Wendy blames her overwhelming need to be liked by people.

Maybe if she didn’t care much for reputations and earning a soft smile from others, she wouldn’t be here. But maybe if she wasn’t convinced (forced) by her sister to move into the apartment she used to occupy in this town, she wouldn’t have to deal with first impressions and irresistible needs to get approval.

Maybe if it wasn’t so hard finding new friends in this university that sits right at the edge of the city, she wouldn’t humor the dares.

But Seungwan had no friends; that’s why when Jung Wheein and Ahn Hyejin slipped into the seats next to hers in Music History 11, with their cheeky-playful grins, quirked brows, and a ‘we’ve fallen for you,’ from Hyejin as Wheein giggled adorably beside her, she immediately accepted them as her College Friends.

It’s been two weeks, for Pete’s sake, and she’s already risking her life just because her newest friends had dared her to.

That coffee shop—Peek-A-Brew—is pretty known as That Creepy Place that only a few students ever go to, which is weird because coffee shops are supposed to be filled with students, aren’t they? Especially in a not-so-busy city as this, with only a few coffee shops and more diners.

But this Peek-A-Brew place is only ever filled with middle aged women with cats and teenagers in leather jackets. Maybe even a few skeevy looking fifty year old men. Or at least, that’s what the rumors—Hyejin and Wheein—say.

As Wendy parks her car across the street, in front of a cutesy pastel pink flower shop that she’d rather be in than the coffee shop, she realizes she may have exaggerated her image of the coffee shop a little.

Instead of the creepy looking gargoyles, pointy tips, and all around gothic vibe, it looks like your normal mellow, soft, homey coffee shop.

Instead of the modern floor to ceiling windows, however, you almost couldn’t see inside because of the brick walls littered with paintings. There are only little windows too near the ceiling, and a glass door with thin curtains.

There are also three levels above that look like they’re not for commercial use and are most probably the owners’ place.

If it wasn’t for the creepy looking ‘Peek-A-Brew’ sign written in red over dark wood, the paint—blood, probably—dripping down the signage, Wendy would think it’s just one of those normal coffee shops.

“This isn’t even that scary,” she boasts to Wheein and Hyejin, who have made themselves comfortable in the passenger seat and backseat of her car respectively, grimacing at the coffee shop.

Wheein shakes her head solemnly. “It’s not the coffee shop itself that’s creepy, it’s the people inside; four of the most beautiful women you’ll ever meet, with charisma and elegance that don’t fall short of that of royalty’s,” she whispers, all breath and shaky eyes.

Hyejin nods before drawling, “There’s a rumor that every month, a boy—mostly a newbie in this town—walks through those doors, walks out with a smile on his face, and disappears during the full moon.”

“Disappears?”

Hyejin nods once more, leaning back with so much grace and calmness it’s almost as if she’s not about to send her newest friend into a suicide mission. “The girl inside this flower shop? Her name’s Jisoo, her parents own the flower shop and they live upstairs. She says she hears mortified screaming every night of the full moon. She just learned to tune out the sound after about fifty times.”

“It doesn’t help that behind the coffee shop is the woods, and they close the shop every full moon.” Wheein pouts, grabbing Hyejin’s hand and playing with her fingers.

Wendy noticed she does that whenever she’s nervous, and the only other times Wheein has been nervous since they met was when she was called up to answer a question in class, and when Yongsun saw the box of cigarettes she hid in her bag.

“Just the day before classes started,” Wheein whispers, “one tourist disappeared. He was pretty known during his stay here: pretty eyes, tall, sharp jaw. Talk of the town.” She eyes Wendy meaningfully, but doesn’t add anything else.

It makes the hair on Wendy’s arm rise.

“The last time people saw him, he was arguing with one of the four women that own that place, the leader, I guess.”

She directs her gaze towards Hyejin, tearing it off from the coffee shop. “There’s a leader?”

“There’s a leader,” Hyejin confirms, eyes solemn as she nods. “Whoever has the most intense eyes in there, she’s probably the leader.”

