what goes best with a cup of coffee? another cup. [2kim]

today's good mood is sponsored by cafe kim.

stressed, blessed, and coffee obsessed...

grinding coffee beans overpowered the carols of the christmas playlist being looped throughout the cafe. the young barista operating the blender glanced up to a golden plate directly above the machine, with a cheesy quote reading: "but first, coffee!" that she's seen and cringed at a hundred times before. a familiar beep sounded shorty after, she looked back down to the now powdered coffee next to a few other spices and allowed them to be thoroughly inspected by the cafe manager.

"good, unnie." a younger bear-like barista—with an equally golden name tag reading 'minji' and 'manager'—pointed towards another container containing freshly grounded hazelnut. "now instead of just the beans, we are going to add the nuts and a few other secret-" winking on the word 'secret', "-spices with it to give the holiday flavor."

it was finally that special time of the year that kim chaewon would learn to make the new holiday coffee for the christmas occasion. which meant she had to come in to work an hour earlier than what she's accustomed to and watch her young manager—whose mother owned the store—give step-by-step instructions on this year's limited festive drink.

minji spent the next ten minutes coaching chaewon and making sure she was following everything in order. making sure it was perfect beyond compare for her and her mothers standards. she watched chaewon apply the last swirl of whipped cream in utmost concentration, hitting the table like a wannabe referee yelling: "that should do it!" then with a big gummy smile, minji lifted up chaewon's finished product and took a long sip of the blended frappe before the cub even realized it.

chaewon looked in anticipation, slowly shaking her head for an answer watching minji smack her lips and scrunch her eyebrows in concentration. "well?"

with a few more dramatic lip smacks, minji's face lit-up again, "it's perfect." giving a thumbs up in the process and passing it back to a relieved chaewon who took a taste as well.

"you think you can handle making it today?" the bear asked, writing with white chalk in impressive calligraphy the limited holiday frappe on the black recipe board.

with a final sip, chaewon sat the drink down and made her way to the sink, "i wouldn't have worked here otherwise."

"touche." minji chuckled, going by chaewon to wash their hands. "don't forget the employee handwashing technique updated last night."

"yes, sergeant." chaewon saluted, laughing at the little whine by her ear.

soon, a bell jingling by the door caught their attention. "time to put what you learned to the test." minji whispered, turning off the faucet.

"yeah, yeah..." chaewon dried her hands on her black apron and went up to the register, watching the first customer of the day's eyes light up reading the official new item on the menu. "goodmorning, welcome to cafe kim, would y–"

"i'll take it from here, unnie." minji suddenly cut chaewon off and (lightly) shoved her away, smiling brightly at the wide-eyed girl in front of her and ignoring the hard scoff from the other barista. "hello! would you like to try our new holiday frappe for the christmas season?" she leaned a bit closer, loudly whispering: "i'll even give you a discount since you are the first customer of the day."

"oh my..." the girl's face turned a shade of red, adjusting the tote bag on her left shoulder. "am i that early? i was honestly just passing by and–."

and minji laughed like it was the funniest thing she's ever heard, signaling for chaewon to hurry up and make the new drink while she continued to react to whatever the bunny-like girl was saying.