chapter three.

June 23, 2018

It’s Saturday noon and the aroma of tea surrounded the place. A man lingers at the side among other people as they wait to be called up. It’s a hot day and people want their cold drinks.

“Order 228!” An employee calls out. The man perks up, approaching the counter with his receipt in display.

“Would you like a bag?” The employee asks.

“No, it’s alright.” He puts up a polite smile before turning his focus to the two bubble teas in front of him. Snatching up two straws, he grabs the drinks and makes his way outside.

The hot air hits his back, making him all the more desperate to start drinking the bubble tea to stave off the heat.

He walks up behind a bench, a familiar face seated and waiting for his arrival.

A smile spreads on his face, playfully lowering her drink right in front of her face, “Here you go, lilac.”

Zhihui takes her drink, twisting around and giving her own smile, “Thanks, Yoongi.” He makes his way around the bench, plopping down right next to her and ridding the straw of its plastic. The sound of straws piercing the plastic lids filled out the brief silence, and the two take their first sip of their drinks.

Yoongi is people watching when he throws in a casual question, “So, are there any news you’ve got while I was gone?”

Zhihui hastily chews on the tapioca before replying, “Not a lot!” She quickly adds in, “I got this new job, though. It’s at that gaming café.”

He vividly remembers when she took him by the hand and pulled him into the café. A cozy place that almost felt familiar despite it being his first visit then. A smile curls up on his face, “That’s great.” He turns to the girl beside him, “The place fits you.”

Zhihui nods, a smile growing as she shyly turns away and takes a sip out of her drink.

“So how is it? Are the people there good to you?”

She blinks, “Yes, of course!” Her lips linger over the straw, recalling her moments with her new coworkers, a small laugh making its way out .

“They’re a charming crowd.”

“Alright,” Sion popped her head out the kitchen archway, “Who drained the fryer and didn’t put new oil in it?!” Her questioning was in vain, only the silence responding to her rather than the answer she sought for.

“Seriously? Nobody’s gonna own up to it?” Sion frustratedly sighs, shaking her head and looking to Hyun stationed by the stove, “Hey, put the oil back in there, yeah?”

He turns to Sion, displeasure written all over his face, “Damn, I was going to but I don’t wanna do it now that you’ve asked..”

“Do it.” Sion demanded before she walked up to the front, passing by Subin at the barista station.

Subin, who had just finished her shift, still looking up at her boyfriend with doe eyes.

Sion has second thoughts on allowing the boy behind the counters, but she doesn’t have the heart to revoke the privilege.

Also, she may be a teensy bit bitter over the couple’s overflowing adoration for each other.

She didn’t want to look like that salty hag who couldn’t bag a relationship for herself.

She zooms past without giving a look, almost like fearing she’d step into the bubble of their world.

Eunjae flashes a smile as she went past the countertop door, “Hey!”

Sion’s sights linger on the newly arrived coworker, “Hey, Eunjae!” Said girl gives a nod before making her way further into the back. Sion turns around and sees Hanyeon manning the cashier with that distant look as always.

“It hasn’t been long since the start of your shift and you already look this tired,” Sion tilted her head, searching for any response from the girl.

She didn’t give any, blinking up at her instead and staring blankly.

Sion let her head fall limp as she smiled sheepishly, “You could at least say something..”

“Sorry, I just had no idea what to say.” Hanyeon finally spoke.

Eunjae arrives again, placing herself between the two girls, “Hanyeon, can I punch in for a sec?”

Hanyeon wordlessly steps to the side, letting the older girl sign in for her shift. Hanyeon turns away and goes to the counters, grabbing a cloth rag and going to the small sink lodged at the side of the counters.

Sion turns to Eunjae as she watched her tap on the screen, “So, I heard you dance?”

Eunjae hums in acknowledgment, “Yeah, I do!”

“What stuff do you do?”

“Oh, well,” Eunjae looks away from the screen, “I do classes at this one dance studio. If I get lucky, I snatch up some gigs and perform.” She shrugs, “People can find me dancing in clubs too, when I feel like letting loose.”

A light bulb lights up in Sion’s head, “Clubs?” She gasped, “Wait, were you that Athena girl some months back? The one Son Junhyung called out to dance?”

Eunjae was shocked at the recall of detail, “Yeah..”

“No wonder you ‘re so familiar!” Sion clapped her hands together, “I was there that night too!” She chuckled, “Well, I couldn’t watch you properly, though. Too distracted trying to keep my friend’s together.”

