First Day

It was already morning and as usual, Yui wakes up just as early to prepare herself on her first day of work. Yes, the café opens in the afternoon but she’s pretty excited to tell her granny about it. As she ate breakfast, the front door opened and her grandmother got back with the nurse Seohyun.

“You’re back.” She greets, running up to the old woman with a welcoming smile and then giving her a hug, “Did it go well?”

“Yes, they told me that my health seems to be getting better… Oh, Yui-chan, not that I’m questioning, but it’s really odd but nice to see you smile like this.” The grandmother smiles with glee after pulling away from their embrace.

Yui clears a bit, maintaining her sheepish smile, “Well, you see… I got the job, granny. I’m starting work as a baker later this afternoon.”

“See? You still got it. Don’t worry, those SHINee Café men are really sweet, dear.”

Seohyun expresses her surprised and happy feeling for the younger girl, “Omo, you’re going to work in SHINee Café? That’s so cool. You’re probably the first female staff they accepted.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that some of the boys’ fans apply but fail.” She sighed in reply.

“Onew-ssi is a talented baker and it’s nice that there will be extra hands to help him work.” The nurse chirped.

“You know him?”

“Ne, I visit the café at least twice a week. Their sweets are lovely and I now that you’re working there, I can’t wait to taste your creations.” She eagerly held both of Yui’s hands.

Yui’s granny pats her granddaughter’s back gently, “I can’t wait to taste your pastries this Friday, sweetie.”

“Ah, h-hai.” Yui replies in a slightly shaky manner, nodding at the two.

…

“On time… Konnichiwa, ojou-san.” Jonghyun greets with his usual smirk on as their new baker enters the café.

“Yui-ssi, don’t be afraid to ask help to any of us, ne?” Key smiles warmly at her as she now stood in front of the counter.

She nods, wearing a simple yet endearing smile, “I will. Is Onew-ssi in the kitchen already?”

Jonghyun places his arm around Key’s shoulders, replying on Key’s behalf, “Yup, he is. Glad to see you smiling. Keep it up, your new appa and umma’s proud.”

Key laughs lightly, wrapping his arm around Jonghyun’s torso, “Ah, jinjja… Can’t we just do this when we’re alone? You’re embarrassing our daughter.”

“Anyways, I’ll be inside…” Yui quickly speaks before going inside the kitchen.

“See, look what you did.” Key pouts while crossing his arm over his chest.

Jonghyun sighs, walking towards an empty table, “I didn’t do anything, maybe you said something that made her leave.”

…

“Yui-chan, ohayou~” Taemin greeted her, placing his hand on her shoulder, “Hyungs, are we ready to open for today?”

Minho and Onew nods unison, with Onew responding, “Yup, how about you, Yui-san?”

“I am.” She says in reply.

Taemin grabs Minho’s wrist, telling the two before exiting the kitchen, “We’ll tell the two hyungs outside that we’re ready to open.”

As the two are now alone, Yui places her things on the shelf near the doorway as her boss wears a white apron. She gets the pink apron hanging on a hook and wears it. She then ties her hair into a bun, securing it with a simple bluish green ribbon.

“So, I’ve already made caramel brownies and honey-glazed donuts a while ago, so now I’ll make strawberry muffins and you make or chocolate-filled croissant… Think you can you do it?” Onew asks her with a calm expression on as he ruffles his sleeves up to his elbows.

“I think I can.” She sighs out with a nod.

He smiles, pointing out the recipe box on her left, “I know you can. The recipes are in that small box on the table.”

“Got it.”

“Let’s do our best, ne?”

“Ne.”

The two began to work on their assigned pastries and after a while, finished them with perfection. Moving on, Onew began to make black forest cake and Yui was assigned to make her lemon cookies since the crew decided that they should add it for today’s menu and see if the customers will like it as much as they did.

As they worked quietly, Onew made quick glances at his new baker, noticing how well she executes her task. Rolling the dough, egg beating, and the way she stood also displays the proper posture a professional baker should show. Being the natural klutz that he is, he continued to hit a few minor bumps along the way in his task like usual, as to accidentally holding the inside of the oven without mittens and almost tripping while holding the pastries.

