It was quite a ride to get to this specific diner, as it was located in the middle of the city, traffic was terrible. With the amount of time wasted only with this task, she took it out on her phone — doing as much as she can on the go but there really isn’t much. It’s only been a day and she’s already regretting firing her assistant. She shouldn’t be doing these.

Before she can take out her frustration on her phone, the vehicle came to a halt, taking her out of trance from her anger. She sighed, feeling relieved, excitement filling her up resulting to her stepping out without assistance from the chauffeur.

“Crap,” she muttered, stopping herself from closing the car door, remembering that she was with the little one. She peaked her head inside the car.

“I won’t be long, Gahyeon.”

Her trainee, all eyes on the phone and usually walks around with no care in the world — she’s someone she doesn’t need to get food. How hard is it to get breakfast anyways?

Gahyeon didn’t bother answering, she just groaned, still stuck on fiddling with her phone. She doesn’t like moving, she’s way too focused on the electronic device, playing some game usually.

“I promise to get your favourite,” she let a soft smile paint her face, looking back at the little one, trying to get her attention again. This little human has the squishiest cheeks on earth but like most teenagers, she’s stuck in the digital world a lot.

Gahyeon snorted.

“What?”

Gahyeon shook her head, finally muttering a ‘nothing’ in such a dead tone. She found it quite odd that her mood swings are worse.

Oh well. Hormonal teenagers.

She faced the crowd in this bustling establishment. It made her heave a deep sigh.

She can do this.

Seeing the situation, she understood why it’s impossible to have it ready by exactly 8:30 in the morning. In this moment, she can feel the demand of a scrumptious meal to power up everyone’s day, specially office workers who likes to start their morning on a good note, seeing as most of them are dressed up formally. It’s sinking in that Yoohyeon, the assistant she recently fired, isn’t as lazy as she thought. It was her own fault that she had to do this task. She took a mental note to fix the misunderstanding whilst rushing towards the stools near the bar.

To say that the diner was packed was an understatement. All the tables were filled to the brim. She would surely need to wait for a while.

She started reminiscing, looking around the timeless setting of the place. It’s been a while since she had to personally grab her morning fix but here she is, in the flesh, leaning towards the familiar counter filled with a week of childhood memories. It really hasn’t changed much, it still had that rustic feeling that the 12 year-old tourist Handong felt when she first visited South Korea and had the most amazing eggs benedict. She’s been looking for it ever since. It’s unmatched.

The old pictures hung on the walls are still present, with the celebrities and long time customers who visited the place since 1990. A few photos were added too. Her sharp eyes, scanning most of them when something caught her eye.

Of course, it would still be there. A photo of the young Handong with her family and the diner’s owners and kids. She’s sure they’re still running the place but she’s not really close to them anyways. It was just a photo because they saw how fond Handong was with their food, seeing the foreigner kid happy and all smiles was captured in the shot. Speaking of food that makes people happy, her senses tells her that it’s still the same scent coming from the kitchen, making her stomach grumble.

A little background as how she ended up in South Korea, because as odd as it may sound, this diner is why she moved here. As the only child, her decisions mattered, she used the excuse of wanting to expand the family businesses internationally. It worked like a charm. Along with her simple dream, it was as if fortune is on her side, South Korea began to be one of Asia’s fashion capital. Their company went from the former Han Enterprise based in Wuhan, China to Han Inc in only a short amount of time. Although people say they are expanding too fast but Handong thinks that globalisation is the future. Their brand is established now. They can afford to take more risks. Thankfully, her careful considerations of the economic forecast backed up her somewhat rash decisions for only a breakfast meal.

“Excuse me!” Trying to garner attention from one of the waitresses. She has been here for around 10 minutes now yet the servers are all busy attending to other customers.

She took her shot or else she’d never get out of here. “Hey. I’d like an eggs benedict, extra hollandaise, maple syrup and then a breakfast wrap to go,” she said to the person behind the counter that accidentally made eye contact with her, she tried her best try and sound as fluent as possible. She’s gotten used to the language, three years experience under her belt, but sometimes excitement becomes her downfall. The server nodded with a ‘coming right up’ then giving her a shy smile, in contrast from what she had observed from the woman.

She must be new.

