I've been getting lots of messages asking me not to abandon The Girl from the Bubble Tea Shop. I won't, I promise. I know it's been a looooong time since I last updated, but I will try to post the new chapter as soon as I finish it. To prove that I'm not lying, I'm leaving the first segment of Chapter 58 here as a preview:

"WHERE IS EVERYBODY?!?"

 

Yesterday was quite eventful and Jung Jihye regretted not being in the bubble tea shop to witness everything firsthand. Determined not to get left out of any interesting episodes today, your best friend skipped out on a day of shopping with her sister in Myeongdong just to be in Apgujeong with you and the boys. When she arrived at the bubble tea shop, however, Jihye couldn't hide her disappointment when she found out that Oh Sehun was the only customer there.

 

"Geez. Thanks for acknowledging our existence," you scoffed.

 

Jihye sat on the barstool beside Sehun. "Hey! Oh Sehun!" she called out, her voice louder than necessary. She then proceeded to annoy him by continuously tugging on his sleeve. "Where is everybody?!?" she repeated. When the Korean boy pursed his lips and looked away from her, your best friend just pulled on his sleeve again. "If you don't answer me right now, I'm going to pester you even more."

 

Sehun gave in instantly. "They're playing football with SHINee."

 

"So, how come you're here?" Jihye asked.

 

It was you who answered her question. "Ji, do you really think he will survive a couple of hours without indulging on a cup of chocolate bubble tea?" Attaching a metal cup filled with chocolate-flavored milk tea into the shaking machine, you added, "To be honest, I'm more surprised that he wasn't able to drag one of his hyungs to come with him."

 

Jihye tugged on Sehun's shirt again. "Are you going back to see them?"

 

"Kevin hyung ith not there. He'th taking extra danthing claththeth with Yixing hyung," Sehun grimaced as his annoyance with Jihye increased. For some reason, this also heightened his impatience with your bubble tea-making skills. "Ithn't it done yet?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows as he stared at the noisy cup-shaking machine behind you.

 

"Geez. I literally just turned the equipment on," you replied, pointing to the green button that you just pressed seconds ago. "Of course it's not done yet! Why are you in such a hurry anyway? It's not like you're excited to go back and play football with them anyway. Do you have a date or something?"

 

Sehun didn't answer and just rolled his eyes. It was true that he wasn't interested in going back to play football with his hyungs, but he wasn't particularly pleased with being stuck inside Happy Bubble with you and Jihye, either. However, not half a minute later, he rested his elbows on the counter and asked back: "Are you dating Luhan hyung?"

 

"Oh look!" you exclaimed, turning your back at him to check out the shaking machine. "I think your drink is ready now," you said, pressing the red button, so you can finally detach the metal cup from the equipment. As you poured the chocolatey concoction into the plastic cup with Sehun's name on it, you added, "See? It was mixed quite well!" with an extra effort to sound perky.

 

Jung Jihye's eyes lit up at the mention of Luhan's name. "Oh! I just remembered something!" she exclaimed, immediately grabbing her satchel. You and Sehun looked at Jihye with intrigue as she rummaged through the contents of her bag. Jihye only gets this excited when she's about to show you one of her lists and Sehun probably knows this too. After taking a quick peek at her mobile phone, your best friend finally took out her beloved mini-stationery pad from her satchel and happily satisfied your curiosity. "I listed down the reasons why you and Luhan would make a perfect couple!"

 

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?"

 

Oh Sehun raised an eyebrow. "Let'th hear it then," he said, interested.

 

"Duh. Whether you two like to hear it or not, I'm going to ready it out loud anyway," Jihye admitted as she browsed through the pages of the snowflake-embellished mini-pad. She then cleared and read: "Reasons Why Jaemi and Luhan are Perfect for Each Other - I haven't written a specific number on the title yet because I know I'll come up with more reasons as the days progress because you know, I'm sure there are more, but maybe I just haven't realized them yet, so-"

 

"Jutht read them," Sehun demanded.

 

"How impatient!" you commented, finally securing the dome-shaped plastic lid on top of the cup that was labeled '8g of Fat'. "Here," you said, handing him his freshly-mixed drink. "Take a sip. Maybe you'll turn nicer after you get your daily dose of chocolate bubble tea."

 

"Can I continue reading my list now?" Jihye asked.

 

"Of course, you can," you answered, contemplating whether to correct your best friend's grammar or not. "But yeah, you may. Go on, Ji."

