It was another normal day at work. Well, that's what Wendy thought.

"Whoa!" Wendy flinched at the sound of metal hitting the floor. She hoped that nobody was hurt and she went over to check for any casualties and saw one of her fairly new employees kneeled down and cleaning up the mess as an older woman glared at him and scolded him with.. Extremely inappropriate wording. Wendy rushed over there and saw some of her peers try to calm her down and Joy and Tiffany helped clean up the mess. 

"Where is the owner of this place!? I demand to see the owner! The manager, whoever is in charge, I don't care!" Wendy stepped up calmly and smiled reassuringly to the young employee. 

"Yes, ma'am, that would be me. First I'd like to apologize for the accident caused by one of my employee-" 

"Yes, you better be sorry, he ruined my skirt and bag. Do you know how much the bag cost? At least $2,000!" Wendy bit her tongue and nodded as calmly as she could.

"Yes, and I apologize, but it was a mistake and one we will corre-" Again, the woman cut her off and Wendy took in a deep breath discreetly.

"A mistake, I believe the ruffian was trying to do this on purpose." 

"With much respect, please do not put down the employees, they work very hard. We offer to pay for your bag and cleaning for your skirt. If the skirt is ruined then we will pay for a new one." The woman looked a bit triumphant but looked down at the employee.

"I want him fired." Wendy's jaw unhinged and she looked at the poor boy.

She knew he was a college student that really needed this job. He came to her begging for something to do and told her that he barely scraped enough for his apartment rent a month ago. He looked back at her desperately and she felt sorry for the boy.

"I'm afraid that I won't allow that." Wendy spoke sternly and some people stopped to look at her.

"And why not?" The woman was clearly offended and Wendy took some pride in it.

"This young man has worked hard for the past month and is an honours student in college. I'm not going to give up one of my hardworking employees because of a small accident that happened. I will take charge for any punishment he will get, but I will not be releasing him." Wendy challenged the older lady with a stern stare.

"Then I guess I'm suing-" 

"Actually, shouldn't she be the one suing?" Wendy's head snapped to the speaker and saw Irene and Seulgi. Surprisingly, the voice didn't belong to Seulgi.

"What are you talking about?" 

"You tripped him. I saw you with my own eyes. And also if you need proof, I'm sure we could get some answers with the camera that is coincidentally pointed exactly at where the scene took place." Irene gestured to the machine in the corner.

Wendy heard some soft laughing and she looked down at Tiffany and Joy. They were trying really hard to hold onto their laughter and she honestly wanted to join them.

"Nonsense, I did not trip him--" 

"You are Kim Joorin, right?" This time Seulgi spoke up and it almost surprised Wendy. She looked strict and it was a huge difference from the Seulgi from before.

"Y-yes, I am." The woman stuttered and looked extremely nervous.

"You're in the customer service for the company. We've gotten many complaints from our customers for you. Also on your record, you've been charged for slander multiple times." Wendy decided to help the three on the ground before she burst out laughing.

It was innappropriate at the time, but she couldn't help but want to laugh at the face of impending doom. Especially when it belonged to someone who trash-talked her employee. 

"I want you in my office, now. Irene, please stay here and help Wendy-ssi with any other problems." Seugli nodded to Irene and turned to leave the cafe. The woman followed back timidly and when they left the cafe, Joy couldn't help but let out a small burst of laughter.

Wendy nudged her and got her to quiet down. She patted the young man on the back and smiled reassuringly before telling him to go clean himself up a bit and then get back to work.

"Are you okay?" Irene asked worriedly and Wendy nodded.

"Yeah, she just really made me want to punch her." Wendy blew a strand of her away from her face and ushered her employees back to work.

"You handled it professionally though, so that's good. Although, I'd recommend getting a tape of the incident just in case." Irene cautioned as she moved a strand of hair behind Wendy's ear.

"R-right. I'll get it after we close up." Wendy's cheek's burned and Irene seemed to have notice. She shyly retracted her hand and apologized quietly.

