“A dark café latte to table four please!”

“On it!”

“Oh, two caramel lattes and a vanilla bean coffee to table two!”

“I got it!”

“Could you hand this over to table eight? It’s their carrot cake they’ve ordered”

“Of course I can! I’ll get it right over”

The word to define such hectic commotion is busy. The Cryel café was storming through another busy day with ten (or more) orders per second which tagged along the sounds of pattering feet and chatting mouths. As each day grew, the time started to feel longer than usual. Seconds became minutes, minutes to hours and hours to days. A young seventeen year old boy pressed his back against the wooden doors to the back kitchen as it swung open his arms and hands stacked with five orders. His feet repeated the daily pacing around the tiled grounds tracing themselves from table to table it was almost as though he could see a trail of his foot prints. 

The cafe's population gradually dropped down to the staff and a single man last to be served. A smile sprung wide across his angelic face as he made his way to the customer seen seated near the front entrance window holding a tall newspaper covering their face. The waiter gently slid the black circular tray on the table as he picked up the requested items off the plastic material and on to the table.

“Here you are sir,” the blonde kindly said. “Your two vanilla bean lattes, two blueberry muffins, and two slices of carrot cake!” He stood up almost too joyfully knowing that this is the finally order for the day. The foreigner took the tray between his finger tips and bowed politely, his grin remaining on his face.

“Enjoy your meal, remember to call me if you need anything like a baggy or a cup holder. The name's Bambam by the way so don’t be shy!”

The customer waited till the boy turned his back as he began lowering the sheets of paper he was “reading”. His eyes wandered off on the worker's slim figure bitting his bottom lip then striking a smirk, his dark rich chocolate hair swiping by his forehead peeping near his eye area. Clearing his clogged throat, the mysterious man opened his mouth calling back the adorable teenager once again. “Pardon my manners but-” cutting himself off gradually setting down the newspaper. Bambam felt his legs froze his shoulders shrugging and his laced around the tray rims.

A slight chuckle lingered between the male's teethe, his right elbow rested on the edge of the table. “I seem to have ordered too much food, I don't wanna carry it back either. Do you mind helping a poor guy out by eating these sweets with me?” He asked, playing with the pair of pink lips on his face his thumb was constantly flipping pass the slits of paper lying beside his order. The smile implanted on the Thai boy's face grew in second, he could distinct that voice in anywhere. Twirling his heels around, his arms opened automatically as sparkles glistened at his favorite hyung’s eyes.

“Jackson hyung!!!!” He exclaimed, almost jumping head onto the older male. Jackson gave a small chuckle as he scooted his to the side giving the teenager abit of room to sit on the tiny chair. A shaggy haired boy came from within the heated kitchen, his foot kicked open the door while his hands played with a fluffy damp towel. Yugyeom was slowly getting sick and tired of continuously cleaning the tables after their shift was over, it didn’t help that Bambam was there relaxing with a few snacks and a drink. The moment his droopy puppy eyes released itself from the white cloth, he unpleasantly squinted his eyes towards the two seated by the glass windows. The youngest stopped his journey to his first table to clean, spitting out his inner thoughts at that very moment.

“Aish, look at you two, I hope one of you falls off the chair,” he prayed while the blonde was stuffing his face with the muffin Jackson offered him. The chestnut brown-haired male was in the middle of sipping from his bitter beverage as he nodded in agreement to what the younger one was saying, setting the glass mug on the counter. “You’re right,” he informed swallowing his last gulp. His hands soon found themselves around the boy’s waist lifting him up on his lap then continued to eat away at his order. The Korean gave a loud scoff and proceeds to wipe down the stained tables.

Moments after, around the time Yugyeom is at his third table, a young adult, around the age of twenty, came out of his office, his eyes captivated on the sign hung from the entrance door. He reached out and turned the sign around for the public to read “sorry, we’re closed for today” in Korean dialogue. A sigh escaped from his mouth as he slightly ducked his head. His ears heard a disturbing noise coming from the other side of the café, it was no other but the two imbeleces munching away at their food. Jackson brought the blueberry muffin to his mouth with his free hand, the other around the younger one’s waist; he took a big boy bite from it, the sweet tender taste tingled his taste buds. The Hong Kong native begun eyeing the misformed dessert while he questions loudly to himself, loud enough that the others were able to hear.

