BGM: SHINee - Punch Drunk Love

After months of working at Happy Bubble, you have developed this strange habit of predicting what a customer's order would be the minute they step inside the bubble tea shop. You can't explain exactly how you do it, but you seem right most of the time. Like today, for example, as soon as the teenage boy with a well-structured jaw pushed the front door open, somehow, you immediately knew that he was going to ask for a cup of almond milk tea.

"Annyeonghaseyo! Welcome to Happy Bubble! May I take your order, please?"

The boy, who was carefully studying the menu board when you spoke, shifted his gaze at you and smiled. "Annyeonghaseyo!" he greeted back, adjusting his glasses. "I'll have almond milk tea with pana cotta, please."

You chuckled in victory. "I knew it!" you thought to yourself. You were jotting down his order when the boy spoke up again:

"Uhm... is it okay if you don't put ice in it?" he asked.

"Are you sure?" you asked back.

"Yeah," he nodded, taking a seat on Sehun's favorite barstool across the counter. "I just realized I have to take care of my voice."

You entered the amount he owed you on the cash registry. "Why? Are you a singer?" you assumed, subsequently informing him that he needs to pay 6,000 won for the drink.

"I want to," he bashfully admitted. "I actually have an audition today."

You folded your arms across your chest. "Let me guess. SM Entertainment?"

"Yeah! How did you know?" he amusingly exclaimed, handing you his payment. "Wait. Don't answer that. It's a stupid question. Of course, it's obvious I'm going to SM because the building is just a few blocks away. Even their Everysing store is only a few steps away from this shop."

You chuckled. "So, how did you score an audition?"

"Well, I received a business card from a casting agent when I won a singing competition-" he said, entertaining himself by swiveling on the black barstool he was sitting on as he watched you get started on his almond milk tea.

"You won a singing competition?!?" you tried confirming.

"Yeah. First place," he proudly admitted.

"Congratulations! You must be really good!" you praised, as you started brewing the tea for the boy's drink. "I don't think you'll have any trouble with your audition today. Just sing your heart out and knock their socks off! I'm sure you'll pass."

He let out a sigh. "I do hope you're right."

While you were working on his almond milk tea with pana cotta, the boy took his time admiring the idol signatures posted on the wall. Sometimes, he would ask you questions like "What flavor does Sunny noona prefer?" or "Did Amber really sign this?" and you, in return, would provide him with the answers that you know.

"Oh! I forgot to ask you!" The boy returned to his seat. "What's your name?"

"It's Jaemi," you replied. "Han Jaemi."

The boy, whose prominent cheekbones remind you of SHINee's Key, tilted his head as he began surveying your face. "Han Jaemin," he incorrectly repeated with a playful smirk. "I think it suits you."

"It's Jaemi," you corrected.

"Is your name, like, a combination of your parents' names?" he guessed, resting his elbows on the counter before his chin with his left index finger. "Because I get that vibe from your name somehow."

You continued pouring milk on the metal cup. "Yeah, how did you know?"

"Just a guess," he responded. "So what are their names, then?"

"Jaesuk and Miyoung," you answered, attaching the metal cup to the shaking machine that Yeonhee bought some months ago. Once you were certain it was firmly in place, you pressed the green button to start, well, the mixing process.

Because the shaking machine was creating too much noise, the boy, in an attempt to make himself heard, spoke unusually louder than usual. "JAESUK?!?" he asked, surprising you by effortlessly amplifying his voice. "LIKE THE MC YOO JAESUK?"

"Yeah," you nodded. "Why?"

"NOTHING," he chuckled, pulling a couple of paper napkins from the dispenser. "I JUST FIND IT AMUSING THAT A COUPLE NAMED JAESUK AND MINYOUNG WOULD ACTUALLY CALL THEIR DAUGHTER, JAEMIN." When he noticed that your expression wasn't so good, the boy added, "I  MEAN, IT'S CUTE. REALLY CUTE. I THINK IT'S CUTE THAT YOUR PARENTS DECIDED TO NAME YOU JAEMIN."

"It's Jaemi," you repeated. "JAE-MI. There's no 'N' in it."