“Are you two in a dance club or something?”

“Oh my God!” Sion whips around, seeing Minki only slightly behind her.

Oh, right.. His break is over by now.

“What university?” Minki looks up to the two girls.

Sion chortles over the boy’s misconception, “No, Minki.. Night club, not school club.”

“Oh.” Minki shapes into an obnoxious letter O shape, throwing his head back in realization. He eyes the screen before looking to Eunjae, “Hey, can I sign back in on my shift?”

“Oh, yeah!” Eunjae quickly steps aside, bowing her head as she turned away from the two, “Alright, I’ll be off to the barista station then!”

Sion spots Hanyeon, who had just finished wiping down the counters with the rag, turn to look at the cashier. Seeing the boy sign in, she turned away and pretended to have found a dirty spot she magically missed.

Sion internally sighed.

It’s going to be a while for this girl to open up, isn’t it?

The manager wanders to the front of the counters, making sure every table has been tended to.

She looks behind to her right, seeing Eunjae check the ingredients and the stock. “Eunjae,” she called for her attention.

The younger girl looks to her and smiles, “Hm?”

“If you need any help, you can ask Hanyeon.” Sion nodded her head towards the girl who—at this point of time—has taken a suspicious amount of time to wipe up the counters.

Eunjae glanced at the younger coworker before she nodded, “Okay!”

Hopefully that’d get Hanyeon to talk to somebody..

Sion absentmindedly took out her phone as turned away from Eunjae. No notifications or texts. It’s a slow day. She puts her phone back in her pocket and sighs.

Where did Subin and her guy go?

And as if she summoned them, they walk out of the hallway. Subin breezes past the manager, tapping her on the shoulder, “Sion, we’re going now!”

Sion smiled as she looked at the couple, “Take care!”

Kyumin, freakishly tall and handsome, bows to her. “Thank you for allowing me behind the counters. It was nice meeting you!”

The manager shook her head, “It’s no problem! You two take care.”

She watches as the two are immediately glued by the hip, leaving the café with bursts of giggles and laughter. If Sion squinted, she could probably see the trail of young love and happiness they left behind.

In the corner of her eye, she sees Minki step off from the cashier. Hanyeon perks up and casts the cleaning rag aside, returning to her post. Minki then walks up to Sion.

“Is there anything you need me to do?” The boy asks, his energy visible in his eyes.

Sion hummed, looking around and seeing that the customers aren’t sorely needed of a game facilitator.

“Oh!” Sion’s eyes lit up. “Yes, actually, I do need you to do something for me.” She stuck her hand underneath the hollow counters, feeling the set of keys jingle and unhooking it from its hiding place. “Can you check that all the video game controllers are accounted for? Nobody’s using the area so you can lock the drawers too while you’re at it.”

Sion tosses the keys up, snatched from the air within a blink of an eye and into Minki’s hand. “Oh!” Sion was amused, “Nice hand-eye coordination!”

Minki grinned, sending a playful wink and making his way to the countertop door. He made his way around and along the other side of the counters when he skids into taking slower steps.

Sion sneakily eyes the boy, connecting his line of sight to..

Hanyeon.

Now, either the girl is suddenly interested by the menu or she’s chosen to ignore the boy who was blatantly staring at her.

Sion was sure it was the latter scenario.

Minki opens up his mouth, raising his hand and waving, “Hey, Hanyeon!”

She doesn’t look up.

The boy’s smile does not falter and he keeps walking.

Sion pursed her lips.

God, did I have to get second-hand embarrassment today?

Hanyeon looks up, watching as Minki busies himself with the video game section of the café.

Hanyeon froze in the whirlwind of confusion as realization hits her.

Was Minki talking to her?

She looks away from the boy, lowering her head as she thought hard.

Did she just accidentally ignore a coworker?

Well, .

She didn’t know if she could dare look at him in the eye now.

She quickly scopes out for a potential witness, turning her head and meeting eyes with Sion.

Terror seemed to congest in Hanyeon’s chest as she asks, “Was.. Was Minki trying to say hi to me?”

Sion breathed out, “Oh my God, I thought you ignored him on purpose.”

What?!

“No, why would I?” Hanyeon’s shoulders deflated. She could feel the mortification creep in yet her face was stony as ever, the emotions failing to register into any kind of expression.

“I don’t know,” Sion trailed off, “You just looked like you pretended he didn’t exist at all!” She waved her hand around, “He even greeted you out loud and said your name and all that.”

Hanyeon was already internally screaming.

