Steamed Milk

{Jihun's POV}
"Kim Jian! Can you come and see me please?" I called out to her as I stood in the doorway of my office. She came wandering out of the back room with her head down. She reached my door and I held my arm up for her to walk under. She walked through and I followed her in as I shut the door behind me. I sat down at my desk and she sat in the seat opposite me silently. "You know what I'm going to tell you right?" I asked her. She nodded quietly. I opened the book on my desk and spun it around for her to look at. She looked down at it and sighed.
"Jian, these are all your mistakes. All ten of them made in two weeks." I told her as I shook my head. "You can't keep making mistakes Jian." I sighed.

"I know. I'm sorry. I will try better next time." She stuttered.
"But Jian, it can't be next time. You need to try better now. You can't keep making mistakes. We are a high end coffee bar. Do you know that two people have complained about you as well?" I asked her. She looked up at me with a worried look spread across her face.
"Are you sure you are ready to come back to work?" I asked her again. She nodded repeatedly as she looked at me.
"I am! It was because I was away for a while, I was getting used to coming back. I couldn't make coffee whilst I was recovering." She pleaded with me. I sighed but nodded to her.
"Ok. You can go. But make one more mistake Jian and you'll have a warning." I sighed. She thanked me and quickly disappeared out of the office.

I was busy working in my office when I decided to go and have a look to see what Jian was doing. I didn't want to keep watching what she was doing. But her list of mistakes was growing and the number of complaints was growing. I promised my father I would look after this place. I strolled out of my office and looked around the bar. There were a couple of customers but the coffee bar was quite empty. Jian was busy stood by the counter filling up the coffee machines and cleaning up. She glanced up at me and looked back to what she was doing. "Hello" Heejun said to me as he past me with a cheeky grin and I smiled to him. 
"Is she ok?" I whispered to Heejun as he wandered back past me.
Heejun glanced at Jian then pulled a face, "I think she's a bit stressed." He whispered to me. I nodded to him and sighed.

Suddenly I heard a noise and I looked up to find Jian rushing into the back rooms behind the counter. I frowned and wandered up to the counter where the metal jug of hot water had been split. I quickly ran following Jian and looked inside the staff room. Jian was stood by the sink with her arm under the water. "What have you done?!" I cried out. Her head swung around to look at me with panic spread across her face. I walked up to meet her and looked at her arm under the water which had been scalded by the hot water. "Oh Jian~" I sighed. She closed her eyes and sighed deepily, staying silent.

{Jian's POV}
I closed my eyes and sighed deepily as I held my arm under the cold water of the tap. Just go away, please Jihun. "When I said no more mistakes, I also meant accidents." He said to me as he wandered off. I sighed again and opened my eyes. I glanced at the watch on my wrist, five more minutes to hold it under the water. 
"What were you doing anyway?" Jihun asked me which made me jump. Ah, I thought he had gone away. "It looks like you were putting the hot water into the wrong steaming jug." He told me. I gulped and nodded to him.
"Have you forgot which jugs to use or-" He began.
"No! Of course not!" I quickly interrupted him. He sighed and looked closer at my arm.

"That should be enough. Sit down." He told me. I frowned and sat down on the chair which he had pulled out for me. He crouched down infront of me and opened the medical kit which he had gone to get. "It doesn't look too bad. I'll put a dressing on it. It shouldn't scar" He told me as he held my wrist whilst he looked at the burn mark. I nodded to him quietly and stayed silent as he was busy putting the dressing on for me. "Are you alright to go back to work?" He asked me. I nodded to him again and he glanced up at me.
"Are you not talking to me now?" He sighed.
"No no. I'll go back. I'm fine. Thank you." I quickly rambled as I noticed he had finished the dressing and I quickly walked off.

"Woah! Where are you going in such a hurry?" Youjin cried out as I rushed past him out of the door. I reached the counter and took deep breaths in. I can't do this. I can't lie anymore. I cleaned up the water which had spilled and cleaned the metal jug. 
"Jian. You can take your lunch break now." I heard Jihun call out to me. I glanced at my watch on my wrist. It wasn't my lunch break yet. It was too early. I sighed and nodded to him as I left the counter. I pulled my jacket out of my locker and put my apron back in. As I headed back out I saw Youjin stood beside Jihun and they were whispering about something. Probably me.
"Where are you going?" Jihun asked me. I turned around to face him.
"Uh. I'm going out for lunch. I will back in time." I stuttered as I disappeared out the front door.

