"Yuri, where did all the spare pens go? I've gone through four today already and the ink just keeps running out."

Yuri is younger than me by nine months but has been my close co-worker for the past year. Working the same part-time job, she and I work extremely well together, whether a particular table needs more napkins or a customer is picky on the food. The manager leaves the interaction of customers in Yuri and I's hands every Sunday for our six-hour shift, recognising and complimenting our compatibility. Having missed last Sunday's shift, I feel immense guilt as some Sundays do get quite busy. And as if karma is biting on me, today is crazily busy and I am starting to get dizzy from all the running around. 

"Check the fifth drawer," Yuri offers as she balances dirty cups and bowls into the kitchen. 

Grabbing a few pens and quickly checking the ink, I rush to the new batch of customers and swipe on my brightest smile. 

"Please, have a seat. The menus are just here, and do let me know when you're all ready to order."

"Thank you," the man in the plaid shirt smiles at me as I skip over to another table to take their order. 

In busy days like today's, Yuri and I split the jobs. I'm mainly in charge of welcoming customers in, taking orders and payments. Yuri usually handles the dishes. It's a very neat system, though of course the elements of waitressing cannot avoid clashes. 

"Here, table 15's order," Yuri slips the notepad towards me as I'm keying in another table's order. 

"Table 15? I haven't even distributed water yet..." 

Yuri is already wiping down a table and I regain my focus, quickly tapping in drinks and organising cutlery for the table. 

As there are so many customers to look after with only two waitresses servicing, Yuri and I have to stay on top of our toes and clear our mind of everything except the restaurant. Six hours can be an ample amount of time to think about last night with Kai, as well as Baekhyun and Ji's ties with Mum, but today is definitely not the day. 

The stream of customers start to die down as 8 o'clock rolls around, and only five tables are occupied when 9 comes by. My feet are left sore and blistered and my calves are aching for a stretch, but none of that matters until 10 when Yuri and I finally close the restaurant for the day. 

I approach Yuri as she is resetting menus on the tables and give her a gentle clap on the back. 

"Well done for today."

She smiles as she wipes her sweat from her forehead. "You too Taeyeon."

"I never got the chance to ask," I say as I throw a cloth on the counter and start wiping grease off. "How busy was it last week?"

"Not too busy, just the usual."

I grimace. Our usual times perfectly suit Yuri and I's cooperation, provided that both of us are there. Yuri probably stressed a lot taking care of things by herself. I should have thought ahead and called the manager seeing that I wouldn't have been able to work being bound to Baekhyun. 

"I'm sorry," I start.

Yuri cuts me off with her warm smile. "It's okay, the shift went pretty fast for me."

"How are you coping with school? Any assignments and exams coming up?"

"It will be a bit taxing, but I think I'll cope. What about you though, you are in a grade higher than me."

I sigh. "I don't know, maybe I  should ask for one day off, but I think I just blew that with last week."

She frowns. "I think Boss will let you off."

"I don't doubt she will. I'll see."

The double doors sweep open and Yuri and I both welcome the customers. My greeting falls short as my eyes lay on seven tall figures adorning blue and white jerseys. One of the boys look past me, before his eyes double and recognition flashes across his face. He thumps his arm on one of his friends.

"Eh, guys, isn't that Taeyeon?"

"What?"

"What?"

"Huh?"

The chatter dies down as all seven pairs of eyes fall on me, eight including Yuri's confused pair. I recompose and smile at the basketball team, minus Baekhyun. 

"Hi guys, please, take a seat." I walk towards them and lead them to our largest booth, a hand out politely as I would treat other customers. This isn't my first time serving students I know from the school, in fact, Silkson is quite popular so this just adds to the numerous times on my list. However, the fact that the first time I met them was the time when I was tripping over my school shoes in a basketball match with a skirt on, and the second, them being drunk at the party last weekend - if they could even remember I was present - makes the situation all very awkward. 

The boys fill up the booth in a quiet manner, some timidly thanking me, others whispering to each other. I show them the menu and tell them to alert us when they are ready to order. 

I return back to the counter with Yuri silently watching me. 

