“So...” the boy behind the counter presses a few buttons on his phone. “Are you going to order or 

just stand there and waste my time and reduce my pay?”

Sungmin glares at him, “I just got to the front of the line, be patient, won’t you?”

“My patience is wearing thin,” the boy grunts, crossing his arms and sitting down temporarily.

“Just give me a grande Vanilla Bean Frappiccino,” Sungmin snaps.

The boy stands up and raises his hands, shouting, “The prince has finally decided!” He then leans 

over the counter and narrows his eyes, his face nearly inches from Sungmin’s, “But some manners would 

be nice.”

“What fun are manners to princes? Besides, if I am part of such royalty, I could have your head 

cut off in an instant.” Sungmin smirks.

“But you wouldn’t,” the boy returns to his normal standing position. “Because you want your 

coffee.”

The boy starts the blender before Sungmin can retort anything back.

Another employee with the name ‘Doojoon’ walks up to the register. After a few seconds of 

typing, he glances up at Sungmin expectantly.

However, the older man didn’t notice. His eyes were narrowed as he watched the swift movements 

of the insolent boy he previously spoke to. Everything the boy did irritated Sungmin-the way he stalked 

around arrogantly, the way he threw ingredients around carelessly and how he would turn around just to 

smirk at Sungmin. 

Sungmin’s eye twitched. This kid had too many flaws, too many obnoxious habits. Everything 

about the boy screeched narcissistic and Sungmin clenches his fists at the thought. He hates people who 

give off such a vibe and he was already developing a hate for this guy. Just to make sure he could avoid 

him, Sungmin made a mental note to never return to this awful coffee shop.

“Excuse me...”

An unknown voice reaches Sungmin’s ears, causing him to stare blankly at the man before him 

who just spoke.

“That’ll be four dollars and thirty cents sir,” the man with the name Doojoon purses his lips.

“Right,” Sungmin pulls his credit card from his wallet. “Sorry.”

After sliding the card, Doojoon’s eyebrows draw together, “This card isn’t valid..”

Panic rises in Sungmin’s throat, “What?”

The arrogant boy from earlier skips up to the counter. In between two fingers is a credit card and 

on it reads the name ‘Lee Sungmin.’

“Looking for this?” The boy asks with a fake smile.

“Kyuhyun,” Doojoon decides to end the fight before it starts. “Give it back.”

“No.”

Sungmin growls, “There’s still time for me to cut your head clean off, hang it up on my wall and 

use it as a dartboard.”

“No, Prince Sungmin of Seoul, all time has run out.” Kyuhyun beams, “At least for you, it has.”

“What the he-“

The door chime adorning the elegantly shiny wooden entrance rings throughout the shop, over the 

music and chatting, stopping time momentarily. The sound of squeaky sneakers against tiled floor cause 

Sungmin to wince. His eyes follow up the guy who had just entered the shop and grow wide in recognition.

He turns to Doojoon and whispers, “Can I stand behind the counter for a second?”

Doojoon just shrugs and points to a doorway enterance to the back. Sungmin smiles gratefully and 

runs to push it open and hide. 

“I did fifty push ups today, aren’t you proud?”

“No, it’s not that impressive. I did one hundred mental push ups.”

“Oh, of course because strengthening your mind is more important.”

“It is because it prepares me for anything. I may not act quickly in tough situations, but I can form 

a plan faster than you can say ‘annyeonghaseyo.'"

 “Ooh fancy. Can you move things with your mind, too?”

“I’m working on it.”

“Eunhyuk, you need to get out more often. I think some day you’ll realize that real people are 

actually quite fun to hang with.”

“Donghae is fun enough.”

“Donghae does nothing.”

“Exactly. He’s the best kind of friend someone could have. He never asks questions, always does 

what I do and we agree on everything! He’s amazing Hyo. I swear if he were a girl and actual person, I 

would marry him.”

“Eunhyuk, Donghae is a doll. You need to talk to real people!”

“I do occasionally.”

“Yeah, in classes, at work and when I drag you to go do something! Eunhyuk, it’s not healthy.”

“Eating ice cream before dinner is not healthy.”

“Eating things out of order does not mess up your health.”

“Eating things out of order messes with your brain’s sense of order. You’ll just end up confusing 

yourself with habits like that!”

Sungmin flinches. Habits. 

“Jesus Christ, Eunhyuk. Just give me some money, I need coffee.”

“Hey!” One of Sungmin’s friends, Shindong calls from one of the tables. “It’s the blondie bunch!”

Eunhyuk turns around to glare at him, “You calling us bananas now?”

Hyoyeon laughs and tells Doojoon her order. Doojoon smiles before turning to Eunhyuk.

“What?” Eunhyuk asks with a brow raised.

“Are you going to order anything?” Doojoon asks.

Eunhyuk glances at the menu temporarily, “Yeah, a strawberries and crème frappaccino for me 

and just a chocolate milk for Donghae here.”

