years of working in the coffee shop.

“A cup of hot chocolate, please,” the boy replied. She could see his lips were slightly trembling, and she wondered just how long he’d been out in that awful rain. She motioned for the boy to sit down anywhere, and he went to the nearest table. As she made him his order, she wondered what on earth he was doing outside this late on a Monday. When he stood by the counter, she hadn’t seen exactly what he looked like, because of his long fringe. However, she did think his voice sounded familiar.

“A cup of hot chocolate, here you go,” she said and put the hot white cup before him on the table. The boy looked up to thank her and smiled when he met her eyes. He moved his gaze to her name tag, and raised his brows slightly. She stood still as he read her tag.

“Kang Minju…” he said to himself firstly, thinking for a moment. “Buddy Ju?” His eyes suddenly sparkled, and his face brightened up. At the mention of her old nickname, she raised her brows, widened her eyes and stared back at the boy.

“B-buddy Ji?” she stammered back. The boy’s smile widened, and in a second, he’d stood up and wrapped his arms around her in a bo