 

Jihye flashed you a smile. "Thank you, Jaemi," she said, tucking her hair behind her ear before enumerating her latest list. "Number one: You both have terrible taste when it comes to fashion."

 

Sehun almost choked on a piece of tapioca.

 

"Stop laughing!" you ordered, smacking the boy's arm. "I mean it! What's so funny?" When Sehun just went on cackling as if he just witnessed the most hilarious thing ever, you addressed your complaints to your best friend instead. "What do you mean terrible? I may not have a very magazine-worthy fashion sense, but I dress okay. Don't I?"

 

The boy across from you gave you a quick look-over and started laughing again. 

 

"Jaemi, you know I love you, right? You're my best friend, but-" Jihye paused to glance at her phone again. "-I'm sorry. Fashion is definitely not one of your strongest suits," she remarked. Jihye was being honest, you know that, but somehow the comment still affected you. Only slightly, but still. "Matching a pair of denims with a random shirt and your favorite pair of sneakers hardly translates to style. When was the last time you wore a skirt anyway?"

 

"I always wear skirts!" you argued.

 

When Jihye retorted with "Our school uniform doesn't count," you just heaved out a sigh and dropped the subject. "What about Luhan, then?" you suddenly asked, secretly fumbling with the knots in your black Happy Bubble apron. "Why is he considered a fashion casualty? He dresses fine."

 

Sehun shook his head.

 

"And that's another indication that you have horrible taste in fashion," Jihye claimed, putting down her list for a while. "Do you even look at his clothes? The oversized football shirts, the terrible jeans, the funny hats, the varsity jackets, the graphic tees... seriously. Where did he get those T-shirts? He doesn't even know which colors match well. Or that prints shouldn't be paired with prints. The boy is a fashion terrorist. It would be better for everyone if all of the boys in this world share Zhang Yixing's fashion sense."

 

You sat on the black stool near the cash register and rested your elbows on the counter. "You want everyone to invest on insanely expensive MCM backpacks and undershirts with really, really low necklines?"

 

"I didn't know you've been checking out Yixing hyung'th chetht," Sehun casually remarked as he took another sip from his already half-empty cup of chocolate bubble tea.

 

"I wasn't looking at his chest!" you immediately defended, slightly panicking.

 

Your best friend glanced at her phone again. She must have received a message because she picked it up and started tapping on the screen. "Jaemi isn't a chest person, though," she said, as if such information is okay to share with Sehun this casually. "She refers looking at arms," she added, her eyes sparkling as she read what you assumed to be a text message. "And probably calves too since she watches football all the time. I mean, why would she be so engrossed in a boring game about a bunch of people chasing after a ball if the guys playing don't have nice calves, right?"

 

"I don't watch football to check out calves!" you argued.

 

Jihye put down her phone on the counter and gave you a knowing smile. "I saw you staring at a photo of that bald football player flashing his calves. Don't even deny it! He was hiking his shorts up in the photo!"

 

"But I was reading an injury report!" you insisted, your hands making all sorts of gestures as you tried to explain what Jihye saw. "He suffered a slight tear in the soleus muscle of his left leg, okay? It would take an entire month for him to recover. He's going to miss a bunch of games because of that. I wasn't simply checking out calves!"

 

"You're really interethted in football?" Sehun asked, trying his best not to sound impressed. He knew you liked football because of the 'Pipita incident' when you first watched a World Cup match with them, but he wasn't aware of just how much you were invested in the sport until now.

 

You were about to give Sehun a sassy 'I'm offended' remark and probably accuse him of misogyny, but after noticing your best friend giggling like a fourteen-year-old middle schooler reading fluffy fanfiction, you turned your attention to her instead. "Ji, why are you- you're texting him again, aren't you?"

 

"I hate auto-correct!" Jihye exclaimed, pretending not to hear what you just said. The smile on her face didn't fade as she continued typing what seemed to be an urgent reply to a text message she just received. "Gosh! He's so funny! I didn't know he was so funny!"

 

Sehun slurped the last piece of tapioca from his cup. "Who'th funny?"

 

Before either you or Jihye could give him an answer, however, you found yourselves turning your attention towards the bubble tea shop's entrance when a Manchester United jersey-clad Chinese boy almost tripped in the doorway.

That's it for now, I guess. Thank you for continuously supporting the fanfic despite the slow updates. I'll try to write more often.