((a/n these "monthly" updates are becoming weekly it seems... I hope I can keep up the pace. Thank you all for giving this little story a chance! <3 ))

Perhaps Irene shouldn’t have been quite so worried about first impressions after all, as she watched, transfixed, through the security cameras as the evening crew began to show up one by one for their shifts.

First it was Yeri. Despite being the youngest on the team, she had been working at this store almost as long as Seulgi herself, Irene had noted as she curiously glanced through their application information. Irene watched as Yeri swept up her long blonde hair into a ponytail and donned her apron. She seemed to be saying something to Wendy, but when Irene looked more closely she realized they were singing at each other. Wendy was using a spoon as a microphone while Yeri made sweeping gestures as she danced her way over to the bar.

Irene peeked up at the stereo that played the corporately-controlled radio station: It was some Ariana Grande song she wasn’t familiar with.

Next was Gunhee, the newest, and tallest, barista in the store. Kyuhyun had an eye for synergy, and anticipated that he would fit right in with the quirky atmosphere of their store. And he did. Almost too well.

Gunhee yanked open the doors dramatically and shimmied inside, pointing and winking at the regulars as he passed. Wendy cringed and hid behind the bar in second-hand embarrassment, but Seulgi just rolled her eyes and took off her apron. Gunhee in meant she was finally out.

He stopped in front of the counter with a spin on his heel, resting both elbows between the registers. “Can I order my drink, or do you want me to make it myself?” he asked the 'Legendary Barista' with a wide smile.

Seulgi shoved her apron at him as she passed by on her way to the back room. Gunhee threw it back at her with a broad smile.

“Make it yourself, you diva,” Yeri answered for her from the bar.

Gunhee made a show of rolling his eyes. “Don’t tell me you’re closing, too?”

Yeri stuck her tongue out at him. “And Joy,” she sassed back. “It’s her first night as the closing floor manager, so you’d better behave!”

Gunhee looked injured, his expressive features emphasizing how incredulous he was. “Me?!” he pointed at Yeri and looked to Seulgi for support.

Seulgi paused with her hand on the stockroom door and blinked at him, shrugging her shoulders. “Both of you'd better behave. And Irene’s here today,” she said simply. "You know, our new store manager?"

The two bickering kids made the same mildly horrified expression and both looked at Wendy. She glanced between them, momentarily confused at their sudden attention, then a thought struck her.

“Wait a second, does everyone know about what happened?”

Seulgi saw this as her cue to excuse herself, and she slipped into the back room.

+++

Seulgi walked over to the dish sanitizer and opened the machine’s door. The steam immediately fogged up her glasses and she stood up quickly, squinting through the lenses in mild irritation. Irene, who was seated at the desk, pulled her attention away from the security cameras and turned to face her with a light smile.

“Everyone here gets along so well,” she began. “But maybe you would like to look over next week’s schedule to… make sure we’re playing to our strengths,” she barely contained a snicker as Seulgi regarded her in her blinded state.

Seulgi gave up on her glasses, taking them off and hanging them from the collar of her apron. It was somehow safer for her to regard Irene with something less than 20/20 vision anyway; the new manager had been reducing Seulgi to a stuttering mess all day. She returned Irene’s smile with a slightly haggard one. “I know this week's schedule was made before you got here, but maybe don’t put Joy, Gunhee, and Yeri all on the same shift together,” she remarked, referring to the current situation.

Irene’s brows furrowed. “Care to elaborate?”

Seulgi shifted a little, suddenly feeling like what began as a joke was now turning into her throwing her coworkers under the bus. Despite her best efforts, her sense of humor never seemed to quite hit the mark with others. “Oh, it’s nothing bad, it’s just that they kind of… I guess you’d say they each have kind of strong personalities,” she tried to explain as diplomatically as possible.

“So I’ve been noticing,” Irene replied with another knowing smile, indicating the cameras with a nod. “But what are you doing? You should be out by now,” she stated suddenly shifting topics.

Seulgi glanced down at the open dish sanitizer. “Oh… I guess it’s just a force of habit,” she replied, quickly bending to lift the tray of clean dishes out of the machine and onto the counter to dry before Irene could protest. She nudged the machine door shut with her foot and walked over to the desk. “Can I sign out here?”

Irene quietly nodded, scooting herself out of the way on the rolling desk chair. She watched Seulgi replace her glasses and log into the timecard application on the computer. The barista’s whispy bangs fell into her face as she glanced down at the keyboard to type in her credentials.

Seulgi felt herself being watched and awkwardly stood up after she finished punching out, not able to meet Irene’s gaze. “Are… are you leaving soon, too?” she asked, since they had come in together.

