ch. 2

"we're still young and wild."

-wonderland

"do you guys like to meet my friends? we will be hanging out after school."

it has been a few minutes since eunbi, siyeon, and yunho finished exploring the entire campus of kq performing arts school. with nothing else to do, the three of them are sitting underneath a beautiful cherry blossom, waiting for school to end.

siyeon flashes him a smile, nodding at his question. "sure! i don't have anything planned for today."

"i'm busy today." eunbi raises her hand to catch her friends' attention. "i have my work shift happening a few minutes after school ends."

yunho shoots her a questioning gaze. "work? but didn't you say that your parents are paying for your apartment and giving you money every month?"

siyeon rolls her eyes. "it's because she's stubborn and doesn't want to live the life of a teenager."

the girl ignores her remark and answers yunho's indirect question. "i just want some extra money, that's all."

the school bell rings before anyone can speak another word. the students seep out of the buildings chattering to one another about their afternoon plans or bidding their goodbyes. with the time ticking, the brunette stands up and picks up her belongings to head toward her workplace. "it's time for me to go. i hope you guys have fun with your hang out!"

eunbi points at the boy. "make sure you keep siyeon safe, okay? i'm going to beat your ass if you don't."

he raises his hands in surrender, complying to her request.

and with that, she rushes out of the school.

the real reason she has a part-time job is to keep her busy- an excuse to avoid yunho. she can't hang out with him if she's busy. if she can't hang out with him, she will not see him often. with that, she can finally move on.

plus, she will be earning some money, so that is a win-win situation.

the girl arrives at the building sweating and panting as she opens the door to the cafe. the bell jiggles when the door moves, signaling the workers that someone has entered. the cashier looks up to see the girl swiftly place her eye mask on and he grins at her.

"hurry up van! your shift is starting soon, so get changed!" the male exclaims while preparing to tend to the next customer.

she politely nods at her co-worker, flashing him a small smile. "i will, chimmy!"

and she rushes into the changing room.

unlike most cafes, all the workers are addressed by a code name at magic shop to keep their private life a secret- especially the lives of seven handsome men running the place. they wear character-themed masks to conceal their identity from their customers as they interact with them, giving the customers an imagination of their faces.

because of their popularity, they never hire female workers, for they worry that they will use their job opportunity to uproot their mysteries.

but park eunbi is a different story.

she knows every worker behind the mask by their real name and their face.

because this cafe is a family business.

when the girl exits out of the room, she appears with a black t-shirt as she does a little hop in her black converse to pull up her black jeans, letting the fabric stick onto her skin. her grey and white apron loosely hangs onto her neck while she attempts to tie her hair in a ponytail with a similar-colored ribbon, which reveals her color-coordinated eye mask.

someone from behind approaches her and helps her with her sloppy knots on her apron. "van, you need to tie your apron better. you're going to ruin our image with this unprofessional look."

"sorry koya," eunbi apologizes as she continues to put her hair up. "i was in a rush to my shift."

once they finish fixing her appearance, the brunette turns around for her cousin, namjoon, to examine her appearance before giving her a thumbs-up. he comes up to her and playfully punches her forehead, causing her to let out a fake cry. "hurry up kid, we need someone to pass out the drinks. kookie is entertaining the customers at the moment."

hearing that, the worker nods and goes to her station.

she spends her work shift carefully lifting up each drink and calling out the name written on the cups as she awaits the customers to claim their beverages. once in a while, she has people come up to her to hold a conversation, which lessens the boredom of this shift.

from afar, she can observe her cousin, jungkook, interact with the customers with his bunny smile. all the ladies fan their cheeks whenever he approaches them as the men crack jokes with him. eunbi props her arms on the counter and balances her head on her hands, amused at the sight before her.

as time passes, a large order is placed in front of the worker and she scrunches her eyebrows at the sight of it.

well that's a lot for one person.

she picks up one drink and rotates it in her hand until she spots a name. not recognizing the name, she mindlessly calls out the customer.

"nine drinks for jeong yunho!"

wait, she blinks multiple times before re-reading the name. jeong yunho?!?

in response to her shout, numerous chairs are pulled back and the chattering of people slowly proceeds toward her. although the group of people hasn't noticed her, she recognizes the tallest member of the group as well as the girl tagging along, already knowing that this encounter is going to be a mess.

the talking stops once they arrive at the counter, meeting the girl behind the grey and white mask. eunbi can feel her nervous behavior begin to rise to the surface, but she manages to muster a small smile.

"hello there, are you here for the drinks of jeong yunho?" she squeaks. cold sweat begins building up on her forehead, worried that her identity has been discovered.

fortunately, they do not acknowledge her and simply answer the question with a nod. the worker then lifts each drink, recites the type of drink, and passes it to whoever raises their hand at the order.

after she distributes the order correctly, the group of high school students return to their seats. her eyes follow the figures of her two friends who were close by each other. every time yunho inches closer to siyeon, eunbi's heart cracks a little.

this is not what i signed up for.

she lets out a painful sigh.