Joohyun stares down at her watch with the biggest scowl humanely possible; she's either going to be late for the play or she won’t make it at all. She didn’t understand the point of their weekly roster if the boss simply ignores her requests for off days – today was clearly marked off for her. Just because one of the younger staff couldn’t come in due to personal reasons, Joohyun was immediately called up. To be honest, the play wouldn’t be that important if it wasn’t her best friend requesting. They’re already in their late twenties and a friendship of more than a decade means the world to Joohyun; of course, she’d make it a point to support her no matter what.

“Joohyun! There’s someone at the counter!”

“I seriously can’t catch a break,” Joohyun mumbles under her breath. She plasters the fakest smile on and heads to the counter, readjusting her apron to make it more presentable. “Welcome to Starbucks, what can I get you?”

Coming from a customer’s standpoint, Joohyun does come off a little rude because she isn’t even looking at the customer.

Feeling a tad bit mischievious this evening, an obnoxious smirk grows on the customer’s face. She was just about to get mad but a little tilt of her head and she sees the cashier’s beautiful, heart stopping features.

“Could I get a Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew with 5 pumps of caramel and classic syrup, 5 pumps of white mocha with extra vanilla powder, coconut milk, heavy cream, less ice, extra almond milk, extra sweet cream, dark chocolate chips and extra whipped cream?”

What the .

There is absolutely no ing way I’m making that.

Joohyun looks up with clenched teeth and fists, hoping her expression doesn’t show too much – though she’s more than ready to smack the lights out of the customer. No one in their right mind would go to Starbucks and order that absolute mess.

“I am not serving you that huge cup of diabetes.”

“Oh, I’m not actually ordering that. I was trying to get your attention.”

If the customer is a middle-aged woman or simply, a male, Joohyun won’t even bother giving them time of day. She still isn’t that pleased with the woman standing in front of her either way. “Well, what is it you want then? There’s someone else coming in so you might wanna make it quick.”

“Just an iced latte will do.”

“Right, and your name?” Joohyun deadpans, her fingers moving fairly quickly on the cash register. She can barely pretend she cares about the rest of tonight; she doesn’t.

“Seungwan.”

The payment process doesn’t take long with Joohyun rushing to take the next customer’s order as well; she might not like her job very much but she’s good at it. An iced latte was one of the easiest drinks to make, and so Joohyun wonders why Seungwan had to give her such a ridiculous order. Nevertheless, her actions don’t show her frustration in the least and she completes the order in double the time.

“Iced americano for Seungwan!”

“Coming!”

The whimsical tone in Seungwan’s voice reflexively makes Joohyun inwardly cringe – this one’s a real pain in the . No one, and Joohyun repeats, absolutely no one ever responds when their name is called out.

Seungwan arrives at the counter with another one of her -eating grins, causing her dimple to make an appearance. Her eyes twinkle with mischief, extremely trickled by how easily it is to rile up the barista. “Thank you, beautiful. You’re as sweet as my coffee.” She involuntarily lets out a chuckle when Joohyun all but rolls her eyes at the greasy, shameless and backhanded compliment – her coffee will never be sweet. Unfortunately for Seungwan, Joohyun doesn’t give her the opportunity to sneak in more comments, straightaway moving aside to call out the next customer.

If it isn’t for her phone going off like a fire alarm in her pocket, Seungwan would be delighted to stay here just for laughs. She gives a little wave when she notices the barista stealing glances at her, “bye, Joohyun-ssi!”

Just as Seungwan finishes her drink and is ready to throw the cup away, her eyes widen at the name written on the cup.

Cornball with blonde hair.

Cornball?

A soft laughter rings through the quiet night, breaking the once serene silence. ‘What a personality…’ Seungwan thinks to herself. She knows the barista was not in a good mood, judging by the knitted eyebrows and body language. A part of her wanted to lighten the mood and atmosphere – which worked a little, in her opinion – at least the barista was distracted from whatever was bothering her. “Well… looks like I found a new place to get my daily coffee from.” Perhaps her favourite café closing down last night had some hidden benefits after all.

*

Joohyun rushes to her car with one hand frantically opening the door, the other dialling her best friend’s phone number to the best of her ability. She’s such a mess – not well dressed, not punctual and not prepared to attend a play at the theatre hall.

“Please leave your message after the tone.”

“Jen, I’m rushing over right now. I’ll be there during the intermission so wait for me in the waiting room for a bit when you can.”

It hasn’t been that long since she got her driving license but Joohyun can’t afford to waste any more time. Her best friend would definitely understand and assure her that the play isn’t even that important, but Joohyun begs to differ. They rarely get to meet up nowadays, what with the way responsibilities of being adults have overtaken their lives. Joohyun’s mind is so full of her best friend’s play and her countless promises to attend one after another that she fails to notice the moving shadow behind her car.

Only when a loud bang and an even louder yell is heard… Joohyun gasps.

Oh god, she’s killed someone.

“HEY! DO YOU DRIVE WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED?”

“I’m so sorry! Oh my God! Are you – YOU AGAIN?!”

Tonight, is going absolutely terribly, and Joohyun once again has to deal with a troublesome person. Luck is never on her side, it seems, neither is God’s play. She begrudgingly approaches the woman sprawled out on the floor, attempting to mask her horror at how nasty the gnash on her leg is.

