"So how did it go?” Wendy asked when Joy came in for the shift change the next day.

Joy walked up and collapsed into her arms dramatically, putting quite the strain on Wendy’s tiny frame. “It was so stressful! Everyone kept trying to tell me what to do, and with Irene there to watch it all…”

Wendy patted her back awkwardly, knees buckling. “How were Gunhee and Yeri?” she grunted.

Though she seemed unaware of Wendy’s discomfort, Joy stood up. She regaled Wendy with the story of Gunhee’s accident in the stockroom fridge, which expectedly mortified the smaller barista. Joy waved away her concern. “It’s fine. He didn’t drop any milk.” Wendy raised a finger, about to state that that wasn’t what she was worried about, when Joy piped up again.

“Oh, and Yeri and Irene get along great, by the way. Just swimmingly,” She added. There was more than a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Wendy blinked at her. “Irene… and Yeri?” From their time together on the floor the previous morning, Wendy would have never thought someone like Irene would take so well to someone like Yeri.

“Oh, totally,” Joy continued with obvious sarcasm. “Yeri told her stories all night about us, I can’t wait for Seulgi to come back from break so I can tell her that Irene knows about the Blender Incident.”

Wendy suddenly burst out laughing. “Oh, poor Seulgi- wait what do you mean ‘all night’? How late was she here until?”

Joy shrugged. “She helped us close. We got out on time,” she said off-handedly. “Why?”

Wendy’s brows furrowed. “Well, she opened yesterday.”

Joy looked a little guilty. “Oh. I mean we kind of needed the help, but we probably could have handled it. Maybe she wanted to stay because it was her first day…?” she fell silent after that.  

Wendy began measuring out coffee beans for the grinder. “Well, maybe just tell the others to go easy on her tonight, then.” She the grinder, momentarily put a hold on any more conversation.

Joy thought about the evening’s schedule. Irene was going to close the store herself as the floor manager, with Yeri again. She watched Wendy for a moment, the shorter girl expertly discarding the used coffee filter and grinds from the brew basket, and replacing it in the machine. She flicked the tag on the coffee urn over, indicating that the batch was still brewing and not ready to be served yet.

Joy knew how closely Wendy paid attention to all the little details; her sincerity touched them all, and it made them want to work harder, too, but ever since Irene came onboard, Wendy seemed to be off her game. Joy noticed while they’ve overlapped the past two days that any time Irene was mentioned, Wendy started to get distracted and would make little mistakes.

“You’ve got it bad.”

Wendy looked over at her suddenly, eyes wide. “Huh? Me? Who-”

“It’s pretty obvious.”

Wendy’s expression took on a note of panic. “No, that’s not- you don’t understand,” she stammered. She grabbed Joy’s shoulders and looked around the cafe conspiratorily, even sparing a glance through the stockroom door’s window. Joy wasn’t sure who she was looking for, though, knowing that Irene wasn’t expected in for at least another hour.

Joy smirked. “Well, for one, you forgot to close the nozzle,” she stated dryly, indicating the small trickle of fresh coffee that was beginning to stream out of the urn in the drip tray.

Wendy released her hurriedly and flipped it shut. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she protested breathlessly. “Really, Joy, she’s our boss, now. You know stuff like that’s against company policy,” she lectured in a low voice, speaking of relationships between employees and supervisors. And Joy knew Wendy couldn't lose this job. Still, the girl’s cheeks were noticeably flushed.

Joy simply shrugged. “Maybe you haven’t been here long enough, but there have been lots of couples like that. Not at this store that I know of, but Heechul’s store across town, for instance...”

Wendy had heard those rumors. “But those are baristas and floor managers, not store managers,” she pointed out.

Joy gave another shrug. “You have to live your life, Wendy. What’s the harm in following your heart?” Joy blinked and looked down at the shorter girl, having surprised herself with such a cheesy platitude.

Wendy looked up at her with equal astonishment. “I think you’ve been hanging around me too much,” she said with a shy laugh.

Joy nodded her head liberally. “Seriously! But I mean it, Wendy. Just think about it, okay?” She turned to walk away, but she suddenly felt Wendy tug on her apron strings.

