It couldn’t be that Eunae.

“Seulgi?”

That would be too much of a coincidence.

“Hello~?”

Besides, that Eunae was all the way across the country, going to some art school in L.A. Right?

“Earth to Seulgi.”

Although, Heechul did say this 'Eunae' had just transferred to his store… Suddenly Seulgi felt something cold and wet sliding down her back, under her shirt. She jumped with a yelp. “What the-?!”

Yeri covered her loud, childlike laugh with a hand, a mischievous glint in her eye. Seulgi could still feel the ice cube the delinquent had slipped into her shirt melting at the small of her back. She quickly untucked her shirt and shook it out.

“What was that for?!” she cried, still squirming from the sensation.

“You were spacing out, like hard core,” Yeri reprimanded. “I need to go clean the bathrooms, so you need to watch the front.”

Seulgi gave a mock salute to the demanding child. Which one of them was in charge tonight, again? “You can clock out after you’re done and go home since…!” she called after the blonde. She heard the bathroom door shut with a heavy click. “... since it’s supposed to snow later,” she finished to herself quietly. She wasn’t looking forward to driving in it herself later, and was hoping it wouldn’t start until she was already warm in bed.

It had been a few days since Heechul and Irene had made their disconcerting announcement to Seulgi, and she now found herself closing with said store manager and Yeri. Seulgi’s schedule had been particularly demanding lately, the gap created by Kyuhyun only being half-filled by Irene while she was still trying to settle into her new role.

Having Moonbyul around will definitely help, Seulgi thought as she began to take apart one of the espresso machines for cleaning. Maybe they could convince her to transfer permanently. But these thoughts led her straight back to Eunae, and she entered the back room with a pile of dishes and a dark expression on her face.

Irene jumped a little as Seulgi let the dishes clatter into the sink absent-mindedly. Before heading back into the cafe, Seulgi propped the stockroom door open, as they were wont to do when the evening was finally winding down. Irene watched her intently - she hadn’t missed that horrified expression on Seulgi’s face when they had mentioned borrowing two baristas from Heechul’s store, but she also hadn’t wanted to pry while he had still been sitting there between them.

Irene waited until Seulgi was back out in the cafe before she stood from the desk and walked over to the sink to clean the pile of dishes that had been left. Through the open doorway, she could see Seulgi appearing to give Yeri some final instructions before sending her home, with Yeri was attentively listening, but the industrial sanitizing machine in her ear didn’t permit eavesdropping.

It turned out Yeri was simply good at appearing like she was listening. Seulgi was saying something about driving safely, and all the while Yeri just watched her expressions. She noted how worn out Seulgi seemed, even though the weather report of impending snow had scared away all of their customers this evening. There was no accounting for her low energy and unresponsiveness. She was clearly being weighed down by something.

“Are you worried about being alone with her?” Yeri asked quietly, nodding towards the back room and interrupting Seulgi mid-sentence.

Seulgi’s eyes snapped up to meet Yeri’s, surprised at being interrupted. “With who? With Irene?” She honestly had no idea what Yeri could mean.

Yeri simply nodded. Everyone’s initial jumpiness at Irene’s arrival to their store had worn off after the first couple of days, but there still seemed to be a few baristas - two in particular who stood out in her mind - who hadn’t quite gotten over that shock.

Seulgi shook her head. “No, why, should I be worried?” They had already worked several shifts together, though she supposed that this would be their first time alone since that very first opening.

Yeri shrugged. “I don’t know, you just seem… nervous?” She couldn’t tell what Seulgi was feeling, and maybe nervous wasn’t the right word. Apprehensive? Distraught? In all their years working together, she had only seen Seulgi’s mood dip like this a handful of times, and she felt a growing determination to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Yeri was trying to get at something, but Seulgi wasn’t really in the mood for sharing. Not here, anyway. Not now. “I’m fine, Yeri,” she replied, giving herself a mental - and physical - shake. “Just get home before the snow starts, okay? The sooner you leave, the sooner I can get back to work,” she finished with a small smile.

Yeri squinted at her, not wanting to back down, but realizing that she wasn’t going to be able to make a dent.

“... Alright,” Yeri said in defeat, though she still watched Seulgi out of the side of her eye. “But you’re not fooling anyone.”

Seulgi blinked. Fooling anyone with what? She was starting to feel like she was getting caught up in some big misunderstanding, but when she finally tore her quizzical gaze from Yeri and saw Irene shaking her long black hair out of her messy bun, Seulgi wondered if it was really a misunderstanding after all. Maybe she wasn’t quite so ready to be left alone with Irene.

