“I refuse to subject myself to this torture any longer!” Hyejin throws her apron onto the counter and storms out of the café. The customers look surprised but Seulgi barely looks up from her ledger before sighing at Wheein. “Again?”

“I’ll go get her.” Wheein grabs her coat and opens the door, only to be greeted by Hyejin’s back.

“You don’t have to mind me.” Hyejin says, back still Wheein. “I’m contemplating whether to give the café another chance or not.”

Wheein could see that Hyejin is shivering. In her haste to leave, she must have forgotten her jacket. “Right.” A small smile dances across Wheein’s face. “Should I leave then?

“No!” Hyejin rushes to say. “I mean, it’s warmer now that we’re standing closer to each other.”

“Okay.” Wheein says. They stand in front of the door for a few long seconds before Wheein speaks up again. “So are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”

“I hate the job.” Hyejin says, finally turning around to face Wheein. “Can you believe that people can be so self-absorbed?”

Wheein raises an eyebrow, looking faintly amused. “Well, I can imagine.”

 “Just the other night my girlfriends were here. They saw me but pretended they didn’t!” She sighs. “I’ve literally never felt so humiliated in my life.”

“Look.” Wheein gives Hyejin an awkward pat on the back. “Forget about those people. They’re not real friends – they’re parasites that only stuck onto you because you had something they want.”

“My amazing friendship?”

“Sure…” Wheein says, unsure. “But also, you were rich. So now that you’re not, all your garbage friends will eventually leave. You should be glad they’re out of your hair!”

“Really? I’m supposed to be happy that I’m poor and lonely?” Hyejin sniffles in the cold.

“Trust me. You’re doing better than most of us.” Wheein smiles. “And you know what, this calls for a celebration.”

“But I don’t have money to throw a party or hit the club…” Hyejin says in a small voice.

“So we’ll hold a budget party! I’ll grab the food and alcohol and round up everyone at our place tonight.” Wheein says, pushing the door open. “I’ll call Yongsun and let her know!”

Hyejin is left alone outside but her heart is warm. There’s a small smile on her face. “Thank you, Wheein.”

//

“Oh my god!” Yongsun is pacing the hall of her apartment, eyes glued to her phone. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!”

“More questions on your fan café?” Moonbyul mutters. She is sprawled on the sofa, eyes glazing over from lack of sleep. “What are they asking this time?”

“They found your Facebook profile!” Yongsun screams. “And they came up with a hashtag Moonsun? Oh my god, I’m so screwed.” She plonks herself down next to Moonbyul and sighs a million times more. Her fans will never live it down.

“Somebody’s asking if we’ll start making videos together.” Yongsun rolls her eyes. “And another’s saying you look like you’re good in bed – wait, no – what?”

“Oh?” Moonbyul’s lips curl up. “Now that’s interesting. What else are they saying?”

“This is not the time to be gloating.” Yongsun frowns. “People are googling about us. Look, hashtag Moonsun is no.15 on Naver!” She stops. “Hm, people are actually googling about us?”

“So let me get this straight.” Moonbyul pulls herself up. “Your fans love us, Naver is picking up on us, you’re becoming more and more relevant by the second, and you want to complain about it?”

“I-”

“Yongsun, you’re famous not for Frank or your meokbangs, but for you – yourself!” Moonbyul jumps up and wraps her arms around a confused Yongsun. “Congratulations!”

“B-but what am I going to do with all these fame?” Yongsun asks, sighing. Now that she’s back in the limelight, she is paralysed by the fear of losing it again. “You know, it doesn’t matter. This will all eventually die down and I’ll be forgotten again.”

“Hey.” Moonbyul gently cups Yongsun’s cheeks. “Just enjoy it while it lasts without losing yourself. And when the world moves on from you, I’ll still be here.”

For a second, Yongsun is lost in Moonbyul’s soft and tender eyes.