Wendy tries hard to keep her eyes inside their sockets, fear creeping in. “Okay, so, why do you guys think it’s a good idea to dare me to go there?”

“You’re a girl,” Hyejin answers like it’s obvious, shrugging and glancing carelessly towards the shop. “Their victims have always been boys. I don’t blame them, men are scum.”

Wheein nods as she places a hand on Wendy’s shoulder. “Now, go in there and make us proud. Tell us everything. Like, from the customers to the interior design to how they each smell like. Especially if they smell like death.”

She frowns at her enthusiasm. How does one smell like death, anyway? “You’re seriously asking me to commit suicide, aren’t you?”

“You’ll come out alive, I swear,” Hyejin assures. She grins mischievously, shrugging. “But we’re not sure if you’ll still be alive after the full moon.”

Wheein slaps her arm, shushing her laughter. She turns to Wendy with what she probably thinks are comforting eyes but looks every bit annoying. “Besides, we’ve never really found body remains ever since.”

Wendy almost cusses. Not finding body remains doesn’t mean there was never a body. It’s quite possible these girls are experts at their jobs and just hide them well.

Still, the need to be liked overwhelms her fear. She takes a deep breath, eyeing the coffee shop.

It’s not that creepy, anyway. And four pretty girls? Count Wendy in. She nods, then unbuckles her seatbelt, looking at Hyejin and Wheein like she’s about to enter the fight of her life. “I’m going.”

“Hell yeah!”

“Make mommy proud!”

She furrows her brows at Hyejin, who shrugs in reply. “If I die, I’ll haunt you both for the rest of your pitiful lives,” she warns as she opens the door and steps out.

Hyejin and Wheein cheer inside, locking the doors as soon as she slams it close. Wheein sticks her tongue out as she tries to open the door, Hyejin grinning beside her. s.

Wendy directs her gaze to the coffee shop once more.

It’s not that creepy, really. Just a cute little coffee shop near the university with maybe a pretty ed up reputation. But people still go to this coffee shop, although it seems like they’re all regulars. Maybe Wendy can be a regular.

Besides, she has always made it her mission to try every quirky, eccentric shop she comes across. And this coffee shop is definitely quirky.

She crosses the street and tries to calm herself with breathing exercises. Except she never really knew what breathing exercises really were, so she’s kind of just breathing really deeply and letting out really heavy breaths.

Her only hope are the CCTV cameras on every street, because if she doesn’t come out of this place at all, they’ll have a lead.

She stands in front of the door, eyeing the people inside through the flowy curtains.

It’s not that busy, just a few tables are occupied, but it is huge inside. It looks every bit as mysterious through the windows, and Wendy’s sure the barista’s eyeing her over the phone.

She looks back at her car and finds Hyejin and Wheein watching her. They give her enthusiastic thumbs ups, and she flips them off.

She slowly opens the door, and King Princess’ 1950 is blasting from the speakers. She smiles at the familiar tune. Music had always had that effect on her, always making her feel safe. She focuses on the song, mouthing the lyrics, as she studies the place.

There are several couches and tables, almost looking like a homey hotel lobby—with soft lighting and wooden flooring. One side has floor to ceiling bookshelves, and a stepping stool, that Wendy is just so tempted to jump into. The bookshelf divides the huge floor so that one side shelters the pets.

Another wall has weird knickknacks, from works of art to Barbie heads, and some weird looking gooey stuff in mason jars, and are those bones?

There’s a staircase beside the counter, and a table between them, more shelves on the stairs filled with other weird knickknacks straight out of a Harry Potter film.

Behind the counter is a bubbly looking girl who somehow makes Wendy’s maternal instincts kick in. She just looks so pure, smiling at something she’s reading on her phone, brightening the whole coffee shop with her smile. Wendy almost forgets her burning glare a few moments ago.

She ignores the scathing stares from the other customers, ignores the sniffing of the animals in the pet area behind the bookshelves, and walks towards the barista, who’s too busy with her phone to notice her nearing.