It was someone Handong couldn’t recognise. But don’t quote her on it. She haven’t been in a year or so even if she eats this breakfast religiously. This particular woman had long black hair, piercing eyes and a tall stature. She thought she’d be intimidating for one second but she was the complete opposite. Also, for someone who worked in a diner, she wears way too much heat absorbent clothing. She’d be sweating a lot today, Handong predicted.

Momentarily, her eyes followed where she was going, probably the kitchen, because the heat just hit Handong’s face as a loud slam of the door was heard. She turned away, leaning her back and facing the parking lot now.

What can she do while she impatiently waits for her food?

With the fast paced environment and the heat coming directly from the kitchen right behind them, it’s hard not to sweat profusely. It’s just morning and she might have to change her outfit when she reaches Han Inc headquarters.

Handong was busy fiddling with her phone, like Gahyeon was doing earlier on, to pass time and inform her people that she would be a bit late. She had such an important task to do (eat her favourite breakfast).

“Singnie! Help!”

It was of extreme desperation, expressed by a loud thud on the wooden counter, followed by a continuous rhythmic breathing from a person that just threw herself on the stool.

Red hair. It was the first thing that anyone would notice. It was bright, looked quite soft and definitely long.

“Oh God, Minji! Are you okay?”

Handong was confused. According to the server’s nametag, her name was Siyeon. Well, it’s none of her business but at least she got the name of the mannerless customer with striking hair.

Minji.

Handong assessed the person’s entire outfit, looking up from her phone for a few seconds. Not bad but she’s not a fan of the person’s etiquette already.

Petty behaviour, one might think but she’ll forget about it the next day. She believed that holding grudges for the littlest of things would only disrupt her way of thinking. But for now, she’d have to release this energy somehow, somewhere — any way she can.

Siyeon relied a lot on her reflexes when doing her job but she panics a lot resulting to the bolt of energy, making her run. She rushed towards the dessert section, quickly manoeuvring the glass, sliding it aside to access the sweets and sloppily fixing a cake to a plate and shoving a fork with it. Nervousness is evident on her face and movement, and with shaky hands she still managed to serve the food to Minji and hoped for the best.

Moments later, the door slammed opened with great force, revealing a petite woman in all white and a chef’s hat. Handong diverted her attention there, seeing something familiar. It’s called a toque, right? Handong prefers to call it as a ‘chef’s beret’. Anyways, the woman was smaller compared to Siyeon, whom she stood alongside to.

“Don’t scare us like that!” she shouted, taunting to hit the red haired woman with the greasy ladle on her hand. Is anyone watching this? People in the cafe seemed to be minding their own thing but one. Handong found it hilarious, she kept observing. This is entertaining. The chef’s annoyance was showing, ranting about her having to shut the kitchen down because of what was happening to Minji from the screen at the back. However, the now bubbly figure, an epitome of sunshine with a goofy smile plastered, was busy stuffing her face with food. Siyeon shook her head at the situation, patting the chef, comforting her by saying she’ll take care of the lass so she can get back to cooking. It’s rush hour. They have plenty of customers waiting — including Handong.

“You’ll give her a heart attack one of these days,” Siyeon let out a soft chuckle then got back to serving other customers.

“Odd,” Handong whispered. It was her turn to enter the scene. “Are you perhaps a glutton?”

“Sorry?” Minji with a mouthful of cake managed to answer. It was muffled by the sponge cake but it was still understandable.

“Just curious.” Handong shrugged, tapping her fingers on the bar impatiently. “Is it always this slow here?”

“Bora, takes her time and would only serve perfection on a plate.” Minji answered, slowly starting to feel annoyed because of the insults the woman was spewing.

“I should have gotten my food if you didn’t interrupt.” She said it in such a bland tone, trying to pin the blame to Minji.

“I’m VVIP here. Deal with it,” Minji retaliated towards the stranger. She decided those were her last two cents on this offending matter. She turned her back, facing the opposite way and quietly finished her cake. The nuisance should be gone any moment.

True to her words, Handong’s order was ready. Siyeon handed it to her and in return, she handed her card to pay. She could’ve just left but she had to leave a small remark. She couldn’t stop it. It would be a crime.