“Kim Yongsun, you better be dead or you will be!” Wheein bursts through the door, waving her phone above her head. “Why did you reject all 20 of my calls?!” She stops when she notices Moonbyul standing there awkwardly with her hands on Yongsun’s face. “Is this is a bad time?”

“No!” Yongsun and Moonbyul take a quick step away from each other.

“Okay.” Wheein says slowly.

“Sorry, I was kinda in the middle of a crisis.” Yongsun says, turning the kettle on and grabbing coffee from the cupboard. “What’s up?”

“See, Hyejin’s upset because her thrash friends abandoned her, so I was thinking maybe we can have a little get-together tonight to cheer her up.” Wheein says.

“You? Cheering Hyejin up?” Yongsun teases. “Who are you and what did you to do to my snarky friend Wheein?”

“Shut up.”

“I can ask Minhyuk if he wants to come.” Moonbyul offers up.

“Cool, so I’ll be grabbing the drinks later and leave the food to you two.” Wheein gives her friends two thumbs up and opens the door. “Oh, and Yongsun?”

“Yes?”

“I watched your v-live last night. Get a room, hashtag Moonsun!” She grins and rushes out the door before Yongsun could throw a slipper her way.

//

The bell rings twice and Wheein runs for the door, some of her fingers sticky with sauce.

“I brought chicken!” Minhyuk says happily, then frowns when he sees Wheein’s fingers. “…which you’ve already started eating without me.”

“Oh don’t be a baby. Hyejin said she was hungry so we started without you.” Wheein says, letting Minhyuk in.

“Hey!” The rest of gang chorus when they see Minhyuk. Moonbyul, Seulgi, Irene, and Hyejin are on the floor, stuffing their face with food while Yongsun is on the sofa with her eyes glued to her phone.

“Happy work monthsary, Hyejin!” Minhyuk says.

Hyejin could only roll her eyes, mouth busy chewing her food.

“What?” Minhyuk asks, confused. “Aren’t we celebrating that tonight?”

“Doesn’t mean she hates her job less.” Wheein shrugs. “Speaking of job, this is Seulgi – my good friend who also happens to Hyejin’s boss.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Yo.” Minhyuk says, then turning to Irene. “And who might you be?” There’s a strange smile on his face. Demure and baby-faced, Irene is his type.

“I’m Seulgi’s girlfriend.” Irene replies nonchalantly, and Minhyuk almost chokes on his water.

“Yes, Seulgi has a girlfriend.” Moonbyul gives her brother a knowing look, relieved that Seulgi hasn’t been after Yongsun, after all. “Anyway, you’re almost an hour late.” Moonbyul smacks her brother in the head with her clean hand. “What took you so long?”

“I closed the clinic on time but…”

“But?”

“I bumped into this hot lady on my way back to my car and we started chatting. I lost track of time but I got her number.” Minhyuk says sheepishly, earning another smack in the head. “Hey!”

“Immature.”

“At least I didn’t get wasted and humiliated myself in front of thousands of people.” Minhyuk says, pulling a tongue at his sister.

Hyejin and Wheein gasp. Minhyuk scoots away from Moonbyul.

“You’re dead.” Moonbyul mouths to him.

“You guys want to see Moonbyul? Sure, she’s right here.” Yongsun flips her phone around and zooms into Moonbyul’s face, laughing. “Here she is, enjoying her chicken way too much.”

“My right profile is my ugly side!” Moonbyul groans, shielding her face from Yongsun’s phone. “Also, is there sauce on my lips?”

“And this is the rest of my friends.” Yongsun slowly pans her phone around while everybody waves shyly at the camera. “Okay, I’m going to have my dinner so I’m logging off. Till next time, goodbye!” Yongsun tosses her phone aside and slides down the sofa, ready to dig in.

“God, I’m starving!”

“Do you have to report everything you do to your fans?” Wheein asks. “Like even when you’re about to take a ?”