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When morning hit, no one knew what was going to happen.

 

No one was aware of the troubles and obstacles that were going to have to overcome the next morning.

 

Not. One. Bit.

 

Everything was going to hit them unexpectedly.

 

 

 

"WAKE UP! WAKE UP! Hurry and get up!"

Shaking Sehun furiously and waking him up from his peaceful slumber, Sehun reluctantly sat up and wondered why the hell Chanyeol looked like he was in distress.

"What the hell. What happened to you?" Sehun grumbled, still half-asleep.

"Don't ask, just get up! Hurry!" Chanyeol pulled on Sehun's arm, but he refused to budge without an explanation. Eyes still closed, he could hear Chen trying to wake up Tao while he still felt Baekhyun sleeping next to him.

"Fool, you better have a good reason for waking me up so suddenly," Sehun grumbled once more, but Chanyeol just continued pulling his arm. Sehun grabbed his phone out of his sweater's pocket and made out what he believed said "5:49 AM" on his screen. Finally fully opening his eyes, or opening them the best he could, he looked around and realized it was barely starting to get lighter outside, while the house was lightly dimmed by a table lamp and the rising sun.

What really caught his attention were the two empty seats next to Tao, and just like that, a rush of fear and anxiety hit him hard. 

Where the hell is Mira and Kai?

Nearly knocking Chanyeol to the floor, Sehun stood up and ran to the couch where Mira and Kai once were. "Mira– where is she? Where is she?! Where's Kai?!" Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows and just stared blankly at his friend.

"Why aren't you answering me, dude?" Sehun's panic-stricken tone stunned Chanyeol to the extent of him being unable to reply. No matter how many times he wanted to say something, Chanyeol was paralyzed and mute. For once, Chanyeol was actually bewildered and shocked by Sehun's actions and for once, Chanyeol found it difficult to react.

"Sehun. What's wrong with you?"

That voice. Kai.

"You!" Sehun turned around and walked straight up to Kai, who had made his appearance visible after coming from the dining room while holding a cup of orange juice. "Where the hell is my sister?"

Sehun's tone sounded sharp and aggressive, which didn't really alarm Kai but if he was trying to accuse him of doing something to Mira, Kai wasn't going to take it.

"What do you mean 'where is she'?" She's not over ther–?" Kai was interrupted by Sehun, who just scoffed and started freaking out without allowing Kai to finish, walking back and forth. With all the yelling, Baekhyun and Tao finally woke up, both grumpy to have been awoken by the loud commotion.

"What the hellllllll," Baekhyun whined and was joined by Tao's whining.

Where did she go?

Why would she leave again?

Why is she doing this?

What were you thinking of bringing them back into her life, Sehun?!

You're so stupid, Sehu–

"Why are you screaming?!"

Alarmed, Sehun stared up at the figure at the top of the stairs who was dressed in a white button-up and black jeans with their hair wrapped in a towel. Kai almost dropped the glass in his hand and Chanyeol remained silent. This woke up Baekhyun and Tao even more, but Kyungsoo was surprisingly still asleep– in fact, he didn't even budge.

"Mira?"

"What?" She asked annoyingly; clearly pissed off that she got interrupted with whatever she was doing. "You didn't answer my question. Why the hell are you screaming? Jae is still sleeping!"

Walking slowly up the stairs, Sehun stuttered. "I thought– but you weren't here– and I thought you... left?" Trying to say the things he wanted to say wasn't coming out correctly and once he reached the top of the stairs, he approached Mira. In a more quiet tone, he explained himself. "I t-thought you ran away again. I-I'm sorry..."

"What? Why would you think that?" Mira was more than confused at her brother's assumptions.

"Because Chanyeol was shaking me in my sleep urging me to wake up! Then I saw that you were missing and I assumed you ran again! I saw that Kai was missing too, so I thought he went to look for you, hence, the reason why Chanyeol was waking me up!"

