Sighing, I thanked the bus driver before exiting the bus. I’d had a tough day at school today with lectures and classes to attend as well as two essays due the next week. The semester was ending soon so everyone was racing to finish all the work that had been on the syllabus. I had been working diligently (as hard as someone could work while watching anime and gaming at the same time) but I still had mountains of work to finish if I wanted to actually make the honour roll this year.

                “Hey hyung,” I greeted as I walked into the cafe. Jaehwan was sweeping the floor when I entered and waved at me happily before going back to his job. I could never understand how Jaehwan was always so happy and energetic (even on early mornings) but I’d learned not to attempt to curb his energy. Honestly, I’d learnt a ton of things the past few days just from working. I learned that Wonshik liked to rap and he’d randomly put on performances for customers. I’d learned that Jaehwan liked to sing along to Wonshik’s raps and adlib his own choruses. I’d learned that Hakyeon knew almost everyone that came into the shop and was pretty much the neighbourhood ahjumma. I’d learned that Taekwoon liked cats and small children, even going as far as giving free pastries away to the young kids who had enough courage to approach him. Working at Starlight was extremely entertaining and definitely a good experience, it almost made me forget how irritating certain customers (and workers) could be. Almost.

                After changing into my uniform, which consisting of a white collared shirt, skinny black tie, and a black apron layered on top (I could wear whatever pants I wanted since I was behind the counter the whole time), I exited from the back room and took my place behind the counter. There was nothing much going on that day, for some reason business had slowed down the past couple days and all I really did was sit behind the counter and maybe work on some homework (but mostly I just played cards with Jaehwan and Wonshik). Luckily for me, dimples boy hadn’t shown his beautiful annoying face recently so I could work in relative peace (although Hakyeon would constantly bug me about him for some reason).

                “Is Wonshik hyung not here today?” I asked, putting down my pen. I had been working on a rough copy of my research essay but after thirty minutes of staring at facts about archeology sites around the world I needed a distraction. Jaehwan had been sitting at the table near the window (where he and Wonshik usually sat to play cards) drawing in his sketchbook and seemed about as excited me.

                “Mmm, he took the day off because he needed to work on his school work. Y’know, engineering’s a pretty tough course after all,” Jaehwan answered, looking up from his sketch. He twirled the pencil around his fingers for a bit before concentrating on the drawing again. “That’s what Wonshik told me anyways, I feel like he’s probably just lazing off.”

                “Not like you don’t laze off here,” I mumbled, watching Jaehwan add a couple more to his art piece.

                “I heard that you know.” I shrugged my shoulders and went back to my work, trying to figure out my next argument when the doorbell jingled. Looking up, I saw a middle aged woman who was bundled up with jackets and scarves (which was kind of weird considering it was spring). Her face was covered by a large brimmed hat and sunglasses and the only other identifying features I could see was that she was a bit on the short side. She looked around the store with an expression of distaste (which I didn’t understand considering the fact that Taekwoon had been the one to decorate the place and he’d done a pretty good job) before glancing at Jaehwan in the corner. She took off her sunglasses and I saw that her eyes showed a hint of recognition before the corners of turned downwards. As her stare moved to me, she began to noticeably frown (was there something on my face?). She shook her brown hair back and took off her scarf so I could now see her face full on. She wasn’t an unattractive woman (you know, if you’re into older girls at least) and with her large brown eyes and full lips she reminded me of someone, although I couldn’t quite remember who.

                “Hello there miss, how can I help you?” Jaehwan asked, putting his sketchbook down. The woman had an air of authority around her and I suddenly felt extremely inadequate and inferior in her presence (apparently Jaehwan felt the same way judging by the way he addressed her).

                “Hmmm,” the lady merely hummed in reply. She looked around the cafe again, definitely searching for something, before approaching the counter. I folded my notebooks and put them in the corner of the table behind the box that held extra coffee grinds so it wouldn’t be seen and smiled at the lady pleasantly. It was surprising how quickly one can gain interpersonal and social skills after working in a service type job. Either that or Hakyeon’s personality was rubbing off on me.

                “Is there anything in particular that you’re looking for?” Jaehwan tried again, tilting his head to the side in an attempt to look cute (which surprisingly worked on a lot of our female and male customers). The lady merely ignored him and looked back up at the menu.

                “Bean,” the lady mumbled, almost as softly as Taekwoon spoke. Jaehwan and I exchanged a confused look (it seems like neither of us had very good listening skills) before attempting to make conversation with the woman once again.

                “Pardon? Could you repeat that?” I said as the lady finally stopped glancing around the cafe. She looked at me with a mixture of indifference and annoyance on her face (she seriously reminded me of someone... who else looked at me so indifferently? I couldn’t seem to remember) before repeating her previous statement.

                “Bean. Where is my Bean?” the lady questioned, crossing her arms over her chest. She glared at me when I couldn’t give her an answer right away but I was too taken aback by her sudden request. What in the world was a bean? I mean, okay, a bean is an edible seed, typically kidney-shaped, growing in long pods on certain leguminous plants, but in what context was she referring to a bean as?