A boy walks up to the counter and she forces a smile, but he points his thumb to his right. “Miss, the men’s washroom needs some cleaning.”

Her smile nearly dropped.

“Oh, alright. We’ll get to it as soon as possible.” Hanyeon did a polite bow, looking over at Sion and already seeing that expectant smile on her face.

There is no escape from cleaning duties.

Hanyeon sighs, “Can you take care of the front while I go check the washroom out?”

Sion shrugs, a smile of satisfaction on her face as she answered the rhetorical question, “No worries, Nyeonyeon.”

The little girl throws a look over her shoulder at the nickname used before she faces to the front, making her way to the other side of the counters and idly treading to the men’s washroom, through a more private hallway to the side of the café.

Hanyeon knocks first. When she doesn’t hear any response from the other side of the door, she swings it open.

Catastrophe.

Wet tissues were strewn on the floor, water dripped off the edge of the sink, and the water in the toilet was mixed with some kind of unknown liquid.

Hanyeon winced at the scene around her, reaching her foot out to kick the lever and allow the toilet to flush down the forever-unidentified mixture.

She retreated.

She makes a beeline back to the counters, turning on her heel to face Sion to see Minjae talking to the manager.

“Oh, yeah, Subin’s actually been dating Kyumin for a while now—Hanyeon, hey!” The boy waves his hand, apron absent on his person.

Hanyeon purses her lips, “Why are you here?”

Minjae was unfazed by her response, a grin curling up and letting out a wheeze. Sion was the one who looked offended for the boy instead, “Is that really the first thing you say to someone?”

He waved a hand in dismissal, “It’s just Hanyeon being classic Hanyeon.” Minjae shrugs, “I was just in the area, thought I’d drop by.”

She ignored his answer, remembering what she needed to do, “Hey, can you one of you guys pass me the floor sign?”

Sion scrunches her nose, “It’s that bad, huh?” She walks up to the counters, pulling up one of the bright yellow signs propped up underneath.

“Thank you.” Hanyeon takes the sign.

Minjae chortled, “Is it though? One single wet tissue on the floor and you act like it’s a crisis.”

“I do not.” She playfully glares, giving a threatening swing at her coworker with the sign.

His stupid smile shows he thinks otherwise.

Hanyeon turns away before the conversation carries on, feeling a smile of her own creep up.

As she made her way back to the washroom to set the sign up, she makes accidental eye contact with Minki, crouching down among one of the cabinets.

She felt her smile awkwardly drop as he stared intently. She quickly turned away to face the other way as she clutched onto the sign in distress.

God, he definitely thinks I hate him..

Eunjae hummed to herself, finishing the last of the drinks before she set them aside on the assigned trays.

“I’ll be going on break now!” She announced as she passes Sion by, making her way towards the cashier to sign herself out.

After entering in her code, she smiles to herself as she heads to the break room. She reaches in and pushes the glass door, seeing Hanyeon give a quick glance at her before she makes a poor attempt to give a welcoming smile.

Well, it’s the thought that counts.

Eunjae gives her own smile, “Hey, Hanyeon!” She could hear a barely audible ‘hi’ before she went for the lockers, opening one of them up to get to her bag. Without wanting to bother to pull her bag out, she stuffs her hand in and reaches for a pocket to pull the zipper. Her hand digs in until she finally feels a small cardboard packaging at her fingertips and yanks it out.

A box of Pepero.

She swings the locker shut before heading to the table Hanyeon sat at, pulling the seat across hers and sitting down.

It seems that Hanyeon didn’t expect this course of action, because now the girl was staring at Eunjae.

Eunjae had a feeling the girl was at a loss of what to do.

Just a hunch.

“So,” Eunjae tears the cardboard flap apart, “do you like video games?”

Hanyeon easily answers, “Yeah, I do.”

Eunjae picks the packaged Pepero out of its box, tearing the corner off. “Me too!” She nods, “What kind of games do you usually like?”

The little girl shrugs, her eyes trailing off as the sentence in her head forms, “Well, I tend to go for story-driven games. I’m a er for anything under the fantasy genre—“

“Oh!” Eunjae couldn’t contain her excitement, “I like fantasy games too!” She begins snacking on what is now revealed to be almond-coated chocolate Pepero. Quickly munching on it, she fires up the next question, “Do you play Dungeons & Dragons?”

Hanyeon shook her head, clearly sheepish, “No, not yet. I’ve been wanting to try it out, but I haven’t gone around it.”

