"Are you serious?"

I couldn't suppress the grin that was spreading across my face as I excitedly pointed to the photo at the entrance of the supermarket, not caring for the fact that my stack of books and notes were almost dropping out of my grasp. The twinkle of delight was visible in Vernon's eyes as he took my pile of notes and carried them for me, so that my hands were free to express my enthusiasm in whatever way I liked. 

"Best employee of the month? Congratulations!" Despite the terrible choice of photo that Vernon had provided for the board, his name was eye-catching in bright yellow against the black background of the achievement board. The campus supermarket was not exactly the biggest place swarming with dozens of employees, but nonetheless it was exciting to see his sheepish grin captured on the board of achievement, or "supermarket hall-of-fame", as I would like to call it. 

"It's really nothing. The requirement to enter was that you fulfill a minimum of thirty-six hours a week and do a decent job. There's only ten of us on rotation and I'm one of the only two people who even work that much. I heard that person got caught sleeping during her shift so..." 

"At least you didn't get caught studying with me! That's an achievement in itself." I gave him an unnecessarily ceremonious handshake, and he kindly entertained me on my sudden mock play. "You need better selfie skills though." 

"Well...the first person who knew about this was Seungkwan, and somehow he decided that his kind intervention was the best way to go about this. So what you see is a result of a fifteen-minute lecture by lovely Boo. Should've asked Jun instead. He's the selfie king." Despite his slight complaint over his loud and odd friend, it was clear that this reward from work lifted his mood tremendously that day (despite his first test being three days from now, just like mine). He went on to talk about how Seungkwan had forced at least ten rounds of demonstration and quality checks on him (with Seungkwan insisting he was "high quality") before finally deciding on the photo that Vernon himself had disliked the most, but he gladly let his eager friend submit it on his behalf anyway. 

To celebrate the occasion, I insisted on pulling him to Minghao's workplace to get food, suggesting that he might be able to catch Jun for some appropriate guidance on photo-taking. Sure enough, the two Chinese workaholics were in the shop, rushing around during dinner time to serve the customers. The crowd was dampened compared to usual due to the examination season, but the boys were nonetheless busy with their duties. Minghao caught sight of us first, and after giving us a fleeting smile and nod for a greeting, he was whisked away by the orders of another customer again. 

Vernon and I got our seats pretty quickly, and by then we were both starving (me from studying at the supermarket, him from working and watching out for his colleagues or manager in case they caught me overstaying). We wasted no time in ordering our dishes. Somehow our favourite dishes differed almost entirely, so soon enough our table was filled with various dishes with small portions, and for the first time ever I was eating five different types of meat for a BBQ. With Mingyu and Minghao, we tended to order the sames things with larger portions instead. When the food arrived, Vernon proudly took out two packets of new juices that he had discovered on the shelves that week and handed one to me. "It'll go great with the chicken," he said, flashing me the iconic grin that showed his gum as well. Jun and Minghao were too busy to catch us having outside beverages, so we happily dug in to our meal to our hearts' content while sipping on this new summer berries juice. Vernon eventually decided he still preferred the milk that he found previously. It had to do with the fact that it was banana milk. 

We had almost cleared our plates when loud voices from behind me caught our attention. Minghao was standing before a customer, his head hanging low. The grumpy man was complaining loudly, reprimanding Minghao for something. 

"I clearly asked for the special beef, and now this is clearly the normal beef on the regular menu. Shouldn't you give me a new plate?" The demanding man was pointing his finger at an empty plate that was clear of its contents. Clearly, he had already devoured the full plate before requesting for a replacement, and his agenda was clear. Minghao appea