Myungsoo did opening like always. Suji usually joined him in the afternoon, while Woohyun would arrive later. It had always been this way. Just him and grumpy chef Sunggyu. Sunggyu was now pottering around in the back. He was angry again because Sungyeol wouldn’t be coming in today. Myungsoo often wondered how it was like to be angry all the time, but wouldn’t risk asking Sunggyu. The guy had a vicious mouth.

“Myungsoo!” Sunggyu called from the kitchen. He stopped lifting the chairs off the wooden tables and waited for him to complete his sentence. “Get your here right now!”

He walked over as slowly as he could. Sometimes if you would give Sunggyu a minute to his thoughts he could possibly see the error of his ways. It didn’t work today because Sunggyu was still in a temper. Sungyeol really had a way with him. Myungsoo didn’t.

“Yeah?” Sunggyu looked at him for a long moment, like he had no idea what to say. Very rarely did Sunggyu not have something to say. It was always about the oven, the frying pans, Sungyeol. Myungsoo wiped his hands on his black apron (with his name hand stitched in gold over his chest by Suji—she was very good at this sort of stuff), and waited. He was good at waiting. One time he waited for his mother to come home and cook for eight hours. At the end of it he still hadn’t fainted yet.

Sunggyu’s eyebrow twitched, and then he clasped a hand on Myungsoo’s shoulder. Like in some sort of brotherhood initiation. Myungsoo had no intention of joining into brotherhood with someone who was constantly unhappy and taking it out on the frying pans, but the look on Sunggyu’s face was different today.

“I’ll miss you.” Sunggyu finally said.

“Uh,” Myungsoo paused, “thanks.”

Sunggyu had always been the token monster in the closet. Or kitchen. He and Suji often chatted behind the counter and their topics rarely strayed from Sunggyu and what he was angry for the day. He made for interesting gossip, but Myungsoo had never actually thought how Sunggyu was like as a person. It took their imminent unemployment for him to consider that seriously. Was he unhappy because he was a chef? Or was he angry because he had no other form of financial security? Myungsoo wondered.

Sunggyu kept patting him on the arm for an extended moment. It made him feel slightly awkward but now Myungsoo was open to initiation into brotherhood with Sunggyu. Perhaps after they were no longer colleagues they could be friends. Or Sunggyu could be his hyung. Sunggyu was a stickler for hierarchy like that.

“Ok,” Sunggyu stopped patting and turned around, “now get back to work.”

“He honestly said that?”

Suji wasn’t even whispering anymore. Myungsoo shushed her with a wave of his cleaning cloth. It was two hours after opening and the usual crowd was not completely in yet. Suji looked over her shoulder. No yelling from the back and the manager was absorbed in counting at the till.

“Wow,” she frowned and continued arranging the flowers on the table, “that’s a surprise. You sure it was Sunggyu?”

Myungsoo nodded. The bell above the entrance rang. Suji had installed it there the day after she was hired. It added an airy feel to the café that was completely at odds with Sunggyu’s erratic bouts of yelling. Woohyun walked in with a box and Suji hurried to help him out. It was probably for them to clear out their lockers. Over the years Myungsoo had accumulated a fair amount of junk in the locker the manager had assigned to him. It was surprising how so much could go in so little time.

Woohyun grabbed a glass of water. “You have no idea how much time I spent convincing the recycling lady to give me a box. That lady is intense.”

Woohyun had a particularly glib tongue that worked well on most of the female population. But he was not an ajumma fan favourite. That honour would go to, strangely, Sungyeol. Sometimes the manager would parade him around close to teatime, when ajummas were abound. They usually made more in cake sales every time Sungyeol came out to smile in his immaculate white apron. The ajummas loved it. But they would never know that his apron was so clean because Sunggyu refused to let him cook anything. Sungyeol had become a pro at peeling vegetables after a year—Suji often called him out on it.

“Right.” Myungsoo held his hand out for the box. “Go get changed.”

He was more hardworking now that the café was going to release them. It was the last year of high school and the SATs were already over. That day he, Suji, Woohyun, and Sungyeol had had a mini celebration in the café. Even Sunggyu was smiling that day, with steak and mashed potatoes and mini cake pops. It wasn’t too long ago but Myungsoo felt like it was. Sometimes working for a long time at the same place did that to you. Moonsoo had quit his tutoring job that he’d worked at for five years a while back, and still often found himself walking to the hagwon on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Woohyun followed him to the back and carefully avoided looking as they walked past Sunggyu in his white top hat. Sunggyu had insisted on wearing it. He’d told Suji it was his style. Suji called it a little quirk. Woohyun called Suji too kind. Myungsoo put the box down beside their lockers and watched the floor as Woohyun slipped out of his school uniform and into his work outfit.

“Can’t believe we leave in a month,” Woohyun’s voice was muffled as he pulled his shirt on, “I can still remember my first day here.”

Myungsoo could too. It wasn’t very busy, and he was the first employee. The manager was nice enough to let him go back home with the leftovers and Sunggyu had even given him extras. This last detail he didn’t remember very often, unless he was out of ideas on how to ignore Sunggyu thundering in the kitchen behind. He really had a very bad temper, but that didn’t extend to his heart. Not really.

Woohyun struggled with the apron strings and Myungsoo stepped over to help him out. Woohyun’s apron too had the same hand stitched name on it. The “W” was slightly misshapen—Myungsoo remembered Suji giving up several times because she couldn’t get the perfect circle. She was extraordinarily persistent at things sometimes.

