Coffee Kisses

Just Do It

Lea woke up to the annoying sound of her alarm clock telling her to get her ass up. Groaning she reached around for the little shit, only to remember that she put it on her desk the evening before. In the end, Lea knew herself best and that included knowing that she could never get up in the morning, even when the whole Black Parade was standing next to her and giving its all. Cursing she rolled out of bed, and while walking over to her desk she stepped on several bras, socks and loose papers. Finally she could silence the clock and sink into her desk chair, close her eyes and enjoy the peace and quietness that settled around her. That didn't last long though, as someone knocked on her door about five seconds later.
'Lea!', that certain someone screached through the closed door. Lea sighed in defeat and reached for the door handle, only to be hit with a door that opened on itself. Or more like her roommate Hyejin opening the door with way too much enthusiasm and injuring Lea in the process. The long haired girl stood a little baffled on Leas doorstep, not used to seeing her awake before four o'clock in the afternoon. 'Why are you already awake?' Lea rubbed her face.
'I have a job interview today, what do you mean why am I already awake? Have you forgotten about it?' Hyejin finally entered and let herself fall onto the bed.
'I haven't, but I thought you would. I came to wake you.'
'Well, you're a little too late for that.' Only now Lea noticed the smell of sausages and scrambled eggs in the air. 'Hyejin? Did you by chance make breakfast?' Hyejin shot up and nodded proudly.
'You bet I did. Come on, I don't want it to get cold.' She grabbed Leas hand and pulled her into the living room.
They had a pleasant and tasty breakfast while listening to the distant murmurs of the morning traffic, a soft breeze coming through their opened window. Afterwards Lea put on some 'aesthetically pleasing' clothes – meaning a simple skirt and a hoodie, but Hyejin liked to make fun of Leas obsession over all kinds of aesthetics – and grabbed her backpack.
'I'll be back soon!', she shouted in Hyejins vague direction.
'Good luck, you can do it! Don't fuck up', Hyejin answered from inside the toilet. Grabbing her keys and helmet Lea closed the door behind herself and walked down the stairs of their five floor building.
Being the first week of April it was relatively warm outside. Lea didn't have to wear a jacket anymore and she could finally use her bike again. While it was very relaxing to drive with the bus and to listen to some music, she still preferred feeling the soft breeze twirling around her legs and the warm rays of sunshine warming her face. Putting in one earphone and playing some sweet Crush beats she got on her bike and left the parking lot of her apartment complex. She didn't have to drive long, living relatively near to Gwangjin where the coffee shop was located. The closer she got to the busy part of Seoul, the more traffic was on the streets. She lived in a quiet neighbourhood where the only noise came from the occasional drunks wandering around the streets at night, but here it was the complete opposite. A lot of people were walking around and chatting with either friends or their phones, motorbikes were speeding around corners and cars were rushing to get to their destination. Here and there loud music was coming out of a shop or a bar, and Lea could smell so many different things it was difficult to say whether they were bad or pleasant smells. It was like Lea had been riding for a few hours, not just fifteen minutes. But that was exactly why she had decided to move from her hometown into the capital. There was always something going on, and the variety of districts was fascinating. No matter the wish, you could make it come true in Seoul.
Remembering the one time Hyejin had brought her to the coffee shop she knew roughly where she had to go. She turned left and drove past a lot of shops. This street was especially busy, being home to a lot of small businesses. Lea stopped next to a grey car and pushed her bike through the narrow space between the car and a tree next to it. Locking her bike to the tree and removing her helmet, she stepped towards the small shop in front of her. It had two big windows and a door next to them, all in wooden frames. A sign hung over the door and Lea read 'Neo Coffee Technology', the name of the coffee shop. In the windows she could see a lot of plants, either hanging from the ceiling or standing on the floor in ceramic pots. On the door hung a piece of paper, reading 'Looking for full time employee, w., m., with flexible working hours'. That is why I'm here, Lea thought and wiped a few drops of sweat from her forehead. Straightening her skirt and grabbing her helmet a little tighter she walked towards the door and entered the shop, followed by a soft ringing of the bells announcing her arrival. The shops inside was flooded by the sunlight streaming through the big windows. There were a lot of small tables standing in front of a long counter. Some of the chairs were occupied by people, but it was pretty empty. There were even more plants than you would have guessed from the outside, and Lea tentatively walked towards the wooden counter. On a chalkboard on the wall in front of her someone had written the menu. At a glance Lea spotted a lot of different beverages with caffeine, but also some small pastries like waffles. Looking around, no one was standing behind the counter.
'Hello?', she asked quietly. It seemed to work, as mere seconds later someone was walking out of a door that probably led to the back of the shop and wiped his hands clean on a cream coloured apron. He had light brown, fluffy hair and a wide smile which was maybe more blinding than the sun shining through the window. His step had a light bounce to it, and he seemed more like a highschool kid than an employee in a coffee shop – or anywhere, to be precise.
'Good morning, how may I help you?', he asked, still smiling. Lea, unable not to, smiled back.
'I'm here for the job announcement?' The boy – Lea refused to call him a man – nodded understandingly and waved her over.
'Follow me. We can look over your documents right now.' He twirled around and disappeared through that same door again. Lea was quick to follow him and stepped into a darker back area, as she had guessed. The boy walked towards a small desk standing next to three lockers and got a pen.
'Please, make yourself comfortable', he said and pointed towards an orange and absolutely gruesome, but still comfortable looking couch. Lea sat down, and the boy took off his apron and seated himself next to her. Lea puller her documents out of her backpack and gave them to him. He showed Lea his perfect set of pearly white teeth again, and Lea wondered how good his dentist had to be. 'Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Lee Donghyuck, I'm the only other full time employee at the moment. I've been working here for two years now. Additionally we have another employee, but he only works part time as he is still a student.' Lea tried really hard not to blurt out if he was sure that he wasn't a student himself. Instead she nodded. 'What about you?', he asked innocently. Really, he did not at all look like he was in a position to interview Lea, but she was not one to judge.