It doesn't seem like he heard you because instead of acknowledging your continuous attempt to get him to say your name correctly, he just commented on the noise coming out of the bubble tea equipment. "THAT THING IS LOUD!" he noticed, pointing to the shaking machine.

You pressed the red button to finally turn off the machine. "You wouldn't imagine how shocked I was the first time I operated this thing," you mentioned as you dis-attached the metal cup from the equipment. You then poured its contents onto the plastic cup with pana cotta sinkers and sealed it off with a dome-shaped plastic lid.

"Thanks," the boy said when he received his drink. "This looks good."

"It will taste good too, I'm sure," you assured, showing him the dispenser that contains the jumbo straws. The boy took one and immediately punched it against the dome-shaped lid, so he could finally take a sip.

"You're right," he agreed, taking another sip. "This is delicious!"

The boy grabbed the backpack he previously placed on the vacant seat beside his and slung it over to his shoulder. He grabbed a couple more paper napkins and wrapped them around his cup. After swiveling in his seat one last time, he finally stood up and waved goodbye.

"Nice meeting you, Jaemin," he said with a smile.

You pouted and heaved out a frustrated sigh. Even if the boy has already exited the bubble tea shop and there was probably no way for him to hear what you were going to say next, you still corrected him for the last time:

"It's Jaemi."

"ANNYEONG, JAEMI-AH~!!!"

Park Chanyeol was in a really good mood when the Korean boys arrived at the bubble tea shop that afternoon. Unlike that day when they first came in with Baekhyun, Mr. Park was back to his usual cheery self and he proved - once again - that he was, indeed, the human megaphone when he greeted you with a voice that was probably amplified all the way to Busan.

"Well, someone's in a good mood," you noticed.

"I got praised at dance class today," he proudly announced.

You playfully arched an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

Sehun scoffed and settled on his new favorite spot inside Happy Bubble: the barstool across from you. "Jaewon sunbae wath being tharcathtic," he whispered, taking the red and blue California Angels baseball cap off his head to rest it on the counter. "Chanyeol hyung thought it wath a compliment."

Happy Park Chanyeol, you reckoned, was much better to have around than sulky Park Chanyeol; so instead of bursting his little bubble by pointing out what Sehun just told you, you decided to go along with what your 19-year-old tall friend believes and even congratulated him for it.

"Where's Yeonhee noona?" Jongin asked.

"She's not here yet," you replied. "I guess I have to stay a bit longer."

Jongin nodded and sat beside Sehun. "That's okay," he said, laying his backpack on the floor. "Moonkyu and I will wait for you, then. We're not exactly in a hurry anyway."

"Thanks," you smiled, reaching out to pull up the collar of his checkered jacket to finally cover his bare left shoulder. "Will you ever learn how to properly wear a jacket?" you nagged, but you were flattered, nevertheless, that he chose to wear the present you gave him on his birthday.

"Umma-mode," he chuckled.

Moonkyu squeezed himself between Jongin and Sehun and rested his forearms on the green-painted counter. "Where's Jihye?" he asked as he looked around for any sign of your best friend.

"They had an emergency drama club meeting, so she couldn't come with me today," you answered, ruffling the hair on your other commuting buddy's head. "You really need a haircut, Moonkyu-ah."

"You're right," Moonkyu told his pseudo-twin. "She's on umma-mode again."

Slightly shaking your head, you just brushed off their teasing and decided to get started on the bubble tea. "What's the flavor for today, Chanyeol?" you asked as you began taking out empty plastic cups for the boys' drinks.

"Chanyeol! Try green tea latte," Baekhyun recommended.

"Bleh. It tastes like grass," Chanyeol refused.

It was also note-worthy that Chanyeol's relationship with Baekhyun has been improving gradually since the latter saved him when he accidentally choked on an enormous piece of Cancho Choco biscuit. They didn't become the best of friends right away and they weren't being chummy enough to throw jokes at each other, but at least Mr. Park was now cordial enough to acknowledge the new trainee's existence.

"Jaemi-," Kyungsoo sat on one of the barstools. "-am I mean?"

"Yes," you nodded, albeit too quickly.

Kyungsoo, clearly not happy with your answer, surprised everybody when he lightly hit your head with his palm.

"AH~ HYUNG!!!" his dongsaengs complained.

"Why did you hit a girl?!?" Chanyeol scolded.