When she stole a glance back at the blonde, however, she was giving Seulgi a knowing smile and a raised eyebrow.

Never mind. “Go. Home. Yeri.”

The cheeky girl gave a little wave and skipped out of the store. Seulgi cautiously glanced into the back room again and watched Irene gather up her tresses into another bun. It was suddenly very warm there, behind the bar. Seulgi anxiously grabbed for the broom, almost knocking it over before getting a grip on it, and busied herself with sweeping. Anything that would force her to keep her eyes on the ground.

Now it was Irene’s turn to steal a glance, watching the “Legendary Barista” nearly trip over one of the rubber mats in her zeal to avoid any possible eye-contact. She smiled to herself and walked into the cafe. “Seulgi?”

Seulgi flinched. Irene’s smile grew. “I was thinking…” she began as she grabbed a ceramic mug she had stashed in a lower cabinet - and Seulgi silently applauded herself for not watching her manager bend over - “You know my drink, but I don’t know yours.” She held out her mug to the barista, and Seulgi took it shyly.

“T… tea latte?”

“Please.”

When Seulgi was a little more sure of her voice, she replied. “I drink lots of things, I suppose. My ‘favorite’ drink keeps changing…”

Irene came to stand beside Seulgi, and Seulgi wondered if she was just going to follow her around, why wasn’t she making her own tea? But she had given too much energy to over-thinking things the last couple of days, and decided to just let it go.

“So what is it now?” the older girl pressed.

Seulgi tilted her head a little in thought, glad for the excuse to grab milk out of the fridge as a means of breaking away from Irene. Over the years, the complexity of her style of drinks had diminished nearly to just plain lattes with regular sugar, but every once in awhile, she did like to indulge. “I guess I’ll just make a mocha if I want something special,” she finally answered, finishing her thought aloud. She let the sound of the milk steamer fill in the space for a moment, as the bitter aroma of the steeping tea wafting over from the ceramic mug. “Especially when the weather looks like this,” she slowly pulled her gaze away from the the frothing milk to look through the cafe windows.

It was pitch black outside, save for the halo of a lone streetlamp on the corner of the block, but Irene knew what she meant. She wouldn’t have pegged Seulgi as a ‘mocha’ kind of girl, but the thought of her enjoying a warm, chocolatey drink and watching the snow was frankly adorable.

Seulgi came back to Irene with the pitcher of steamed milk, carefully removing the teabag before she bag pouring. Irene watched Seulgi's mute expression, seemingly lost in thought even as she expertly used a motion in her wrist to get just the right amount of foam delicately layered on top. The younger girl suddenly turned to her, offering up the drink. Irene accepted it gratefully, though she belatedly realized she hadn’t actually wanted the tea. There was just something about Seulgi’s work that Irene admired. Her attention to detail, and her deft craftsmanship, everything she did was a precise, practiced motion, and Irene had wanted an excuse to watch her work while they talked.

For years Irene had been the one serving, attending to hundreds of customers a day and it was nice to be doted on for a change. And Seulgi was very attentive. She felt like she was beginning to understand the whole ‘attractive barista’ trope. She had wanted to watch Seulgi make something for her.

“Seulgi-”

“How’s your-”

“Oh-”

“Sorry-”

Irene just laughed as she raised her mug to her lips, giving up.

Seulgi smiled, too. There was the laugh she had wanted. Maybe it was better if she didn’t try so hard.

They stood there in silence for a few moments, neither one wanting to accidentally speak over the other again, though it wasn’t for a lack of things to say as unspoken questions filled the increasingly anxious silence.

Did you always want to be a store manager?

Your resume says you have a degree in art?

So, you and Heechul…?

Why have you been so distracted today?

Do you live in town? Or near your old store?

… Why did you write your number on my cup?

“Could I make you something?” Irene suddenly asked, her soft voice cutting through her own thoughts which were treading ever-closer towards impropriety.

Seulgi couldn’t help a surprised smile. Despite the fact that a customer hadn’t set foot in the store in almost an hour didn’t mean there wasn’t more work to be done. And Seulgi was still acutely aware of the fact that even though she was closing tonight, she was also scheduled to open the next morning: the dreaded ‘clopen’. She had every reason to want to leave the store tonight as soon as possible.

But still she found herself saying, as she finally met Irene’s intense gaze, “Why don’t you surprise me?”