I woke up early that Saturday, remembering that I now had another obligation I must fulfil for the month. I showered and dressed in a hurry, eager to see if Joonmyun made good with his promise. I gave my mother a quick kiss on the cheek as goodbye and sprinted out of the door, rushing through the bleak Saturday morning with my heart thumping loudly in my chest.

I certainly was not disappointed, for Joonmyun was the first person I saw seconds after I descended the last step in the underground subway station. With his hands slipped casually in his pockets, he looked every bit like a model that had just stepped out from one of my many fashion magazines. My heart thumped in anticipation, but rather than rooting my feet to the ground, my excitement pushed me forwards to greet him. Joonmyun and I now ride the subway together on regular basis, and ever since this arrangement had received its unspoken agreement, I found myself gaining courage towards him day by day.

When we arrived at Donghae’s restaurant, I was surprised to be greeted with so much fervour.

“Hey there cutie! Long time since I last saw you. I was beginning to miss you.” Kyuhyun grinned at me from his position behind the counter, jokingly tipping his hat in my direction as he winked at me.

“Aw geez, Hyung. You’re going to end up scaring her away,” the cook –Kris’s partner and mentor–Ryeowook said, rolling his eyes at him.

“Hey, I’m sure she likes me as much as I like her,” Kyuhyun said with another playful wink at me.

On other occasions, I would have shot a boy like him down there and then, but with Kyuhyun, you just couldn’t mistake the mischievous glint in his eyes that hinted he was joking.

“I’m pretty sure she has other candidates to choose from,” the barista, Eunhyuk, said drily. “Joonmyun for example.”

I blushed at this, and was wholly glad that Joonmyun couldn’t see me because he was standing behind me. I heard him laugh. “That depends if she even considers me as one,” he said jokingly.

I could practically see Kyuhyun snickering at me as he eyed me up and down. “Trust me, Joonmyun-ah. You’re not as far as you think.”

I was saved from further embarrassment when Donghae popped out from his office. “No flirting with my employees, Kyuhyun,” he said sternly.

“I wasn’t doing anything to her, Hyung,” Kyuhyun said as he straightened up. “I’m just giving her... our traditional welcome.”

“Traditional welcome, my foot,” Eunhyuk scoffed. “When it was my first day, you shoved a mop in my hands and tricked me into doing your cleanup duty.”

“Well,” Kyuhyun said with a smirk. “Technically speaking, it’s not really her first day, so she already knows how everything works around here to not be stupid enough to fall for things like that –unlike you.”

Eunhyuk chucked a dish cloth at his head while Joonmyun and I tried to suppress our laughs.

“Now that you’ve see how everything really looks like in here,” Donghae began with a roll of his eyes, “let’s get on with your duties. Aeri, you’re waiting tables now, since Jessica’s taking a month off to visit her family in America.”

“Are Kris and Tao here yet?” Joonmyun asked as Donghae ushered us off into the staff locker rooms.

“I sent them out to make a few errands,” Donghae explained as he shoved us through the door. “Now go change! We open in fifteen minutes.”

As the hours passed, I found that I was greatly enjoying to prospect of working. Like before, I had to work with a mentor to get the gist of my job, but this time, it was Joonmyun who lead me instead of Donghae. Waitressing wasn’t as hard as handling the cash register, but it did require patience and physical fitness. Joonmyun and I were running from table to table, taking orders, delivering them, and answering requests.

Kris and Tao had returned about half an hour after the restaurant opened, carrying two large boxes each. Eunhyuk eyed the boxes warily.

“Something tells me that those boxes can only mean more work,” he remarked drily to Ryeowook.

“I’m planning on hanging some fairy lights in here,” Donghae explained. “We can dim the lights at night for a more romantic atmosphere.”

Needless to say, it was somewhat entertaining watching Eunhyuk and Kyuhyun’s endeavours to hang it up.

“Hold the ladder properly, will you?” Eunhyuk yelled at Kyuhyun when the ladder wobbled for the fourth time.

“It’s not my fault that you keep shaking it so much!” Kyuhyun retorted. “You’re not as light as you think.”

“Well excuse me for trying to do my job!”

“You’re not even doing it right. You’re stretching the wire too much.”

“I’m not! It’s perfectly fine.”

“You are. Now loosen it up.”

“It’s a short wire okay! If we want to get it to this corner I have to stretch it a little bit.”

“But it ruins the romantic effect.”

“What the –you know what? If you have so many complaints, why not you get up here and do it yourself!”

“As you can see, we’re all one big family,” Donghae said with a chuckle as he rested his elbows on the counter.

“Really?” Kris asked, brows raised as he watched Kyuhyun and Eunhyuk.

“Yup,” Ryeowook said as he watched them with his arms crossed. “Those two might argue, but they care for each other a lot.”

“I believe that,” Tao commented lightly. “There’s definitely no love lost between those two.”

“CHO KYUHYUN, HOLD THE LADDER STILL BEFORE I GIVE YOU A GOOD KICK ON THE HEAD WITH MY FOOT!”

