YOSEOB POV

 

 

I woke up to a hand waking my shoulder. I turned over and buried my face in my pillow. 

 

"C'mon, its 11. I'm gonna leave now for work, but G.O's here if you need anything."

 

I just groaned. Yesung chuckled, and then I heard my door softly close. I started to sink back to sleep. 

 

"You'll always be mine, Seobbie." His voice whispered in my ear. 

 

"Shut up," I mumbled, but he always made me weak. 

 

"I love you."

 

"Lies," I whispered. 

 

"Why would I lie to you Seobbie?" 

 

"Stop it." I didn't realize I was crying until I felt my wet pillow. 

 

"I'll never hurt you," He whispered in my ear. 

 

"Stop it," I screamed, then bolted up. My face wet, my heart broken. This is what love does to you. I let him in, the only person I had ever loved before, and he ripped my vulnerable heart to pieces. And there, pulse thrumming too fast in my blood, my ears echoing with his false promises, my eyes red, I swore I would never love again. 

 

I spent the rest of the day in the loft, only coming out of my room to eat. I had seen G.O once. He had black hair. I remembered that. And an earring. A small diamond, that seemed to draw the light and sparkle brilliantly. But that was all. I was wrapped up in my own world. I forgot about Blithe. I just wanted to sleep. Yesung came back sometime. He took a look at me, lying on my bed, staring at nothing, and disappeared for a minute, before coming back with a bowl of soup, which he insisted I eat. I didn't want to, but he wouldn't leave. So eventually, too tired to do anything else, I ate the soup, passed back the bowl, and fell asleep.

 

That was my life for two weeks. Sleeping, eating, crying. I barely saw anyone, and only saw Yesung once a day to force me to eat something. But, one day, I got tired of his voice ringing in my ears. I decided to try to get that job at Blithe. So I dragged myself out of bed and into the main room of the loft, which had the kitchen and the living room in one large room. Both Yesung and G.O were there. Yesung looked worried- He had dark circles under his eyes, and his fingernail tapped the side of his mug rapidly. I got my first look at G.O as I cautiously approached the duo who were eating breakfast at the kitchen bar, on stools. He had a oval face, with a round chin and deep brown eyes, which were currently staring at me, like a mouse trapped by a cat. It occurred to me, for the first time, that I might not have given him a good first impression. Well. This is awkward. Yesung finally noticed me. 

 

"Seobbie! You're up!" 

 

I nodded, wary, but Yesung simply grinned and patted the seat next to him. I sat next to him, and he passed me a plate. "You've met G.O, right?" 

 

"Um... sorta," I looked down, focusing only on my breakfast. 

 

"Hi," G.O said, giving me a tentative smile. I smiled back. It seemed he was giving me another chance, which I was grateful for. 

 

"I think I'm gonna go to Blithe today," I told Yesung. 

 

He nodded. "Good idea. Only... you might want to shower. And change your clothes. You know, just a tip," Yesung said, trying to hide a smile. 

 

I was unamused. "Thanks, hyung."

 

"Anytime!" 

 

The walk to Blithe was cold. Very cold. At least I didn't get lost. The only bad thing was I kept seeing his face everywhere. It was heart stopping, and, quite frankly, annoying. I finally arrived at the cafe, and paused at the door, took a breath, and pushed open the wooden door and stepped into the cafe. The medium-sized building had a homey, warm feeling that came with the heated air washing over me, a nice contrast to the icy air outside of Blithe. There were round wooden tables set up around the cafe, surrounded by cushy chairs, almost all of which were filled with happy customers. A counter was to my left side, with a display filled with pastries and the food written in colorful chalk hanging above the wall where workers took orders, and behind the counter was a kitchen, with all the appliances and four guys cooking. Bookshelves lines the far right corner, and comfortable chairs were set up for people to read in. The cafe was lit softly with twinkling lights strung from the ceilings, so it all had a relaxing glow. Soft music played over the speakers, just loud enough to be heard. It would have been a quiet place if not for the noise. The waiters were screaming orders, laughing, having the time of their life, and the costumers were too, talking to each other and the incredibly excited waiters. One guy, with brown hair and a face that seemed old compared to the rest of his features was standing near the bookshelf, screaming about how he would never had put the cupcakes in the freezer, and how could someone even THINK of doing that and if he found out who it was they were so going to die, while behind him another guy was cracking up, and only stopped when the screaming guy turned to look at him, to which he put on an innocent face and screamed "It was Channie!" and ran off, the first guy storming after him. Most of the workers were my age, maybe a bit older. One guy, with soft blond curls, grinned at me as he carried a tray of drinks past me, and a voice rang out over the rest. 

 

 "Order 33!" A guy with short black hair, a babyish face, and a surprisingly deep voice was standing at the counter, looking at the friendly boy who had smiled at me. "Bacon!" The guy then yelled randomly, and when the blonde purposely ignored him, still setting down the drinks like he was in slow motion, the boy behind the counter exaggerated his pulling a bell from somewhere, held it up, and started shaking it enthusiastically. Most of the costumers pretty much ignored this, which told me that either this was normal, or they were completely deaf. Rather startled by the noise and the familiarity everyone in Blithe had with each other, I unfroze at the door and cautiously walked toward the counter, where the boy with the black hair had turned toward me, still holding the bell, smiling a creepy smile, which should have scared me, but it only increased the strange sense of home I felt with the place. "Can I help you?" He asked, and although I had heard it just a second ago, his deep voice still startled me. 

 

"Um... I was wondering if you had any job openings available," I told him. 

 

"JOB OPENINGS?!?!" The guy that was yelling before suddenly screamed in my ear, and I jumped. 

 

"Uh... yeah?" I answered hesitantly.

 

"We have a job opening!" The guy screamed again. 

