It is raining hard and Eris Café is currently packed with those finding shelter in it. Jongdae is busy making three cups of hot vanilla latte while Yeri is diligently helping him from the side with her accumulated knowledge of making coffee from her six months part-timing in the café. Jennie, on the other hand, is busy receiving the currently last order from the cashier.

“Okay, so, one Ice Americano and one chocolate mousse under the name of…?” Jennie trails off, looking at the costumer who seems to be spacing off.

Realising she has been starring into space, the costumer apologizes quickly before answering, “Seulgi. Kang Seulgi.”

Jennie chuckles before writing down her name on the cup, “I didn’t realise there are a lot of people who still prefer their drinks cold under this weather.”

Seulgi grins, “Lots of us don’t like hot drinks, I think.”

The other girl nods in agreement, she thought everyone would order hot drinks but it seems like some people do not associate their drinks with the weather.

“It’s really packed, huh?” Seulgi adds as she pays for her orders.

Before Jennie could answer, Yeri cuts her off, only now recognising their costumer. “Oh? Hi, Seulgi unnie!”

Seulgi chuckles and the two talk for a while until Jennie finishes preparing her cake. Saying her thanks, the girl takes her seat at the barista station as she waits for her drink. Jennie could see her greeting Jongdae and they, too, talk for a while and then she lets the guy continue his work in silence.

“Is she a regular?” she decides to ask the younger girl and Yeri nods.

“She’s been busy though, and this is probably the first time she comes here in a month or so. We went to the same club but she quits last year,” the younger girl explains and Jennie could only hum in return.

Looking around the café, there are times when she feels a little left out even though her co-workers are nothing but nice people. Having worked there for about three weeks now, Jennie can definitely say Eris Café has a lot of regulars and she has seen a lot of costumers and her co-workers talk comfortably with each other, making her wonder if she will work there long enough to be that way.

The door opens again and Jennie is about to greet another poor costumer coming in under the rain before the guy beats her into it, “Is the manager in? I was nearby and thought I might as well start my shift early if I could because I couldn’t go anywhere, anyway.”

“He’s inside. Go dry yourself before you get sick,” Jongdae scolds him with his motherly tone. The guy just salutes at him before going in to see the manager, his guitar case seems to be heaving him down as he walks. “All orders finished and helping hands just have to come right after,” he pouts.

Jennie laughs as she helps Jongdae clean his counter. “At least all those dishes will clean faster.”

“You think the rain will stop anytime now?” the barista asks, looking outside the window.

The girl follows his sight, shrugging her shoulders before answering. “I don’t think so. This kind of rain usually lasts long. Why? Are you going somewhere?”

He shakes his head, “Just wondering.”

“Why are you here?” they both turn to the voice, seeing Yeri with an annoyed frown.

The guy grins at her, “Hey, is that anyway to greet oppa?”

Yeri is about to reply when Jongdae throws silicon gloves at him, “Stop bothering Yeri and start doing the dishes, you oaf.”

Chanyeol pinches the bridge of his nose and starts doing his job, whining about Jongdae not giving him a chance to have fun. Yeri sticks out her tongue at him, purposely annoying him from the side while telling him ‘Jongdae oppa will never take your side over mine!’ Jongdae and Jennie laugh at them, shaking their heads at their usual fights.

“Umm.. excuse me?” A little startled, Jennie turns to the costumer, asking if there’s anything she can help with. “I accidentally spilled my drink on the table, can I have some napkins?”

“Oh, it’s okay. I will clean it up for you. Please wait a second.” Jennie smiles, grabbing a rag after making sure which table she has to clean up.

“She adapts well, doesn’t she?” Chanyeol says to Jongdae as the other guy stands beside him.

“Yup,” he answers popping out the ‘p’, “But I think she feels left out from time to time. There are times I catch her zoning out when we talk to our regulars and stuffs.”

Chanyeol nods at him, “It’s been-- what? Almost a month since she started working here, right? She will be used to them, too, in a bit.”

“She’s not even used to you, yet,” he snickers at the other guy. Chanyeol looks at him with his wide eyes, feigning ignorance. “You grin too much she’s probably wondering if you're normal.” Chanyeol only opens his eyes even wider (Jongdae didn’t know he could do that) pretending not to understand and Jongdae sighs at him as if to tell him to do whatever he wants.

“Sometimes I just feel bad seeing her spacing out like that.”

The taller guy is silent for a while before answering, “Maybe we should go to an outing? Just the four of us? Or five with the manager?”

Jongdae hums at the idea. “Meeting outside works will definitely help her,” he nods to himself. “I’ll ask Minseok hyung for permission first,” he announces before going in to see their manager.

“What were you two talking about?” Chanyeol jumps a bit, almost breaking the cup he’s drying off before turning to the voice. An embarrassed smile graces Jennie’s face and she whispers an apology, helping the older guy dries off the dishes.

Chanyeol smiles at her then goes back to his work before answering, Jennie rarely initiates a conversation with him. “Some plan to hang out.”

Jennie only nods, she keeps quiet for a moment and then she turns her head to the guy, “Chanyeol-ssi…”

“What Chanyeol-ssi? We’ve been working together for quite a while now. Everyone in the café is family. Drop the formality and call me oppa, it’s okay,” he grins at her. Jennie is starting to wonder if grinning is just a habit for him.