“I’ll help you out then! It’s really fun.” Eunjae offers as she continues to snack away. She nearly didn’t catch it, but she sees the girl in front of her eye the Pepero in hand. With a smile curling up, she holds the small bag up to her, “You can have some if you’d like!”

The excitement in Hanyeon’s eyes was contagious. Eunjae couldn’t help but let her smile grow wider.

“Ah, thank you!” The girl reaches in and takes a biscuit, happily taking a small bite out of it.

“What other games do you play?” Eunjae was determined to keep the conversation going. It seems it wasn’t often for the little girl to talk a lot.

Well, at least she hasn’t seen her talk a lot.

Hanyeon hummed to fill in the silence before answering, “My brother just finished playing Detroit: Become Human, so now I finally get to play it myself!”

“Oh, I’ve heard of that!” Eunjae waved the Pepero stick around, “It’s heavy on the story and the player’s choices, right? I think I’ve seen the trailer a long time ago.”

“Yeah, it gets really stressful because of that reason.” Hanyeon munched the last bit of Pepero in her hand, “Only good endings for the best boy Connor.”

Oh, great, Eunjae’s smile grows. She’s getting comfortable.

The glass door swings open and Sion strides in with a small bundle of papers and a roll of masking tape in hand. She approaches to the front of the room where the TV is, but not before giving a quick glance at the two girls and noting a very prominent change.

Sion feigns hurt, “Wow, Hanyeon, we’ve known each other for months and yet Eunjae gets to hang out with you within like, what—minutes?”

Eunjae holds back a laugh, “Sometimes sharing some nice snacks really is the answer!”

“Freaking Pepero was the answer?” Sion played it along with a fake seething tone, tugging at the roll of tape and ripping a piece off dramatically. She huffs at Hanyeon before turning around to a vacant surface of the wall next to the TV.

Eunjae tries to look into the content but fails to discern it, “What are those papers you got there?”

“Oh, just something Minjin’s announcing..” Sion absentmindedly replied.

“What?” Hanyeon furrowed her eyebrows, “What’s it about?”

“Your brother was actually serious about bringing in plants for the café.” Sion elaborated before turning around, “The plant ordinance, he says.”

Hanyeon’s sight trails off as she thinks, but she shrugs, “It’s not a bad idea, for once.”

But Eunjae blanks as the puzzle pieces come together.

Rewinding just moments back, the conversation echoes in her mind.

Eunjae stops chewing on the Pepero in as she faced the girl in front of her.

This is Doogi’s little sister?

June 30, 2018

Yohan watched painfully as Jihoon was confronted by a quite terrible customer.

To say the least.

Jihoon was holding up the jar of honey that was stored at the inventory. He’d gone down and around the storage room just to find it, and Yohan could see he’d run up in a rush in fear of giving the middle-aged tyrant a late order.

The lady, unfortunately, came back to complain about the order and was now scrutinizing the jar and the coworker.

She scrunched her nose, “How long have you guys had it at the back?”

Jihoon blinked nervously, “I don’t know, miss—“

She scoffed obnoxiously, “Seriously? That’s disgusting, leaving the jar there to just sit and rot. Forget it.” She her heel and waved off, leaving the lukewarm cup of tea sitting on the counter in front of Jihoon.

Yohan watched as the customer was gone with the wind. He shuffled over to the older coworker, the both of them staring at each other in awe—or perhaps more of shock—over what just happened.

Yohan broke the silence, “Do you think she knows honey doesn’t expire?”

Jihoon stare remains on the front door, his mind stunned into a daze, “I don’t know.”

If Yohan had to be honest, he was glad the lady just left.

He was not ready for dealing with confrontation, neither Jihoon was obviously up for it either. Yohan was ready to run off and fetch Gaho from the back to save their skin.

Two girls appear in front of the café, swinging the door open. Upon closer inspection, Yohan realized one of them to be Soyul.

The boy threw an observing glance at Jihoon and knew that he needed some time to recover from the fiasco, so Yohan took initiative. “Welcome to MP! Gaming Café!” Yohan let a natural beam light up his face, mainly directing his greeting at the blonde-haired girl Soyul brought along.

Soyul returns the gesture with a grin and a polite wave, “Yohan! We’ll be taking a table!” She points to the table her friend begins to settle in. Soyul pulls out a chair of her own as she turns her attention to the conversation at hand with the other guest.

Yohan turns to Jihoon and gives him a smile, “You can stay here at the barista station! I’ll take their order.” This seems to wash a wave of relief over the older boy, nodding appreciatively and busying himself with cleaning the station.

