“That was quite the spectacle huh…” The trio watches the mysterious short-haired girl and tall cackling girl (who looks strangely familiar) duo race away from their view. Silence engulfs them before Amber breaks it with a simple question and a wide smile. “So, which cafe this time?” The smile turns smug as she realizes the shortest among them wasn’t paying attention and was looking towards the direction the blonde fled to.

As quiet as a rogue on a mission, Amber taps on Krystal’s shoulder and points to their spaced-out friend. Cupping her hand, she whispers gingerly, “ I think it’s about time to play cupid!~”

But alas, it seems she wasn't as quiet as she thought she could be. Seulgi turns her head to face her friends, though her eyes can’t help but shift to that direction occasionally. Snapping out of her stunned stupor, she remembers where she was and who she’s with. Glaring at the soon-to-be culprits (she feels a plan brewing and she does not like it, not one bit!), Seulgi directs her complete attention to the couple in front of her, trying to find it in herself to brush off the interaction with the (very cute) apologetic girl. With a scowl, she stares into the souls of her enemies. 

Being the bestest friend that someone could ask for, Krystal looks through Seulgi’s mascarade and dismisses the topic. (Though a look directed unspoken words to Amber: “We’re talking about this later.”) “I believe we decided that we are going to Screamin’ Beans today.” 

Catching on quickly to her girlfriend’s implication, Amber snaps her fingers to dispel to tense cloud around the youngest artist. A smile grows on her face as she brightly exclaims, “Alrighty! Let’s go to this new local attraction. Onward, to Screeeeaaaaamin’ Beeeeeans!!” Almost comically, the couple simultaneously looks to Seulgi, waiting for an equally enthusiastic response.

Never one to let down, Seulgi gives a smile, eyes turning into crescents, that makes the girls coo at the cuteness, “Yeah, let’s go.”

*

A familiar jingle rings throughout the shop. 

“Hi! Welcome to Screamin’ Beans. How may we help you?” What welcomes the trio was a simple and clean atmosphere. Despite the lack of anything Pinterest worthy, it was still pretty neat. There were only a few other occupants in the room, quiet chatter flows with music coming from hidden speakers. A few shelves decorated the walls, knickknacks scattered here and there around the shop. The simple palette gives a good cleanse to the art students who are used to exaggerated color schemes and patterns. Simple, but clean.

At the front counter is a girl adorned in a cute apron with screaming people designed on the front. 

Seulgi scans the options in front of her as she walks up to the register. She looks at the menu, surprised by some colorful names. Morning Fix, Winter Air, Falling for U, Midsummer Night's Dream, Spring Day, and many more. Seulgi guessed that Winter Air, Falling For U, and Midsummer Night’s Dream are seasonal drinks based on the fact that they were currently crossed off. 

She hears a cough. Seems fake but ok. Still curious of the odd titles, she clears and looks down to face the girl. She has short hair and can’t be older than a high schooler. Her face holds a soft turtle-like yet mischievous smile. On her apron, a small name tag reads, Local Semi-Baby, Yeri. 

Seulgi shares the smile with equal softness. “Yeah, hi. Um, can I get a wild orange tart and umm…” she scans the bizarre menu once again before her growing curiosity takes the better of her, “Say, what’s a Spring Day?”

“Oh, it’s a drink with an Indian and Brazilian coffee base combined with crushed sakura tree chips. It’s quite fruity but popular when in the season.”

“That’ll do! So, a wild orange tart and a medium Spring Day please.”

As Yeri punches in the order, she smiles knowingly, as if she learned something new about the stranger based on the drink. Weird.

“That will be 5 dollars and 70 cents. A name please?”

“Just Seul…”

As she words trail off, the artist fishes her wallet from her bag and gets the money out. Well, she would have if there was money in the first place. LIke a fool, she forgot she had put the last of her spare change into the cursing jar the morning of. Seulgi feels her heart pick up in embarrassment. She curses quietly and turns around to ask for help from her friends.

But before she can even get a word out, she finds herself face to face (more so face to chest due to the height difference) with a familiar tall figure from before with a cackling sound in the background. Seulgi can only look in surprise as the figure just gives a wink down at her. The shorter presses against the counter, afraid to accidentally press into the taller, uhh, bosom.

Seulgi hears a slap and something bring slide across the counter. She twists to looks towards the younger girl to find a long arm stretching from behind her. Where there was previously nothing, there was now a 10 dollar bill on the surface. Looking at the money that appeared from nowhere, Seulgi can only stare open-mouthed.

“Find this reimbursement for my friend running into you earlier.” The y’all girl wink at the girl at the register “Keep the change~” The artist feels a pat on her back before the figure moves a reasonable distance away. She picks up a few grocery bags off the floor (how Seulgi did not hear plastic against the floor is beyond everyone). Seulgi just continues to stare, unknowing of what to do. A part of her wants to help carry the bags. The other half of her wants to sink into a ball cause she’s so thoroughly confused.

Moving behind the counter and to the back door, the tall yells over her shoulder. “YO DEVIL CHILD, WANNIE’S COMING LATER WITH MORE , HELP HER LATER.”

“WHY CAN’T YOU DO IT!”

“I WENT WITH HER EARLIER, YOUR TURN!”

“USELESS GIANT!!”

(By now Joy is far inside the kitchen)

A smack could be heard from the back. Quiet noises encompass the room accompanied with calm lo-fi music. After a few moments, they hear voices pipe up before, “SORRY YERI.”

Another young girl comes out of the backdoor. Her apron was designed with a tired coffee cup. Upon closer inspection, her name tag read Thy Peacemaker, Saeron. Cute. Completely contrasting from her cute look, her face sprouts a devious smile. A visible gulp can be seen from her coworker at the counter before her voice spoke in volumes once again.