“Joy, wait.”

Joy turned and waited.

“... I have a favor to ask.”

+++

Seulgi was absently eating a sandwich while people-watching through the security camera screen, and her curiosity piqued when she spied Irene walking into the cafe with… Heechul? Mouth full of sandwich, she paused and watched Heechul nudge Irene playfully and her boss smack his arm in retaliation.

She slowly resumed her chewing as they disappeared out of the camera’s view and came into the stockroom where she sat.

“Hey, Seulgi,” Heechul greeted with a wave, back to his normal self after their last encounter. “Scoot that , we need the computer.”

Seulgi scrambled to grab her lunch and slide it out of their way. Irene was wearing a distractingly wide smile, in the most relaxed spirits Seulgi had ever seen her. Seulgi eyed Heechul suspiciously, but Irene’s voice brought her out of her own thoughts.

“Seulgi, I think I’d like your input on this, too, if you don’t mind,” she said, putting a hand on Seulgi’s arm. The Legendary Barista looked like a chipmunk caught in the headlights, with her cheeks full of sandwich and her eyes wide at Irene’s familiar demeanor.

Irene laughed and pushed her gently. “You can finish eating first,” she directed, seeing how she seemed to have caught the barista completely off guard. Seulgi was dangerously cute when she was confused, and unfortunately for Irene, Seulgi seemed to get confused a lot. Irene needed to keep it together - it was only her second day after all.

She cleared and returned her attention back to Heechul who had helped himself to the computer and their upcoming weekly schedules.

“Are you sure you want the new girl?” he was saying to Irene. “She only just transferred, so I haven’t really been able to see how she is yet.”

“Yup,” Irene answered, hovering over his shoulder and appraising the schedules. “And we’ll take Moonbyul, too. I need another floor manager at night and I'm not really ready to start training someone new.”

Heechul turned to look up at her. “That’s a good idea. Anyone else? You have a lot of full-time employees…”

Irene nodded. “I know. I don’t think I’ll be able to work in anyone else- Seulgi? What do you think? I don’t want to cut anyone’s hours.”

Seulgi swallowed hard at suddenly being addressed. She had been watching their exchange closely: Irene seemed almost like an entirely different person. The icy girl with the intense stare she had met yesterday had completely vanished. What kind of relationship did she have with Heechul? Seulgi had always liked him, and had even considered transferring to his store at one point, but seeing how freely Irene was smiling and laughing was disorienting.

This almost felt like envy. All her attempts to make her new manager laugh had fallen flat, but was Heechul, paling around with Irene like they’ve known each other for-

“Do you two know each other?” she asked suddenly, completely missing that Irene had just asked her a question.

Irene blinked, then a slow smile spread across her face.

“Unfortunately~” Heechul drawled, which earned him a smack.

“I’m the one who recommended her to fill in for Kyuhyun,” he said with a bit more sobriety. As he continued, his voice brightened again. “I was her floor manager at a store a long time ago. A loooooooong-” and another smack, “-time ago.”

Seulgi watched them with mild surprise. That certainly explained why they had been able to replace Kyuhyun so quickly. So Irene and Heechul were… friends? Just old coworkers? Seulgi felt unaccountably relieved to hear that, though she didn’t have time to dissect the feeling before Heechul continued.

“I suppose I should explain this, too,” he said, gesturing to the computer. “My store’s getting remodeled,” he said with a mixed expression.

Seulgi could understand what he was probably feeling. A remodel was exciting: new furniture, floors, layout, maybe even new equipment. But it was hard on the crew. Stores were closed for weeks at a time while they were worked on. It was basically a forced, unpaid vacation unless the other managers in the district could temporarily adopt some of the bereft baristas.

“So you’ll take two of mine, the store in the mall will take two more, and the drivethru store will take one. Everyone else is okay with a break,” he finished with a satisfied smile, looking at both Irene and Seulgi.

Irene nodded. “Yup, we’ll take Moonbyul and Eunae. Seulgi will help me figure out where to put them.”

Seulgi began to nod obediently then suddenly froze. She felt her breath leave her lungs and the blood drain from her face.

“M-Moonbyul and who?”