“Uh, hello.”

The barista looks up, and if it was in slow motion, Wendy would describe it as a predator looking up through thick lashes at her newest prey, almost sultry and most definitely dangerous. Almost as if the child Wendy saw as soon as she stepped in the shop disappeared.

But then the danger fades and all that’s left are confused eyes, the child. “You’re… a girl,” says the barista, stepping back immediately as if Wendy possesses some kind of threat.

Which she doesn’t, because she’s Wendy and she wouldn’t hurt a fly.

Before Wendy can blink, there are three girls beside the barista, all puffed chests and raised chins, the first girl between them. Protective.

Wendy raises her wallet with an uneasy smile almost in surrender, tries not to look too intimidated. “Can I… order?” She directs her gaze from one girl to another, each as beautiful and as dangerous as the other.

Wheein didn’t lie, these girls are gorgeous.

The girl with the choppy bangs steps forward as the others hesitate, hands on the computer while also leveling Wendy with a gaze. “What’s your order?”

She looks strangely familiar, but Wendy’s too scared to actually stare at her face more, so she quickly loses the staring contest and smiles sheepishly, digging her hands in her pockets, putting her wallet back for whatever reason. “Uh, three iced Americanos and a slice each of three of your best cakes.”

Choppy Bangs blinks, almost confused. “Uh, we don’t—we don’t sell cakes.”

Wendy looks up, offended. She forgets the eeriness of the place and pushes herself off the counter, looking around, and finding no cakes in the menu or the display. “What kind of—wow.”

“The pastry chef, uh, resigned. We don’t have a new one yet,” Choppy Bangs informs her. A glint in her eyes at the word ‘resign’. The tallest one coughs at that, hiding a smile.

Wendy ignores them. “Are you hiring?” she asks before she can think about it. She can bake, she’s pretty good at it, she thinks. Just give her the ingredients and materials, and maybe a recipe she can tinker with, and she’ll whisk you a good, too-sweet, cavity inducing cake.

And she needs extra money to buy herself some new stuff for her apartment, just so she doesn’t need to ask her parents for some. Again, the need to be approved of.

Choppy Bangs stares blankly at her, still looking as confused as before. She almost looks like confusion’s her best look.

The girl with the phone, Bubbly Smile, and the tallest one, Long Legs, both turn to look at the last one, with the prettiest eyes Wendy has ever had the pleasure of seeing, Lovely Eyes.

Lovely Eyes levels Wendy with a gaze, like she’s daring Wendy to show her true colors, admit to her crimes and real intentions. She stands a step in front of the other girls, ready to throw hands the moment Wendy lays her own on any of the other three.

Must be the leader, then.

Wendy would do anything for someone with eyes as pretty as those, but she’s already showing her true colors, so she shrugs really sheepishly and avoids her eyes, instead. She might admit to crimes she never committed if she stares a second more.

There’s a moment when the three just stare at Lovely Eyes, eyebrows subtly raising or meeting.

Long Legs directs her gaze towards Choppy Bangs, almost as if asking some kind of quiet question.

Choppy Bangs shrugs; Lovely Eyes keeps her gaze on Wendy; and Bubbly Smile slightly steps back even more to hide fully behind her.

Lovely Eyes speaks, “Get my phone,” and it’s the most illegal thing Wendy has ever heard. Soft, but with authority, but without trying. Like she can ask Wendy to rob a bank with that same tone, and Wendy would.

Choppy Bangs raises her brows, almost challenging Lovely Eyes to rethink. But Lovely Eyes keeps her gaze on Wendy, most probably burning a hole in Wendy’s cheeks.

All this while, Wendy can hear her heart beating against her ribcage. Bubbly Smile grins like she hears it too.

Lovely Eyes keeps her chin raised as Choppy Bangs finally nods and enters the room behind them, eyes on Wendy, unblinking.

Choppy Bangs emerges with an expensive looking phone, handing it to Lovely Eyes quietly.