“SORRY SOOYOUNG UNNIE.”

Seulgi just stands there flabbergasted at the everything happening to her today. First, she wakes up with a hangover and missed her first class. After class, a stranger (whom she can’t seem to get out of her mind) runs into her. She goes and gets coffee to give her energy. Normal. Forgets she has no money. Kinda normal. The accomplice of the girl from before shows up and pays for her drink. Not normal. And finally, a lot, a lot of shouting. Her day has been a whole mess. But hey, at least her mood became less frowny.

Yeri turns back to the customer in front of her. A smile is back on her face as if none of that just happened. What is going on? “Well it seems that you are all paid for, we’ll call you over Ms…”

“Just Seulgi please.”

“Ms. Just Seulgi, we’ll call you when it's all done. Thank you for your patronage!”

Opening to correct her, she finds herself unable to. I am so tired? Mouth still slightly agape, Seulgi nods and heads to an empty table near the windows. Her friends, thankfully, take significantly less time putting in their orders. Amber reaches over to close her friend’s still open mouth, bringing Seulgi back to reality.

Amber smiles, “This place is great! We should totally come here again sometime.”

Krystal takes out her laptop and powers it up to start doing her work. Amber nods at her girlfriend’s quiet suggestion. The eldest to proceed to pull out her own books from her bag.

Seulgi starts to pull out a few books out before scanning the shop. Taking in the simple interior, she stops pulling out the books and instead pulls out a sketchbook and a pencil case. I can procrastinate for like thirty minutes, its fine. 

She starts sketching the general shape of the walls, counter, and various furniture. Looking at the sketch, she feels like something was missing. Powering on her phone, she stares at the digital numbers and realizes an hour had already passed. I can do this for another hour or two. THEN I’ll do my work. Yeah, sounds like a plan. Placing her pencil down, she pulls out a travel set of watercolors and a paintbrush.

By now, all of the orders have been made. Amber picks up the orders from the counter and brings them, balancing all of it on her arms using every fiber of her being. Her girlfriend looks at the valiant attempt in admiration, giving a silent nod and soft smile in appreciation. Das cute. Seulgi takes a quick sip of her coffee and a small bite at her tart. Mhmmm, fruity and sweet. Nice.

Completely giving up on her actual school work, she focuses back on her work-in-progress. The drawing is slowly being brought to life with splashes of color. After erasing some of the pencil and brushing away the eraser bits, she does a wash of orange over all of it. Seulgi pulls back, letting the paper dry a bit as she continues to softly sip the drink in hand. She pulls her hair into a messy bun, wordlessly signaling to the other two a silent ‘DO NOT DISTURB’ because s becoming serious.

Scarfing down the last of her tart, she sets her watercolors back in their place and pulls out a few pens. Her hands hover over the tools. What color, what color? She stares down the instruments, hoping for inspiration to hit. It didn’t take long because something was screaming at her to choose it. A certain color pops out compared to the rest. Blue. 

Mindlessly, the artist picks up her tool of choice and doodle everywhere. As corny as it was, only one word was in her mind after drinking the Spring concoction. Change. The blue overlay works together with the warm undertone to make what she calls drawing.

Pulling back one final time, Seulgi finds a coffee shop filled with a combination of orange and blue. Proud of her work for once, she opens her phone to find 8:03 PM plastered on the home screen along with other notifications.

Message from a broken heart emoji. Seulgi quickly shuts her eyes closed. She forces herself to remember to breathe, and when she looks again, there was no message. Looking up, she sighs in relief, finding the other two in their own devices, paying no mind to what just happened. The group has been there for like 5 hours. Krystal, being the most diligent among them, downs another black coffee and goes back to writing. Amber, on the other hand, gave up doing her work hours ago and was playing Clash Royale on her phone.

She reached back, stretches, and clears to gather her friends’ attention. “It’s getting late. I don’t really feel like getting kicked out for loitering this time. We good to go?”

The couple looks up. Amber smile. “Yeah, I’m all good. Imma get a wild berry muffin to go, they are sooo good.” Krystal nods and starts to put away her notes. She points to her empty cup and then gesturing back to the counter. Amber, being the best girlfriend ever, understands the silent command. “I’ll get you a chamomile tea too babe, don’t worry.”

The artist looks to the drawing before her. She ponders for a bit in her seat. Why not, who’s stopping me? She rips out her newly drawn artwork and heads to the counter beside Amber. Using her free hand, she waves down Yeri.

“Hi, I know this is a bit weird, but here’s some concept art? Like, if you ever want to spice up the shop or whatever.”

Yeri smiles widely and grabs the paper enthusiastically. “This is actually what we needed! Thanks miss.” Influenced to do the same, Seulgi gives a smile before heading back to her table.

Team art kids head out after packing all of their things and getting the last of their orders. Seulgi is the last to leave, lingering for a bit to look around before heading out with the rest of her friends. Right before she exits, she hears a door slam from somewhere in the back and a “WELCOME BACK SONNY BUNS!”

If one listened close enough, a soft could be heard. “Hello to you too Sooyoung. Yeri, Searon, you two can go now. I can clean up the place. Good work everyo-” And with that, the front door of the shop closes, obscuring sounds from the inside of the shop.

Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of anything in the past month. I just finished my class (five weeks long of cramming ugh) literally yesterday, so big apology for being dead. After procrastinating 3 final essays last minute, I am done and should be free for the most part for the next few weeks. Once again, sorry guys and I'll try to update more often before the hell called classes start again. I hope you enjoy~