Break time was the only time I spent without the company of Joonmyun. Since the restaurant was open from morning to noon with no temporary close-ups in between, they needed at least one waiter on duty to attend to the customers. Hence, Joonmyun and I had been issued different break times. Coincidentally, Kris had been given the same break time as me as well.

As of now, we were sitting in one of the back rooms designated for employees, a thick blanket of silence between us as I toyed with my phone and he sipped his coffee. Save for the times of absolute necessity, we rarely talked, so this moment of silence wasn’t foreign to me. We get along well though, Kris and I, so I doubted that the atmosphere could bother him any more than it bothered me.

After ten minutes though, he surprised me by initiating a conversation.

“What’s wrong with Yixing?”

I looked up from my phone, slightly startled. Kris was leaning forwards in his seat, brows knitted together as he gazed at me with his concerned, dark eyes. In his hands, he was cradling his cup of coffee: black, no cream and with very little sugar stirred in.

“Why do you ask?” I asked cautiously.

“He’s been really off it these past few days,” he said, taking another sip from the cup. “Staring into space in the middle of the court, getting angry for no apparent reason, not to mention that he barely speaks to anyone now. So I was wondering: is there a problem he’s not telling me about?”

“I’m sure if there is, it’s not about basketball,” I reassured him, tactfully trying to skirt around the subject. I didn’t want to take Kris into confidence if Yixing didn’t give me his stamp of approval.

“I’m sure it isn’t,” Kris said, leaning back. “I’m just worried for him.”

I gave Kris a tight smile. “Whatever it is, he’ll get over it. I’m sure.”

Kris leaned back. “I hope you’re right, ‘cause I’m counting on that.”

At noon, all four of us headed off to the lockers rooms to change and store our uniforms. The conversation with Kris was still lingering in my head as I slipped off my uniform and pulled on my shirt and jeans, buzzing at the back of my mind like an annoying bee. I of all people knew how much Yixing had gotten a little... darker so to speak. We rarely see each other now, since Jonghyun had developed a habit of trailing Hyunji wherever she went, and Yixing wasn’t inclined on spending more than a few moments in his company.

I had a feeling that Kris turned to me in hopes that I could try to aid Yixing in whatever battle he was fighting, but I could only do so much for someone who outright refused help of any kind. Of course I would still be here if he needed me, but Zhang Yixing was not someone you simply push to do whatever you wanted. I tried that, and look how well it worked.

I grabbed my phone and slammed my locker shut with a sigh. I suppose it’s best to let Yixing cool off a while before I try anything on him. In the mean time, Kris just has to bear with him.

When I finally re-emerged from the locker room, I found both Kris and Tao gone and Joonmyun smiling at me as he rose from one of the tables.

“Sorry, did I take too long?” I asked. I glanced around. “Did those two leave already?”

“Yup,” Joonmyun answered, popping the last bit of the cookie he was munching on into his mouth and brushing the crumbs on a napkin. “They said they were going to hang out with Chanyeol and a couple of the other guys.”

“You’re not going?”

Joonmyun shrugged. “Nah, my mom needs me home before three. A relative is coming over. But still,” Joonmyun grinned at me, “I’m open for lunch.”

I laughed and ran my fingers through my hair, gathering the thin strands and pulling it into a ponytail. “Lead the way, then.” I was really starting to get used to hanging out with this boy.

“Aw, sweetheart, leaving already?” Kyuhyun yelled at me from behind the counter as we were halfway across the restaurant. “I liked having you here.”

I turned and laughed when I saw him pouting over the cash register. “Don’t miss me too much.”

Kyuhyun grinned. “That’s impossible. Now have fun you two.” He winked and gave us a quick salute.

 Judging by the way he was eyeing Joonmyun and me, I was pretty sure that the wink meant something. I wasn’t given much time to ponder over it though, because Joonmyun was already tugging me out of the shop.

“He must really like you to tease you that much,” he commented.

I waved my hand dismissively. “He just likes messing with people, I think. Kind of like Chanyeol.”

Joonmyun smiled, but it soon faded into a frown when he caught sight of something behind me. I followed his gaze towards a black Mercedes, the same car we rode in that day when he took me home. His chauffeur was waving at him.

“Here already? I thought he isn’t coming until later,” Joonmyun muttered to himself. He then turned to give me an apologetic look. “Aeri, I’m really sorry, but I have to go.”

I tried to hide my disappointment as I smiled at him. “No worries. I understand.”

Joonmyun heaved and sigh and ran his fingers through his hair, glancing upwards towards the car again. “I feel bad for leaving you here like this.”

I rolled my eyes. God, this guy is just too nice! I thought with both exasperation and fondness. I gently patted his arm. “It’s okay. I understand. Now go.”

Joonmyun smiled at me and ruffled my hair, sending shoots of electricity through my body. “I’ll make this up to you, I promise.” With that, he waved at me and walked away.

I watched as he disappeared inside the car, his lips moving as if he was talking to someone inside it. It was then I spotted a dark figure moving behind the glass, his face obscured by Joonmyun, but his figure visible enough for me to identify him as male.  The door closed behind Joonmyun and the car zoomed away before I could see anything more.