It was like her first day all over again. Eunae tied up her hair and adjusted her bangs with small, nervous movements, checking her reflection in the rearview mirror before she finally stepped out of her car and began walking towards the store.

There was more to her anxiety than just entering a foreign environment: once upon a time she used to visit this store as a customer - as the girlfriend of its premiere barista. With mixed emotions, she realized it had only been a handful of times, and she desperately prayed to whatever beverage god would listen that no one would remember her. After all, it had been nearly two years since then.

She hoped beyond hope that this wasn’t Seulgi’s store anymore. That it was simply, as Heechul had put it, Irene’s store. She turned suddenly, quickly walking back to her car. She yanked the door open and grabbed the apron she had forgotten.

Okay, let’s try this again.

Two new stores in just as many weeks. She had naively thought that moving back home would bring a sense of familiarity and peace of mind while she tried to figure out her next steps in life, but even before she had a chance to memorize all the names of her new coworkers, she was being into another store. To be fair Heechul had asked her, but the conversation had gone a little something like this:

“Hey, new girl!” Even her own manager called her the new girl… she was sure it must be a term of endearment... somehow. “Irene could use a hand at her store,” Heechul had said, hooking a thumb at the short, distractingly pretty girl standing next to him who swatted his hand away. “It’d only be for the remodel. What do you say?”

Eunae had given him a pained smile, but by the time she had found the courage to speak up, he had already clapped her on the shoulder. “Great! You’ll be with Moonbyul, so it should be a piece of cake.”

And now here she was, pushing open the cafe doors of yet another unfamiliar store, and sheepishly greeting her new new coworkers as she made her way to the back room. As she stepped into the stock room, however, she regretted not speaking up when Heechul had ‘voluntold’ her to offer her services, for there stood Wendy, leaning over Irene’s shoulder as they looked at something together on the computer.

It answered a lot of questions for her all at once, ones that had been left to turn over in her mind ever since she had seen this girl and Seulgi walk into her store the other day. Taped to the door of the refrigerator was a copy of the week’s schedule and with a fearful eye she read it over and confirmed her suspicions.

So this was still Seulgi’s store.

How little had really changed.

“Oh, h-hey,” Wendy said awkwardly as she turned and saw Eunae not ten feet away, staring up at their schedule. Her brief experience with the barista from Heechul’s store hadn’t quite impressed upon her mind how tall Eunae was. Or her athletic proportions. Or how well her long bangs framed her face. Seulgi sure knew how to pick ‘em.

Irene turned to greet her as well. “You’re Eunae, right? I’m Irene, and this is Wendy.”

Eunae screamed internally as she turned to regard them both with a tight-lipped smile. It was going to be a long two weeks.

+++

Wendy watched Eunae out of the corner of her eye. She was great with customers: friendly, intuitive, and they loved her. All of the regulars asked if she was new, if she was going to stick around, all the usual superficial questions. But Wendy had some burning questions of her own. She sidled up to Eunae, helping her mark cups as she rang in customers. “So…” she tried, between orders. “You’re… new to the company?”

Wendy heard Yeri make a derisive noise from the bar. “You come here often?” the blonde translated unhelpfully. Wendy glared at her as she set another cup down on the bar. On the other side of them at the next register, Gunhee dropped his pen.

“Oh, never mind!”

Eunae inhaled sharply through her nose. “H-have a good day…!” she stammered at a customer, watching the tiny barista stomp her way into the cafe to clean the condiment bar. Considering their previous encounter, she was fairly certain that wasn’t what Wendy had been trying to get at, but she was afraid to think where a prolonged conversation with a friend of Seulgi’s would lead.

But Wendy wasn’t going to back down that easily. She tried cornering Eunae again when she went to clock out and saw her sitting at the back desk eating lunch.

Eunae suddenly looked like she had never seen a more fascinating sandwich in her life when she noticed Wendy approaching.

Wendy paused beside her and shifted her weight uncomfortably, “Hey…”

“... Are you… are you friends with Seulgi?” Eunae preemptively asked, still staring at the half-eaten sandwich in her hands.

