"wonwoo, you're hired."
wonwoo's eyes widened in confusion as to why he was already hired despite the lack of experience as a barista. but it also made some sense given the fact that his new colleague was complaining about the amount of workload she had to do by herself.
"when do i start sir?" wonwoo asked with a soft voice, in fear that he might start on the same day he had the interview.
"right now." mr lee said as he pulled both of wonwoo's arms so that could stand up, making the naive youngster almost tripping on himself. wonwoo's new manager threw a grey apron at him, indicating that he was actually an official part timer at lee's cafe. he panicked as he instantly threw on his new and fresh apron to start his day at his new job.
"but sir, i don't how to operate a coffee machine." wonwoo frowned as he doubted his abilities since all of this was pretty new to him. eunji, his new colleague, placed her hand on his shoulder to calm him down as she could see his legs trembling in fear.
"don't worry newbie, i'll teach you the basics, but i do gotta say, i'm not the nicest person when it comes to teaching people with little experience." she furrowed her eyebrows but instantly switched up to a warm smile as she led wonwoo to the brewing machine that made the cafe's signature caffeine drinks.
eunji guided wonwoo to make the easier drinks at first, like an americano and a latte. as the day progressed, wonwoo made more than what he was capable of. to his surprise, customers were pretty impressed of the taste of the coffee he made, showering him with compliments and thumbs ups making him feel a bit relieved of his first day at work.
the day went by pretty smoothly, and in a blink of an eye, it was already near closing. wonwoo was wiping the tables and swept the floor while eunji was taking care of the counter and thanked wonwoo for the day well spent.
"thanks wonwoo, i don't know if i could survive this day without you. the cafe is getting more and more popular especially during the summer, so i'm glad you were able to work here. i'm surprised you were able to pick up what i've taught you as we went on." she smiled as she was wiping the coffee machines. the conversation was not too long as wonwoo only replied with occasional nods and mhms. the introverted boy could not keep up with a conversation and tend to back out when the conversation becomes too long.
"wonwoo, you're free to go." mr lee said as he left his room to check the condition of the cafe, which was clean with some sparkles shining the tables from time to time. "thank you sir." wonwoo replied as he bowed to mr lee as a sign of respect before he went to the storage room to retrieve his tote bag.
"drop the formalities, kiddo. it's weird." he laughed which made wonwoo smile a bit as he left the room. "then how should i address you sir?" he asked with the same monotone from earlier when he talked to eunji. "just call me uncle, or eunho if you prefer that." he smiled and gave him a thumbs up. "okay, uncle lee." wonwoo replied as he returned the thumbs up.
"wonwoo, do you think we should start selling pastries in the cafe? i think it will be complimentary for the customers' drinks." he suggested which made wonwoo come up with some pastries. "what do you think about cookies and donuts?" wonwoo asked as eunji gave approval to his suggestion from afar with a nod. "yea appa, that sounds great!" she replied as she packed up her things and sat on one of the tables near the entrance of the cafe.
"that sounds like a good idea, i'll definitely put it into consideration. but that also means we need to hire more people to bake them. i don't think the two of you can handle making the drinks and baking pastries at the same time. you guys are pretty messy!" mr lee joked resulting in a slap on the back by his daughter.
"that also means we need to fucking expand the counter because you can't fucking expect all of us to stand in that tiny ass space at once!" eunji laughed, making mr lee flick the back of her head due to her vulgar language. "anyways, wonwoo you should go home now, it's getting late. i'll text you if we need you during this week. thank you for helping us out today!" he patted wonwoo on the back as the younger left the cafe, bidding his farewells to his colleague and boss with a small wave.
wonwoo entered his house and saw his parents on the sofa watching tv. they looked at him with a very pissed off face, causing slight tension between wonwoo and his parents. he ignored the stern looks as he untied his air forces before entering his bedroom. before he past by his parents, he was stopped abruptly from his dad grabbing his wrist. "where have you been? it's already half past ten and you're going to ignore us?" his dad scolded.
already annoyed by his parents nagging, he shook off his dad's hand. "i went to my part time job." wonwoo said lowly. "that's good, you can pay the rent now and give us our allowance, since we're your parents. right honey?" he looked at wonwoo's mother, indifferent about what wonwoo had to say and only gave a small nod. "i'm using the money i earned to pay off my college fees, not for you to use so freely." wonwoo talked back which ended in getting a hard slap on the face.
"you never do anything around the house, you worthless bastard. we're your parents, we should get the fair share from your income. we raised and fed you well." his dad scoffed due to his his son's supposed disrespectful actions. wonwoo rolled his eyes and stormed off to his bedroom and slammed the door.
once he entered his room, he threw his bag on the opposite side of him and laid his back on the door. he felt his tears start to form as he attempted to calm down. he didn't like the atmosphere in his house, so his part time job eventually became the place to escape from his hell home. he sat there with his knees touching his chest as he sobbed quietly. after what felt like years of crying, he went to his closet to change into his sleepwear and head to bed, not excited for the next day.