Turning to face the counter, Yohan removes one of the tablets tucked underneath the countertop from the charging station. He waits patiently behind the counters and scrolls aimlessly through the menu to distract himself as the girls went over the laminated copies of the menu.

The two nodded at each other, appearing to come down on a settlement as they set down their menus.

Soyul turns to Yohan, waving him over with a polite smile. The boy holds the tablet in front of him, perhaps giving a little extra attention to her friend as the new guest in the café, “Hello! I’m Yohan, is there anything I can help you guys with?”

Dohee clapped her hands together, “Yohan!” She leaned towards him, “Can I get a caramel macchiato?”

“Of course you can!”

Soyul threw a look at her friend before she turned to her coworker, “You don’t need to humour her, Yohan.”

Dohee only continued to look endearingly at him and ignored her friend, “Thank you!”

“And how about you?” Yohan looks up from the screen, upholding a cheeky smile that had made it on to his face.

“I’ll just get coffee, thank you!” Soyul nodded, “Oh, and we’ll share a slice of vanilla cake.”

Yohan tapped away as he asked, “Will that be all?”

Dohee chirped in, “Yes, that’s all. Thank you, Yohan!” She had her hands clasped together, leaning into them and letting her head rest on her hands.

“Anytime!” Yohan did a little bow before stepping away from their table and walking back to the counters.

Soyul threw a little glare at the girl across her, “Look, Dohee, I know Yohan’s cute, but I just started working here! You couldn’t even wait for, I don’t know, your next visit?”

Dohee shrugged, a mischievous smile on her face, “You know I can’t help myself around good-looking boys!” The girl turned her attention to the counters, leaning towards her best friend, “Even the other guy is cute, what’s his name?”

“Him? I’m not sure..” Soyul gave a look at the older coworker working the barista station, “But I think his name’s Jihoon.” Soyul shook her head, “Ah, whatever!” She tones her voice down, “You won’t believe how many more cute people work here, Dohee.”

Her best friend gasped, fully turning to face her, “Really? There are more cute guys?”

Soyul excitedly nodded, “I feel like I’m in the middle of a manga or something.” She sat back on her seat, “Ouran High School Host Club but with a gaming café twist?”

“Stop, you’re tempting me to work here.” Dohee grins.

The door furls open and reveals a young man walking in with a vlogging camera in hand, “Today, we’re here to see some of the new additions to MP’s staff!” He marches in further.

Some of the other customers react in excitement, hushed whispers and small gasps erupting around him. Soyul and Dohee were caught into a whirlwind of confusion.

Who was this guy?

It seems this reaction wasn’t new to him either. The man began waving to the people who greeted him.

“Soyul, do you know who that guy is?” Dohee asks.

“I have no idea."

“Well, he’s really cute.”

The man in question exclaims as he approaches the counters, “Camera incoming!” He whirls around and captures the employees behind the counter.

Gaho had walked up to the front just a short while ago, now waving to the camera with a confused look on his face. Yohan waved with much more enthusiasm. Joining shortly right behind the boy was Yeonhee who seemed to have come from the manager’s office, and a slightly winded Junhyuk who had just dashed out of the kitchen.

Soyul squinted as she thought hard.

This just might be..

“Do you think that’s the café owner?” Dohee suggested.

“Maybe..” Soyul would be surprised. And the more she gazed upon the vlogging man, the more she hoped so.

Her best friend reached out and grabbed Soyul’s hand, “That settles it.” Dohee has a look of determination on her face, “I’ll work here someday, Soyul. I am not—“ She takes a breath, “I am not about to miss out on seeing all these cute guys.”

Jihoon paced at the back of the café, heart racing as he heard the oh-so-familiar voice so near him.

God, not again.

He doesn’t think he can handle seeing Doogi a second time within a month.

No, his heart can’t take it. He was going to look like an awkward fool in front of the Doogi.

He hears footsteps marching up from the inventory stairway. He scrambles to make himself look busy, clumsily shuffling his hands all over the items on the rack in front of him.

The door opens and from the corner of his eye he sees Hyun walk out and make his way into the kitchen, only to hear his steps backtrack.

“Hey, where did the new kid go?!” Hyun hollered out to the front of the café.

Junhyuk’s voice was heard, “Sorry, I’m coming!”

A pair of footsteps rush back into the kitchen. Jihoon thought he heard a phone buzzing along as well—

“I made it in Doogi’s video!” Junhyuk excitedly yelled into what seemed to be said phone.

