BGM: M.I.L.K. - Come To Me

The original plan has always been like this: get a part-time job during the summer and quit before school resumes again. The sudden turn of events, however, made it difficult for you to just hand it your resignation and walk away. Only after two months of working in the Happy Bubble Tea Shop, you've grown to love not only the art of making bubble tea, but also the company of the boys who frequent the place. 

Through Ahjumeonie's help, you were able to convince your parents to allow you to continue working in the shop after classes. They said that as long as you can maintain a good set of grades in school, they were okay with your decision to keep your job in the bubble tea shop.

On Monday, as soon as the school bell rang, you quickly bid Jihye goodbye and hurried off to the subway station in Dogok to travel all the way to Apgujeong. Since there were a lot of students on the way home and a lot of commuters going off work, you didn't find any vacant seats when you entered the train and because were too short to grip on a subway handle, you picked a spot near the doors so you could hold on to one of those vertical railings for support.

When you arrived at the Happy Bubble Tea Shop, you were a bit surprised to find Minseok and the four Chinese boys there.

"You're late!" Luhan said.

"No, I'm not!" you panted, checking the time on Ahjumeonie's Happy Bubble wall clock. "See? I'm two minutes early!" you pointed out, as you made your way to the other side of the green-painted store counter.

"You definitely thought you were late, though," he reasoned, getting up from his seat to settle on one of the stools near the counter. "That's why you came here running," 

"What are you guys doing here anyway?" you asked, carefully putting your backpack in a safe corner. "Aren't you going to practice?"

"We have about-" Kevin paused to check his wristwatch. "-thirty minutes to kill before practice starts," he responded, before taking another sip of his black dragon milk tea.

Zitao approached the store counter to ask for a couple of paper napkins. When you told him to get some from the napkin holder, he held it up to show you that it was already empty, so you decided to open a new pack and refilled it for him.

"Where's Jihye, by the way?" Minseok asked, stirring the pearls in his nearly-empty cup of toffee-flavored bubble tea.

"Still at school," you replied. "She's busy recruiting new members for the drama club,"

"Jihye is an actress?!?" Yixing asked.

"Nope, she's in the costume department," you responded, tying the black Happy Bubble apron on your waist. "Ji's practicing to be a cordi noona," you chuckled.

Just then, Ahjumeonie emerged from the kitchen, looking a bit too happy to see you. "Thank God, you're here!" she exclaimed, untying the black apron off her waist. "Now, I can go home and rest!"

She then started enumerating several reminders: just the things you should or shouldn't do while you were in charge of the shop. She even went as far as providing you with a list in case you forget what she just told you. Ahjumeonie was about to leave when she turned around again to give you one last task to do.

"Oh and before I forget," she said, pausing by the door. "Go and prepare a cup of taro milk tea with pearls and red beans. Luhan has been dying to get one since they arrived, but he didn't want me to make it for him," she ordered, before finally leaving the shop.

"Are you sure you put in the correct amount of milk in there?"

Just like the first day you met him, Luhan seemed determined to distract you while you were preparing his drink. He commented on almost everything that you did: the amount of tapioca pearls and red beans you put in his cup, the type of tea you started brewing... even the quality of the taro you used for his milk tea.

"Is this why you waited for me before ordering?" you asked, both of your hands resting on your hips. "So you could torture me while I'm preparing your drink?"

Luhan rested his elbows on the counter and supported his chin with his hands. "I like to see you panicking," he admitted with a smile. "Your facial expressions are really entertaining,"

You scrunched up your nose. "Oh~ I hate you!" you muttered, before turning away from him to focus your attention back to the preparation of his taro milk tea.

"I know you don't," he said with a flirty smile.

The front door of the shop was once again pushed open and this time, it was your sunbae, Kyungsoo, who arrived. Unlike most days, he didn't walk straight to the other side of the counter as soon as he came in. Instead, he just settled on one of the chairs beside Yixing. You were in the middle of pouring the newly-finished taro milk tea into Luhan's cup when Kyungsoo broke the news of him giving up his job at the Happy Bubble Tea Shop. 

"YOU QUIT?!?" you exclaimed.

"Well, I had to," he said, rummaging through the things in his backpack. "Now that's school's back, there's no way I could juggle my time between idol training and bubble tea making," he explained.

"That can't be helped, I guess," you admitted, putting the dome-shaped lid into Luhan's cup. After handing over the taro milk tea with pearls and red beans to Luhan, you asked Kyungsoo about his replacement. "Wait! So, who's going to take over your shifts, then?"

"You'll find out later," he answered.