“Who makes this stuff?”

“I do,” said a slightly annoyed maknae, his orbs awestruck on getting the coffee stain off the table. The twenty one year old snapped his neck to where the taller one was.

“You bake?”

“No , it’s like how people breathe air”

“Wait, you’re human?”  

The idiotic question got the male to spring up and gives a loud “yah” receiving a few chuckles here and there from the other two. The raven haired Korean ended his feminine giggles bringing his hand down and away from his smiling lips.

“That’s enough teasing the Yugyeomiee for the day, come on he works hard.”

“At least someone acknowledges my work-“

“-And if you want more compliments like that then you should be more respectful you punk!”

The suddenly snap got the seventeen year old to yelp from his task, his head slowly brought itself to turn to where the snappy tone was directed, and there he found his boss with two hands on his hourglass hips. He cheekily grinned, “Jinyoungie hyung?” He said, his voice sounding as fake as it can be. Jinyoung rolled his eyes soon flinching back to the direction of where the two friends were.

“Anyways, Bambam you can’t be eating away at the café’s treats, I told you if there’s extras then we’ll give you-“

“- Hey hey hey! Just hold up a y second, he’s doing you a solid favor. If he didn’t come eat these treats, I think I never come back here again!” Jackson huffed, his orbs turning to look at the innocent teenager on his lap. “Besides, I ordered him too,” the Thai native swallowed his last bit of carrot cake down his throat dryly nodding in pure agreement to what his hyung had said. The twenty year old sighed, a smile soon forming on his beloved face, the wrinkles beginning to appear on the edges of his eyes. He was never able to hold a grudge towards the second youngest, he seemed almost like his own child.

As the ticker of the clock swiftly made its way around, the two ams soon met at the top number, twelve. The employees completed their after math tasks when they all headed out into the chilly weather. Jinyoung watched the others bundled between their spring sweaters, he did as well.

“So what time will you be open again tomorrow?” Bluntly questioned the Chinese foreigner, his hands in his pockets while he gazed into the night sky. The male’s plump lips felt themselves forming into a utter smirk, he spun his eyes to the direction to where Jackson was, his head moved in a slight as well. “You plan on taking Bambam to work?”

The sudden question caught the fencer off guard as his eyes blindly widened themselves, soon clearing his throat as he brought his hands to his hips. “Uhhh who said I was?” He sassily questioned in responds, confidently swinging his head to look at the Korean. Jinyoung chuckled, his hand lifted to grip the older one’s left shoulder.

 “Yeah, keep trying to bribe him then make him do your nasty work, I know what you’re up to Jackson hyung.”

The twenty one year old narrowed his brows during the moments Jinyoung left, his tongue poking at the side of his mouth as he mentally spoke to the younger one.

‘Sure you can put it that way’

 It was after a few goodbyes here and there, the male took out a single golden key to the lock of the building door. He allowed the metal object to dangle off its ring from his index finger soon taking full grip and slipping the key in its notch. The Korean did his daily twist and turns then hid the spare underneath the welcome carpet which led before the glass door.

He soon vanished from the scene and headed to where he began his day, home. However, it was unknown to him that he was being watched from the shadows. The shadowest figure peeped their head from behind the brick walls of a anonymous building insuring the owner has left his base. They tip toed from their spot towards the café pausing infront of the pat. The figure bent their knees to pinch the edge of the dusty rug, lifting it into mid air. Their eyes caught the shiny key Jinyoung hid as they snatched the metal medium into their hands and stood up, patting away the dust. The anonymous person allowed the key to dangle from its ring from his finger as the Korean did, their eyes gazing on the turning object. Their chocolate brown orbs found themselves scanning old, medium height building, at the forehead of the café was written “Cryel” in big cursive letters, then “café” beneath its corner right.

“So this Cryel? Pretty simple, but fancy.”

Any guesses?