Wendy blinked at her, surprised she had gotten a response. Outside of helping customers,  Eunae had been pretty tight-lipped with the rest of the crew so far. “Yeah, I am.”

Eunae looked up at her, a fleeting, distressed look crossing her features before her expression faded back into its previous pensive state. “How is she?”

Wendy considered her question for a moment. “She’s good,” she answered briefly. Wendy was starting to get the feeling there were some unresolved feelings between the two girls, but she felt a twinge of instinct to protect her friend from any more heartache. “But she didn’t know you had… come back. You surprised her.”

Eunae nodded. As odd as it was to discuss something like this with a girl she had just met, she felt like she rightfully deserved any chiding Wendy might throw her way. “I know. To be honest, she surprised me, too.” A small part of Eunae had expected Seulgi to be long gone from this place. But no, she was the one who had disappeared so completely. Seulgi would have never done that to someone she had claimed to love. “I didn’t treat her well. If she’s anything like I remember, she probably didn’t tell you that.”

Wendy looked down at her in mild surprise. It would be just like Seulgi to gloss over something like that. Or, what Wendy would rather believe was that perhaps Eunae was being a little hard on herself. Especially considering how remorseful the girl looked as she stared at the remnants of her lunch.

She put a hand on Eunae’s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “She didn’t mention anything like that. But really, I think she’s okay." Wendy took in a breath. "But what I really came back here to say was, thank you for helping out today,” she said, trying to steer the conversation to safer waters as she leaned over to use the computer to clock out.

Eunae felt herself relax under that bracing gesture, and leaned back a little to give Wendy more space. Her kind words had been un-looked for, and were comforting. “Y-you’re welcome.” Wendy stood up and give her a small wave before heading back towards the cafe.

“See you tomorrow.”

Eunae returned the small wave with a shy smile.

Just as Wendy was about to push the stockroom door open, however, someone swung it open from the other side and smacked Wendy right in the face with it, knocking the waifish girl into the stock shelves.

“Oh my- OH MY GOD! Are you okay?!” Moonbyul cried from the other side of the door. She checked to make sure she wasn’t about to crush anyone else before quickly coming into the room to assess the damage she had just caused.

Eunae was out of her seat in an instant, and rushed over to Wendy. Both baristas from Heechul’s store walked the poor girl over to the desk and sat her down in the chair.

“Are you okay?” Moonbyul repeated, the hint of an absurd smile tugging at her lips even as she gripped Wendy’s shoulders trying to see how badly the girl was hurt. What an entrance.

Eunae knelt in front of Wendy, trying to peek through the girl’s hands. Suddenly they could both hear it, faint laughter coming from Wendy herself.

“Really, Moonbyul, you’re here for five seconds,” she said, slowly lowering her hands from her face to glare up at the blue-haired barista. “I’m off the clock! What if you gave me a concussion? Workman’s comp won’t cover it!”

Now a smile threatened Eunae’s features too, listening to Wendy upbraid her supervisor. She liked this girl. Her smile faded quickly though. “Wendy, your nose…”

“You’re bleeding!”

Eunae stood up and grabbed a handful of paper towels from the handsink. She knelt again and gently put the towels in Wendy’s hand as Moonbyul encouraged her to tilt her head back.

Wendy laughed at her plight as she pressed the towels to her nose. “Really?” she asked again. “The face?”

Moonbyul couldn’t help a short laugh as well. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were standing right there!”

“So you just come barging in like you own the place,” Wendy continued, tasting blood on her lips, making her sigh in frustration. “That’s why the door has a window!”

Eunae took the soiled paper towels from her and got fresh ones, very carefully dabbing at the poor girl’s face.

Moonbyul raised her eyebrow at Eunae. “It looks like you’re going to be just fine with nurse Eunae on the case,” she said with a wink at the kneeling girl.

“You literally knocked me off my feet and you’re cracking jokes,” Wendy deflected, pain evident in her voice. She was embarrassed about the attention, but also touched. She could see what Seulgi must have seen in her.

“I’ll make it up to you, really! I’ll take you all out for drinks, how about that?” Moonbyul offered.

Wendy and Eunae both thought to themselves that they could really use one after today.