I let out a long breath. "What was all that about?" Yuri's watchful eyes are still on the booth. 

"Oh, they're the basketball team from my school, they're all in my grade." 

"How come you're so awkward with each other? I thought you were good with everyone."

I bite my lip. "It's just, very recent incidents that happened... They weren't very memorable." 

"Well, are they nice?"

I look at her, eyebrows creased. "What?"

"Are they mean? Are they the popular type that think they're too good for everyone?"

"Ah, four of them are in the 'popular' group, but I'm not sure if they're mean or anything." Sehun and Baekhyun usually had all the girls' hearts. 

"Well, they're not bad."

"What?"

Yuri sighs as she finally looks at me. "I'm hitting on them, Taeyeon. I'm admiring their looks."

This almost leaves me speechless. "Oh." Yuri smiles and shakes her head at me.

One boy sitting in the middle of the group, tanned but not as tanned as Kai, raises his hand to catch our attention, and I nudge Yuri. "You can take their order."

Yuri gives my arm a squeeze. "With pleasure." 

I smile after her as she calmly walks over to the booth. The boys look up at her and some seem to be interested, shown in the corner of their mouths. I'm not fully fluent with their names, but I think I catch a few blushes from Lay, Luhan and ... Jongup?

I feel like a mother watching over her daughter interacting with a group of men, except I grow suspicious of the person I named Jongup, who keeps his eyes downcast, and I don't think it's on the menu or the floor tiles. 

A customer walks towards me to pay for her meal and I quickly wipe the scowl off my face, hoping she didn't see. I smile as I take care of her bill and wish her a goodnight on her way out. Yuri seems to be lingering at the booth but I have no time to check on her as another customer waves me over. By the time I've cleared up the plates upon the customer's request, Yuri has already sauntered back to our counter and begun plugging in the meals. 

"So, how was it?"

Yuri keeps her eyes on the screen. "How was what?"

"Trying to get their numbers?"

Feigning surprise, Yuri gives me a funny look. "And here I thought you were the extremely awkward nerd who's oblivious to anything romantic-related."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I laugh. I scan the order. "So they're having dinner here?"

"Mhmm, they've just finished training; they have a basketball tournament in a few weeks and want to be at their best. They've just finished training so they can only have dinner late tonight."

I let a low whistle. "These boys go to my school yet it seems like you know them more than I do."

Yuri sends their order to the kitchen. "It's amazing what five minutes can create," she winks, and I am left contemplating whether that had a double meaning. Throughout the last hour of our shift, I ushered Yuri to serve the basketball team whenever they needed something, which wasn't a very difficult task as they were the only people left dining in. I, in the meantime, took care of scarce customers trickling in who wanted their meals take-away. Yuri seemed to be enjoying the team's attention, and I enjoyed watching from behind the counter. Frankly, I wanted to avoid interacting with the boys altogether, so everything was a plus for me. 

10pm finally rolls around, and Yuri apologetically asks them to finish up with haste and sees them out. Whilst exiting, the team captain, Daehyun, as well as the orange-hair Zelo, thanks me for the service - though I hardly attended to them - and I return them a smile. 

"Well," Yuri sighs as she closes the door and flips the sign to 'Closed'. "That was quite a handful."

We proceed to clean the restaurant up, wish the cook who's always the last to lock the restaurant a good night, and after a very long day of work, Yuri and I depart home with a kiss on the cheek.

-

The glass door slides open upon our entrance as we look around the cafe. The ground is lined with matte floorboards and cushioned chairs accompany flower print tables. There are a moderate amount of customers sitting in, mostly with beverages and occasional slices of treats. My mum spots Ji first as the latter sits perched at a table lining the border of the cafe. The window panes stretch from the ceiling to the ground as it showcases the streets of shops and parked cars. 

"Jihye," my mother greets as Ji stands up. 

"Eunbi, Taeyeon," Ji's smile is warm and welcoming. 

Mum and I take our seats opposite after I bow to Ji. She places two sets of menus in front of us. 

"They only really sell drinks here, but there are a handful of desserts for you to choose from."