Dumbfounded and overwhelmed, it took some time for Mira to gather her thoughts together. Before she could answer, the front door opened and their parents walked in with bags of groceries. "Good morning, everyone! What do you want to eat– wait, what's happening here?" Mrs. Oh caught on that something was happening when she saw that everyone downstairs was staring at both Mira and Sehun upstairs.

"What are you guys fighting about this time?" Mr. Oh slipped his shoes off and demanded for an answer from the two bickering children.

"I don't know! I was just getting ready upstairs in my room and then I hear yelling downstairs! I come out and I see Sehun freaking out!" Mira explained her case.

"Why were you yelling Sehun?" Mrs. Oh asked, worried.

"I thought Mira ran away again... Because I didn't see her and Chanyeol was freaking out and telling me to wake up like his life depended on it! How is that my fault? After what happened yesterday, it's not impossible that it could happen again!" Frustrated, Sehun let out a distressed and heavy sigh. 

"Chanyeol? He was– oh," was all Mrs. Oh could say, before she started laughing. This time everyone's eyes were on her and they seriously thought she was going crazy. "I think he was just waking you up to let you know that you have to get ready soon."

"Get ready for what?" Sehun spoke back.

Finally, Chanyeol was able to get his head together and managed to talk, "To work. Since we're all here and because they welcomed us into your house, they thought it would be nice of us to help and work at the restaurant today."

Blown away at the turn of events, Sehun was left silent.

"Then why the hell were you freaking out?"

"I thought it would be funny to see your grumpy reaction."

Sehun scoffed and retorted sarcastically, "Yeah, well look how it turned out."

"Sehun! Be nice to Yeolie!" Mira smacked her brother's arm, which he rubbed.

"Sorry, Yeol," Sehun apologized which only made Chanyeol smile, since he knew Sehun was just being a protective brother.

"Alright, now that that's settled, everyone wash up and get ready! And no more shouting! Jae is still asleep. Uncle and I will cook some breakfast for you guys and then we'll head over to the restaurant!" Mrs. Oh returned to her cheerful, bright self and signaled her husband to follow her into the kitchen, holding the grocery bags. "Oh, and Sehun! Make sure to give them some towels!"

Standing awkwardly in front of Mira whose eyes were still focused on him made Sehun rub his neck and let out an awkward chuckle. "Eh, sorry Meems. I, uh, honestly thought something happened to you again."

This time Mira let out a deep sigh, closed her eyes, then opened them again shortly after. "It's okay, Sehun. I understand why you would have thought that, but honestly, I wish you had put more trust in me. I won't run again, okay?"

With that reassurance, Sehun believed Mira but apologized once more.

Mira just hugged him and after she let go, her gaze shifted to Kai downstairs then back to Sehun before returning back to her room. Sehun was quick enough to catch that, but didn't think much of it and returned back downstairs.

Now standing in front of Kai, Sehun apologized sincerely and asked for forgiveness. Kai just laughed and playfully punched Sehun's arm, notifying Sehun that their friendship wasn't damaged.

"Wait, what's happening? We're working today?" Everyone, including Sehun, got startled by the groggy, deep voice that belonged to Kyungsoo who they thought was asleep still. Sitting up and rubbing his eyes, he yawned and stretched before completely opening his wide eyes to stare at everyone as he waited for someone to answer.

"Guess so," Chen remarked. "But I'm still sleepy though."

Chen laid back down on the couch and closed his eyes, but Tao wouldn't allow him to go back to sleep right after he made a huge effort to disturb him from his own sleep, so Tao flicked Chen's forehead. It was so hard that it made a loud 'knock'. Chen whined as he rubbed his poor forehead, but Tao just giggled to himself.

"Alright, let's wash up, guys. I'll get you guys some towels. We have a long day ahead of us."

Upon arriving the restaurant, everyone was dressed thin, white button-ups that graciously hugged their bodies with the sleeves rolled up half way. It was surprising that they were all able to eat and get ready in a matter of an hour or so, considering that there were five additional people who needed to shower and get ready as well.