Hyoyeon leans over the counter to whisper into Doojoon’s ear. The man nods in understanding 

and removes the chocolate milk from the receipt. Eunhyuk is too distracted by being annoyed to notice this.

“What are you doing?” the kid making his vanilla bean frappiccino taps Sungmin’s shoulder.

“Hiding,” Sungmin hisses before ducking behind a small garbage can.

“Aw,” the boy mocks. “You scared of something?”

Sungmin glares at him, “I am really close to punching you right now.”

“Ooh,” the boy crouches down next to him. “Fancy. The prince knows how to fight.”

“Don’t call me a prince,” Sungmin growls.

“Fine, Minnie,” the boy shakes his head while writing with sharpie on a plastic cup.

Sungmin turns to him in disgust, “How do you even know my name?”

The boy holds up a piece of plastic, “Your credit card.”

Right. Sungmin’s eyes narrow, causing the boy to smirk.

“Give it back.”

“It’s not like I could even get that much use out of it.”

Sungmin raises a brow skeptically.

“I mean honestly. Do I look like a Lee Sungmin to you?”

Sungmin tries to grab the card from the boy, but he lifts the card higher in the air, out of 

Sungmin’s reach.

“For one,” the boy continues. “I’m not short for my age.”

Sungmin’s eyes grow cold.

“I have plenty of friends that I socialize with daily.”

Sungmin’s fists clench. He has lots of friends, surely more than this insolent idiot he’s been 

planning fifteen different ways to kill over the past minute.

The boy pulls up the bottom of one of Sungmin’s jean pant legs briefly, “I don’t have a weird 

habit of wearing pink everyday.”

Sungmin roughly pushes the smirking boy’s hand away and pulls his pant leg back over his pink socks. 

“And lastly, I don’t hate people in general because of their unique habits and irritating actions. Oh!

I also don’t have a very short temper that drives everyone nuts and makes them assume I’m crazy.”

That was it. Sungmin had enough. He glances around temporarily before grabbing the nearest 

object in sight and begins beating the tall boy with it.

“Oh hey Sungmin,” A dark and unsatisfied voice reaches Sungmin’s ears.

He turns around and smiles at Eunhyuk through grit teeth, “Hey Eunhyuk, nice day we’re having, 

Eunhyuk nods, glancing at the cackling boy being hit repeatedly with a bag of coffee beans, 

“Yeah, a good day to explode with anger and beat someone up with coffee ingredients.”

“You know it!” Sungmin turns back to the boy and dumps the small garbage can on his head.

The boy’s laughing dies down and Sungmin smiles. He stands up and kicks the kid in the stomach 

and ribs. Desperately trying to defend himself, the boy extends his arms outward in an attempt to catch 

Sungmin’s shoe. 

Much to Sungmin’s dismay, the boy successfully goes through with the task, throws the garbage 

can on the ground and drags Sungmin out the back door of the Starbucks.

Doojoon, Eunhyuk, Shindong and Hyoyeon all exchange glances.

“Well,” Eunhyuk breaks the silence. “Sungmin’s finally met his match.”

Doojoon nods, “Yup, Kyuhyun’s a real .”

“I’ll celebrate for that,” Hyoyeon lifts her disposable coffee cup in the air.

“Me too,” Shindong walks up to the counter and hands Doojoon his cup, “Are there free refills?”

Doojoon scoffs, “What do you think? This is a ing Starbucks.”

“Okay,” Shindong pulls out his wallet. “I’ll pay an extra five bucks, just stop swearing and give 

me coffee.”

After sighing briefly, Doojoon walks to the back to prepare the drink. 

Eunhyuk sips his frappicino before grabbing Hyoyeon’s hand and drags her out of the shop, 

“Come on Hyo, let’s go somewhere less pathetic.”

The blonde girl giggles at Eunhyuk’s touch, but he doesn’t notice.

Doojoon turns around at the noise.

Clearing , Hyoyeon sets her empty cup down on the counter and turns it around to face 

Doojoon, giving him access to all the digits to her phone number. She glances at his outfit before smiling 

and following Eunhyuk outside.

“Man,” Shindong grabs his coffee from Doojoon, “how do you do it?”

Doojoon gives him a blank look, “It’s the apron. They all assume that if they take me home, I can 

cook for them in the morning.”

Shindong’s eyes widen, “Dang, your life isn’t so bad, man. I could live it any day.”

Dojoon gestures to a dozen phone number graffitied coffee cups spilled from the trash Sungmin 

tried suffocating Kyuhyun with, “Be my guest. I quit.”

Removing his apron, Doojoon throws it aside. He quickly shoos everyone out, “Shop’s closing, 

everyone leave.”

The guests at the shop just gape at them as they walk out the door in utter shock.

Shindong turns to Doojoon, his arms filled with coffee cups, “Are we really that crazy?”

The back door of the Starbucks opens and Kyuhyun walks in, holding an unconscious Sungmin up 

by his arms, “Yes, yes we are.”