Irene continued to watch the shy girl. “I want to meet everyone, so I’ll be staying for a bit.”

Seulgi wasn’t sure why she lingered. She had been extra mindful of her actions on the floor today, knowing Irene was probably assessing not just her, but the whole team, but so far she had only asked questions and kept any comments and criticisms to herself. Maybe Seulgi was waiting for some kind of indication of what Irene thought about the morning crew, but the shorter girl simply continued to gaze up at her in silence while she continued to stare awkwardly at the floor.     

-the single ladies, all the single ladies! Now put your hands up!

That is, until her phone started ringing in her pocket. Seulgi scrambled to answer it and turned a little away from Irene.

“Hello-? Yes I’m still here, why? No, I was just talking to- you what? Wait no, don’t-”

And a sudden loud banging on the back door to the store made Irene jump while Seulgi just sighed and hung up her phone. Irene watched her with wide eyes as she walked over to the door, peered through the peephole and confirmed her suspicions before opening it.

Irene’s eyes widened further. The giant red sign on the back door clearly said “DO NOT OPEN, ALARM WILL SOUND” yet the only noise was coming from the loud girl Seulgi let into the stockroom.

“Sorry I’m late. Can I borrow your keys? I can’t find mine-” Joy began, pausing only when she saw Irene sitting at the desk watching her in stunned silence.

Seulgi just covered her face with her hand.

“Wait… Don’t tell me-” and now Seulgi covered Joy’s face with her hands.

Irene slowly crossed her arms as she watched the two of them, trying not to laugh at their antics. She was almost used to it after a whole day of receiving this kind of reaction.

“Eventually someone is going to have to explain this to me,” she mused.

Joy and Seulgi looked at each other for a moment, then Seulgi released her and slowly walked over to where she had balled up her apron on the desk behind Irene.

Irene kept her eyes on Joy, waiting for a proper greeting, and Seulgi made a cutting motion to her from behind their new boss while she fished in her apron pockets for her store keys.

“O-oh, right, so I’m Joy, and I’m a floor manager... and you must be Irene…?” Joy stammered, her eyes shifting between Seulgi’s warning face and Irene’s aloof expression.

It was going to be a long night.

+++

“Gunhee-”

“I’ve got it!”

“Gunhee wait, just-”

“I’ve got it…!?”

"GUNHEE,” Joy cried out.

There was a high-pitched shriek - which didn’t come from Joy - followed by the sound of a shelf collapsing.

“What was that?!” Irene popped her head up from the condiment bar cabinet across the store.

“And there he goes,” Yeri commentated, watching the carnage unfold.

The stockroom door had been propped open now that the final evening rush had left, and it revealed Gunhee who had his entire torso trapped between two shelves of milk in the industrial-sized refrigerator.

“Joy,” he called weakly, pinned between 24 gallons of milk.

But Joy was already behind him, trying her best to keep the milk on the collapsed shelf from sliding off onto the floor. “Yeri- YERI STOP TAKING PICTURES AND HELP ME,” she growled at the blonde.

“Aaaaand straight to Twitter. Okay I’m coming. Here, stay just like that and I’ll take them one by one,” Yeri calmly instructed as she began setting milk on the dish sink’s counter. “Don’t move… don’t mooooove…”

“Not moving…!” Gunhee grunted, muffled against the nonfat.

Irene watched the three of them in stunned silence, Joy and Yeri working quickly to free Gunhee from his ridiculous position. Though it wasn’t exactly the safest predicament for Gunhee to get himself into, Irene was curiously observing Joy's reaction. It wasn’t always easy for a new floor manager to deal with these nearly hourly minor emergencies and such a young crew, but so far, Joy had come through this shift with just the right mix of wry humor and withering glares. Irene was satisfied.

Once Gunhee was free, he carefully ducked out from the refrigerator, a piece of the shelving unit still in his grasp. He warily glanced over at Irene and sheepishly held up the piece so she could see it from where she still stood across the store. “Uh… The delivery guys are terrible; they just throw the milk into the fridge, and the shelves get loose, and…”

“-And you thought it would be a good idea to try and fix it while all the milk was still on it?” Joy finished for him in a chastising tone.

Gunhee tried to win her over with his wide smile, but Joy, living up to the antithesis of her name, continued to stare him down. He backed to the fridge again and gestured nervously. “I’m just… I’m just gonna… fix this.”

Joy gave a frustrated sigh and turned to continue her work when she spied Yeri. “YERI STOP WITH THE PICTURES!”

“I’m not taking pictures,” she corrected calmly. “Now I’m filming.”