No one buttoned their shirt to the top; instead, they left the first two on top ed to give off a classic yet laid-back look. To compliment the white, they all wore black jeans along with their choice of shoes. For Mira, she wore the same thing but with black ripped jeans and her favorite black sneakers.

"Wow, you guys look nice! I feel like today is going to be a good day! Thank goodness we always keep spare white button-ups at home and at the restaurant," Mrs. Oh praised her two children and their friends. They all entered the shop and they were all bombarded with the fragrance of all of the meals and dishes that they were preparing in the back.

"Alright, Kyungsoo and Chanyeol, you guys will work the cash registers in the front since you two are wonderful at math! Chen and Kai, you guys can be the servers, and Tao and Baekhyun, you will be the ones who can make the drinks at the barista area! It's only a little after 7 and we won't open until 8:30, so we have a little bit of time to get you guys organized and settled!" Mrs. Oh led them to the back room where they could relax and discuss some important matters.

Once everyone was settled and took a seat, Mrs. Oh excused herself to handle some things in the kitchen first. "If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask me or uncle. Sehun and Mira will be out there as well to help guide you guys! Thank you again! See you out there! When Mrs. Oh left, everyone let out exhausted sighs and closed their eyes as some leaned their heads back.

"I've never made a drink from scratch before," Baekhyun confessed, leaving Tao to agree and say the same. 

"It's okay, it's really easy. Half of the work is already done for you. 'Preppers'– people who usually work the night shifts– prep the base of the drinks for you the night before. All you have to do is add a few things, depending on which drink you're making, and then you're done," Sehun explained, hoping that this helped the two feel comfortable since no one wanted a big mess or accident today.

Chen laughed to himself as he thought of something funny. "Kai and I can be servers slash entertainers, since we both know how to dance. I can moonwalk their food over to them!"

"Oh my god, please don't do that."

"We want our guests to enjoy their food, not leave once they see you."

"Yeah and we don't want a big accident to happen."

The others continued making their own remarks and joked around with both Chen and Kai, saying that Kai should ily use his hip s to push the food to the guests and that Chen should shuffle the whole time he delivers their food and take their orders.

Putting jokes aside, Sehun and Mira began their short lessons.

Once the restaurant opened, the troupe got into positions and acted professionally, despite this being their first time working at the shop. The morning went smoothly with only a few mistakes, but as the day progressed, the others almost looked like they've been working there for years.

Word must have gotten out about there being 'cute' workers at the store because a lot more people– teenage girls is the more accurate term– started arriving at the shop around noon, and even a few of her classmates who she's only talked to on a few occasions regarding homework texted her to ask where she worked.

"Welp, you guys seem to be what everyone is talking about today," Mira walked up to Chanyeol and Kyungsoo who were at the front managing the cash registers, and showed them the texts from her classmates. Chanyeol took her phone and snorted a little too much when he saw the texts. "Wow, they seem desperate." 

"Hey, let me see!" Kyungsoo grabbed the phone immediately out of Chanyeol's hands after helping a guest. "Hey, I know this chick. She at math."

"I know, she's asked me to help her a few times," Mira felt the need to brag and let them know. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo gave her a skeptical look and laughed while they gave her phone back to her. Mira rose her eyebrow questioningly.

"What?"

"Not to be mean, but you at math too," Kyungsoo stated bluntly, receiving a glare from Mira that had no effect on him whatsoever while Chanyeol laughed in the background.

"Am not! I'm just lazy to do the work!" Mira snapped back with a hint of sass that the two caught. 

A moment later, Kai and Tao walked up to the three to see why they were all so intrigued in Mira's phone. "Whatcha have there, huh?" Kai snatched Mira's phone out of her hand so comfortably like as if all the awkwardness from last night never occurred. 

"Gossiping now, are we? Ooh! I love gossiping!" Tao was more than happy to admit the truth and joined in on Kai who was looking through the comments, only to make Tao have the same reaction as Chanyeol.

"Ah, well– uh, I was telling Yeolie and Soo that some of my classmates are raving on and on about you guys being here. It's spreading like wildfire, if you haven't noticed," Mira pointed at the newly forming line that was beginning to get lengthy because Chanyeol and Kyungsoo weren't keeping track of the tables that were open and the ones that were still occupied. Kai got the idea and gave her back her phone.