 

"Yes we do, good job, Dongwoon hyung," the guy behind the counter nodded his head sarcastically. Then he turned to me. "Do you have any experience?" 

 

"Yeah, I was a waiter for three years," I told him truthfully. 

 

"Minho hyung!" The guy behind the counter called into the back room. "My name is Chanyeol, and his," he pointed to the blonde waiter "is Baekhyun, his," he pointed to the guy who had been laughing at Dongwoon earlier, "is Henry. And I think you know Dongwoons name," he said. 

 

"My name's Yoseob," I told Chanyeol and Dongwoon.

 

"So you want a job?" A deep, husky voice asked me. It was from a tall, handsome guy behind the counter with wide-set eyes. 

 

"Ne." 

 

"And I heard you have three years of experience?" The guy, who I guessed was the Minho Chanyeol had called in asked me. 

 

"Ne," I repeated. 

 

"Your hired!" 

 

"Really?" I was surprised. Usually places do a back ground check or something, but here, apparently not. 

 

"Yup! Henry here will give you the tour, tell you about the hours and the wages and everything." Without another word he turned and disappeared behind the swinging doors again. I grinned. This place was a little weird, but I had got a job.

 

"So this is the main room, obviously," Henry started, after everyone had scattered to do their jobs. He seemed to be one of the calmer people in the place, which was helpful for my poor ears after Dongwoon. 

 

 "These are the customer tables, that's the little library, where people can take a book off the shelves and read here, but we almost never let them take the books outside of the cafe. That's the counter. We get orders there, and then make them and bring them of to the tables." He went on to explain whose tables were whose, what they served at what times, and opening and closing times, and the times I would have to get here when I had work. Then, he led me behind the counter and into the kitchen. I had just realized that this cafe was pretty much run by boys that were in their very early twenties, but one boy that looked like he was in charge looked barely 18, and the thin guy at the grill looked strangely familiar, but not much older than the one in charge. All of the guys in the kitchen stopped worked to stare at me. Next to me, Henry cleared his throat.

 

"Guys, this is Yoseob. He's gonna be the new waiter. Yeseob, this is T.K (the 18 year old), Taemin (the thin one), and Kikwang." Kikwang's large eyes looked me up and down, like trying to see if I was going to be any good. A wry smile twisted his lips, and he turned back to cooking without a word. "And you know Minho." All of them, except for Kikwang, said hi. Then a bell rang in my head. 

 

"Taemin, are you friends with a guy named Key?" 

 

"Um... yeah. How do you know that?" He asked me suspiciously. 

 

"He helped me find my friends apartment like two weeks ago."

 

"Ohhh, that's why you look familiar!" Taemin grinned.  I grinned back, feeling like I had made a friend. 

 

"Hey Yoseob hyung." T.K greeted me, than turned back to the others. "Hyungs! Back to work!" He ordered, waving his spatula in the air threateningly. He must have been deadly with that thing, because everyone immediately rushed back to work.

 

"C'mon." Henry beckoned me through a open doorway. I followed him, sparing one last look at the cooks, who all seemed friendly, but Kikwang. He was still turned toward the counter, silent. Then I tore my gaze away from him and left them to their work.  The next room, up a flight of stairs, was about the same size as the kitchen below. It was clearly the baking and pastries area- it had two large ovens, a big mixer, a large fridge, long wooden tables for decorating, and the shelves were full of tubs of frosting and piping bags and everything that you would need to make any kind of desert. It had a homely feeling, like the rest of Blithe, and the walls were a sky blue, with big windows letting in the afternoon light. 

 

"This is where we bake and decorate any kind of cake or anything. We usually don't have time to bake during the hours the cafe is open, so we do it at night or in the morning. We all know how to bake and decorate, so if you don't, someone can teach you. We almost always play music, and this room is mostly for fun- while we work, but still fun." Henry explained. 

 

"What this?" I asked, reaching up to touch a plaque with names, grouped by two, and dates were carved in it. 

 

"That's all the names of the owners of Blithe," Henry told me as he joined at the plaque. 

 

"Aren't businesses owned by one person?"

 

Henry smiled. "Usually, but the two owners of Blithe are always replaced by a new pair every four years. It's been that way for 40 years."

 

"Wow. 40 years?" 

 

"Yup. Eunhyuk and his boyfriend, Donghae, first started the cafe. But then they passed it down to two of the workers."

 

"Does it matter how old the owners are or how long they've been working here?"

 

"No, not really. I mean, you do have an advantage if you e worked here longer, because the owners know you better, but it all depends on who wants to run Blithe, and who would be good at it."

 

"Do the owners had to be a couple?" 

 

Henry laughed. "No, of course not. Eunhyuk and Donghae were, and Kyuhyun and Sungmin were too," he said, his fingers brushing a different part of the plaque, "but Ryeowook and Jungwook were cousins, and Minho and T.K are just friends." 

 

I turned to Henry, my mouth open. "T.K is an owner? But isn't he like 18, hyung?" 

 

Henry chuckled, and started walking. I ran after him as we walked through a little room with couches and a TV, which was probably a break room, and started back down the stairs. "Yeah, and this is his and Minho's last year, so he started when he was 14." 

 

"But.. Wouldn't his parents not let him?" 

 

Henry's expression sobered immediately. "T.K's parents died when he was eight. Kyuhyun and Sungmin, who were the owners then, adopted him. On the third floor is a living space. He's lived there ever since."

 

"Oh." I didn't really know what to say. 

 

Henry led me to the door, and stepped outside into the cold, which felt awful compared to the warmth, both physical and mental, of Blithe. "We all have our stories here, Yoseob. None of us are really without some kind of sadness, some burden. And I don't think you are any different." With that, he pressed a key into my hand. "See you tomorrow."