“Have you thought of any schools yet?” Woohyun asked as they walked out. He faced away from the kitchen as much as he could. Woohyun and Sunggyu had a cat-and-mouse relationship. Sunggyu could never stop picking on Woohyun and Woohyun was just afraid of him. It was funny when Sungyeol was the one stuck in the middle.

Myungsoo shrugged. “My teacher submitted a direct entry form for me to a few schools up north. I’m not even sure how that’ll work out though.”

He wasn’t an extraordinary student, but his teachers called him hardworking. Myungsoo thought being studious was a virtue—after all his parents worked to put him and his brother through so many years of school. A payment of going to a good university only seemed right.

Woohyun whistled. “Dude you awesome.”

Myungsoo couldn’t understand Woohyun sometimes. Maybe it was because he had moved from Jeolla-do when he was in middle school. Or maybe it was because Woohyun was just complex. Or weird. Myungsoo didn’t want to give him too much credit.

Their usual crowd consisted mainly of students from the neighbourhood. Myungsoo would spot familiar faces from time to time, either from his school or Woohyun’s or Suji’s. Now that the SATs were over they would turn up in droves. Today Howon was at the head of the pack. Myungsoo raised his eyebrows at his friend waving from across the café. Howon was technically in the Nam section, but Myungsoo decided that it would be okay for once. After all Woohyun was busy with a table of girls on Suji’s side.

“Hi,” Howon grinned. Dongwoo was with him and waved, before he began taking orders. Howon waited until he was done scribbling before pulling on his apron.

“What?” Myungsoo poked his pencil on Howon’s hand. Howon was quite handsy with them but clammed up when it came to girls. Quite a pity because he was such a loudmouth about them when it was just the boys. Sungyeol had accidentally divulged it to Suji once over lunch. Myungsoo felt sorry for everyone who had ever told a secret to Sungyeol.

Howon glanced over furtively at the Bae section. It was good enough for Myungsoo. Howon was very interested in Suji, ever since she’d served them coffee two months ago. Myungsoo had not the heart to tell him that she already knew the kind of person he was.

“Howon, please don’t.” Howon’s eyes widened and Dongwoo was all over being his wingman in seconds.

“Myungsoo you know how much Howon at picking up a girl,” Dongwoo was very frank sometimes, “you gotta help him man!”

Over the hubbub Myungsoo could hear Woohyun and his Jeolla-do accent. Howon was still staring at him out of hope. He had no idea how to actually be someone’s wingman. Moonsoo never had problems and Woohyun was a true professional. Sungyeol already had a girlfriend. Most of the time he just watched as Suji fended off suitors as gracefully as they came. He wasn’t sure if he wanted Howon to be subjected to an elegant takedown.

Howon pushed a scrap of paper into his hands and forced his fingers shut with a strangled “Go!”. Myungsoo was about to force it back onto Howon when the manager called for him. It was either break Howon’s heart or the manager’s, and Myungsoo chose the lesser of the two evils.

When Suji came back for a coffee round, he stood beside her pretending to work the coffee machine and nudged her with his elbow. She stared at him for a moment before nudging him back. What? She mouthed. Sunggyu was pan-frying something inside and didn't like it when people talked too loudly. Sunggyu had a lot of quirks. Myungsoo took the scrap of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her. He’d uncrushed it and folded it nicely into fours. As a tribute to Howon’s heart maybe. Suji unfolded it and read it over.

“Which one?” She asked, still whispering. The coffee machine sputtered to a stop.

They turned around and Myungsoo pointed Howon out with a nonchalant swing of the yellow porcelain mug he had in his hand. They’d been through this too many times. Myungsoo found Suji to be more popular than the manager had envisioned—this was perhaps because Suji was not the typical Gyeongsangnam-do girl. It was endearing but Myungsoo wouldn’t know. All his life he had been surrounded by boys. Like Sungyeol. Like Howon. Like Dongwoo. It was more than enough to dull his senses.

According to Sungyeol, Suji was a catch. The catch. He’d always wondered why Myungsoo had never acted upon it. “You had one whole year with her!” Sungyeol had been extremely indignant about it. Myungsoo on the other hand found nothing wrong. Sungyeol was adamant about platonic relationships being a lie. Myungsoo simply told him to look at them.

Them was good enough. Myungsoo enjoyed Suji’s company as much as he’d like to think she enjoyed his. Despite their limited time together they had too many things in common. His locker was filled with albums that she’d stuffed in there because she borrowed them and he was too lazy to bring them home. Sometimes they would buy books together online. The habits they shared were artsy and Sungyeol laughed at them for it.

He watched as Suji walked over with her tray (hand painted with a floral print she had seen on a Cath Kidson wallet Sungyeol had bought for his girlfriend Namjoo). Her takedowns were always so well executed. Myungsoo thought that because the people she rejected always came back for coffee. Nobody tried to wreck the place or anything. It was incredible. If it were Myungsoo the café would have already been heavily graffitied.

Later on in the week he admitted to Sungyeol that he kind of knew Howon wasn’t going to succeed.

“What do you mean kind of? Nobody’s ever succeeded.” Sungyeol chowed on his rice and Myungsoo pushed his bowl further away. It was true though. Suji had never given her number to anybody. Sungyeol didn’t have it, or Woohyun. What Myungsoo would never tell anybody was that he did. It just seemed weird to admit. They exchanged numbers on her first day of work and he thought everyone did too until Sungyeol kept complaining. But if she wanted to keep it private then he was more than willing to do it for her.