loop ||•annyeongz•||

chapter 1

"Mom! Dad!"

The dull horizon begins to falter. Everything crooked and distorted consuming into the air. The two silhouettes disappearing together with the scenery, never looking back to answer her desperate cries.

Then there it was. Blood. Spluttering across the distance, just like how she remembers it in her memory. She remembers it. So well she could describe it like the back of her hand. And it sends a feeling of nausea to the pit of her stomach. Her body stiffens, uneasiness crawling upon her skin and chaos freely dominating her mind. She swallows. Breathes. Swallows. Breathes. The sight before her inclines with her memory, chipping away on her deepest, darkest fears. She's almost certain she's stopped breathing when-

"Nekeoya nekeoya nekeo nekeo nekeoya-"

Sunlight peeks in through her grey curtains. Yujin almost hurls the phone onto the wall. Damn alarm. She checks the time and groans, realising that she was left with only 15 minutes before her shift started.

Switching off her phone, Yujin stares at the glum ceiling of her bedroom, deciding to forgo the time for a while. It had been a month and the same dreams have been chasing her every single night. Yujin would be lying if she said it hadn't drove her to her limits. Almost to the point of insanity that she wakes up crying sometimes, unaware if she's still alive or not.

Her eyes follow the dull cracks on the ceiling. Since when has her bedroom been so cold, she didn't know. The bareness of the walls and the dusty grey curtains and the windows seemed to nip onto the emptiness of both the rooms and her heart and before it could eat her alive, Yujin crawls out of the covers. Better off without the gory stuff, she thought. She heads for the bathroom instead, getting ready for another day.

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After 10 minutes of contemplating as to whether she should shower or not and 5 minutes of shoving whatever she found in her indigent refrigerator down her throat (although Eunbi would refuse to classify leftover pizza crust and a day old coffee as breakfast) along with a whole eternity of digging for decent and presentable shoes, Yujin sprints down to the garage of her apartment complex.

Although modest in accomodation, Yujin could properly enjoy only one luxury and that was her motorbike. She's been with it for couple of years now and takes care of it as if it were some child of hers. Was her dad's gift on her birthday even. In short, Yujin feels pretty attached to it. And yeah, public transport sucks so.

She kicks starts the machine, engine roaring to life. Putting on her helmet, Yujin doesn't think much and instead speeds down the road.

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"You're late, loafer."

Yujin struts into the changing room, readying herself for another hell of a day. She opens her locker and grimaces at the smell of it. Sweaty armpits,ugh. She reminds herself to take her uniform home and wash them. Although she was pretty sure she wasn't going to keep her words.

"Like you don't slack off and sleep at the reception."

"Hey, in my defence, I was conserving my well needed energy for game night, okay? And of course, Yuri had to take leave that day."

Yujin snorts. "Whatever you say, duck face." She buttons up her uniform blouse.

"Bet you want more than just the casual stands."

"Yuri and I are just friends!"

"With benefits."

"Ahn Yujin."

The said girl let out a little laugh at how flustered Yena was. "Alright, cupcake. Let's get to work."

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"You're late," Chaeyeon reminded her as she stepped into the kitchen.

"Can y'all like not remind me every 5 seconds?," Yujin scowled in return.

"Who's got your panties up in a bunch?", Chaeyeon chuckled.

"She hasn't had her milk yet. Don't bother her," Sakura interrupted.

"For god's sake, unnie, I'm an adult."

"Who vomited on my carpet last week after getting drunk."

Yujin ignored Sakura's remark and proceeded to take the orders at her platform.

" 2 coffee glazed pork ribs for table 8, chicken cauliflower fried rice for 6 and 3 beef and broccoli for 9! Push it! Push it! Push it!"

Eunbi was practically screaming at that point. There was a shortage of staff that day with both Jinyoung and Jisung taking leave on the same day and Eunbi was beyond exasperated at the sloth like pace that the rest were working on, losing her temper every now and then, thereby frightening the poor intern Yabuki Nako who'd started working only a week ago. The rest seemed unfazed though, having worked with her for a longer period and having seen her lose it on many other occasions where the reasons were much more trivial.

"Coming right up, unnie," Yujin replied calmly, used to such chaos in the kitchen.

The day rolled by painfully slow, with Eunbi almost snapping a vein while screaming at Woojin for slacking off and Yujin was pretty sure she'd broken a plate or two, judging by the loud clanking of cutlery from the corner of the kitchen.

By lunchtime, orders had intensified by double and everyone was on their toes, lest a certain Kwon Eunbi comes in and screams at their face again.

Eunbi was always fun and playful outside the kitchen. Everyone called her mom and she took care of Hyewon's cat during the weekends.

Except she was a walking hell once she was in the kitchen. She wouldn't really think twice about snapping a neck or two, that is if they were slacking off or distracted. A fucking female Gordon Ramsay.

Thankfully for Yujin however, Seungwoo had arrived for his shift and she could finally take a breather. She went to the bathroom, retouching her almost non existent makeup. Her phone beeped, indicating a notification.

Having nothing else to do, Yujin checked her phone. It was a text from Minju.

Dinner at the usual place. Just you and me. Is that ok?

Yujin sighed. Sounds good. 7:30?

Minju's reply was almost automatic, like she was waiting for her reply all along.

7:30 it is then. See ya there ;)

Yujin ran her fingers over her hair. She and Minju had been going out for a couple of dates after the older girl had asked her out at Yena's birthday party last month. She still didn't know where she stood, however. Minju was nice. Unfortunately, she wasn't really her type but Yujin figured it wouldn't hurt to try. Afterall her love life was almost non existent anyway.

Chaos ensued her once more after she left the bathroom and stepped into the kitchen. Everything was the same since she left for a while, except now Chaeyeon was the one shouting orders in place of her moody girlfriend who was now, for some reason nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, somebody clashed onto her. Except it wasn't just a body. It was a combination of cutlery together with hot sauce which was now evidently staining her crisp white uniform. Yujin almost growled at Sungwoo who was now looking mortified as if he had just committed murder. He scrambled around, trying to clean the mess before his worst nightmare could waltz in like a tornado and rip his head off.

Unfortunately for him, his worst nightmare did come waltzing in. Ready to rip his head off, just as he thought.

"ONG SEUNGWOO WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?"

Yujin facepalmed. This is going to be a long day.