Fear

prologue

Ring! Ring!

I lifted my head up from the coffee machine as I heard my phone ring at the counter. "Hey, Yera can you take over the coffee machine for me please?" I signalled Yera, my employee who seemed free.

"Sure thing." she smiled and replaced me as I quickly went over to my phone. On the screen, the name of my best friend, Na Haeun was in bold letters and I answered my phone.

"Bae Aera!" Haeun instantly shouted in my ears after picking it up, forcing me to put my phone further away from my ears.

"Yeah?" I replied to the other line, waiting for her next response.

"Junseo and the others asked if we wanna go to a bar tonight."

Kim Junseo. The thought of his name made me smile.

"Which bar?"

"The famous one, CARAT."

"What the hell? You do know that's very expensive, right?"  I walked to the back of the café so that I could hear her properly.

"I know but we're 21 and we got a life to live. Let's just unwind a little." Haeun says, almost pleading.

I sighed but she does have a point. I do need some relaxation, especially when my café business is getting more busier and successful. "Fine," I gave in.

"Oh my God, I love you. Junseo will pick us up at your house at nine so dress nice and be ready. It's gonna be fun!" she exclaimed excitedly and I shook my head, smiling as I could hear her excitement.

Time check, 7:32PM.

"Yera, I'm going to put you in charge for today because I need to leave early, so if there's anything just call me, okay?" I instructed Yera as I untangled the knot on my apron.

Yera nodded and I thanked her before leaving. I felt half-thrilled and half-scared. Thrilled, because I get to see Junseo, the guy whom I had a crush on since my university days. Scared, because I know Haeun also liked him and she told me about it but I didn't tell her about my feelings towards him. I'm pretty sure Junseo had a liking towards Haeun and they might end up confessing each other tonight.

I didn't know why I kept it a secret. Nobody knew that I had a crush on Junseo and maybe I was scared too. I'm scared of rejection and I didn't want to ruin the friendship I had with him too.

As I stepped out of my café, I realised that time passes really fast. Evening came sooner than expected and the daylight had dwindled to a barely perceptible lightening of the gloom. I could feel the soft breeze blowing on my face and I heaved a quiet sigh before heading home.

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i've never really written a prologue before so tbh i'm not sure if this is even one. but anyways cheers to the start of my story!

btw, be sure to read the previous page as i know some of y'all would just skip it. it may or may not be important to some of you guys but just read it for safety :D