Waking up Thursday morning, I found myself sitting in bed and staring at my room again. There are clothes and books and papers everywhere, the dried, clean dishes are still left on the counter and the room is dark and depressing. Instead of smelling like old loft, it’s smelling like mould and mildew, and despite still lying under the covers I could feel the chills coming from outside. I rub my eyes but can’t seem to shake this exhaustion and tiredness off, and as I cross the room to hit the shower and throw a quick glance outside. It’s raining. It is pouring down like the heavens have opened up on us and decided we needed a new flooding of the world like the one in the Christian bible with that Noah guy and his huge boat.
“No wonder I can’t shake this feeling,” I mutter as I turn on the shower and wait for the water to run warm over my fingers. I get weather sick, and as I step into the tiny bathtub and let my face sink into the streams of water, the image of the rain outside my window loops in a never ending video in my mind and I can feel the depression sink in. I keep still, unmovable, leaning against the shower wall while the not-quite-so-warm water runs over my body. My insides feels like they’re slowly turning into tiny, black holes, and everything aches, but standing like this, not moving a muscle, the silky smooth water running and trickling down my body seems to soothe some of the sore spots and tickle delightfully to increase my mood a little. Unfortunately I cannot let myself stand like this for ever; I still have a job to go to. Finishing up quickly before the water gets colder, I do the whole routine: shampoo, face wash, body wash, shaving, lotion, and getting dressed, before I enter the small kitchen corner and look for some food. I realise I should have spent my money on grocery shopping last night, rather than on a bowl of spicy rice cake soup, but it’s too late to realise that now. I find a dry piece of bread in the drawer, get some cheese and ketchup and make myself a make-shift sandwich for breakfast and while I eat the cardboard like meal, I mentally prepare a shopping list as a distraction from the horrible, dry taste. Feeling like the weight of the world has been dropped on my shoulder and is running down into my gut, I grab my keys and exit my apartment. . It’s not until I get down to the ground floor that I realise I still don’t have a raincoat or an umbrella or anything to cover me from the horrible punishment the weather gods have prepared for me outside.
            It’s not far, usually just a 15 minute leisurely stroll, but today I feel like I’d rather be ran over by a car than have to get to work in this rain.I do my best to arrange my jacket so that it will provide with the best protection possible, before I brace myself, take a deep breath and make a run for it. I put all my strength into the running, and despite my horrible mood and the terrible weather it still feels somewhat nice to use my whole body like this; one foot before the other, deliberately putting more weight here or there, focusing all my muscles, calculating the dangers and risks and odds of running this way or that way and pushing my lungs to their limit for the short time it takes to get to the Black Pearl. I arrive making a mad dash through the door as Chanyeol opens it for the day, and as I get inside I immediately drop my jacket and bend over to lean on myself, hands on knees, panting and gasping trying to catch my breath again. “What on earth had I just found so enjoyable about running, this is hell!” I think frustrated as I catch a glimpse of my own reflection in the glass door as it opens and closes and I realise that despite my valiant effort I am completely soaked from head to toe. Despite no audible sound coming from them, I can hear the others snickering at my pitiful state and after seeing my reflection I can understand why – I look more like a drowned, muddy, kitten, to the point where I don’t dare to lecture them, as I’m sure my intended lion growls will sound more similar to my kitten like appearance to them right now. Instead I just straighten myself as my breath becomes steadier, pick up my jacket and walk to the changing room to hang it up for drying and grab a towel to dry myself off a little bit too before getting down to the tasks of the day.
“Hey, boss? Could I grab a word with you?” Joonmyun turns to look at me with a quizzical look on his face. Nodding his head to motion for us to talk in his office, I grab us two cups of coffee and place them on one of the tables in the café.
“It’s not important or about work as it is,” I explain. Because of the weather, no one is taking their time to enjoy a cup of coffee or tea this early in the morning, and so after preparing everything for when the customers will come we all have time to relax some – and after the heat we’ve been having this August, we all welcome the break. Joonmyun boss comes over and sits down before taking a deep sip of his coffee. It’s still a little hot, but I guess we’re all feeling a little chilly because of the rain.
“What’s our policy on hiring foreigners?” I continue. A little confused but always eager to talk business and management, Joonmyun begins to explain our policies and contractual agreements and such. I didn’t get too much, I was too tired, to sad, to little engaged, and too cold to even bother trying, but I did catch the part about how we have some arrangements with Japan, China and Hong Kong for certain workers, and before he can continue his long lecture I interrupt him to explain the reason for why I’m asking.
“You know that snow-haired fellow who likes to read here?” I ask, before adding that it’s the guy I ran into with the juice a while back.
“The kid who has been coming here every day for the past three months or so?” Jongdae asks.
“He has?” I can’t remembering seeing him that often, and Jongdae must have seen my surprise and confusion, as laughs mockingly before answering.
“So typical you hyung, too caught up in your work to notice the customers. Someone needs to remind me again why we let you be a waiter.”