'I'm Lea Fricker. I've recently graduated from the Korean School of Arts and am now trying to earn some money before I go into freelance work. As I really like coffee and interacting with people I decided it would be a good choice to try my luck here.' Donghyuck smiled happily.
'That sounds really nice. How come you chose our coffee shop?'
'My roommate took me here once and I really liked the atmosphere. It was a coincidence that you were looking for employees at the same time, and I saw the flyer pinned on the door.'
'Ah, yes. I think we won't need it anymore from today on. Anything else you want to say before you start working here?' Leas mouth fell open and she feared for a second that Donghyuck had to pick up her eyes from the ground if she stared any harder.
'I- what?' He laughed, a beautiful, ringing laugh.
'You see, we're not exactly in the place to be picky about who we employ, and you seem like a decent human being so I don't see a problem. If you want you can start right now and later I'll ask my co-worker to put a contract together – he's more skilled in such things than me.' Lea beamed.
'Yes, that would be perfect, I'd love to.'
'That's settled then.' He stood up and gave her the unopened map back. 'Let me show you around first.'
Donghyuck first showed her the back of the shop, with only a small room containing said lockers, desk and couch. There were two doors, one of which led to a teeny tiny bathroom Behind the other one was a storage with lots and lots of bags full of coffee beans.
He then showed her the front, or more the counter. He also explained how she would first only be preparing desserts and taking the cash, as the coffee was really the core of the shop and she had to learn that first. Lea didn't have a problem with that, she knew she would learn fast. Then he gave her her apron and a hair elastic to put her hair into a knot. He gave her an ID for the cash register and showed her how the machine worked, and then she was ready to do her first task.
Lea would never have guessed that she would have this much fun putting bills in the register and handing the customers their change. But surprisingly she had a non stop smile on her face for the whole two hours she did this task, and occasionally the customers even smiled back. She completed about a hundred transactions, and when she could finally eat a sandwich her fingers hurt from the buttons. After the break her co-worker came from uni and joined them. He was a weird little dude, his pastel pink hair in stark contrast with his grumpy personality, but Lea could see the joy in his eyes when he brewed coffee, so she understood why Donghyuck had employed him. The guy introduced himself as Yoo Kihyun, music and singing student and apparently the only thing holding the shop together - to witch Donghyuck only laughed. The latter whispered in her ear how he would never let Kihyun do customer service, but his coffee was famous all over Seoul. While Lea didn't get to taste the infamous beverage, she could smell the richness of the coffee beans and occasionally a little bit of hazelnut syrup, depending on the order.
At about 6 pm Lea left the coffee shop with numb feet, a contract to look over and a big smile from ear to ear. It had been a rewarding day, and she really wanted to get home to Hyejin and tell her everything. She had never been so fast, and when she finally got home her cheeks were tinted pink and her bangs stuck to her forehead. Taking two steps at a time she climbed the stairs and shut the door behind her back with a loud bang. That seemed to attract the attention of her roommate. Hyejin shuffled into the entrance hall with a bright green facemask on and nothing but underwear.
'Hey! You're finally back. What took you so lo-'
'I got the job!', Lea interrupted her and threw her arms up in celebration. She nearly destroyed the lamp that was hanging from the ceiling, but she couldn't care less. 'And it is so perfect, my coworkers are so nice and the task are so interesting and the atmosphere is so calm and relaxed and oh don't get me started on the aesthetic-'
'Are they hot?'. Hyejin asked and munched on a potato chip she got from a bag in her hand. Lea was perplexed.
'Who?' Hyejin rolled her eyes and mumbled something about coffee and braincells.
'Your coworkers, is there anyone that's hot? How old are they? What do they look like?' She paused. 'Wait, are they even male?' Now it was Leas turn to roll her eyes. She slipped out of her sneakers and walked past Hyejin to plop herself on the couch. Apparently Hyejin had been watching Strong Woman Do Bong Soon before Lea had come back.
'I have two coworkers. They're both male.' Hyejin gasped.
'What have you done in your past life to deserve this.' She paused again, thinking. 'Wait, they're old and perverted, right? They have to be.'
'Nope, sorry to disappoint. One is still in Uni and the other one is like two years older than me or something.' Hyejin sighed dramatically and fell next to Lea.
'How?!', she asked to the ceiling as if someone could give her the answer. She seemed to make up her mind though, as she turned to Lea a second later. 'Two, you said? So there's one for me, right? You don't need both.'
'I don't need anyone, Hyejin. You can have as many as you want.' Hyejin seemed to be happy about that.
'What do they look like?' She poked Lea into the side. Lea closed her eyes, a suffering expression on her face.
'Ugh, I don't know. Kihyun kinda looks like a grumpy hamster with cotton candy on his head, and Donghyuck-' Lea had to smile unconsciously, and Hyejin had to laugh.
'Ha, I knew it! You have the hots for this guy!' Lea sat up.
'I do not!', she outraged. 'He's just got a cute smile, that's all!' Hyejin opened her mouth like she had been enlightened by God Himself.
'Wait, I think I know who you mean. There's this barista with this 1000 Watt smile who makes really good eclairs. His name is Donghyuck?'
'I don't know if he makes good eclairs, but if he doesn't have pink hair that's him.'
'Oh believe me, he makes good eclairs. And good coffee. And I bet he's good at o-' Lea got up abruptly.
'Aaand that's enough for today, goodnight, I'll see myself out.'
'Wait, don't you want to eat dinner first?' Lea turned on her heal and walked towards the kitchen.
'Right.'