Broken Connection

3

The next morning I was sore all over. I could feel the bruises healing fast. That's what soulmate bruises did. By tomorrow they would be completely gone, but now they were in the ugly greenish yellowish stage of healing that kind of makes you look like you're beginning to rot.

I shrugged on my work attire and picked up my bags. It was finally the weekend, which meant that instead of going to school and then work that I could just go straight to work instead. I had to feed myself somehow.

It didn't take me long to get there. The coffee shop was on the bottom floor of an apartment building three blocks down, so I was almost never late. I had landed the job by a stroke of luck. Apparently the guy that had taken orders before me had gotten tired of taking coffee orders and moved on to flipping burgers or something. That was just fine with me, though; I really liked my job.

I was working the entire day today, with the exception of an hour lunch break whenever the rush slowed down. I had had my job for nearly a year at this point, and the owner trusted me to open and close the store on my own. Donghyuck would come to help in the middle of the day, but he would only be able to stay a few hours. Apparently he had some sort of group project to do. High schoolers. Actually scheduling their things instead of procrastinating.

The atmosphere in the shop in the early mornings was always pleasant. It was filled with warm sandy tones and the yellow sunlight spilled in to brighten up the wooden floors. It didn't take long before a small line was forming, all ordering to go cups of coffee for their morning commute.

I was happily filling orders when I caught sight of a familiar head of bright green hair. He was with a different boy this time, one that seemed to be about the same age as Donghyuck. They were the same height, but the new guy seemed much more bubbly. He had a full head of blonde hair, and a smile that seemed just the slightest bit infectious. Even the scary guy with the green hair seemed to be fighting off a slight uptilt to the lips.

When they got to me green hair was just as grumpy as he had been the previous day, while the blonde was bubbly and giggly. He did most of the talking.

It only took me about two minutes to make their orders, but the man with green hair seemed to be getting impatient. As soon as the drinks were done green hair had taken his and sped out of the door. The other guy shot me an apologetic look while dropping a $10 in the tip jar.

"Sorry about him. He's just a bit stressed out lately," he explained.

I gave him a small nod and he went on his merry way.

Six hours later Donghyuck came bouncing through the doors of the coffee shop, tying his apron as he went. It was one o'clock now, and most of the lunch crowd had already left the few booths and tables we offered to trudge their way back to work.

I sighed in relief as he took the station at the register and I was able to sit down at an empty table and eat my lunch. We got free lunches from the shop, and I took full advantage of that. I had a deli sandwich, a pack of chips, a water, and Exactly one hour to enjoy all of that. The day hadn't been too stressful so far, but I was more worried about closing up than anything else. When we closed we had to take the money two blocks down, in the opposite direction of my apartment, to deposit it in the overnight bank box.

Once, a few years ago, the owner had been attacked on his way to leave the money. They easily caught the culprit, but it still left me worried about that short trip and what could happen.

My thoughts had distracted me from my food, and it wasn't very long before the alarm on my phone went off to tell me I had a minute to clock back in before I would be late.

"Mark and Taeyong told me they came in today," Donghyuck told me as I returned to work.

"Who came in?" I had no idea who Mark and Taeyong were.

"Oh! You don't know their names. The guy with the green hair is Taeyong and the blonde one is Mark. They're my friends," Hyuck explained.

"I can totally see the Mark one, but you're friends with Taeyong?" I asked him.

The guy just didn't seem like someone that Hyuck would hang out with. I always saw him with other people that had bubbly and bright personalities.

"He's not so bad once you get to know him. He's nothing more than a big softie that tries to scare people with The way he looks," he explained, "If you really want to see intimidating you should meet the big one."

I had no idea who the big one was, nor did I ask. A few hour later Donghyuck was on his way out of the door and to do his project with his group, and I was left alone in the shop.

Cleaning didn't take long, and I clutched the money bag close to my chest as I shut and locked the doors of the shop. I took a deep breath and started making my way down the street.