Sweetness and Light ✓ || Hueningkai X Reader

Chapter 3

You work at Michi's for the next week, doing the morning shift until you feel you've got a pretty good grasp on it. "You'll be working with Saya and Hana tonight," Mr. Hatsuhara says. "Make sure to keep on your toes, now. We don't want anything spilled or for there to be any accidents." Since he's expecting it to be busy, you'll be on your own.

But when you step out onto the floor, you notice that there's only one table that's taken up by five boys. One of them looks up, and you recognize it's Kai. He waves at you, and you walk over to the table. "See, I brought friends this time!" They all look the same, with the same black colored hair, but there's something about Kai that makes him distinguishable from the rest.

Kai quickly introduces everybody -- too quickly for you to follow. It almost leaves you dizzy. "Those are all Korean names?"

"Oh, yeah, sorry. I'll go slower. This is Soobin." Kai taps on the boy to his left, sitting at the end of the table. "And on this side is Yeonjun." You start writing the names down like there's going to be a pop quiz. "Then across from me are Taehyun and Beomgyu. We're all working on the same thing."

"Oh, okay, that's cool." You put their orders right beside their names, then take the ticket to the back. You can hear all of them arguing about something in an Asian language of unidentified descent. But it's not Japanese, because Mr. Hatsuhara's face looks kind of cross and you don't know why.

"What's up, sweet pea?" Holt asks as he whizzes by carrying two trays of dumplings.

"Nothing much. We've only got the one table out there. Where are you going with those dumplings?"

He winks. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Shortly afterward, the restaurant finally gets busy. Saya takes the stools by the window, and Hana takes the right side of the restaurant by the sushi bar, while you take the left where Kai and his friends are seated. One of the men keeps asking for a refill of water every thirty seconds or so, so you're always running back and forth. It gets so busy that there starts to be a line outside, but when you approach Kai and his table and ask if they need a check, Kai puts his hand up.

"Actually, we were wondering about dessert. Do you guys serve bubble tea?" You check, and they do, and you place the order in.

You realize just before the store closes that you've been so busy, you haven't thought about that question on your father's mind once. There's no thoughts of what you want to do with your life. You have to wonder if he's proud of you now, working so hard that you can't even consider life's possibilities. Is this what happens to everybody when they grow up? Do they just get a job and forget their hopes, wishes, and dreams?

By the time the store closes, four hours later, Kai and his group of buddies are still at the table they originally camped out at. They have blown through the entire menu, ordering a massive amount of dumplings and two orders of bubble tea. "Actually..." Kai laughs when you bring it up. "We're avoiding someone right now, so we figured here would be a good place to hide out. I guess we can't hide anymore."

"Nope," one of the others -- Yunjoon? -- says, pulling out a cell phone. "Our trainer keeps messaging me, and I keep ignoring her." Trainer?

"Yeah, we have to go." The five get up from their table, but before they leave, they say goodbye to you. You wish you could have actually gotten to know them; despite being loud and taking up an entire table for four hours, they seem like a good group of people. And Kai brought them back here, so he returned, just like he said he would.

You hop on your bike and pedal home. The entire boardwalk is lit aglow at this point, some shops still open as people run around the boardwalk, buying souvenirs before heading home. It's a brisk ride off the boardwalk and back to the apartment, where you head upstairs, put your bike on the balcony where it will stay safe, and head to bed.

It's only when you go into your room that you reach into your apron and realize the pad of paper is still in there. The names of the five boys are pressed into it from the original order. Kai, Soobin, Yunjoon? Tayhun, Bumgyoo. You laugh and hope they come back.

The next day is a weekend day, and Mr. Hatsuhara gives you the day off. Aunt Mary, however, is too busy with one of her new articles to go anywhere. She's hunched over a laptop, headphones on, already with a box of cold pizza open in front of her. "I'll give you my card, go where you want, just don't get in trouble," she tells you.

It's a cloudy day, so you ride along the boardwalk and decide a trip back into the Magnificat Mall is in store. The mall has an entire row outside where you can park your bike, monitored by a security guard at all times. When you walk in, the cool air envelops you. And then you hear what sounds like music.

Right in front of the mall's double doors is a huge stage. There's a small sound system built in, and there are people gathered around, watching as a troupe of dancers show off their skills. They're all dressed in black, and you realize you know this song -- it's one of those K-Pop songs that one of your friends played back home. What was the name of the band? BTS? BST? Something like that. You whip out your phone and start taking video, intending on sending it to her once you're done recording.

You zoom in on the camera, catching all five dancers in sync -- and then you realize the dancer in front is Kai.