“Okay, then, if you don’t mind,” she stops again, as if not sure if she should continue. “Can I ask you something?” Chanyeol hums at her. “Do you know that girl? She’s a regular, right” she points at one certain costumer; sitting by herself by the window. She is one of the rare regular that is quiet rather than loud and cheerful. Jennie recognizes the girl, she usually brings her book and sits at the café for an hour or two as she reads, gracefully sipping on her drink every now and then. But today, her book is neglected at the table, she’s busy staring at the rain and Jennie could see her having earphones on. For some reason, Jennie is curious about her and the question comes out before she hesitates again.

Chanyeol follows her gaze, finding himself looking at Kim Jisoo. Oh, the beautiful Kim Jisoo. Chanyeol remembers the first time she came in during his shift, he was a stuttering mess and accidentally put whip cream when she asked for a plain drink, but Jisoo only smiled to ease his nerve, telling him it’s okay and there’s no need to remake her drink. The second time he had the chance to serve her, he apologised again and this time, too, Jisoo only smiled as she shook her head, telling him everyone makes mistakes and it’s no big deal.

“Kim Jisoo… right?” Jennie says as if to remind Chanyeol she is there.

“Yeah. She’s a regular but she doesn’t really talk to us.”

“There’s something sad about her, isn’t it?”

Chanyeol turns to Jennie, one of his eyebrow going up in question. “Because she’s always alone?”

The girl shakes her head, “Because she always has this empty look in her eyes every time she’s not with her book.”

With a look of surprise, Chanyeol is just about to say something when Jongdae cuts him off, “The rain doesn’t seem to be stopping so Minseok hyung say we might as well use the stage and perform for them,” and just like that, their conversation about Kim Jisoo ends.

“And the outing?” he asks as he dries his hand. Jongdae just gives him an OK sign as answer, telling him they should plan it together later. Chanyeol agrees and gets ready to get his guitar.

 

*

 

Jennie is excited when she hears Jongdae and Chanyeol are going to perform, she has heard from Yeri that they do it from time to time and the costumers always like it because they’re so good. She has seen Chanyeol bringing his guitar every now and then but she has never heard him play and she’s looking forward to it. Jongdae, on the other hand, sings as he works without realising and Jennie has had the pleasure of listening to him.

Jongdae takes the mic, greeting their costumers from the little spot their café has. Jennie realises that almost everyone has been looking towards the stage since they see Chanyeol bringing out his guitar except for one person: Kim Jisoo. She sees the girl glance at Jongdae for a second before going back to gaze out the window. Jennie wonders if she’s living in her own world and doesn’t care for anything else. But she sees her pulling out her earphones a second later, a tiny smile disappears in a flash and decides otherwise.

Chanyeol asks if they’d prefer them to sing ballads and go with the weather or should they sing something upbeat to lighten up the mood. Naturally, most wants to hear ballads even though the sun is even yet to set.

After singing a few songs, Jongdae asks if they have a song they want him to sing to. Someone requests a song he doesn’t know, but thankfully Chanyeol does and so the mic goes to Chanyeol for the time being. When he sees a costumer walk in, he gets off his seat and walks back to his counter. Chanyeol can sing a few songs by himself. Yeri is going around giving them free cookies courtesy of their manager.

“Hello, what would you like to order?” The guy ponders for a while, his eyes moving through the menu not being able to choose one. “You can take your time choosing,” Jennie says. “There’s no one behind you anyway.”

“What would you recommend me?”

Jennie points at herself and the guy chuckles before nodding, “Well… I’d say Dark Mocha. But it depends on whether you like coffee taste more or chocolate taste more.”

He nods again, “I’ll have that, then. See if I can trust your recommendation.” The look of surprise on Jennie’s face makes him laugh again and he says he won’t blame her if their taste doesn’t match. “Make it warm and I’ll also have some tiramisu, yeah?”

Jennie nods and puts in his order to the machine, “And the order would be under the name of?”

“Park Jinyoung.”

Jennie tells him to wait for the cake a bit and he can take a seat as she will help him with the drink later. Jinyoung takes a look around the café, the only empty seats he can take is either the one with three school girls on the back of the café or the seat near the window with a girl sitting by herself. He decides he’d rather sit with one girl rather than three girls going through puberty.

Jisoo is more than surprised when someone taps her shoulder softly, turning her head, she finds her gaze falls on his sheepish smile and she can’t help but look at him in confusion despite his cute smile.

“I’m sorry but everywhere else is full, would it be okay if I sit here? I promise I won’t bother you.”

The girl stares at him for a while before smiling a little, softly telling him it’s okay before going back to watch the rain.

“Do you like the rain?” he says, following her gaze.

Jisoo doesn’t answer immediately; she’s not sure how to. She doesn’t talk a lot in general, let alone to strangers, but it’s rude not to answer so she settles for a simple ‘yes’ without explanation.

“I like them, too. I’m not sure what about it but I do.”

The girl only nods at him, not knowing what to comment on that. She thanks the god Jennie comes to bring his drink and stops their conversation before it becomes awkward.