“Wear lighter colours so you don’t bathe in your own sweat,” Handong said, showing a small smile towards the waitress. Siyeon chuckled at Handong’s words, bidding farewell to the customer.

-

Minji is a regular. You can even call her a vvip due to her connections with the owner of the place. She’s been friends with the heir — Bora, since childhood, she’s been coming here from around 1998 til this day.

Although Bora technically owns the place, she’s still under observation as three generations of their family has ran this diner and they wanted to keep everything the same. It would be a shame to see their loyal customers leave because it doesn’t feel nostalgic anymore. It takes patience and practice to keep it that way. No matter how much Bora disagrees and would like to renovate and update recipes.

Minji agrees with her, to be honest. However, with that being said, Minji, now a fully fledged adult, has not once changed the habit of actually visiting. Not only because she get free desserts most of time but to also see how her friends are doing. She’s capable of visiting to end her day.

Her night shifts at the hospital aren’t bad. Being a nurse is something that she loves to do. Taking care of people and getting to know them a little bit better is what makes her career worth all the rigorous amount of work. So mostly, when the sun is up, her rationality leaves her too.

This is the main reason why Siyeon, Bora’s girlfriend, is tasked to care for Minji when she visits the diner. It’s physically impossible for Bora to do so and well, Minji can be too much sometimes.

“Waiting for someone?”

“Singnie!” Minji complained, hitting the waitress impulsively. She frowned a bit at how her heart jumped at the sudden approach. The other person just laughed while playfully saying “ow” with every hit. She had it coming.

“But yeah... I am,” she answered as her eyes wandered around the diner. Her playing with the cake, trying to consume it slowly gave it all away to be honest. Siyeon was following her eyes when they landed on the specific customer.

“Miss Expensive?”

“Screw you, Singnie. But not gonna lie, she has that expensive aura.” Minji sighed. Admitting defeat. “I don’t like her at all. Can’t we ban people?” Minji wondered, biting her lip as she started thinking.

Unknowingly, Handong slid onto the seat beside her. Thankfully, after Minji’s nasty remark of trying to ban the woman.

“Nice to see you again!” Siyeon greeted cheerfully. “What can I get you today?”

“Same thing I ordered yesterday. If you still remember.” Handong challenged, with a small smile. “As soon as possible. I’m quite BUSY,” she added. Handong didn’t know what got into her but seeing the red haired woman made her blood boil instantly. She even emphasised the word busy to make sure ‘Minji’ doesn’t prank the chef so she can get her food faster today.

“Singnie, can you tell Bora I need her asap?” she heard Minji interrupted Siyeon who was on her way to the kitchen anyways, making Handong scoff.

“I was here first,”

“You’re clearly not ordering?” Handong answered nonchalantly.

“Singnie, bring her out. Right now.”

Siyeon was stuck in the middle. This smells like trouble. She doesn’t know what to do.

Handong rolled her eyes, finally facing Minji. Giving her a death glare. Her piercing eyes stuck on the woman. Minji’s soft features doesn’t match her attitude at all. Handong found it as an outfit mismatch. There must be something. But she just can’t figure out.

“What?” Minji, trying to hide a laugh answered.

There it is. She was clearly trying to provoke Handong but the way she’s doing it looks off. However, it still gets on her nerves.

“What the hell is your problem?”

“You.” Minji let out a mocking laugh this time.

“Okay?” Handong felt she wronged the woman. But they’re strangers. And she’s only seen her for a few minutes yesterday. She settled with dropping the argument. It’s morning. She shouldn’t be in a bad mood.

-

Some people can hold grudges but there’s Kim Minji. They see her as a ray of sunshine but if she doesn’t like your vibe, her sassy and stand-off-ish side shines. Like right now. Handong had a taste of it after a stressful shift from work.

She was being all rude yesterday and now she’s acting innocent? Not on my watch. Minji was so determined to drive her crazy. That was her plan, at least.

“Hey. Kim Minji! Get your over here!”

Bora’s shout got her back into the real world. “Huh? Ah! Bora!” She smirked, realising that Siyeon did drag Bora out of the kitchen. It’s going well so far but her friend doesn’t look pleased. But she still got her. Sorry to the lady who exudes such an expensive aura.