Noticing the new group of people who have entered, the four guys went back to serving the guests while Mira remained at the front desk to watch over them. She remained on her phone as she looked through Instagram but after awhile, she decided to shadow Kai while he walked around to bust some tables.

"So, about last night..." Mira dared to bring up the topic because neither of them brought up the subject in the morning and it was killing her inside to say something.

"Yeah, what about it?" Kai replied back nonchalantly as he was trying to clear off a table. Mira joined in and picked up some plates while she continued the conversation. There was so much she wanted to say but now that she was confronting him about it, it just made things a lot more awkward.

The last thing Mira wanted was for him to get the wrong impression. They were just friends.

"I didn't intend to fall asleep on you– I mean, your shoulders. Hope I wasn't too much of a burden."

"Nah, it's okay. You were tired and comfortable. I'm glad I could help you sleep peacefully. And to be completely honest, your head acted as a pillow for me, even though it was a hard one." Kai flashed his teasing smile that never failed to make her blush.

"Thanks. And also... I'm sorry for acting distant from you. Just a lot to take in, you know? I may seem like a bipolar chick." Mira felt embarrassed for being rude to Kai after everything that he's done for her. 

"And I'm sorry for waking you up early in the morning. I should've just got up when I had the chance before so you wouldn't have–"

Kai turned around as he placed one hand on his hip while he held the tray of plates under his other arm, and just gave Mira a look. Surprised, she shut up and even had to step back to take in his whole posture and presence.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Stop saying sorry, okay? It's not like I'm mad at you. You didn't even do anything wrong." Kai flashed her a small smile right after and that was enough to shut Mira up for good and even make her forget what she was even talking about.

Without having to say anything more, the two just smiled at each other and understood each other. Everything was fine except for one thing: the memory of her indiscreetly and willingly wanting to sleep next to him last night was something she knew she had to keep to herself.

The day passed by quickly, mainly because so many people came and the busier it got, the more distracted the group got. It was nearly 6 in the evening and everyone had already taken their 45-minute break. Some more of the guys' and Mira's classmates eventually came and some even talked to her as if they were all friends, but she saw through their facade. Acting fake just to get close to the guys wasn't something to be proud of, or at least that's what Mira believed, but she was still helpful and kind towards them.

Kai and Baekhyun had exchanged positions with Kyungsoo and Chanyeol for awhile so they could do a trash run and empty all the trash cans. Mira walked over to supervise once more just in case they needed help with calculating the math, but instead sat on the chairs behind the desk with her back facing the front as she looked at her Instagram again, only to be surprised by a voice who called out for someone.

"Kai?!"

The smile that was plastered on Kai's face soon vanished when he noticed who the owner of the voice was.

"Miyoung. Oh, hey. And Krystal. And Suzy, right?" Ah, Miyoung the secret admirer and her posse. 

The fact that Kai got her name right made Suzy smile before returning to her mission by looking for someone... Sehun. Krystal, one of Miyoung's best friends, just gave off a sweet smile and little wave. 

Miyoung's here, huh? Mira thought. Another classmate to add to the list.

"Hey, Kai! I didn't know you worked here!" Miyoung stated, which made Mira roll her eyes and sigh. Sure you didn't. Everyone just kept raving on and on about them being here.

"Just for today," Kai responded indifferently. Mira was quick to notice; there was something weird in Kai's tone. He sounded distant and she couldn't help but wonder why. His reply wasn't even funny, but the girl giggled a little too much over his response. One thing Mira disliked was the way girls acted when it came to the male population. Miyoung, for example, would always toss her hair back playfully and would use her aegyo voice, which Mira founded highly annoying.

There was no need to use any of that. Being yourself was the best thing that you could offer to someone else and to yourself. No one wants to be associated with a fake, which made Mira feel grateful that she had the guys as her friends. She never had to use any of her aegyo or glamor to impress them.