Elkie squints at the bright light peeping through her curtains, her alarm clock blaring in her ears. Another week day, another day at work. At least she has something, or someone to look forward to. 

It has been a little more than a week since she met Yeeun, and she still couldn’t believe how deeply she had fallen for the girl. What started as a boring job to pass time became a common ground where she could meet Yeeun. For the first few days, Yeeun was constantly alternating between buying a java chip frappe, a mocha frappe and a white chocolate mocha frappe. It wasn’t as if Elkie wouldn’t like Yeeun if she became… well slightly larger, but the calories and sugar Yeeun was consuming was alarming, so she ended up lending Yeeun her Starbucks tumbler and asked the girl to fake it. The senior barista, Jisu, also seemed to understand her friendship with Yeeun, and always told the other workers to leave the student alone even when she didn’t buy a drink. She was alone, so a seat shouldn’t matter that much even during peak hours. 

And… Elkie was slightly scary when she wanted to be, the seventeen year old’s resting face never failing to make her peers rethink their decision on waking Yeeun up from her short naps or debating if they should chase her away. 

As Elkie said, it’s one seat. Surely they could spare it. 

Another thing Elkie started noticing was how her bottle seemed to look different everyday, white figurines covering the exterior of the tumbler daily, but each drawing looked different from the previous. So one day, Elkie decides to ask for the morning shift instead of the afternoon’s, deciding to give Yeeun a small surprise. She did feel bad after all. Yeeun was coming here everyday without fail but they could barely interact during the time Yeeun was here since Elkie was working. Even though Elkie was the youngest there, Jisu had taken a liking on her for being a fast learner, the student remembering the names and methods of making the drinks in mere days. Which was also why she was in charge of making the drinks most of the time, being spared from constantly doing the dishes. 

Shutting off her phone as her last alarm rang, Elkie groans as she kicks off her covers, rubbing her eyes tiredly. She woke up three hours earlier than usual, but she guesses that’s just part and parcel of spending time with Yeeun. Elkie hated waking up early, it was never her thing to be awake when everyone was asleep. It made her feel stupid, but at the same time waking up late made her feel as if she wasted the day away. 

To sum it up, Elkie’s a big mess. 

The only thing that went right in her seventeen years so far was getting into a good school and meeting Yeeun a week ago. Sad? Elkie begs to differ. 

So Elkie simply gets ready to go in the span of twenty minutes, her eyes still barely open by the time she locked her door. Her parents had already gone out to work, and her brother’s cooped up in his bedroom, still asleep, just like she should be. 

But Yeeun over sleep any day . 

Morning shift was much more stressful than she’d expected it to be. Elkie had overlooked the fact that the students having their finals this year were just released for their two week study break. 

Elkie guesses she woke up early for no reason, seeing Yeeun enter the cafe at a surprisingly ungodly hour. It was 8am for God’s sake! Did Yeeun not feel tired from the previous day’s intensives? Elkie watches as Yeeun strolls in all that glory, constricting painfully at the sight. 

Damn that girl is illegal. 

Elkie didn’t get it. It was a simple outfit, for a simple seventeen year old, nothing special about that. But how does Jang Yeeun make a white crop top and blue ripped jeans so damn hot? 

Elkie quickly jerked her hand away, feeling a cool liquid drip down her palm. Elkie clicked her tongue in irritance when accidentally spilling her drink on herself. It’s close to her fifth week working here and she’s been flawless with her drinks. 

Yeeun just had to screw it up with her flawlessness. 

Elkie scowls, placing the drink down and rinsing her palms before shoving the bottle into the blender, glaring at Yeeun who came in with a bunch of friends. 

“Elkie stop glaring at your girlfriend like that, what did she do.” 

Elkie rolls her eyes at Jisu, the older girl giving her a cheeky wink. “I spilt my drink because of that and she’s not my girlfriend.” 

Jisu chuckles, “Why so defensive huh? If I wasn’t already dating Yuna, I’d give her a chance. And don’t be too harsh on yourself, on the first day of the job, I dropped a customer’s drink right before passing it to her because she was cute, and guess what? She’s my girlfriend now.” 

Elkie faked a gag, shoving her senior barista on the shoulder. “Fine you show off.” 

Elkie watches as Yeeun takes a seat at the tall table, joining a few other girls, sitting further away from her as compared to her usual counter seat. Letting out a pout, Elkie dumps the drink into a grande sized cup, scanning the name wordlessly before calling out, “An ice mocha for Seulgi?” 

Elkie looks up, only to see a familiar face instead of the ‘Seulgi’ she had called for. “Did you get a name change in the few days we didn’t meet?” Elkie asks, shifting the drink nearer towards Yeeun. 

“My classmate bought this for me, said i’ll be late and didn’t have the heart to queue, i’m not paying her back either so…” Yeeun trails off, casting Elkie a playful wink. 

“Could’ve just asked me to make it on the spot you know, your order comes before any of theirs.” 

“I know, just felt that I'd rather talk to you than stare at your back while you make my drink.” 

“Not saying you don’t look great from behind but… you get my point.” 

Elkie rolls her eyes, flicking a metal straw at the girl. “Start bringing the bottle i gave you instead of using these flimsy plastic cups. It’s better for the environment.” 

Yeeun raises her brow in shock as she places the straw into the cup, “Damn didn’t know you were such an environmentalist. Must be hard working here, giving away all these single use plastics and throwing away whatever excess drinks you might have.”

Elkie brings the cup closer to her, taking a sip out of Yeeun’s mocha frappe she’d made a few minutes ago. “I guess, but Yeji and Ryujin never fails to drink them all, they bring some back too, illegally of course.” 

Yeeun was about to continue the conversation when Elkie laughs, patting her on the cheek. “You should go now, your friends are already staring. Too bad I catch so much attention huh.” 

Yeeun turns to face her friends, groaning in disbelief when Seulgi and Irene blew kisses towards her direction, her other friends laughing and playing along. Oh god, Yeeun would have to suffer and drown in a pool of embarrassment and suffer from the questions bombarded at her a few moments later. 

“Tsk they’re such losers.” 

“I’ll see you later then?” 

“Sooner than you think.” Elkie ends off, waving before quickly preparing the next drink to make up for the time she had spent talking to Yeeun. 

//

Yeeun didn’t expect Elkie’s ‘soon’ to be about a few hours later, when the afternoon rush had just arrived. Yeeun was missing the girl already, the positioning of the table being an absolute er and preventing her from even catching a glimpse of the said girl. Damn her large number of friends with sharp eyes that the slightest shift to look at Elkie bringing out a drink entitled her