betwixt - enhypen

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐭

joori thankfully had picked up some medicine from her outing the previous day, and swallowed an aspirin tablet with a glass of water. her phone had been buzzing constantly for the past few minutes, which was what had woken her up originally. it was bright outside, but still cold, so joori imagined that it must have been pretty early at least.

directing her attention to her phone, she saw a flood of texts from an unknown number. as she typed in her passcode, she felt slightly relieved, being that it wasn't anything to worry about. it was mr kim, sending a timetable for her hours. everything seemed okay; the times fit around her lectures, and it didn't feel overwhelming. mr kim described that it was a near enough week-by-week basis that the timetables would be changed, so what she saw now wasn't set in stone. either way, she noted the days and times that she was needed, and decided to eat breakfast whilst she was still in the kitchen.

with cupboards stacked high with instant ramen, different flavoured corn chips, and chocolate, joori would have no reason to cook nutritious food for another week. sustaining herself on high-sodium carbs, she would embrace the student diet.

already, joori had taken to the student's way of neglecting herself, and burying herself in her education. she enjoyed her studies, and was excited to learn, making her throw everything into it. school had always been an outlet for her excess energy. it had always been her distraction when everything else was falling apart. if joori was in a bad mood, best believe she would have an army of books and pens around to keep her company.

as she made a bowl of her favourite cereal: cereal before milk, she opened her phone, clicking on the several photos that she had been sent. tuesdays and thursdays: those were the days that she had to work, and being that today was a thursday, she decided to take the time to plan her outfit. even if it wouldn't be fully visible under an apron, she still felt the need to make an effort on her first day. she tied her hair back, and put on some concealer to hide her exponentially growing eye bags.

with admirable optimism, joori stepped into her position with all of herself. she paid extra close attention to every action that mr kim pursued, and note of every sentence that came from his mouth. joori wasn't a perfectionist—far from it, but she had a great sense of responsibility and wanted to do the best job she could.

the hours passed quickly, and she soon found herself taking orders from tired-looking students with a caffeine addiction. as she looked at the clock behind her, she still had a few minutes until her shift was over, and she would have to make a dozen more drinks before then.

"hello, what would you like to order today?" she put on her best customer service voice, hoping to get tips for all of the effort it took. she noted down the menu, and started preparing the drinks, passing them to mr kim, as she was not yet allowed to touch the expensive machines to roast the coffee. it was an easy enough job, and she felt comfortable being in a warm room with the smell of roasted coffee beans keeping her awake. she could easily get used to this.

soon enough, mr kim tapped her shoulder, and pointed to the clock, letting her know that she could take a step back from the counter for her break. she nodded politely, and took off her new apron, draping it over a box of stock in the back room. joori didn't care for being tidy: they were the only two working today, as eunhwan had briefed her, but there were two other students who worked there part-time: sunoo and jungwon. although she had yet to introduce herself properly, joori felt didn't feel the need to worry, because if their employer was someone like eunhwan, they too would be nice people. she put her belongings in a pile, and left the immediate vicinity.

for the few hours that she had already been working at drips, she had been eyeing a bench in the middle of the central building, facing the fountain, with the library behind. there was another bench too, but that one faced the student area, and having interacted with students enough, she would rather choose the other.