A/N: hello meRRy cHriStmaSSSSS :D this is my gift to yall, hope it doesnt :> PLS READ A/N AT BOTTOM AND VOTE SHANKSSS

Joohyun squints at the bright light peeping through her curtains, her alarm clock blaring in her ears. Another week day, another day at work. At least she has something, or someone to look forward to. 

It has been a little more than a week since she met Seulgi, and she still couldn’t believe how deeply she had fallen for the girl. What started as a boring job to pass time became a common ground where she could meet Seulgi. For the first few days, Seulgi was constantly alternating between buying a java chip frappe, a mocha frappe and a white chocolate mocha frappe. It wasn’t as if Joohyun wouldn’t like Seulgi if she became… well slightly larger, but the calories and sugar Seulgi was consuming was alarming, so she ended up lending Seulgi her Starbucks tumbler and asked the girl to fake it. The senior barista, Jisu, also seemed to understand her friendship with Seulgi, and always told the other workers to leave the student alone even when she didn’t buy a drink. She was alone, so a seat shouldn’t matter that much even during peak hours. 

And… Joohyun was slightly scary when she wanted to be, the seventeen year old’s resting face never failing to make her peers rethink their decision on waking Seulgi up from her short naps or debating if they should chase her away. 

As Joohyun said, it’s one seat. Surely they could spare it. 

Another thing Joohyun started noticing was how her bottle seemed to look different everyday, white figurines covering the exterior of the tumbler daily, but each drawing looked different from the previous. So one day, Joohyun decides to ask for the morning shift instead of the afternoon’s, deciding to give Seulgi a small surprise. She did feel bad after all. Seulgi was coming here everyday without fail but they could barely interact during the time Seulgi was here since Joohyun was working. Even though Joohyun was the youngest there, Jisu had taken a liking on her for being a fast learner, the student remembering the names and methods of making the drinks in mere days. Which was also why she was in charge of making the drinks most of the time, being spared from constantly doing the dishes. 

Shutting off her phone as her last alarm rang, Joohyun groans as she kicks off her covers, rubbing her eyes tiredly. She woke up three hours earlier than usual, but she guesses that’s just part and parcel of spending time with Seulgi. Joohyun hated waking up early, it was never her thing to be awake when everyone was asleep. It made her feel stupid, but at the same time waking up late made her feel as if she wasted the day away. 

To sum it up, Joohyun’s a big mess. 

The only thing that went right in her seventeen years so far was getting into a good school and meeting Seulgi a week ago. Sad? Joohyun begs to differ. 

So Joohyun simply gets ready to go in the span of twenty minutes, her eyes still barely open by the time she locked her door. Her parents had already gone out to work, and her brother’s cooped up in his bedroom, still asleep, just like she should be. 

Morning shift was much more stressful than she’d expected it to be. Joohyun had overlooked the fact that the students having their finals this year were just released for their two week study break. 

Joohyun guesses she woke up early for no reason, seeing Seulgi enter the cafe at a surprisingly ungodly hour. It was 8am for God’s sake! Did Seulgi not feel tired from the previous day’s intensives? Joohyun watches as Seulgi strolls in all that glory, constricting painfully at the sight. 

Damn that girl is illegal. 

Joohyun didn’t get it. It was a simple outfit, for a simple seventeen year old, nothing special about that. But how does Kang Seulgi make a white crop top and blue ripped jeans so damn hot? 

Joohyun quickly jerked her hand away, feeling a cool liquid drip down her palm. Joohyun clicked her tongue in irritance when accidentally spilling her drink on herself. It’s close to her fifth week working here and she’s been flawless with her drinks. 

Seulgi just had to screw it up with her flawlessness. 

Joohyun scowls, placing the drink down and rinsing her palms before shoving the bottle into the blender, glaring at Seulgi who came in with a bunch of friends. 

“Joohyun stop glaring at your girlfriend like that, what did she do.” 

Joohyun rolls her eyes at Jisu, the older girl giving her a cheeky wink. “I spilt my drink because of that and she’s not my girlfriend.” 

Jisu chuckles, “Why so defensive huh? If I wasn’t already dating Yuna, I’d give her a chance. And don’t be too harsh on yourself, on the first day of the job, I dropped a customer’s drink right before passing it to her because she was cute, and guess what? She’s my girlfriend now.” 

Joohyun faked a gag, shoving her senior barista on the shoulder. “Fine you show off.” 

Joohyun watches as Seulgi takes a seat at the tall table, joining a few other girls, sitting further away from her as compared to her usual counter seat. Letting out a pout, Joohyun dumps the drink into a grande sized cup, scanning the name wordlessly before calling out, “An ice mocha for Yeeun?” 

Joohyun looks up, only to see a familiar face instead of the ‘Yeeun’ she had called for. “Did you get a name change in the few days we didn’t meet?” Joohyun asks, shifting the drink nearer towards Seulgi. 

“My classmate bought this for me, said i’ll be late and didn’t have the heart to queue, i’m not paying her back either so…” Seulgi trails off, casting Joohyun a playful wink. 

“Could’ve just asked me to make it on the spot you know, your order comes before any of theirs.” 

“I know, just felt that I'd rather talk to you than stare at your back while you make my drink.” 

“Not saying you don’t look great from behind but… you get my point.” 

Joohyun rolls her eyes, flicking a metal straw at the girl. “Start bringing the bottle i gave you instead of using these flimsy plastic cups. It’s better for the environment.” 

Seulgi raises her brow in shock as she places the straw into the cup, “Damn didn’t know you were such an environmentalist. Must be hard working here, giving away all these single use plastics and throwing away whatever excess drinks you might have.”

Joohyun brings the cup closer to her, taking a sip out of Seulgi’s mocha frappe she’d made a few minutes ago. “I guess, but Yeji and Ryujin never fails to drink them all, they bring some back too, illegally of course.” 

Seulgi was about to continue the conversation when Joohyun laughs, patting her on the cheek. “You should go now, your friends are already staring. Too bad I catch so much attention huh.” 

Seulgi turns to face her friends, groaning in disbelief when Yeeun and Elkie blew kisses towards her direction, her other friends laughing and playing along. Oh god, Seulgi would have to suffer and drown in a pool of embarrassment and suffer from the questions bombarded at her a few moments later. 

“Tsk they’re such losers.” 

“I’ll see you later then?” 

“Sooner than you think.” Joohyun ends off, waving before quickly preparing the next drink to make up for the time she had spent talking to Seulgi. 

//

Seulgi didn’t expect Joohyun’s ‘soon’ to be about a few hours later, when the afternoon rush had just arrived. Seulgi was missing the girl already, the positioning of the table being an absolute er and preventing her from even catching a glimpse of the said girl. Damn her large number of friends with sharp eyes that the slightest shift to look at Joohyun bringing out a drink entitled her to be laughed at for a good five minutes. And of course