Minjin’s cackle was heard from the front.

It didn’t stop Junhyuk from boasting over his appearance to the person on the other end of the line, “I beat you to it, Hyukjin! And I was standing near him, it felt unreal!” There was a pause, Junhyuk probably listening to his friend, and then a scoff, “ you too! Once my shift is over you’re going to sit and listen to my official Doogi encounter and suffer!”

Jihoon was already suffering and he isn’t getting a Doogi account out of this.

Minjin pointed at the camera, “You guys will be seeing more of the café soon, so stay tuned!” He flashed a smile and waved before turning the camera off and putting it away in his spacious jeans pocket.

The employees had already resumed their work and Yeonhee had retreated back into the manager’s office on Jikyung’s cue.

He turns to Jikyung who had been giving the front a good scan, “So, you’ve got the kids free for a certain time—“

“Yes, yes. Don’t worry, Minjin, I got that down.” Jikyung huffed, “You really are into the idea of showing off the café on YouTube these days.”

“You can’t blame me!” Minjin hurriedly trails behind her as she makes it to the manager’s office, “The café is growing! And you know the café is like—“

“Your baby, yes.” Jikyung finished his sentence.

Minjin realizes another presence in the room, “Ah, Yeonhee! What’re you up to?”

Yeonhee pries her eyes off the computer screen and blinks at the café owner, “Your plant ordinance, that’s what’s up.”

Minjin gasped, “Wait, did people already start bringing in plants?”

“You didn’t notice as you walked in?” Jikyung brought her hands on her hips, “There’s just a few right now, but some of them are set up on the table by the entrance.”

“Ah, guess I was too distracted vlogging!” Minjin’s smile gave away the undeniable pleasant surprise he felt.

“And because of the plant ordinance,” Jikyung butted in, “We have to make a chart on the certain plants and how to take care of them.” She runs a hand through her hair and sighs, “I also have to work out a system on when the plants have been watered so we don’t end up overwatering them or deprive them.”

She gives a pointed look, “Once again, more work.”

Minjin’s smile doesn’t falter, “Love you!”

“Uh-huh.”

It’s midnight and the streets of Seoul are much quiet as people clear out and make their way home.

Not for one boy.

A small convenience store illuminates a residential area. In it, the cashier is left with himself as time passes by.

Dahn huffs as he straightens up his posture in his stool, having been hunched over a textbook tucked between the cashier and his lap.

There was no harm in reviewing other content besides his notes.

Who knows what kind of cursed, obscure information would come up as a question?

Not like he has the luxury of failing school either, so the pain of moping over the textbook (and his stiff back) will be more than worth it.

A digital ring sounds out as the door swings open, snatching Dahn’s attention away from the book and to the new customer, “Welcome!”

It’s a girl about his age. A regular, in fact, marching in with her usual cream-coloured eco bag swung over her shoulder. He’d seen her in other parts of the area when he’d worked other jobs.

A bit awkward, but he wasn’t too sure if she’d even remember him from their previous encounters, so why bring it up?

They exchange friendly smiles as she makes her way around the store, circling around the familiar racks to fetch her usual snacks. Dahn didn’t have to watch her to know she was going to reach in for some chips and the vanilla latte from the fridge.

She walks up to the cashier and Dahn starts scanning the items. She already has cash out before he could scan the last item, sliding the bills toward him on the counter.

Dahn puts up a polite smile and thanks her, entering the value and letting the cash drawer pop out. The girl was already stuffing her purchases into her bag.

He quickly fishes for the change and carefully places it in her hand, “Have a good night!”

She nods appreciatively and flashes her oddly comforting smile, “Thank you! You too.”

And just like that, she walks out and the store is as quiet as ever.

Dahn looks down on the textbook on his lap, but he doesn’t read.

Perhaps I could text Dahnbee—

He shook his head, however. She could be sleeping at this point.

He sits there, looking around the empty store. The place is clean, and not a single shelf needs to be restocked. There hasn’t been a lot of people passing by since he started his shift about an two hours ago.

The silence is deafening.

Dahn takes out his phone, clicking the power button.

12:04 A.M.

56 minutes more until he’s free to go home.

He sighs and forces himself back to reading.

author's note: sorry for the wait yall! imma be honest with yall, this update took long because.. this author doesn't have any self control and went through three playthroughs of fire emblem three houses ha  aha a- but here it is! finally! hope yall enjoyed it! more interactioms between the babies are coming!!!!!