WooHyun’s POV

It was 5am on a Friday morning, and I was watching the finishing touches of the café being put into place.

The café was a mix of modern and classic: the chairs all had hand sewn pillows placed on them and the table design featured many engravings of fancy Roman designs and flowers hung from the ceiling next to the lamps, but otherwise the architecture featured glittering white or smooth black marble and colored glass.

I breathed out a sigh. It was my responsibility not to let this business go bankrupt.

I had made a list of occupations that I needed to fill in order to get enough help for me to be able to focus on the financial part of this business.

2 Baristas

2 Cooks

1 Cash Registrar

1 Manager

3 Waiters/Waitresses

I would do the clean- up work, to save money.

“We’re completely finished, sir”, the construction head told me. I nodded and said, “I’ll go check it out in a minute. Thank you very much for your cooperation.”

He bowed and hustled his team out.

It was just me.

Just me.

But not for long.

I walked up the large glass window of the store and posted the sign “CURRENTLY HIRING”.

Myungsoo’s POV

I don’t know what the first thing on my mind when I woke up: the unexpected warmth in my arms or the gorgeous scent of an icy winter and a freshly blossomed lily.  

I opened my eyes and saw So Eun wrapped in my arms. She was sleeping peacefully now. She had cried for a good part of the night. My shirt was still slightly damp from her tears…

I carefully looked over at the clock on my nightstand without disturbing her… It said Friday 6:35 am. So we had school today… I sighed.

“Eun ah”, I whispered softly, “Eun ah, wake up. We have school today.”

“Eat, oppa, you’re probably hungry from hugging me all night”, she said, and smiled at me.

“Promise me I’ll always be allowed to do that…Hugging you all night”, I said, suddenly afraid of how changed So Eun was from yesterday morning…

Why was everything changing so dramatically and so suddenly? How were we, as high school students, supposed to deal with all this?

And suddenly, I understood why WooHyun had laughed when I’d asked him how he was holding up… It was because, before all this mess, those words used to have a different meaning… They used to refer to him as a person, and not him as a business owner. I used to care about WooHyun’s well-being…

“Myungsoo? Did you hear me?”

I looked up at So Eun, who had taken ahold of my hand.

“I said yes”, she repeated, “I promised you.”

I nodded and said, “Thank you, Eun ah” and gently kissed her palm.

“Come on, we have to go to school”, I said, and making sure my tie was straight and my glasses were on, I pulled my nerdy self and my gorgeous girlfriend out the apartment door.

So Eun’s POV

We were walking to school together, and it felt nice. I felt like I could forget about- No, I musn’t think of that now. I couldn’t allow myself to think about my… my parents…

I lifted my gaze from the sidewalk and tried to distract myself by looking up at the sky- but something caught my eye.

I looked closer, dragging Myungsoo oppa with me…

It was a sign that said “CURRENTLY HIRING”.

“Oppa, what if I were to work here? I’d be helping out my parents, right? And helping you?”

Myungsoo was staring at something beyond the sign, though. I started to follow his gaze, when he jerked me away rather abruptly.

“Oppa?”, I asked, puzzled.

“I don’t want you working, Eun ah. Let me repay your parents”, Myungsoo said, as we continued down the sidewalk.

“Thanks, Myungsoo, but I want to be able to buy things for myself”, I replied.

“Like what?”, he asked me.

I grinned, “Like silk blankets, ice cream, and stuffed animals! Oh, and pictures of MBLAQ! Wah, Lee Joon is sooo good-looking!”

He shook his head indignantly and said, “Eun ah, what are you talking about? Have you forgotten how good-looking I am?”

I smiled and said, “No… but you have your little crush on Yuri of SNSD, right?”

Myungsoo laughed and said, “Not even. Not since I started dating you.”

I pushed him playfully and said, “That’s flattering, but it’s not good to lie.”

Suddenly, Myungsoo walked right in front of me, stopping me in my tracks.

“I’m serious”, he said, his eyes suddenly intense, “Only you, Eun ah. I only see you.”

My sarcastic comeback died on my lips. I could feel his protectiveness, his sincerity when he said those words. Warmth blossomed in my chest in response to his loving words.

I kissed Myungsoo softly on the cheek and said, “Okay, I won’t forget.”

His arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me to him.

“Please don’t forget”, he whispered into my ear.

