It was as if I waited my entire life for this moment.

Do you know how much someone can earn as a full-time barista in a tiny neighborhood cafe a month? How many tips you can receive on average in a club downtown in Hongdae daily? Or the monthly rental in a 15 m² officetel, the electrical bills and expenses to be paid for?


Jiyoon knows.


She works an 8 am to 9 pm shift at the cafe 3 minutes away from her apartment, 930 - 2am shift at Foenix, one of Hongdae's most expensive night club, pays her rental and electrical bills timely on the first monday of every month and basically had a non-existent savings account.


"Wasn't that kid hot?" 


"Which one?" Jiyoon did not bother to raise her head to match up with Emily, her colleague's nonsense.


"That green tea latte kid." she eyed Jiyoon subtly to see if she had any response. "There." she pointed at the male sitting at the far corner of the cafe with a book on the table.


"Oh." Jiyoon shrugged, he had been a regular since the cafe opened a year ago. He would come by in the evenings, order a green tea latte and sit at the corner of the cafe where no one could disturb him and read his book silently, sometimes jotting down tiny notes by them. But Jiyoon only saw him as a customer, nothing more than that.


"Why are you so uninterested in guys? It makes me question your uality." Emily rolled her eyes, "And speaking of guys..."


"Can I- uhm. Leave earlier?" Emily chewed on her lower lips watching Jiyoon wipe the espresso cups squeaky clean, ignoring her. "I'm going on a date with Yoongi tonight, and he's already outside."


The cafe the girls were working in was located in a cozy neighborhood near a university and if someone was to come in on a week day afternoon, they would see seats occupied by students busy mugging for examinations. But right now, the cafe was empty with its last operating hour for closing. The OPEN sign hanging on the glass doors flipped over with a CLOSED.


Emily leaned onto the counter, glancing at her wrist watch anxiously. She was in fact, about to be late in meeting her boyfriend who was standing outside the cafe, tapping his feet impatiently.


Just a minute, she mouthed.


Jiyoon saw how distracted Emily was in mopping the floor and took the opportunity to give a hard flick on her forehead.


"Ow!" Emily furrowed her eyebrows in pain, placing a protective hand over her forehead for fear of a second attack from Jiyoon. "What was that for?"


"Emmie," Jiyoon sighed in frustration, "He is your- how many was it again?"


"S-seventeenth?" she answered meekly, averting her gaze from Jiyoon.


"Ah yes, seventeenth boyfriend." the words rolled off Jiyoon's tongue sarcastically. "And I thought you didn't know."


"I'm sure it will work out between u-" she clasped her hands together in a bid for Jiyoon to believe her. 


"I'm afraid not." Jiyoon cut her cleanly. It was the seventeenth time she heard that sentence coming from Emily and she was sure there was more to come.


Emily was at wits end, almost resorting to pulling out all her dyed brown hair. After getting to know Jiyoon and worked together for a year, she knew by heart  that Jiyoon was very, very stubborn. It was only by the third month of working together that she star