Moonkyu, Jongin, and Sehun barely made it in time for practice. The three boys, who all attended the prestigious School of the Performing Arts Seoul, had to travel all the way from Gung-dong, so it was not surprising at all when they arrived at the piano room almost at the same time as their vocal coach did. Realizing that there is a high possibility that they will arrive late for idol training in the coming days, Moonkyu decided that walking - or in today's case, running - from Apgujeong Station all the way to the SM Entertainment building is not such a good idea after all.

"Starting tomorrow," Moonkyu panted. "We're going to take the bus. Agreed?" 

"Agreed," Jongin and Sehun answered, also catching their breath.

Yixing threw a bottle of water towards Jongin's direction and the latter caught it just fine. Jongin then twisted the bottle cap open and gulped almost half of the bottle's contents before handing it over to his pseudo-twin. Also tired from all that running, Moonkyu drank the water up to the last drop.

"Hyung! What about me?!?" Sehun complained, so Luhan handed him another bottle.

"Okay, boys. Shall we start?"

The vocal coach for today's lesson was former Black Beat member, Jang Jinyoung. Even after his group disbanded, Jinyoung stayed with the company to help train aspiring idols to become talented singers. His fellow Black Beat members, Sanghoon and Jaewon, who are now collectively referred to as Beat Burger, also stayed in SM Entertainment as dance instructors and choreographers.

Jang Jinyoung

As usual, singing lessons started with a few vocalizations to help the boys warm up their voices. The boys particularly enjoyed doing this part of the lessons not only because it helps them get ready for class, but it also gets them a few laughs from their weird facial expressions. They were almost done with their third vocal exercise when Jang Jinyoung noticed something about Joonmyun's voice.

"Joonmyun-ah, your voice is starting to sound like Ryeowook's!" he said.

Just then, an invisible light bulb seemed to have appeared on top of the young vocal coach's head. "Wait! I have an idea!" he announced, before quickly making his way to the shelf containing a bunch of color-coded folders. He took the red folder from the far corner of the shelf and retrieved a couple of music sheets from it. He held them up and suggested, "Why don't you guys try singing this?" 

The music sheets Jang Jinyoung was holding contained the notes and the lyrics to the song, Wish. It was released in 2008 as a part of Dong Bang Shin Ki's Mirotic album and it was a collaborative effort between DBSK's Junsu and Changmin and Super Junior's Ryeowook and Kyuhyun.

Jinyoung appointed Luhan, Minseok, Joonmyun, and Kyungsoo to sing Junsu's, Changmin's, Ryeowook's, and Kyuhyun's parts, respectively; while he asked Yixing to accompany them with the piano. Although the original was certainly better, the boys' version did it enough justice to satisfy their vocal coach.

"You guys just need to work on your harmony, but it was good for a first try," Jinyoung complimented. He then turned his attention to Kevin, Chanyeol, Moonkyu, Zitao, Jongin, and Sehun. Although the six boys were good enough to carry a note or two, Jinyoung knew that they were more suitable to become rappers than vocalists. This fact, however, still didn't stop him from trying to develop and improve the boys' singing voices.

"Now, for the six of you..."

"One lychee bubble tea with jelly cubes for Youngho-ssi!" 

Just like it was in the summer, the Happy Bubble Tea Shop wasn't as busy in the afternoon as it was in the evening. This was actually advantageous for you since you can squeeze in a little homework whenever you're not attending to the customers' needs. Sure, it was only the first day of classes, but your teachers insisted on getting started with the schoolwork early.

After finishing the lychee bubble tea for the teenage boy who just exited the shop, you went back to your seat and continued studying your Korean history textbook. Whether you admit it or not, you actually had fun reading about the history of your country this time around... and your teacher should probably thank the ongoing historical drama, Sungkyunkwan Scandal for that.

You were in the middle of reading about the late Joseon era when the front door to the store suddenly opened. Putting your textbook aside, you stood straighter and provided the new female customer with your standard greeting: "Annyeonghaseyo! Welcome to Happy Bubble! May I take your order, please?"

"You must be Jaemi," she said with a smile. Before you could ask her why she knew your name, the girl went over to the other side of the counter and introduced herself. "I'm Yeonhee,"

Her name definitely rang a bell and it didn't take you long enough to remember why it was so familiar. "Oh! You're Ahjumeonie's niece!"

"That's right!" she confirmed, tying a black Happy Bubble apron on her waist. "Kyungsoo has already told you about me, didn't he?"

"Hmm... only that you're Ahjumeonie's niece and that you were busy with college that's why you only come by during weekends," you responded. "Wait a minute! Today's Monday, so why-"

"New semester, new schedule!" Yeonhee quickly responded. "I decided to take fewer classes this semester, so I could help out in the shop more," she revealed, putting Ahjumeonie's Sudoku booklets in one of the drawers. "Somebody needs to cover for the shifts left by Kyungsoo, no?"

"Is that okay with you, though?" you asked.

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