Long Legs steps back, grabbing Bubbly Smile by the elbow and making her step back, too.

Choppy Bangs follows them to the table in front of the stairs, leaving Lovely Eyes alone in front of Wendy, an air of haughtiness around her.

She hands her phone to Wendy. “Put in your number. We’ll call you once we talk about it.”

She nods. “I can bake you something and—”

“We’ll call you,” Lovely Eyes repeats, firmer this time.

Choppy Bangs arrives beside Lovely Eyes with three cups of coffee that Wendy’s sure popped out of thin air. She nods at something Lovely Eyes asks her quietly, then leaves and sits back down by the stairs.

Which makes Wendy question when she did the coffee again because, uh, she was sitting right there the whole time.

Or was Wendy staring at Lovely Eyes for too long?

She punches in her number, shyly, and hands the phone back to Lovely Eyes, digging through her pocket for her wallet.

But Long Legs is beside her immediately, ushering her towards the door with Bubbly Smile holding her order.

“Thanks for buying, we’ll get in touch about that pastry chef position,” Long Legs says, leaning close towards Wendy, clouding her nose with a fruity scent that’s sharp against the smell of coffee.

Wendy blinks, hand pausing inside her pocket. “Uh, I haven’t—”

“Please don’t come back before then, since we don’t need you pestering us for the job,” Bubbly Smile says with a bubbly smile, despite the bite in her tone. She hands her the coffee, still smiling. She looks so much like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Wendy looks around and finds customers still staring at her from over books, laptops, and companions. She’s pushed to the sidewalk, Long Legs and Bubbly Smile smiling at her. “I haven’t—” they slam the door close, changing the Open sign to Close, “—paid, yet.”

Is this how those boys get murdered? They get confused out of their minds, magical eyes and fruity scents disabling all their senses, and then, when they’re so out of it, they get killed?

She knocks on the door forcefully. “I haven’t paid!”

The door opens and Long Legs peers over her blankly. “On the house,” she almost whispers before closing the door.

Wendy stares at the door, peeks at the huge windows with thick curtains of the second floor. Nothing happens as she stands there, still confused. After a few more moments, she turns around and crosses the road, staring at the coffee in her hands.

She sneaks a look at the huge coffee shop, and the house on top of it, before knocking on the window of her car, Hyejin and Wheein jerking awake at the sound.

Wheein reels down the window with a cheeky smile.

“You’re alive,” Hyejin says sleepily, stretching her neck. She squints at the coffee shop. “Did they close the shop?”

Wendy shrugs and nods. She’s not sure anymore. “I think I might have gotten a shot at a job.” She hands them the coffee through the window, Wheein frowning at them as Hyejin takes a sip.

Wheein raises her eyebrows. “In Peek-A-Brew? Like, in that creepy coffee shop right there?” she asks, pointing her thumb behind her, at the shop.

Wendy might be hallucinating but she’s sure there are two pairs of eyes glaring at her through one of the windows, not in the coffee shop, but on the level above it.

“Uh, yeah,” she mutters, looking away. “Turns out they’re looking for a pastry chef, and I can bake.”

“So, your plan is to kill them with diabetes?” Hyejin asks, grimacing at the thought of Wendy’s pastry.

Wendy swats at her, offended. “I’m never giving you cupcakes anymore,” she grumbles under her breath as Wheein finally unlocks the door and she climbs in. She buckles her seatbelt and starts her car. “They’re weird. But I don’t think they’re serial killers.”

Hyejin scoffs behind her, sitting properly. “That’s what all those boys thought.” She takes another sip of the coffee, hums in approval. “They’re creepy but their coffee’s amazing. Just what do they put in these?”

A/N:

Title from Troye Sivan's Happy Little Pill.

I edited the whole thing so this is kinda different from the first chapter I posted (also the reason why it seemed like it was deleted for a long time). The changes aren't that huge so you don't really need to re-read everything.

Comments are much appreciated!

thepurplewan