"Good morning!" Ryeowook greeted, almost skipping into the coffee shop. His job was offensively low paid, but he had nice colleagues and nice customers, and it made it that much happier for him. 

"Morning," his co-workers replied in cheery unison. 

"Where am I today then?" Ryeowook asked to anyone listening as he adjusted his barista apron, tying it in a bow behind his back skilfully. The coffee shop he worked at was pretty big for a coffee shop, as in the evenings it became a restaurant and served food, but was strictly a coffee and cake shop during the daytime, so they didn't need kitchen staff all day. It had a warm, cosy feel, with plenty of sofas and soft chairs for comfort. The decoration was vintage-like and authentic, which gave a nice atmosphere in both the daytime and the evenings. 

"Station two," a co-worker requested in a sing song voice, referring to the coffee making station.

Their system was perfect for rush hour. Station one was taking the orders and payment, station two was making the coffee, which would be handed over to station three which was taking the coffee to the customer. It was sort of like Starbucks, except the coffee is brought over to you; rather than you wait by the counter to collect it. And then there was another waitress or waiter who would clear tables and help whoever was at station three when needed. Lastly there would be someone washing up the crockery out back, usually a part-time youngster in need of any low paid job they could find. 

Ryeowook was almost always allocated to station two, he was praised for being the fastest at making coffee, so he was the best choice for that station- especially at peak times. 

Ryeowook grew up on a farm, his parents always had him doing chores here and there. He was simply used to working hard and fast, so as soon as he grasped the concept of the coffee machine, he quickly became renowned for being amazing at making coffee. High quality, yet done fast. 

After about 2 hours of rush, the coffee shop quieted down a substantial amount. They still had customers, but everything relaxed a little. It was always those first couple of hours in the early morning when it felt like every man and their dog was getting coffee to set them up for a day at work. After that it was pretty much just retired elderly people, or stay-at-home Mums having coffee while their children are at school. 

"Ryeowook?" the manager called, walking towards Ryeowook, who was wiping a surface with a blue cloth. 

"Yes, manager?" he responded politely, grabbing the surface spray from his left and spraying twice before wiping it down again. The manager came behind the counter and leant backward against the opposite worktop, elbows supporting him. 

"Can you work the evening shift tonight?" he asked casually, watching his employee stop suddenly, praying in his head that he would say yes. 

“Oh…? A-As a waiter?" Ryeowook stumbled over his words, spinning around to face him and leaving the cloth on the counter. 

"Mm," the manager confirmed, staring intensely into Ryeowook's eyes for an answer. 

"Well, I mean, I suppose I could," Ryeowook mumbled, the thought of the extra money circulating his head.

"But why?" he asked.

"We're short staffed tonight and there's going to be an office dinner between some business men, so it could get overwhelming without some extra help," the manager sighed, pursing his lips as he waited for a response. Ryeowook stood, frowning in thought. 

"I've never worked an evening shift before," he admitted. The manager laughed softly. 

"Are you nervous?" he teased. 

"N-No! Of course not," Ryeowook recoiled quickly, looking ironically nervous.

"I'm kidding," the manager chuckled, voice turning serious now, "honestly, don't worry about it, okay? You'll just be taking the food from the kitchen to the tables, we just need an extra pair of hands around here. You'll be fine!" he said, lightening up at the end. Ryeowook nodded once, now looking more confident. 

"I'll do it," he confirmed, "but how many business men will be here for that office dinner?" 

"Hmm," the manager pondered, looking up in thought, "I think it's booked for 23 people?" Ryeowook's eyes widened in horror, "and there's already 12 other bookings tonight." 

"What?!" 

______________________________________________________________________________

"Good morning," Kyuhyun bowed to his co-workers, removing his coat and taking a seat at his own desk. 

Work. 

So much of it. 

Kyuhyun navigated around his computer, opening up all sorts of spreadsheets and documents, figuring out where to start. His emails were overflowing and there was stupid amounts of work to do. 

Kyuhyun was an actuary. The role of an actuary is to evaluate, manage, and advise on financial risks. It includes tedious tasks such as analysing statistical data, monitoring risks within trading positions, communicating with clients, and so on and so forth. Tedious. Or at least to Kyuhyun. And he was the section manager. It's not the most well-known job, especially to people that have no idea about the world of business, but the pay was very high. However, a job based around maths; was not his desire. It was his Father’s, Kyuhyun hated maths. 