"Ah, that's okay, Taeyeon and I have lunched beforehand, so we're fine with the beverages." My mother calls over a waitress, who takes down her order of pumpkin spiced latte and my iced caramel frappe. I've already had my cup of coffee this morning before school, courtesy of Xiumin, of course.

"So," Ji starts, smiling brightly at both my mother and I, "I've called the both of you out at such a short notice, so I apologise for any inconveniences this may have caused."

"Oh no," my mother is quick to answer. "No, not at all Jihye." 

Ji smiles. "Always very humble, as Taeyeon is too. Thank you, thank you very much. I extremely appreciate Taeyeon helping out with Baekhyun's studies, and I'm very sorry on the incidents that Taeyeon has been put through in the past two weeks."

"As far as I'm concerned, Taeyeon isn't too affected by it." My mum turns her eyes on me and I smile as inconspicuously as I can. All of the 'incidents' my mother is aware of are at the most, having slept over at Baekhhyun's and missing out Sunday's work. I dearly hope that she does not know and will never know about the party and Baekhyun paying for my expenses. And come to think of it, where did the dress and heels end up after the party?

"Of course," I reply with assurance. "Tutoring Baekhyun has been a pleasure."

I hope either mothers don't catch my eye twitch. 

"I think the tutor sessions are a great experience for Taeyeon. They provide her an opportunity to have a sense of what's it like to work as a tutor, and perhaps she may develop an interest in teaching."

At this point, Ji looks at me. "And what university course are you interested to take after?"

"I guess it is a bit early for me to decide, as there is still a year and a half left before that decision needs to be made. In this moment of time, I'm not very sure where my strengths lie at, and I'm not particularly interested in anything yet."

"I have heard from your mother that you do exceptionally well in all subjects, so I think I can say the same for the both of us that there's no doubt you can achieve any degree it is that you want."

I politely chuckle. "Thank you very much for your kind words and your faith, Ji."

In surprise, Mum stares at me, perhaps confused as to why I have not addressed Ji by her married name, but perhaps more confused at how I addressed  her by a nickname to which my mother uses Ji's full name herself.

Ji catching on my mother's perplexity, gives a laugh. "It is alright, Eunbi. I have insisted Taeyeon to leave the formalities a long time ago." 

Mum turns back to Ji. "You should have the youngsters pay you more respect Jihye."

Ji's smile becomes strained. "Ah, I already hear enough of Mrs. Byun. It's refreshing to hear something else a lot more relaxed."

"Alright."

The silence that follows confirm the presence of a concealed secret shared between Ji and my mother, who are engaged in an immobile eye contact. It becomes clear to me that there are a lot going on between the two, perhaps a lot more than I can imagine. It is fairly difficult to forget the afternoon I found out my mother is intimately associated with Ji, rounding off as past best-friends, and the fact that Ji's son is the all-popular Byun Baekhyun is perhaps even more shocking than my mother's friendship itself. I know far better than to be treading on someone's secrets, especially someone so close to me, but the correlation of Baekhyun in all these situations almost drives me mad with my hunger for knowledge.

Finally, my mother lets out a quiet breath, and spikes a new conversation, unrelated to Baekhyun or suspicious situations. As I slowly drain my frappe with frequent replies to Ji's questions, I attempt to concentrate on Ji and my mother's expressions and gestures that may hint on any more secrets. I have a strong feeling that Ji and my mother's close friendship coupled with things they obviously want to avoid me knowing are closely related to why I have been pushed to help Baekhyun with his studies. 

To my disappointment, Ji excuses herself to return home and attend to her needs, and so after Ji eventually convinces my mother to allow her to pay for our drinks in gratitude for meeting her, I find myself in my room preparing study notes an hour later. Unable to completely focus all of my attention to my quadratic equations, I let my mind drift off to the tutoring sessions with Baekhyun. What I need to have him achieve that 80 percent benchmark, how I have to make him see the simplest formulas, where I need to find his weaknesses in order to strengthen them. I take out a clean notebook and properly prepare future lessons, realising that time is beginning to run away from us. After all, I only have five lessons left, provided that we do not skip any more, and as I look back on the progress Baekhyun has made in our two lessons, I realise that we haven't covered much ground at all.