▲▼▲ INFINITE - 60 SECS

Sehun let out a sharp exhale as he looked up at his new workplace in front of him, seeing the café’s name on Saturday morning. Lowering his head, he entered the café being greeted by the manager and a few of the employees. The manager slung his arm over Sehun’s shoulder as he leads the younger to his station. Sehun looked around as he listened to his manager speak. As he looked around, he found that Minyoung was already at her station, taking a customer’s order at the counter, and shouted out the orders as she charged the customer. “...And since we have a lot of employees gone today, you don’t mind working until closing time, do you?” the manager asked. Sehun shook his head. In fact, he didn’t mind to work twenty four hours, he needed the money. “Great, just clean the tables, take orders and whatever.” Sehun received a pat on the back as he was left alone. He walked into the staff room, and quickly changed into his work uniform.

He slips out of the room and back to the café, finding Minyoung setting the rest of the chairs back on the ground. He noticed adults walking in and out, standing in line and quickly ordered for their breakfast before work, and rushed out to their work. An early couple had entered, ordered, and sat at a table. The café opened at six in the morning, and Sehun was to report to work at nine in the morning, so Sehun was told to quickly clean the tables by the assistant manager, and he did so. Glancing back, he found Minyoung behind the counter with the last customer of the line. He noticed her slightly smiling, a smile that seems to appear rarely on her face. Shaking his head, he turned back to his work. As he moved to the next table, he noticed Minyoung bringing orders to tables. He looked at Minyoung, realizing that every time he turned around, Minyoung was at another place, behind the counter, at the tables, in the kitchen, or in the staff room. It was as if she had the power to teleport everywhere and easily gotten her work done faster than anyone in the café, or she’s probably just trying her hardest.

Lunch break came for the two teenagers, and they both sat at the staff room and ate their lunch quietly, sipping on their beverages that they had bought on their own from work. Sehun sat awkwardly in silence as he watched some of the other workers walk in and out of the staff room and kitchen. He glanced up at Minyoung who sat a distance away from him, peacefully eating her boxed lunch and sipped her orange juice. The boy glanced down at his lunch, mainly right and scrambled eggs. He slightly frowned, and the thought of his grandmother in the hospital sadden him more. He didn’t have good lunch now that she wasn’t at home, he couldn’t buy his own lunch but only to save the money he has to pay for the tests and operations that his grandmother needed, and he now couldn’t tell his grandmother about the job, only knowing that it would worry her. He stared at the ground, his chopsticks poking his food.

Minyoung glanced up from her lunch, noticing Sehun staring at the ground, barely at his food. She looked at her boxed food and slid it towards Sehun. Luckily, she ate mostly the rice. Sehun glanced up, confused with her sudden actions. He watched as she stood up, straightening her uniform and quickly put her box of rice away into her locker. “Have the rest... I’m not hungry anyway,” she said before stepping out to the café and continued her job. Sehun stared at the food in front of him and heard his stomach growl. When he was finished with lunch, he quickly went back to work. Time passes by and Sehun is running all over the place. So many girls in the café all of a sudden, which made his day even busier. But the busier, the better. By the time work ended for the employees at the café at eight at night, Sehun exhaled as he quickly exited the café, and rushed down to the hospital, and it was raining as he left.

▲▼▲▼▲

The bright Sunday morning had arrived the next day, and the sun’s light hit against Sehun’s milky white skinned face, which woke him up. The first thing he saw was his grandmother, peacefully asleep in bed, needles hooked up to her. He had stayed up all night, until it was three in the morning and he couldn’t take it anymore and fell asleep. He heaved a sigh as he glanced at his grandmother, then at the clock on his phone. As much as he wanted to stay with his grandmother, a part of him wanted to go home, and lie down in bed where he could sleep happily. He barely had a good sleep, and the sleep he just woke up from was only at least two hours or less. But if he stayed and his grandmother found him there, she’d be upset and try to send him home anyway. There was no choice but to stay at home. With a sigh, the boy stood up and exited his grandmother’s hospital room and made his way to the elevators, leaving the hospital with his head hung low.

Back at Minyoung’s home, the young family has all woken up with bright faces, well, almost all of them. Minyoung sighed as she was finally able to peel her eyes away from her textbooks. She glanced at the clock and realized that it was already morning, remembering that she was working on her studies after work at nine o’clock the night before. Her head jerked up as she heard a knock on her bedroom door, and pain shot through her neck like a wildfire. The door opened and she found her mother stepping inside as she rubbed her cramped neck. “Oh, Minyoung you’re awake already.” Her mother paused for a second, “Or were you awake all night?” Minyoung continued to rub her burning neck and sheepishly smiled at her mother. Her mother sighed and shuffled towards her daughter with her hands at her hips. “Tsk, Minyounggie, I told you a hundred times before. Don’t study on weekends. You should relax and go outside, get your mind off things for a while.”
Minyoung sighed as she stared at her textbooks, “I can’t, mom. I’ve been getting a lot of school work lately...”
“Just you?” her mother asked, raising a brow.
“Well, everyone got the same amount of homework... But I just wanted to finish this pile of homework just to get it out of the way.”
“It seems like whenever you finish a pile, another is already formed and given to you,” her mother said, frowning. Minyoung sighed as she rubbed her tired eyes. “Anyway, breakfast is ready. Come downstairs and eat,” she said as she stood up, walking out of her daughter’s bedroom with her following behind.