Kyuhyun had grown up in a wealthy family, with an almost renowned business man for a father. He wasn't just naturally brainy, he didn't "have a knack" for maths since birth. Since a young age his father paid more attention to his son's education than even strict parents do. Including extra maths tuition, helping Kyuhyun to excel at every piece of homework he brought home, monitoring his grades. Kyuhyun never had the freedom to express himself how he wanted, and excel at the subjects he wanted to excel at; and it sometimes even made him look back in resentment toward his father because of his lack of a childhood. 

"Mr Cho?" a younger employee inquired, standing next to Kyuhyun's desk, holding a massive pile of documents in her arms. Kyuhyun turned his head, towards her, but kept his eyes glued to the computer screen; signalling her to talk. 

"I've been asked to hand these over to you," she informed, placing the documents on his desk. Kyuhyun instantly looked at them, knowing exactly what they were and how long they were going to take to sort through. He sighed heavily, closing his eyes. 

"Thank you," he said emotionlessly, eyes still closed and facing directly in front of him. The young woman bowed quickly before hurrying away back to whichever department she just came from. 

More work. Great. 

"Kyuhyun sunbae?" a co-worker called from another desk a few metres away. 

"Yes?" Kyuhyun replied, trying not to let the annoyance show in his voice.

"Have you finished that statistics spreadsheet yet? I need it emailed to me by midday,” he smiled politely. Not in a friendly way, like the way that close-knit colleagues do in small business, it was one of those forced polite smiles because he has to be polite.

"Almost finished!" Kyuhyun replied bittersweetly, gritting his teeth. He typed faster, trying to just block out the pile of documents next to him for a minute. His fingers glided across the keyboard, at full speed, numbers appearing all over the document. 

Ring ring. 

"Oh good Lord," Kyuhyun breathed out, glaring at the ringing phone next to him as if it had just done something wrong. 

"Hello?" he answered politely, putting on his professional facade. Kyuhyun nodded to himself, mumbling an uninterested 'mm' here and there as the client on the phone babbled away about something.

"What is your email address?" he asked, “yes, got it, thank you very much I'll get it to you by the end of the day." 

Kyuhyun slammed the phone back down as loudly as he could without making an obvious sound and reverted his eyes back to the computer screen. 

"Mr Cho, Sir, are you planning to start this document today? The one for tomorrow’s presentation?” another co-worker asked, glancing over to him from a different desk. 

"Yup!" Kyuhyun seethed, not even looking away from his computer, trying to still sound professional and jolly, but failing miserably.  

“Sir,” a colleague appeared behind Kyuhyun, “will you be leading the sales meeting tomorrow with the senior management?”

“I will,” Kyuhyun replied matter-of-factly.

"Kyuhyun?" a voice called. 

“What now?” Kyuhyun spat, turning around and paling at his mistake. 

"I-I mean, yes, Senior..Director..Sunbaenim..Sir?” he stammered, sounding as polite as possible, smiling up sweetly at his senior; who stared at him with a neutral expression. 

"The work load is getting to you I see?" he speculated as he walked over and stopped in front of the pale man, who was dwelling on his mistake. 

"N-No!" he retorted, "I'm sorry," Kyuhyun apologised, bowing. 

"It's fine, I'm not heartless. I understand," he laughed lowly, "just try and pay attention to who you're talking to next time," he smiled. 

"I'm sorry," Kyuhyun bowed again. 

“Anyway, I only came to tell you that there will be a staff dinner tonight with this office and the office right next door," the senior director informed, leaning casually against Kyuhyun's desk.

"Oh?" Kyuhyun quizzed, twirling a pen in his hand that he had now picked up habitually somewhere along the line. 

"It's just at the coffee shop opposite where we always get the coffee from." 

"They do food there?" Kyuhyun asked. 

"Yes, in the evenings they turn in to an excellent restaurant," the senior director smiled. Kyuhyun nodded, pouting; trying to act interested in this dinner his senior was talking about. 

“Ah, brilliant, no that sounds fun. So uh, is attendance…mandatory?” he inquired, looking innocently at the director; who just laughed. Seeing right through him. 

“Yes, yes it is, Mr Cho. I'll see you there at 8 o'clock," he stated, walking away chuckling to himself. 

"Damn," Kyuhyun whispered, dropping his head onto his desk. 

_______________________________________________________________________________

You've seen their home lifestyle differences, and now their workplace lifestyles differences. Looks like their going to finally meet next chapter, but what's going to go down? And how exactly are they going to collide? ;)