“We’re shorthanded,” Joonmyun shoots in with a stern look on his face, but he cracks up when Jongdae’s face stiffens. 
“Really though, we are shorthanded, and Chanyeol needs more practice with the machines.” Chanyeol just grins and nods at his truthful words.
“I guess you’re right,” Jongdae agrees as he is sitting on the counter top, nodding his head and swinging his legs back and forth.
“How long have you got left of your training anyway, Channie hyung?” Jongdae’s cute expression makes him jump giddily in his seat before he explains that he’ll be graduating from the barista school in three months, but he will still be working at the Black Pearl for another month after that to complete his work training and his contract. Right as we all stop talking, the door opens and my blonde friend enters from the wet world outside. I may have thought the rain was horrible this morning, but now after only a few hours, the rain is falling hard and fast and in impressive amounts – the streets have clearly turned into shallow rivers, and the smell that seeped in through the open door reveals that a sewer close by have burst open, unable to cope with the water masses that suddenly appeared.
“Ah, there he is!” I wave my hand and motion him to come over as I get up. Slowly, a little unsure and clearly still shy, he approaches, and Joonmyun boss gets up from his seat too. I shake his hand before I direct him towards Joonmyun and as they shake hands I introduce him quickly:
“This is Luhan – he is Chinese but speaks Korean, he is my age, and he might be interested in a job here.”

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The two spend hours talking in the office, and it’s almost the end of my shift when they finally exit; shaking hands and nodding and bowing and smiling, obviously having come to some sort of agreement. Boss leaves Luhan at a table and comes over to join us at work, the weather is still horrible so we only have three other customers at the moment, and I start finishing up my duties.
“Hey, Minseok-hyung?” Jongdae, Chanyeol and I all turn to face Joonmyun – even though I technically am, I am still also his employee, so it’s not often he calls me hyung.
“How are you getting home?” I look outside and sigh.
“Probably the same way I got here this morning.” The conditions outside are already making me dread the short trip. This morning had been bearable, both because it was raining a little less so the ground wasn’t covered in water the same way as now, and because I knew that at the end of my trip the warm inside of the Black Pearl and the coffee here awaited me. This time all I could look forward to was to have to walk slowly and getting completely soaked because I had to stop by the store and get groceries for the next week or so, and the damp, chilly, weird-smelling loft I would be getting home to. If I hadn’t already, I would definitely be catching a cold by the end of the day. Jongdae’s giggling draws my gaze back inside, though my insides are left as icy cold and wet as the conditions outside, while my hands move automatically over the machinery in front of me.
“You looked horrible this morning, how are you going to survive another trip through the rain?” As Jongdae’s giggling turned into laughter, Chanyeol started chuckling and Joonmyun couldn’t hide his smile at the memory of the drenched kitten Minseok from this morning. Still a little out of it, and definitely not feeling the humour, I kept myself busy with cleaning the machine in front of me. The metal and pipes. the grids and chrome, the plastic and the buttons, it all felt so natural and comfortable and home-like to me that I appreciated the moment of cleaning and caring for it. Making good coffee had been a dream of mine since I was quite young, but I had never thought of pursuing it as a career, which is why I only took a few short courses to become a barista, rather than going through proper education like Chanyeol. My coffee was excellent, but his was brilliant. No one would complain if I were to take over, but some of the girls would probably miss his skills with creating cute and pretty pictures in the foam – however, he and I had spent some hours together late in the evening so that he could teach me a few simple ones, so that I could keep them somewhat pleased with something. I was so spaced out that before I knew it I found myself standing in the changing room removing my apron and reaching for my jacket. I threw a quick glance at myself in the mirror, but regretted it immediately and I was suddenly very happy we’d had so few customers today. Bowing and muttering some polite goodbyes, I head for the door, but I’m suddenly stopped by a hand on my shoulder. I turn to face Luhan who is looking at me concerned.
“Here, have this,” he says as he reaches me a wrapped up, pink umbrella. I look at him, and the umbrella, and his thin, cotton hoodie, before I push the umbrella towards him.
“No thank you, that’s very kind, but you’ll need it when you’re leaving" I say, and point to his thin clothing. He tries to say something back, but I just interrupt him with a really enthusiastic
“It was really nice of you to offer though, I’m really thankful, but I’d rather you keep your health than jeopardise it because of me” and bolt out the door. As soon as the cold rain hits me and I catch the stench from the overflowing sewer I regret my decision, both the one of refusing the offer and the one of leaving the café, but I grit my teeth and head for the store. The shopping is quickly done as the store is practically empty, and the walk home is as horrible as I imagined. When I finally get home I barely muster the strength to put the groceries away before I dump my clothes on the bathroom floor and collapse into bed; cold, wet and , but too exhausted and depressed to care further. I just want to sleep. I let myself drift away and somewhere in my dream I am haunted by Jongdae’s laughter as I’m being chased by an angry coffee machine in the middle of a storm.