Yui almost gasps as she saw Onew almost dropping the finished smores on the tray but thank goodness he maintained his balance. Minho comes in again like always, getting the finished stuff on the trays.

“Hyung, you should really be careful.” Minho advised his hyung, leaving right after getting the two trays of pastries.

The female slowly walks a few meters behind him, speaking as casually as she could, “Onew-ssi, are you okay?”

He turns around to face her, nodding with his eyes and mouth smiling at her, “Yes, thanks for asking. Don’t mind me, I’m usually clumsier than this. You could even ask Jjong and Taeminnie.”

“Oh, I see. Do you need help in making the apple pie?”

“Sure, thanks.”

The two began to prepare the ingredients and then worked together in silence. After sometime, they finished making the pies and Onew told her to make more of the lemon cookies since Minho told them while he got the trays that the customers loved the cookies and managed to eat all of them. As Onew made more of the other pastries, Yui made more lemon cookies and tried to make chocolate cake.

She hasn’t really made cake in a long time, so as Onew glances at her, he noticed that she looked unsure while she reads the recipe while gathering the ingredients. He places his utensils back on the table and walks over to her side.

“Need some help?” He simply asks her.

She looked a bit disappointed while answering, “I do. Mianhae.”

“No need to be sorry, Yui-san. Even the greatest people in the world need a little push.”

“I was supposed to be of help to you, not the other way around.”

Looking at the girl, he gave her a friendly pat on the back, “But you have helped me a lot in your first day, so don’t worry and let me.” He comforted her with his gentle words.

…

It was already around 7pm and they have about an hour more ‘til closing time. The two were still baking the last batch of pastries for the night and got out with the trays as soon as they finished. Minho got them and placed them on the glass case by the counter. As Yui looks around the café, she saw how the customers’ looked at her. Some looked surprised, while some, especially the women darted their eyes at her. It must be because she was the first ever female employee to be working in the famous SHINee Café with five, Korean, flower boys.

As Key made coffee, he says to her while she leaned her back against the wall by the kitchen’s doorway, “Ya, don’t mind these people. Your lemon cookies were a hit.”

“Yup, you did great today.” Onew adds smiling as he was beside Key, leaning his back against the counter.

“Komawo.” She replies with a crooked smile on, slightly bowing her head.

Minho walks to where the three were, telling them, “Guys, I think we should consider Yoshioka-san’s ideas for new recipes. Her lemon cookies were a hit and I’m sure she can add a few of her recipes to our menu.”

“I agree. Yui-san, let’s talk about this tomorrow while working.” Onew suggested.

“Okay, that sounds great.” Yui utters back.

Key speaks again, “Yui-ssi, I think you can go home now, since your job’s done for today.”

Onew nods in agreement, “I think so too. I hope to see you again tomorrow.”

The young girl nods and heads back to the kitchen to fix her things. Jonghyun then goes to Minho, placing his arm around his shoulders.

“Ya, Kim Kibum’s right there.” Minho scowled at him.

“I know, but don’t you see some similarities between our ojou-san and – “

Minho quickly cuts him off, responding quietly, “Hyung, keep your mouth shut. He might hear and it’s been a long time, so be quiet.”

Jonghyun groans, placing his hands to his waist, “Aissh, arasseo.”

Yui got out of the kitchen and bows again, “I’m going to leave now. See you all tomorrow and kamsahamnida.”

“Yui-chan’s daebak. See ya~” Taemin says, waving his hand back at her as she made her way out of the café.

“You know, it’s been a long time since I saw skilled hands like hers.” Onew sighs, making Key glance at him when he heard him utter to himself and then went back in the kitchen.

…

“So proud of you, dearie.” The granny applauses at her as they ate dinner together in the dining room, “I wouldn’t be surprised if you or any of those boys fall in love with you. I don’t mind~”

She almost choked as she was eating, speaking as if she was scolding her grandmother, “I don’t have time for that, granny. I’d like to keep our relationship as professional as possible.”

“But you can’t avoid building a friendship with at least one of them.”

“I guess…”

The old woman spoke, winking, “And then love comes after friendship.”

“Grandma!”