Chapter 3

Sanghyun looked over the cafe with sleepy eyes, barely suppressing a yawn. He wasn’t sure if it was a good or bad thing that so few people came in to buy coffee this morning, but he sure wasn’t in the mood to play the nice and charming barista so early in the freaking day.

There was a reason he always takes the afternoon shift.

So why his current predicament?

As if on cue, his phone rang. Without even looking at the screen, he picked it up and said in a deadpan voice, “Noona, I’m okay.”

He could almost imagine the surprise on his sister’s face. “Eh? How did you know it was me?”

He snorted. “How could I not know? You’ve been calling every 15 minutes for the past two hours. I told you not to worry and just rest.” Really. Sometimes he wonders if he was actually the older one between the two of them.

He could hear the pout in her voice. “But Gaettong-ah~ I know how much you hate mornings!”

He glanced around quickly then hissed into his phone, “Noona! I told you to stop calling me that!” The man seated nearest to the counter looked at him in surprise, so he offered a feeble smile then put the phone closer to his mouth. “I swear this is the last time I’m covering for your shift. When you get sick, we will just open in the afternoon.” She laughed, which was interrupted midway by a terrible sneeze. He winced. “You sound awful. Why are we talking again? You should be sleeping!”

“But Gaettong-ah-”

“Park Sandara! I’m hanging up!”

“-Noona just wants to make sure her favorite dongsaeng is doing okay!”

A smile grudgingly found its way to his lips. “I’m your only younger sibling, but I’ll take that. Go rest noona.”

“Awww, is my gaettong-ah worried about his noona?”

“Hanging up now.”

“I love you too!”

He swore it was her goal to make him furious. The bell above the door jingled, and he almost sighed in relief. “We got a customer. Bye!” And he finally hung up without waiting for a reply. Shaking his head exasperatedly at her antics, he looked up to greet the new arrivals, but was surprised to find two men huddled near the door. From their body language, it was obvious one didn’t want to be here, while the other was shaking his head and making gestures as if to explain.

Sanghyun couldn’t help it. An eyebrow rose. A lover’s spat?

What was weird was both of the men had their features covered. Caps, sunglasses, scarves. Either they were terrorists or celebrities. He really hoped it was the latter. It was just 10:00 AM, really. Finally, one of the guys stalked over to the farthest table in the corner and… was he sulking?

The other just sighed and walked over to the counter. “Hello.”

Sanghyun’s eyebrow rose higher. “Uh, hello. What would you like to order?”

The man stared at him for a moment. Or at least, Sanghyun thinks the other was staring at him, what with the sunglasses and all. After a minute or two of awkward silence, he finally spoke up. “Two Americanos please.”

Sanghyun rang up the order and tried to smile politely. “Ok, that’s 8500 won.”

The man nodded and put his hand in his pocket to take out… nothing. Sanghyun grimaced. “Ugh, I should have planned this better,” the man muttered in frustration. “Sorry, I must have left my wallet in the van. Let me ask my friend for his card.”

He nodded mutely. Please don’t let this be the day we get robbed.

To his surprise, instead of going directly to his friend like a normal person, the man took out his phone. “Jiyong, I l