“We’re broke.”

“Correction: You’re broke.” Wonyoung said as she sipped on her coffee one fateful afternoon.

Yujin had spammed their group chat previously with the words “STUDIO” and “NOW” over and over again, prompting everyone to ask what and where exactly this studio was. Despite their confusion, everyone ended up arriving in Yujin’s garage where they had practiced just the other day.

“Alright, rich kid.”

“Don’t call me that!” Wonyoung shouted at her.

“Chill out…” Yujin chuckled, trying to mask her fear as she carefully moved away from the younger girl.

“Can we please just go to Starbucks?” Wonyoung asked after diverting her attention away from Yujin. “I haven’t had my coffee yet today and I really need it or else you’re all going to get this.”

The girls watched as their youngest motioned towards herself, emphasizing her grumpy face.

“Sure, why not.” Yena said, standing up. “I’ll tell Kwangbae to just meet us there.”

“Where is she anyway?” Chaewon asked, looking over at the phone Yena was holding in her hand, trying to see if there was any news from Hyewon on the screen. “She’s usually the first to get here, sitting with a leaf in .”

“Technically, lettuce is part of the daisy family and grown as a leaf vegetable but—” Chaeyeon was about to correct before Wonyoung stopped her with a hand to her face.

“Please.” she pleaded and almost begged the older girl. “They will never understand. I do not need more of this.”

And with that, the band’s bass guitarist exited the garage, her fingers rubbing her temples.

The rest of the members stared at her before they shrugged and followed.

The following day came quickly, much to Yujin’s surprise since the moment they arrived at Starbucks the previous afternoon, Wonyoung rushed up to order her coffee which immediately brightened her mood. The next few hours were a blur for the drummer and she didn’t understand why. So in order to find out exactly what had transpired the day before, she called up her bandmates and demanded they meet at the coffee shop once again.

“You mean you don’t remember how you stood on this table and screamed your off about beating your sister?” Yena asked, leaning over the table, right in front of Yujin’s face.

“I did what?!” Yujin exclaimed in embarrassment.

“She’s playing with you.” Yuri scoffed, “We just came here, Wonyoung got her coffee and had a boring conversation while we waited for Hyewon who never actually came.”

“Why’d you leave out the part where we got hired?” Chaewon asked in confusion, looking at Yuri.

“Oh yeah. We got hired to work at Starbucks because we’re broke.” the pianist said nonchalantly.

“Why would they hire us?!” Yujin exclaimed once again.

“Were you drugged or something? Why don’t you remember any of this happening?” Wonyoung asked, her legs crossed, body turned away from the table, and her signature Caramel Macchiato in her right hand as she looked at Yujin.

“Well it might have been because she drank some of your coffee when you went to the restroom.” Chaeyeon said thoughtfully, pointing at the beverage in the girl’s hand.

“You did what?!” Wonyoung whisper-shouted. “And I drank from it again?!”

“You guys basically kissed.” Yena pointed out.

“No! It doesn’t work like that!” Wonyoung exclaimed stressfully.

“ANYWAY!” Yuri interrupted, getting them back on topic and ignoring the red hue appearing on the youngest’s cheeks as she scowled at her drink.

“Yujin tends to get hyper when she drinks coffee, so we never really let her since she’s kinda hard to control even when she’s normal. But it was just a sip, so it didn’t seem super dangerous.” Yena said excitedly.

“B-But just to clarify… I didn’t do anything embarrassing right?” Yujin stuttered nervously.

Chaewon, Yuri, and Yena looked at her as if the answer was obvious.

“No. Don’t listen to them. Whatever they say is pointless.” Chaeyeon sighed. “But one thing you do have to know is we have to work here today. So let’s get going.”

“You mean they just decided to hire their most annoying customers on the spot out of nowhere?” Yujin asked, still trying to piece all of the information together.

“Actually, the manager came up to us because Yena-Unnie and Yuri-Unnie were fighting and stuff happened and we kind of caused a ruckus. So instead of getting kicked out, we begged to work here and use our pay to fix the vase.” Chaewon recalled, trailing off halfway through her explanation.

“Not we. You guys caused a ruckus. Chaeyeon-Unnie and I suggested we pay it off by working. No one begged.” Wonyoung reminded her with a scoff.

Yujin looked at them, eyes wide open.

“You guys broke a vase?!”

“You broke the vase.” Yuri corrected.

“I broke a vase?!”

“A vase that we now have to pay for.” Chaeyeon said, standing up. “So let’s hurry it up children.”

“I’m not a child.” Wonyoung grumbled, picking up her stuff as she, too, stood up.

“You’re sixteen.” Yujin pointed out.

“And you’re a giant dog. What’s your point?”

“I’m not an animal!”

. . .

So of course, when Hyewon had arrived, she was definitely shocked to find their usual table empty and Yena standing behind the counter with an excited smile.

“What are you doing?” the older of the two asked, an eyebrow raised in question.

“Working. Duhhh.” Yujin’s voice sounded behind her where she was pouring ice into a cup.

“Why are you working here?” she asked once more.

“‘Cause we’re broke.” Chaewon answered from behind her with a rag in her hand.

“You guys are not broke. Wonyoung’s a whole princess.” Hyewon sighed. “What do you even need the money for?”

“The band! Get with the program Kwangbae!” Yena exclaimed, raising her hands to emphasize her pointless point. “We need money for an actual studio! And a concert! And everything else!”

“And when exactly were you going to tell me you all decided to apply for work and uncoincidentally got the same shifts i