Bright Eyes and Hair Dye

Coffee & Flowers

A/N: This story is probably gonna be relatively slow on updates, since I'm working on some other stories right now.

That being said: whose soulmate stories would you all like to see next? Leave a comment here for me.

Also: This chapter contains some swearwords. Not many, but a few.

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She loved books. She loved reading, and almost by default she loved libraries, too. And the idea of working at a café in a library was honestly quite a pleasing one.

Or so she had thought. Because it was only her second week at work, and she was already regretting getting the job in the first place.

But she needed the extra money. So every time a displeased customer made ridiculous demands of her, she did her best to follow through anyway. When someone was a bit too kind or interested while placing an order, she politely declined their advances with a smile. And if they were a bit too rude when receiving their drinks, well, she politely smiled then, too.

Really the only thing that made the work bearable were her coworkers, her lunch break, and the fact that when she went home at night she could complain about it to Da-Eun, who'd get adorably angry for her.

Although, not all of the customers were terrible. There were some who were super polite, others who were a bit quiet because they really just wanted a drink and a scone to enjoy while they read their book. In fact, one time, a kind elderly lady had even bought her a scone on one particularly tough morning, saying she looked like she needed a pick-me-up.

So yes, sometimes it wasn't that bad. It was just that the bad customers tended to ruin the nice experience that all of the good ones created.

Like right now, as she tried to reason with an outraged customer over the state of her child's t-shirt, because it somehow ended up being her responsibility that he'd spilled the drink on himself when he'd been too busy watching videos on his phone to pay attention to his smoothie.

"That's absolutely ridiculous! Can't you see that his shirt is ruined? I demand a refund." She could practically see the steam coming out of the woman's ears. "Actually, you know what? I'd like to speak to your manager! He should know just how unhelpful his employees are. Where is he?"

I guess Karens are a worldwide phenomenon, then, she thought drily, fighting the urge to roll her eyes even as she gave the woman her politest smile.

"She is currently on her lunch break. I can get my supervisor, though, if you'd like."

The 'Karen' let out an undignified huff. "What kind of place doesn't always have a manager on duty? This is ridiculous."

"We're a privately run business, ma'am," she began, her patience starting to rub thin. "And that—"

"We all have to eat at some point, don't we, madame?" interrupted a new voice. She felt a large, warm hand on her shoulder, gently pulling her back away from the livid 'Karen.'

It was her supervisor, Taesoo.

"If you're absolutely determined to see our manager, you're very welcome to wait here for—" Taesoo glanced briefly down at his watch, "about a half-hour or so if you'd like. She'll be back by then. And I'm sure our lovely staff would be happy to serve you if you'd like to order some drinks while you wait. Or you could leave and come back after she returns. I believe there's a dry cleaners a few blocks down if you're worried about your son's shirt."

He smiled his 'I'm very annoyed right now, but I'm being polite about it' smile, one she'd seen enough to immediately recognize, even only after a few weeks of working with him.