Kyungsoo started panicking. "Sorry, Hoobae! I didn't- I didn't mean to-"

"Ah~ Sunbae! You're lucky it was just me and that it didn't hurt at all," you said, taking a step back from the counter. "You did mess up my hair though," you added, gently pulling off the violet tie that holds your hair in a ponytail.

"If Luhan hyung was here, you'd be dead by now," Youngho told Kyungsoo.

You grabbed your yellow backpack to look for a comb. Youngho smiled to himself when he caught Sehun staring at you the entire time you were fixing your hair. He has always suspected his friend of harboring a school-boy a crush on you because of your undeniable similarities and not to mention resemblance to their Yeonhee noona, but actually seeing 8g of Fat looking at you this intently only made Youngho more confident about his suspicions.

"I'm sorry again, Jaemi," Kyungsoo sincerely said.

"Don't worry about it, Sunbae. I actually know why you did it," you assumed.

Jongin and Moonkyu were curious. "Why?" they asked in unison.

"Kyungsoo sunbae probably forgot I was a girl," you claimed as you went back to work by brewing the leaves to be used for the tea. "Don't worry. I'm used to it by now. I know you guys sometimes forget that I'm not actually a dude like you."

"I hate to break it to you, Jaemi, but you're not exactly the 'one-of-the-boys' type of girl," Minseok pointed out, slouching in his seat at their usual table. "You may not be a girly-girl like my sweet Jihye, but you're still lady-like most of the time."

"Sweet and Jihye are two words that I never expected to be mentioned in a single sentence," Chanyeol commented, taking his mobile phone out to check for new messages.

Moonkyu laughed. "Jihye would be a scary girlfriend."

"Best of luck to you, Minseok hyung!" Jongin joked. "You're going to need it!"

"I think I need more luck to convince Jihye to be my girlfriend first, don't you think?" Minseok responded, puffing his baozi cheeks. "Should I confess soon? Or should I delay it until I'm sure she has fallen for me?"

All eyes were on you now. They were waiting for you to answer Minseok's question, that's for sure, but you also didn't know what to say. "I don't know, Baozi..." you trailed off as you scooped tapioca pearls onto the cup labeled '8g of Fat'.

"Add an extra thcoop," Sehun requested.

"I'll charge you extra for that, though," you informed.

He shrugged. "Okay."

"Jaemi, be honest with me," Minseok pleaded, getting up from his chair to approach the counter. He looked straight into your eyes and asked, "Is your best friend serious about Kevin?"

You sighed. "I don't know..."

"You've been saying that for a while now," Baekhyun noticed.

"I'm sorry, but I really don't know," you insisted, adding scoops of black bricks to the pseudo-twins' cups. "It's obvious she likes him, but I really can't say just how much. I'm not really sure if she only likes him because he's very attractive or if she has genuine romantic feelings for him."

Youngho smirked. "You think Kevin hyung's attractive?"

"It would be a lie if I said I don't find him good-looking at all," you confessed, checking on the brewing tea. "That doesn't mean I want to date him, though."

"We all know it's Luhan hyung you want," Kyungsoo claimed.

Rolling your eyes, you retorted with, "What about you, Sunbae? Are you going to admit that the reason you asked me whether you're mean or not was because of Hyejin?"

"That has nothing to do with her!" he defended.

"Of course it does! You were mean to her when we were in the soondae shop-" you reminded. "-and now you're being paranoid because now that she's sort of friends with us, you realized that she doesn't like you very much."

"So you like her!" Minseok exclaimed.

Youngho whistled. "Woooo! Kyungsoo and Hyejin!"

"I don't think Chansik's going to like that, though," Jongin mused, running his palm over his neck. "He hasn't said anything yet, but I think he's one of those guys who is secretly in love with his best friend-"

"-the girl best friend who is completely oblivious of the guy's feelings," Moonkyu finished.

You poured some freshly-brewed tea into the metal cups. Before adding the milk, you playfully shoved the carton towards Sehun to let him know that it says '8g of fat' in the nutritional chart that was posted on the side. "I'm so glad my best friend is a girl," you mumbled.

"You have Jongin hyung, though," Sehun reminded.

"Yeah, but he's my chingu," you said. "My subway chingu