“Ow… Ow… OUCH! SLOWLY!”

Seungwan tends to overreact for the fun of it sometimes, but this gnash is probably the most painful one she’s gotten in years. She can feel the cold wind blow against her open wound and it stings so badly. Let’s not even begin to mention how swollen her ankle is by now, probably twisted it when she tried to break her own fall. Perhaps it was also her fault because she was walking in the carpark without any light from her phone… but by God, the barista was a bad driver all right. The street lamps didn’t do much to help their surroundings in the least; most people would definitely turn on the headlights and sidelights to ensure their safety first.

“Shut up and let me help you then!” Joohyun chides in exasperation, inwardly thanking the heavens when Seungwan stops whining. She did feel a little bit guilty about this but her fatigue and annoyance are blocking that. “There we go… now put your arm around me.”

Maybe it’s due to the fact that Joohyun looked taller behind the counter, but Seungwan is surprised that they’re about the same height. She puts her arm around Joohyun without hesitation but is then taken aback by how petite the latter is.

“Oh, you’re tiny.”

Joohyun turns to her with a glare that could put her underneath the ground if looks could do something, “That’s a little bold coming from you. We’re literally standing and seeing eye to eye right now.”

Oh, she’s feisty.

“Geez, okay. I was just joking…”

What else can Joohyun possibly do other than bring Seungwan to the hospital by herself?

“Now sit there, and keep quiet.”

Seungwan keeps to that, putting on her seatbelt with a pout on her face. The barista will probably deck her in the face if she still doesn’t cooperate. She was worried about leaving her bike here in the carpark overnight, and for good reason – she recently got it modified. It would be her first time riding it alone since the modification, and she wanted to make sure it was smooth before inviting her friend for a ride. In fact, it was also her idea for Seungwan to get it modified and all, considering Seungwan is such a big fan of both cars and motorbikes. Her collection at home and in the carpark downstairs (for private eyes) is already a huge sign.

Joohyun huffs the moment she gets in the driver’s seat, throwing her phone and trinkets into the middle compartment. She might have been unsure of making it to the play a few hours ago but now there’s no going back to that.

“You don’t have to bring me to the hospital you know, I’ll live,” Seungwan mumbles, a little intimidated by the way Joohyun was gripping the steering wheel.

“And let you die here while I’m branded a murderer? I think not.”

The well-awaited but deathly silence engulfs the car soon enough, with Seungwan struggling to stay awake. She was put in a rather uncomfortable position, her leg turned and twisted awkwardly. Joohyun, on the other hand, can’t thank the Lord enough for the quietness. She isn’t terrible company unless she wants to be but the events of the night have just gone from bad to worse. It all started from her being called back on her off day, then to the guilt of potentially missing a play, and then being made fun of by this troublesome woman. Of course, Joohyun’s mood would go down the drain.

Text message to Jennie

i’m rushing to the hospital with someone

i accidentally reversed into them.

sorry for missing the play ☹

Now, Joohyun rarely texts while driving but she’s so all over the place that rules simply do not have a position in her mind anymore. She accelerates and makes a big show of drifting a little; not because she wants to show off or anything, but because she doesn’t want to go through the trouble of slowly finding a lot. If she makes it look more serious and more severe, the security guards won’t bother her.

“I need help please! A car reversed into her by accident a while ago!”

Seungwan isn’t even given an opportunity to be waken up peacefully before her door is forcefully yanked open, causing her to nearly fall out of the car. “Hey, what gives – HELLO?”

Joohyun watches silently as the doctors and nurses rush to her car with a stretcher, not so delicately handling Seungwan along with her injury. She has an urge to simply leave the woman here and head on over to Jennie, but her conscience would never let her live this down. Furthermore, Seungwan literally knows where she works now. What if she comes and makes her life at work a living hell? Joohyun’s boss is already pissed off at the attitude she openly showed, her colleagues unwilling to help her out because she never helps them out… customers are her only saving grace these days. It’s not as if she’s going to be able to enjoy the play anymore.

She might as well stay and save her with this one.

Seungwan hates hospitals.

Seungwan detests hospitals with a burning passion, and she’d much rather die at home than ever come here. The bright white lights, the syringes, the operating attire? Everything needs to stop.

“I don’t want to stay in. Just look at this for me and if I don’t need an operation, I’m going home.”

“Are you sure? We can take care of you well here.”

“Yes, I’m sure.” Seungwan didn’t leave room for any doubt, her voice and gaze shutting the nurses up. She did have a terrible feeling about how this was going to go though.

The check-up goes over the average time frame, and it has Joohyun’s anxiety skyrocketing. She knows the gnash on Seungwan’s shin will most likely require stitches and the works but this is taking longer than expected. Her fingertips are clamped between her teeth, nervously chewing on the poor nails. If the doctors find out that she was the one who knocked into Seungwan, will they turn her over to the police? Are they going to expose her and what she did? What about Seungwan, what is she going to do? Joohyun has too many things to consider, and it’s eating at her constantly.

Joohyun can feel her phone vibrating in her pocket but she pays no heed to it, not with the nurse looking for her. “I came in with the accident victim, you can talk to me. How are her injuries?”

“She’s going to need stitches for the wound on her shin so that’s going to be a couple more hours, but her ankle will be put in a cast for now. The slightly fortunate thing is that they’re bo