The next morning, a sudden shrill cry rang through a café and captured everyone’s attention. Hanbin blinked at the girl sitting in front of him.

“That’s mine!” Hayi whacked his arm.  

Hanbin winced. “I finished my drink, can’t I have some of yours?”

Hayi gave him a grudging look and snatched the hash brown off his tray.

"That's mine!" Hanbin cried in disbelief as she took a big bite of his hash brown.

“I finished my hash brown, can’t I have some of yours?” she snapped. 

Hanbin eyed her resentfully as she took another mouthful. “It’s more than some.” He pointed out.

“I paid for the meal,” Hayi stated.

Hanbin rolled his eyes. “To appease myself from the trauma I received yesterday and today, I demand another set of Big Breakfast.”

“No way.” Hayi stuck out her tongue.

“Brat,” Hanbin hissed. Hayi did not bother to answer him since she was chomping the food.

"You guys are early.” A masculine voice said.

"Oh, I'm giving him a treat for yesterday." Hayi moped.

"What's with him?" Yunhyeong questioned as he sat next to the broody Hanbin.

"He drank my juice. Childish.” Hayi complained.

"Who's acting childish?" Hanbin retorted.

Hayi threw him a dirty look.

"You ate my hash brown!" Hanbin argued.

“Gosh, the two of you!” Jinhwan said irritably.

Hanbin closed his mouth wistfully and looked away. He could not help but notice the oily stain around Hayi’s mouth. Without thinking, he took a napkin to wipe the grease off.  The two boys gaped at their friend’s seemingly natural gesture.

“People who don’t know would think that you two are a couple.” Yunhyeong remarked.

“No way!” Hayi laughed.

Hanbin balked. “I just can’t stand dirty stuff.” He hastily shoved the serviette into her hand.

Yunhyeong snorted and poked Jinhwan. “Are you ordering food?”

The boy shook his head. “I’m getting ice mocha.”

“I’ll go order. I’m getting pancakes,” Yunhyeong said.

“I want eggs benedict.” Hanbin got up from his seat.

“Help me order orange juice please!” Hayi called after him.

Hanbin grunted a reply and followed Yunhyeong to the counter.

Jinhwan stared at her empty plate and chuckled as Hayi smacked her lips with great satisfaction. “Were you close to Hanbin last time?” He asked.

“We were hardly friends, why?” Hayi replied.

Jinhwan frowned. “You two seem really comfortable with one another."

"Really? I'm comfortable with all of you too." Hayi said cheekily.

Jinhwan’s lips curled upwards. "Hmm, you do give people that cosy vibe."

“Did you place my order?” She asked when the two boys returned. Hanbin placed the standee on the table and faced her.

“No.”

“Why!” Hayi frowned. 

Yunhyeong jabbed the boy. “He ordered your drink, Hayi.”

Hanbin snickered.

Hayi said something under her breath as Hanbin motioned to a staff to clean up their table. A young waitress came over with a rag and started to clean the table. Jinhwan took out his laptop while Yunhyeong applied lip-gloss on his lips.

“What happened to your lips?” Hayi asked.

They’ve been too dry lately.” Yunhyeong shrugged his shoulders and closed the cap. Hayi shifted her gaze and caught the waitress subtly checking out her male friends, who seemed oblivious.

As the girl picked up the last dirty plate, her hand knocked against a glass of water and it toppled. Everyone gasped. Water spilled out of the glass and drenched Yunhyeong. The boy stood up at once, alarmed.

“Are you okay?” Hayi hurriedly passed him some paper towels.

The serviette did little to absorb the water. Yunhyeong stared down in dismay, as the wet patch on his pants grew bigger.

“I’m so sorry!” The waitress hovered anxiously around him.

“It’s fine… Don’t worry…”

Yunhyeong’s mouth dropped as he watched the girl attempt to dry his sensitive area with a rag. He retreated immediately and she continued, completely unaware that others customers were staring at them.

“I need the gents.” Yunhyeong said and hastily took her leave.

It took the girl a moment to recompose herself from the shock. “I’m so sorry for what happened, please let me buy you drinks.” She pleaded.

“You don’t have to apologize for an accident.” Jinhwan replied.

“If you insist, get our friend another glass of water, Ms Dana.” Hanbin said.

“How did you-? Oh!” The waitress jumped and touched her nametag conscientiously. “Sure!” She grabbed the empty glass and left with the rest of the dirty dishes. 

When Yunhyeong came out of the restroom, he saw that his glass on the table was refilled with water. As he sat down, he shifted the glass inward in case it falls over him again. He cranked his head to the source of soft giggles.

“Dana refilled the water for you.” Hayi said.

“Dana?”

“The girl, who wetted you.” Jinhwan mocked. Yunhyeong gave him a pointed look.

Shortly, another waitress served their food. “Please enjoy your meal.”

“Ho, were you expecting someone else to serve your food? Dana?” Hayi teased, noticing that he was staring into space instead of eating his pancakes.

“Huh? Of course not!” He frowned. 

Hanbin inched his head towards him. “Oh really? We could go and ask for her number.” he grinned.

Yunhyeong cut him off with an icy look. “Don’t be stupid.”

Hanbin cracked into a smile.

 The pancakes and eggs smelled so yummy Hayi felt watering. “Can I try some of your eggs benedict?” She asked coyly.

Hanbin willingly passed his fork to her and she devoured the eggs deliciously. He felt his lips twitching upward as he watched her poke the egg yolk with his fork.

“I just thought of a new nickname for you.” He nudged her hand and she looked up with anticipation.

“Piggy.”

The boys guffawed. Hayi puckered her lips as she resentfully returned the fork to him. “Give you back.”

Hanbin grimaced. “I was kidding! You can eat some more.”

“Way to go, Hanbin.” Jinhwan chided as he sipped his mocha.

“Do you want to try my pancakes?” Yunhyeong offered and she nodded eagerly.

“Can I?”

Yunhyeong cut a generous portion for her to try, much to her delight. She happily filled with the sweet and soft pancakes.

“What time is Bobby coming?” Hanbin asked, cutting his sausage into smaller pieces. Hayi stole a piece from his plate while he was talking to Jinhwan.

Yunhyeong glanced at Hayi. “You’re quite a glutton like Junhoe.”

“I’m not a picky eater, but I like good food.” She corrected him with a scowl and pointed at Hanbin’s plate. “These sausages are really good.”

“Really?” Yunhyeong forked a piece of sausage off Hanbin’s plate. “Hmm, not to my liking.”

“Why?”

Jinhwan nudged her elbow lightly. “Stop eating, Hayi. Let’s start the project.”

“Yes sir.” She sent him a wilful look.

They began to consolidate and review all the research materials the group had done so far. The o