“Noona, please. I’m really late,” a young 13 year old boy stood at the counter, putting on his best aegyo at the girl at the counter. “Woojin, you have to ask permission from those ahead of you. If they agree, I’ll take your order,” Sumin patiently explained. Woojin turned to the two guys ahead of him and noted that it was Taeyong from NCT and Sehun from EXO, both his sunbaenim. He was afraid of his seniors but he had to be brave in front of his noona.  “Sunbaenim,” his voice trembled, “could I get my bubble tea first? I need to go for training,” he asked politely. Taeyong grinned and nodded. Sehun raised his head and gave the boy an icy stare. Sumin regretted asking Woojin to seek permission as the icy prince is unlikely to agree. Sehun glanced at Sumin for a split second and turn his piercing eyes at Woojin. He tilted his head slightly to indicate his agreement. “Phew”, Sumin thought.

Woojin broke into a big smile and bowed repeatedly to thank them. Sumin took his order and passed to Hyeri, her colleague, who was making the drinks. “Noona, please make it for me, please noona,” Woojin pleaded with his puppy eyes. “Woojin, Hyeri noona make it as nice too! Com’on, I need to take orders.” Sumin chided him gently. “It’s not the same, Noona, it’s not the same,” he whined.  Sumin looked up to Taeyong and gave an apologetic nod, “Just one minute, I’m sorry,” before quickly turning around to make it for Woojin. Taeyong ruffled Woojin’s hair. Woojin received his drink with a huge smile on his face, “Noona’s the best because it is made with lots of love!” Sumin chuckled and gestured for him to go off.

“I apologized for that, would it be the usual?” Sumin asked Taeyong with a small smile. “Yes, please and could Noona also make it for me, with lots of love,” Taeyong imitated Woojin. Sumin keyed in the order and pass to Hyeri before she looked directly at him, “Its only cute on a 13 year old. So, please don’t,” she deadpanned.

Sehun, who usually didn’t notice much about the going-ons around him, had looked up from his phone when the annoying boy pestered the counter girl to be served first. Somehow the way the girl entertained the request was somewhat more interesting than the article he was reading, so he had silently observed. The counter girl clearly was very good at handling customers because she also handled Taeyong smoothly.

“I like my usual order,” Sehun said quietly. She looked up, keyed in his order, took the cash he held out and gave his order slip. “Thank you, you could collect your order there,” and she gave a smile that did not reach her eyes. As there wasn’t any other customer in the queue, she turned away from the counter. “Unnie, do you need any help?” Someone from the back replied, “No. Woojin gone? I don’t know how you could have the patience to entertain that boy. He bothers you every day.” “He is fine, he just needed this small distraction from the grueling training. I don’t mind. He is cute actually” Sumin laughed softly. “That boy had a huge crush on you. Be careful that it doesn’t develop further,” the voice from the back continued. Hyeri passed the drink to Sehun and joined in the conversation, “He is very handsome, he will be a big star soon. I bet he will forget Sumin then.” Sumin laughed, “Yeah, when his head grown so big!” Sumin continued and they all laughed.

Sehun stared at his phone but he listened to the conversation even as he walked out of the shop. The girls at the shop were used to SM artistes and also artistes from nearby agencies patronizing their shop that none of them seemed to be affected by their presence. That was one of the reasons that Sehun liked going to the shop. He was not harassed by the counter girls, hence had not even noticed them. But today, he noted that the girl who took his order remembered his order, very efficient and clearly not impressed by the idols.

Sumin took out her school book and started reading after she had wiped down the counter. This is the lull period in the afternoon and she usually used the time to catch up on her st