The next time I went into work, my manager was waiting for with with who assumed to be a new hire. It was a man who looked to be in his early twenties like me. He was tall, maybe Leo's height? He had shaggy brown hair that fell just above his light brown eyes. It looked like he worked out regularly because his arms and legs were toned, even though he was on the skinny side. His stare was similar to Leo's as well. YAH. Stop comparing him to Leo-ssi, Kwang Sookjoo.

My manager smiled at me after seeing my apprehensive expression, and motioned for me and the new employee to join him in the back room. "Come on you two. Quick meeting."

The three of us quickly scurried into the back kitchen area. I made eye contact with the new guy and quickly shifted my eyes over to our manager. I heard a scoff, which I assumed came from him but I ignored it.

"Sookjoo, this is Joonjae. He will be doing the closing shifts with you from now on." Joonjae gave me a slight nod and that was it. I nodded as well. "I hope you two work well together. I think you both have a similar work ethic so I expect there to be no problems from the two of you."

"Yes sir." I said.

"Joonjae, you can go back up front. Sookjoo, I would like to have a word with you." Joonjae bowed his head and slipped back out front, leaving our manager and me alone. "Care to give me your side of the story, Sookjoo-ssi?"

I sighed. I really didn't want to relay what had happened but he was the manager and it was probably best that he knew my side, because I'm sure he already heard one side the other day.

"An idol is one of our regulars and I have gotten to become friends with him and his group's leader. She is a BIG fan of this group she told me when he first started coming in here. The leader asked me to keep tabs on him since he tends to stay here past his curfew so we exchanged numbers last week. I got a text asking of his whereabouts the other day, but he wasn't here and I ran outside to check if he was coming, and she was suspicious that I had another type of relationship with the idol, which I do not. We are just casual friends."

My manager nodded. "Sookjoo, I don't mind you getting close with the regular, but next time please handle it more professionally." I nodded and felt my face heat up. I wasn't in trouble but this whole situation still was a bit embarrassing. "Now go ahead and get to work. I hope you take good care of Joonjae."

"I will do my best, sir. Thank you." 

We walked out of the back room and I joined Joonjae behind the counter. He was leaning against the counter resting on his elbows, observing the few customers that were seated at the tables. He was pretty handsome, I had to admit, but that didn't matter. I had to remain professional. I began to wonder what Leo would think when he saw Joonjae.

"When do you usually clean up the tables?" 

I jumped and tried to regain some composure. "Ummm...well you can clean off the empty tables now, if you want. There's really only a few more people that usually come in at this time and they by the window usually if they stay."

"Is that your regular?" Joonjae grabbed a rag and dipped in some soapy water.

"Y-yeah. He usually comes an hour or so before close." The manager must have told him about Leo. I'm sure Joonjae had questions about who he was replacing and why they left. 

"I'll wipe the tables down then."

I took this opportunity to check my phone. I had felt it go off while I was talking to my manager so I knew I had an unread text message waiting for me. 

Sookjooieeeee, Oppas will be coming to visit today at the cafe! Please anticipate our visit <3 - Hakyeon oppa and Leo oppa

I chuckled and quickly typed a reply of "Hope to see you two soon" and shoved my phone back into my pocket. Leo always shows up alone. I wonder why Hakyeon-ssi was tagging along with Leo? I would find out soon enough.

Joonjae seemed to be taking his time cleaning tables, wiping each one multiple times even after it was entirely clean. Nothing wrong with being too clean I guess. He paused for a second and glanced out the window and seemed to watch someone walking down the street. His eyes followed whomever it was and my attention was brought to the door by the sound of the bell.

"Sookjoo-ssi, we are here!" Hakyeon exclaimed, pulling Leo inside with him.

"Hello, how are you both today?" I greeted them with a smile.

"Pretty well. We have the next few days off, don't we Leo-yah?" Leo just rolled his eyes.

"My usual is fine, Sookjoo." He sighed.

"No problem. Coming right up." I turned around to start making Leo's drink when I saw Joonjae come back behind the counter.

"These your regulars?" He asked me, not looking at me but at Leo and Hakyeon.

"Leo is my regular. Hakyeon just tagged along today." I told him. "You can go ahead and take Hakyeon's order if you want." I was trying to keep Joonjae busy, thinking that would make our first day working together less awkward. It sure didn't feel like it was working.

Joonjae walked past me to the sink and began to wash up some of the utensils. I guess he had no intention of helping me out. That's fine.

I handed Leo his drink. "What about you, Hakyeon-ssi?"

"I'll just have an iced coffee." I poured Hakyeon his drink and handed it to him. "Is this your new coworker?"

"Yeah this is Joonjae. He will be working closing shifts with me from now on."

Joonjae turned around slightly and bowed to Hakyeon and Leo before resuming what he was doing. At least he had some manners. Hakyeon and Leo bowed slightly back at him. Hakyeon smiling of course, however Leo's stare seemed a bit more intense than normal.

"Please take good care of our Sookjoo for us while you two work together." Hakyeon waved to Joonjae before he and Leo went to sit down.

Leo motioned for me to follow them. I gave him a questioning look before hesitantly following them to Leo's normal window seat. Hakyeon patted my shoulder and offered for me to sit down instead of him. I declined because I didn't want Joonjae to get the wrong impression. 

"What's up?" I asked Leo.

Did he have something to say to me? Was it about what had happened the other night? Was he going to explain why Hakyeon was with him? Give the man a chance to speak, Sookjoo. 

After taking a sip of his drink, Leo finally spoke. "Hakyeon and I are going to be your mentors."

"What? Mentors for what?"

"Now now, Leo. Mentors is not the word." Hakyeon scolded "Leo is worried about you and we want you to know that you can ask us for guidance when you need it. You know, be real oppas for you."

"You two don't have to do this." I was surprised that they were even offering such a suggestion. They wanted to act like older brothers for me? Had I made such an impression on them that they felt they needed to be there for me? Did they really worry about me?

"We want to. You're a sweet girl, Sookjoo. We're friends. Friends offer guidence to each other." Hakyeon smiled and nudged Leo, who nodded.

"Thank you, oppas. Really." I felt a blush rise onto my cheeks and I looked down at my feet.

"First test now." Leo said. He motioned toward Joonjae. I looked back at him and noticed he was watching us with his arms crossed. "Stay away from him."

"What?" Haykeon and I exclaimed. "Why?"

"I don't like his vibe."

"Jung Taekwoon, you should know better than to judge people like that. Give him a chance. Sookjoo has to work with him."

I looked back at Joonjae and made eye contact with him. He scoffed and headed into the back room. I wanted to attempt to get along with him, regardless of how difficult that deemed to be. Work was easier to get through when you got along with your coworkers. 

"I have to give him a chance, Leo-ssi. We're going to be working together." I smiled at him. "You're here all the time anyways. You will warm up to him too, I promise."

He looked at me. I could see the worry in his eyes. He knew my past with people I was close with in this cafe. Neither of those two occasions ended well and Leo had been there for me and witnessed both of them. I could see he feared a third occasion to be added to his memories. I placed my over my heart and smiled at him. This was my way of telling him not to worry - that I would protect my heart from getting hurt yet again. I could see he understood and I saw him relax a bit. Hakyeon was beaming at our non-verbal exchanged. 

"You're a quick learner, Sookjoo. I can see how Leo has managed to warm up to you."

"Well I should get back to work and get ready for closing. Take your time, oppas. Thank you."

Hakyeon gave me a quick hug. "You're welcome. You have my number. Don't be afraid to call."

"No worries. I won't be."