It became clear nearly immediately why Jihun was so desperate to make the bookkeeping someone else’s problem. The café had, mostly, reasonable expenses. The issue came with the fact that none of the expenses had been booked, and it somehow looked like a financial statement hadn’t been made in years. Which was ridiculous because they must have submitted something. Jihun refused to answer any questions, repeating solely that all the information was on the hard drive he’d given you.

“Fresh orange juice should help.” Heejun smiled as he placed a glass down in front of you. You sighed, closing your laptop to smile back at him. “And a cupcake.”

Heejun sat down beside you, holding a cupcake up in his hands. No matter how many times you’d seen him smile, every time he looked at you with his adoring, devilish eyes, you felt something squirm inside you. And then a flurry of butterflies.

“Thank you. Do you have any idea what happened with this?” You asked.

“Ssh, cupcake.” Heejun insisted, taking your laptop off your lap and onto the table. He beamed at you, and resistance was futile. You took the cupcake from his hand and carefully peeled back the paper. It peeled perfectly. As per usual, Inseong’s baking was impeccable.

“It’s so fluffy and light… How did he do this?” You asked, staring in shock at the cupcake you’d taken a bite off. It almost melted away in your mouth like cotton candy.

“I’m amazing, that’s how.” Inseong said as he passed, grinning. You blinked, unsure how he even heard you. He moved right along as if he hadn’t said anything, sliding into a chair across from a couple of girls who looked around your age. They swooned almost immediately as he sang for them.

“It’s called angel food cake. They call it that because it’s so light that angels can eat it and still fly afterwards. Should we see if you can fly?” Heejun whispered. You shivered and covered your cheeks, feeling them burn.

“Heejun I’m working! I really want to do well.” You pouted at him, which of course did nothing to dissuade Heejun from being the sweetest devil. He pressed a kiss to your cheek, which made your heart flutter, and held another bite of the cupcake out to you.

“Maybe Jihun will like me more if I do well, and then maybe he won’t hate that we’re dating so much.” You sighed.

Heejun lowered the fork and set the cupcake aside. He took both of your hands in his and squeezed them gently, as he often did. You didn’t immediately squeeze back. Whatever they were to each other, it was clear that the hosts of the café were very close. And dating Heejun felt like it was causing some kind of rift. You looked over at Jihun, who was rinsing glasses at the bar looking bored.

“Hey, don’t worry about Jihun. He only acts like a tough guy, he’s a big softie really.” Heejun said. You looked back at him. He smiled radiantly, and it was infectious in spite of the huge pile of financials you’d yet to work through. May through October were still unaccounted for and you were sure you were missing files because the orders didn’t match up with the previous months while profits had gone up. But when Heejun smiled at you, it didn’t feel so heavy. It felt like his smile was tickling your heart.

“You know best I suppose. How are Halloween preparations coming along?” You asked, reaching up to brush a loose strand of his hair aside. He leaned into your hand, briefly closing his eyes. He looked so at peace like this. If only he didn’t enjoy teasing you so much.

“They’re alright. I do wish you’d change your mind. I think you’d look amazing in any costume. Even if you’re already perfect just like this.” His voice was so smooth, it made you sigh contentedly. If this wasn’t love, then what could possibly be love? But you couldn’t confess your love in here. It was bad enough for business that Heejun was spending so much time with you instead of other customers.

“Accountant, I have more papers for you!” Seoham announced cheerfully, dropping a stack of papers on your lap. You jolted up, nearly dropping what he’d just handed you.

Seoham stood behind you, smiling cheerfully. You couldn’t be mad with him, even though it was unsettling how every single one of them could so easily sneak up on you. You tore your glance away and skimmed through the papers. There were a couple of orders in there that you’d been missing, which was great, but they were out of order. And there were expenses for the Halloween party as well.

“Thank you Seoham. I’m not an accountant, though. I’m just keeping books for you guys.” You corrected him, not for the first time. Seoham had taken to addressing you with titles you didn’t think you had any right to. “Thanks for saving the receipts. They’ll be super helpful!”

In reality, they weren’t all that helpful. In your brave initial endeavours you had made a declaration form the guys could use when they paid for something themselves. While Heejun and Dongwon diligently (and Jihun begrudgingly) filled out their forms, Inseong flat out refused to fill it out and though Seoham wanted to fill them out he had a habit of throwing out receipts. Even when he saved them, you still ended up filling out the form.

“Happy to help! Sorry it’s taking you all so much time, though. Heejun, Jihun says you should be serving customers and not goofing off with your girlfriend. You’re on shift.” Seoham beamed. His tone rarely dropped from cheerful.

Heejun pouted but did get up, holding on to your hands as long as he could before he had to let go. He stamped one of his feet childishly but did put on a bright face. In an instant, the devious charmer you’d first met was back and on the floor. It seemed almost like no one remembered him doting over you as he served the customers.