                “Beans? Are you looking for coffee beans uh, miss?” Jaehwan tried. Apparently he was as clueless as I was to this weirdo’s order. The lady made a noise of disgust (how could one be disgusted when two people were trying to help her?) and repeated her request.

                “No, I want my Bean. Not your measly low-rate cheap coffee beans,” the lady sniffed, pointing her nose into the air indignantly. “Besides, tea is much healthier than coffee,” she said this word in disgust, “it does all the same things, keeping you awake and whatnot, plus it has antioxidants.”

                “I-I’m sure that’s all true miss,” I responded after a moment of awkward silence. “But, is there anything else we can assist you with?” I continued, resisting the urge to tell her that coffee was a wonderful creation and if she didn’t like it in the first place why was she in a coffee shop asking for beans of all things?

                “I told you this already,” she huffed, throwing her scarf over her shoulder in an impatient manner. “I want my Bean.” I gave Jaehwan an increasingly confused look to which he merely shrugged. Biting my lip nervously, I tried to think of what we could do to help (or get her out of here) but came to a blank. It was almost as bad as the time Jaehwan hazed me. Probably worse actually, at least that time Hakyeon came and saved me.

                “I’m back!” Speak of the devil. Bounding through the front door of the cafe was Cha Hakyeon himself, arms laden with supplies he had bought from the super market (although there was probably a lot more snacks and crates of banana milk than actual useful essentials). “Oh,” he stopped in his tracks, mouth forming into a small O shape as he gazed upon our customer. He immediately deposited off the bags he had been holding on a nearby table before making his way over to the woman quickly. “Mrs. Lee! I have seen you in a while, how are you?” he asked, gently dragging her into a corner of the room. He looked up and motioned to Jaehwan and me to pick up the bags and bring them to the kitchen before him and the woman – Mrs. Lee I presume? – went into the back room.

                “Well,” Jaehwan muttered as the back room door closed firmly. “That was weird.”

                “You can say that again,” I agreed, jumping over the counter (okay maybe I played a bit too many video games) to help Jaehwan carry the bags. We each grabbed two bags each (Hakyeon was surprisingly a lot stronger than I had first thought him to be) and carried them into the kitchen. Taekwoon sat beside the oven, seemingly waiting for whatever was inside to finish baking, and gave us a quick nod in greeting as we walked in. We unloaded the bags onto the table Taekwoon had pointed too (he liked his kitchen organized a certain way and there was no way I was going to learn his system) before leaving. As we entered the main area of the cafe, I saw Hakyeon and the woman by the door. The woman seemed to have been crying (her makeup was off and smudged slightly) but she spoke to Hakyeon cheerfully. As Jaehwan picked up his sketchbook and I returned to my studies, Hakyeon and Mrs. Lee embraced before she left with a happy ‘goodbye’.

                Sighing deeply, Hakyeon ran a hand through his hair before walking up to Jaehwan and I. “Okay kids,” he started, shifting his weight slightly. “That... that person... she’s... how do I say this?” Hakyeon stopped for a minute and tried to collect his thoughts. That was weird. Hakyeon was always a talkative person; he once talked to Wonshik for thirty minutes about the correct way to eat steak. Never before had I seen him at a loss for words (except for maybe that one time Taekwoon actually came out of the kitchen and talked to dimples boy for a good 10 minutes) so this Mrs. Lee character piped my interest.

                “Just, if she comes in again, get me,” Hakyeon finally stated. He bit his cheek nervously, eyes not completely focusing on one thing. “Oh, or you can get Taekwoon if I’m not here. He should be able to deal with her too.”

                “Uhm, okay hyung,” I said, still confused at the whole day’s proceedings. Hakyeon nodded, seemingly satisfied, before regaining his previous energy and skipping into the kitchen. As his demands for banana milk faded into the kitchen, I turned to Jaehwan who seemed just as confused as I did.

                “That was interesting,” Jaehwan shrugged and picked up his pencil again. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her before. I should ask Wonshik, he’s worked here longer than I have.”

                “Maybe,” I opened my notebook again and sat down on the stool behind the counter. Mrs. Lee was an interesting character. A bit weird yes, but she seemed like an okay person. What I really wanted to know however is why Hakyeon could deal with her so easily and why she seemed to remind me so much of someone.

Alrighty then, here's the next chapter. We encounter a mysterious women~ I dropped a couple (more like a ton) of hints to who this is so most of you probably know. If you don't well, don't feel too bad. My editor didn't know either. ^_^ (I had to tell her lawl).

Also I dropped a lot of hints for a certain something else but I won't say anything until someone figures it out. Hopefully someone will 'cause my editor spazzed out on me when I told her about this. Lul. Actually she didn't catch this hint either. Maybe she's just an oblivious person... Time to start scheming. I joke. Love you. <3

Anyways, thanks for taking the time to read this, don't be a silent reader, and I do not own anything in this story other than the idea and plot, any similarities to other works of fiction are purely coincidental or have been used as sources of inspiration. Please do not repost this anywhere without my permission; plagiarism isn’t nice!

Hope you're smiling!

~ Alateni