{Youjin's POV}
"That's strange..." I stuttered out loud. Jihun looked across at me and frowned.
"What's strange?" He said confused.
"In all the years Jian has worked here, she has never gone out to work. She has always sat in the back room and eaten." I told him.
Jihun frowned, "I'll go after her." He suggested.
"No no. I'll go. My lunch is now anyway." I told him. He nodded and I quickly ran to the back room to grab my jacket. I walked quickly out of the coffee bar and repeatedly pressed the button on the lifts. Where could she have gone? She has never done this before... there's something strange which is going on with her. I know it.

I ran out of the hotel and looked in both directions. I found her walking quickly with her head down to the left in the distance. I wandered down the street as I followed her with a large gap between us. "Where are you going Jian..." I wondered to myself as she we continuously walked past any cafes or restaurants which she could have gone to eat in. She wasn't going for lunch so where was she going. I didn't want to follow her, I didn't want to do this but I wanted to know what was going on with her and this was the only option. Ever since she came back after her accident, she had been acting strange.

I continued following her and she finally led me to a library nearby. I walked inside and wandered around the different isles of book shelves. I finally found Jian stood down the lifestyle and cooking section. I quickly darted down the isle opposite her and stood directly infront of her, the other side of the bookshelf she was looking at. I stood still and waited for her to pull out a book. As soon as I saw a book moved, I grabbed it from my side and pulled it out of her hands and towards me. "Yah!" She cried out as she looked through the gap between the books. I looked down at the book then looked through the gap to her.
"Making different types of coffee~" I sang to her quietly as I read the title of the book.
"Youjin!" I heard her whisper as she gasped.

She disappeared and I heard footsteps as she ran around the bookshelf. She stopped when she saw me and froze. "Oh Kim Jian~ you have some explaining to do. Let's talk on the way back. But first you need to take out your book. It looks good enough." I as I flicked through the pages. She rushed over to me and grabbed the book out of my hands. She sighed as she walked off and I followed her. She scanned her library card and scanned the book. She placed the book into her bag before I followed her out of the library. "Why did you follow me?" She asked me. 
"You've been acting strange since you came back. We thought something was strange so I followed you." I told her.
"We?!" She cried out as she panicked.
"Jihun and I." I told her with a smirk.
"Please! Youjin! Don't tell him!" She whined to me.

"Fine. But you need to tell him yourself. I knew something was strange about you. So you've forgotten how to make coffee and all of us, right?" I asked her. She stuttered and stopped walking. I stopped afterwards and turned back around to her.
"How did you know I've forgotten everyone?" She stuttered.
"Before your accident we argued. We argued and shouted at each other. We didn't talk for a whole month. But then you came back and acted friendly with me, joking with me. So I acted friendly back and I realised. You kept glancing at everyone's name badges." I explained to her. She sighed and dropped her head.

"Youjin, please don't tell Jihun. I'm learning people's names again, I'm learning how to make coffee again. I haven't forgotten them completely. It's temporally graded retrograde amnesia. My memories will come back, but I don't know when." She explained to me. I nodded to her.
"Ok. I won't tell him. But I'll give you 3 months. After 3 months, if they haven't returned and you haven't told him, I'm telling him. Jihun is trying really hard to keep the coffee bar running for his father's honour. You know how much Mr Kim loved this coffee bar." I told her. She nodded to me and we started walking again.
"Thank you Youjin." She said quietly.
"Don't mention it." I sighed to her.

We reached the coffee bar and Jian disappeared strange into the back room. I looked across the room and Jihun was looking straight at me. He pointed to his office before walking inside. I wandered over to his door. I went inside and shut the door behind me. "So... where did she go?" Jihun asked me. I started laughing quietly and he frowned confused.
"She went to get some lunch. I forgot. She goes to get lunch once every month as a treat." I said as I laughed quietly.
Jihun sighed and nodded, "Fine. You can go." He sighed. I bowed my head to him before quickly escaping out of his office. Ah, why am I lying for you Kim Jian. You owe me now. You owe me big time. But I don't know how long I can lie for you.

Author's Note: So Youjin knows about Jian! Thank you to my lovely new subscribers, I hope you are enjoying the story so far and I would love to see some comments on what you think. Next chapter will be up soon my lovelies!