I nodded, a little confused by how serious he was, but also comforted by that same sincerity. After all, Myungsoo was the only family I had right now.

Hae Young’s POV

The chemistry test was a breeze, and so was the Literature essay. I finished first and looked around. No one else was done… a girl was even blanking out, just staring down at her paper. I sighed; people would hate me if I turned in the exam so quickly, so I would wait until five other people had turned it in first. Instead, I silently pulled out my composition book and added on to my story: She and her older brother lived with two children. These children were caring and loving, never drinking or smoking. Thus, this family had everything in the world they wanted. They, especially the girl and her older brother never wanted anything. They weren’t desperate for food, and definitely, had all the money they could possibly want…

Sunggyu’s POV

 At school, WooHyun passed me a note. Before, he’d giggle and make it so damn obvious that he was doing something wrong. Today, he smoothly flicked it right into my pencil case. Looked who’d gotten slick…

WooHyun’s POV

I dropped by the culinary section at lunch, scouting for people to hire. To my surprise, Sungjong wasranked  fifth on the list for Baking Level 4. We’d all made fun of Sungjong for having Baking next to Rock Music Composition, but he must be pretty darn good at it…

I was about to approach him when I spotted him at an outside table at lunch, but I held myself back. Sungjong held grudges; it wasn’t likely that he’d take any spot at my café… I sighed and began to strategize in my head… so, negotiations and manipulation, here I come.

Dongwoo’s POV

I was just leaving school, when WooHyun bumped into me and said, “Hey, how’s it going?”

I shrugged and popped a candy in my mouth, “Not too terrible, I guess. Why, what’s up?”

Seeming sad, WooHyun responded, “I’m glad to hear you’re all right… I’ve been kinda… lonely. I miss our group.”

I nodded. I agreed 100%. “I know what you mean, man. No one to play video games with anymore… no one to make you pay for your ice cream…”

WooHyun sighed and said, “Don’t you want to just hang out one more time?”

“Yeah, but how?”, I asked. Was it possible after how our group had blown apart?

WooHyun thought for a second and then said, “Well, there’s a café I have to manage down the street from here… maybe if I can trick my supervisors into getting all of us to work there…”

I looked at him suspiciously, “Is this really to get the group back together?”

WooHyun shrugged, “More or less. I mean, if it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t work out. But I feel a lot of… responsibility for having our group break up. I said some bad things, I want to at least correct that.”

I sighed and replied, “All right. I’ll see what I can do, then. I know Hoya and Sungyeol have been looking for jobs, at least.”

WooHyun slapped me on the back, “Thanks, Dongwoo.”

I eyed WooHyun for a second, but then with a feeling of surrender, nodded and said, “Yeah, I’ll let you know what they say tomorrow.”

WooHyun’s POV

I stepped inside the café, switching the lights on. I put my hands in my pockets, cocked my heads, and sighed…

I still wasn’t sure if I’d made the right choice… but it was a gamble, I suppose.

I walked over to the counter, tracing the edge of the smooth black marble. I’d just gotten around the counter when the door opened.

A glimmer of sunshine accompanied a very nerdy girl into the café, as she opened the door and walked, or tripped, in. She clumsily pushed her glasses up and pulled up her scarf that was dangling near the floor.

I watched her with slightly amused, slight wary eyes as she approached me. And then she stumbled to a stop.

I watched her watching me. She stared at me…and stared at me…. for a long time…  

Um… I didn’t fidget, and I didn’t hesitate in staring straight back into her eyes… and she just stared right back…

Well, time was ticking. I raised one eyebrow and said, “Can I help you?”

The girl nodded her head up and down.

…

…

…

“Well?”

She stuck her hand out and said, “Hi, pleased to meet you. I was wondering if I could take a job here.”

“And um… what qualifications do you have?”, I asked, politely trying to reject her offer.

“I used to be a barista down at DooHyun’s cafe, and I took a barista course two summers ago”, she replied.

DooHyun’s café…? Where had I heard that name befor-DooHyun’s café?

“Wait, you’re Sunggyu’s little sister?”, I asked; my voice colored in careful disbelief.

The girl shoved her hands into her pockets and nodded. She had this way of… awkwardly bobbing her head.

“Yeah, I’m Kim Hae Young.”

 a/n: trying out new font? stick with this?