After that event, Irene sat Wendy down and told her about all of her choices. She could sue, let it go, or have Seulgi give her a punishment, which Irene reminded that Seulgi was most likely doing that already. She also told Wendy the precise details of what to do if the woman were to provoke her or sue her. Being the the person she was, Wendy listened carefully and nodded to make sure that Irene understood that she was listening.

"Also you could get a restraining order, or actually your employee can.." Irene trailed off when she felt her phone vibrate. Wendy saw her eyes flicker from left to right as she read the message. "And it seems Seulgi is done dealing with the problem and we seem to be done as well..?"

"Yep, thank you for helping me with this and please thank Seulgi-ssi for me as well." Wendy smiled and stood up.

"It's no problem. If you have anymore problems, and I mean any problems even personal.. Well, only if you want to talk about this, I don't want to pry and I'm digressing but.." Irene stood up a bit sheepishly and Wendy giggled softly.

"Thank you, I'll be sure to keep that in mind. But as a treat.. I could send you off with drinks for yourself and Seulgi." Wendy tilted her head and Irene pondered.

"Well.. It does sound appealing.." Irene gave Wendy a wink and the latter laughed.

"I'll go make them right now. Latte and black coffee?" 

"Espresso. Maybe if I come later, I'll get a decaf." Irene smiled and Wendy nodded with a faint blush.

Maybe if Irene comes later.

----

And indeed, Irene did come and right after the last employee left, leaving only Wendy. It was almost as if she was waiting but Wendy wasn't going to over analyze it. The situation from yesterday seemed to repeat itself, only they talked about different things. Their voices were soft as if their were other people listening to their conversation and Wendy had noticed that it wasn't like her to speak so softly. When she spoke, she was confident, or at least she sounded confident. Her voice could be heard across the room even if there were others in it. It was natural for her because she was usually in a comfortable enviroment, not that speaking to Irene made her uncomfortable. Speaking to Irene made her feel soothed. The woman knew how to convey emotion with simple words and phrases.

As a child, Wendy had trouble with words and emotions. She couldn't find something to fit what she was feeling and when she did, the emotion died out by then. Of course her difficulty declined as she grew up but sometimes she felt as if words weren't enough.

"You're lying! You're not 27.. Oh my gosh.." Irene laughed sofly at the outburst and Wendy blushed.

"I'm not lying, but I wish I was. I'd kill to be as pretty as I used to be." Irene giggled and mused.

"I'd kill to be as pretty as you right now! You don't look a day over 21." Wendy pouted while playing with her mug.

"Oh please, you're beautiful and you're 24."

Wendy would disagree, but Irene looked so confident and sincere. It made Wendy's chest feel warm.

They shared more stories but Wendy kept an even pace. She didn't want to share all of her stories before there next meet up. Instead of talking about her personal life, Wendy started to muse about how she was going to upgrade the cafe, in which Irene seemed extremely interested in it. She had talked about expanding the cafe the last time they met and she really wanted to make it come true this time.

"I might just work on it little by little. Close the shop for a month or two so they can construct a second floor and then after that I'll work on adding or upgrading some of the equipment." Irene nodded thoughtfully at the plan.

"It would probably work well, but two months without shop and you'd lose employees and profit.. Have you ever thought of just moving everything?" Wendy nodded in agreement and rested her head on her arms.

"I have, but it would cost a lot.. I don't have much funds to go on." Wendy sighed and looked back at Irene.

The woman was smiling softly and hummed to herself. She seemed to be scheming something.

"You could get a loan or someone to sponsor you." Wendy nodded and smiled.

She enjoyed talking to Irene. They wouldn't talk about much, but when they did, it felt magical. It was cliche, but it was what if felt like to Wendy. She wasn't sure how Irene felt about talking to her but so far she's getting positive vibes.

It felt good. Really good.

AN: ok this is shorter than the other one and I'm sorry hic. On another note, I'm expecting this to be maximum 15 chapters and minimum 5 so please look forward to this! bye bye~~