Once breakfast ended, Minyoung was told to send some breakfast to Sehun. As she left the house, she shuffled across to Sehun’s house, just as he arrived at his door. She looked at him from head to toe, noticed that he was wearing the same clothes the day before. “Sehun-sshi,” Minyoung said, making Sehun abruptly turn towards her. She found him with light dark circles under his eyes. Where has he been all night? Sehun just looked at her, waiting for her to say something else than his name. “Oh, uhm. My parents heard about what happened and...” She held out the plastic wrapped plate of food for the boy, “They wanted you to have this, knowing that you probably have nothing to eat while your grandmother’s away-”
“Thanks, but no thanks,” Sehun said, in a not so rude way. “I... I can’t take food from you guys. I can just...” He looked at Minyoung, suddenly knowing that she’d make him take it even if he refused. He sighed and took the food from the girl in front of him. “Thanks,” he whispers.
He noticed a small smile on her face appear, and he didn’t know why, but his heart fluttered at the slight movement. “You’re welcome. If you need anything, just come to our place. My parents are willing to help,” she said before stepping back and hurry back to her house.

▲▼▲▼▲

Minyoung sighed as she knelt to the ground, picking up the broken pieces of glass, as she apologized to the couple in front of her. Her hands were suddenly held away from the sharp glass, and she looked up, finding Sehun. “Don’t pick it up with your bare hands...” he says and grabbed a dustpan and a broom, easily removed the broken shards of glasses as she stood up. She mumbled a thank you before Sehun gave her a small nod and shuffled away.

At last the last customer left the café, and Sehun sighed as he looked at the clock on his phone. He pulled out his bag out from his staff locker and finally remembered something: “. Homework.” Minyoung caught his words and glanced over at the boy, noticing the boy was more tired than ever. He slammed his locker shut and slung his bag over his shoulder.
“Sehun,” Minyoung called out. “Are you okay? You seem...tired.”
Sehun shrugged. This was the first time he had been so quiet since she had first met him. “I’m fine. Just need some sleep. I’m going to go see my grandmother...” He turned and walked away, but then paused. “Do you want to come?”
Minyoung blinked. “To the hospital with you?” He nodded.

▲▼▲▼▲

A styrofoam cup appeared in front of Sehun’s eyes and he looked up. “Coffee for you,” Minyoung said. Sehun looked at the cup and took it from her hands, giving her a small smile as she sat beside him and sipped her coffee. It had been at least half an hour when the two arrived at the hospital, finding Sehun’s grandmother already asleep in bed. Now they were outside her room, sitting in silence. “I overheard you cursing about your homework,” Minyoung said, which made Sehun snap his head up to look at her. “Do you need help?” Sehun shook his head. “You know, it’s better to just try your best and complete it rather than not turning it in.”

Sehun sighed and shook his head, a smile kind of appeared on his face. “I rather not. Education just doesn’t seem important to me more than it does to you. So...” He trailed off with a sigh as he looked down at the cup of coffee in his hands.
Silence between the two. Finally, Minyoung spoke, “Are you one of those people who don’t give a crap about education, and choose leisure time over studying?”
Sehun shook his head, “No, I’m-” He paused when he realized his voice was raised to a raging point. He exhaled and spoke with a calmer voice. “It’s... Just seems useless. And I just can’t do it. I at learning. Either way, even if I do well in education, I wouldn’t be better than him...” he mumbled the last part.
“Is him a family member?” Minyoung asked. Sehun hesitated, but nodded. “I see. So, it’s not that you don’t know how to do it. It’s just the stress that’s building up inside you, huh?”
Sehun raised a brow, “Excuse me?”

“What you’re telling me is... You and him are unable to get along, only because everyone thinks he’s better, the greatest, at everything?”
Sehun stayed silent. “Can we not talk about this?” he finally said.
Minyoung nodded. “Alrighty. Well, it’s getting late. Unless you want to go to school looking like a panda, I suggest you should go home and get some rest until the sun rises,” she says, and leaves. Sehun watched her walk away. Was that a go-home-and-sleep-and-show-up-to-school? Heard it all before.

I don’t know what I’m writing. sigh. Sorry for not updating a lot. I haven’t had the time to. I know this is confusing. It’s more confusing to me than it does to you. Sorry.
on the other hand, the first Pandora story is already at 1000 subbers... Uhm. Mind telling me why you guys think it’s interesting? Cause, I really don’t get how it is. orz.