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to be here while you all work?” You asked with a sigh. Seoham shrugged.

“Jihun didn’t say you couldn’t be. And you’re working too, so why shouldn’t you be in here? We’re all working together.” Seoham beamed. He always had direct answers. It was a wonderfully sweet thing of him. It was easy to see why many women, even men, were charmed by his innocent smile.

Seoham left to get back to work, and so did you. The orange juice was nice. It was sweeter than you were used to. Mostly orange juice from the store tended to have a bitter aftertaste, but the freshly squeezed orange juice here wasn’t even that sour. Re-energized you turned your attention to the files Seoham gave you, flipping through them to sort them based on dates.

“I hate to be the bearer of bad news.” Jihun announced dryly, handing you another stack of files. You raised an eyebrow at him.

“I’m sure you do. What are these from?” You asked, taking a glance at the first page. It was an email confirmation for an order, but you couldn’t tell what had been ordered. The seller looked familiar but the café had many of the same suppliers. At least there was an order number and it was time stamped.

Jihun sat down beside you, about as far as he could get from you whilst still technically sitting beside you. He sighed and reached over, leafing through a couple of files. You watched him carefully. He’d made it clear he wasn’t going to help you, so why was he here? That had to mean something was up, and that meant possibly more trouble.

“Mostly expenses from a few years back, but a couple of these things we still use. You said you needed those for this year, right?” He sounded as though he had given up all hope in life. “One hundred years and I don’t have a clue what this stuff is supposed to mean.”

“It does seem nonsensical.” You agreed hesitantly. “That’s a little melodramatic, though. I’ll put them in. It’ll become easier when everything’s caught up. Then you can forward all digital files into the program and whatever you still get on paper you can enter manually. But that should be only one in twenty files or so and the program will keep track for you.”

Jihun stared blankly at you, then to your laptop. The screen displayed Yuki, a program used for bookkeeping. You finished typing in the information of the receipt you were working on and sent the file in to be sorted where it needed to go.

“The problem there is that I have no idea how to work this program. There’s so many parts of it and if I stop to think for a minute I get logged out again and I have to get another code.” Jihun groaned.

“You get used to it. It’s for security. Is that why you came all the way? To tell me the program is frustrating to work with?” You asked, saving your progress just to be sure. Jihun shook his head, affirming your fears.

“We’ll be organising a Christmas event as well. You said we would need a new book for that? Does that mean another program, or a notebook? And where do those expenses go? Is it just an endless cycle made to torture me?” He sighed, exasperated. You did feel a little sorry for him. The more time you spent here, the more it did seem like Jihun carried the majority of the business burden.

“Easy there. Book is just the term, it’s not a literal book. It will fit just fine in Yuki. Did you account…-” You paused, noticing Jihun’s face shift already at the word. “How long have you been planning to have the Christmas party? You had one last year as well, didn’t you?”

“Yes. Why does that matter?” Jihun asked.

“Then I already have a book set up for them. If you can get me the files I’ll get them sorted.” You assured him. Jihun blinked, then slumped back in his chair. His hand covered his eyes, and you felt that in this light he looked particularly handsome. Was that the charm that he had?

He sat like that for a couple of seconds, just taking a few breaths. He looked tired. This was all exhausting to him. You couldn’t help but wonder why he chose this line of work if it made him this tired. Then again, not everyone had the luxury of choice. Maybe he hadn't had much of a choice. You really didn’t know that much about him. Finally Jihun sat back up.

“You’re pretty good at this stuff. It’s really a shame you’re so insistent on dating Heejun, you’re such a nice girl.” He mumbled. You weren’t sure whether to take that as an insult or a compliment. Jihun got up and dusted off his un-dusty pants. He gave you a final nod before walking off. You decided to get back to your work.

The day continued peacefully. The café closed earlier to allow for party preparations. You offered to help them with setting up, but Jihun had pointed out that you weren’t tall enough to hang up most of the decorations. In spite of their complete lack of financial planning, they were great at planning parties. The food had been prepared and different types of alcohol were already being placed on the bar.

You packed up your things, neatly packing all the paperwork back into boxes or bags to keep them all organised. Before you could even say anything, Dongwon had already picked up a couple of them to take them to the back of the house. You’d only been there a few times. There was a surprising amount of space there, a small kitchen and a back room with a conference table and some other office supplies. It didn’t have a heater, however.

You were jolted from your thoughts by two hands landing on your shoulders, one on each. You flinched but couldn’t shake the grip off you. When you looked back, Inseong stood behind you, grinning. His eyes shared the same mischievous glint that Heejun often had when he was feeling playful.

“Come along.” Inseong whispered, leaning closer. “I’m going to turn you into a vampire, too.”