REWIND, ➵ Seventeen - hong joshua

Chapter Three

The next morning, Sera ran in to the cafe, swinging the door open and sending the wing chimes ringing.

The tall, wiry boy behind the counter, the barista, raised his head from making a drink for a customer looked up. "You're late. That's unlike you," he mouthed.

She quickly threw on her apron, and offered him an apologetic smile. "Sorry Jae, something came up." Jae handed her the finished cup of latte, and she quickly delivered it to the customer seated at a table. She was busy typing some report, not even looking up when her coffee arrived.

"So." Jae, seeing how there were no more customers needing to serve, he turned to Sera and spoke quietly. "How's that art project going."

"What art project? I scrapped it ages ago." She tried to nonchalant, as she grabbed an empty cup and started to wash it, even though it was clear that Jae had cleaned it before she arrived. She worked hard on those paintings, yet time was what she didn't have. She rushed it and all the competitions she submitted it to had turned it down.

Jae raised an eyebrow, "What? Come on, I love your work! With those paintings youre bound to get into a great-"

"You love everything. Even that horrible pair of sunglasses you bought last time."

He feigned a look of surprise. "Hey, those shades goes perfect with my blonde hair. Just saying."

"You're gonna lose your hair if you keep bleaching it like that."

"And you're going to lose your mind if you keep denying your passion and grouching about it."

"Shut up, Jae."

At this moment the door swung open again, alerting them when the wind chimes started to  sing. Jae took his place behind the counter, smiling, and Sera took her place besides him, like they always had. Despite their constant bickering, she was glad to admit that they made a great efficient team.

As the customer approached the counter, Sera looked up.

She nearly choked on air.

There, standing in her ex boyfriend's hoodie and a pair of jeans clearly too short for him, was Joshua. "Hey, I was wondering if I could get a job here-" He was saying, but stopped when he noticed her. His face broke into a small smile. "Oh hey, Sera! Fancy seeing you here."

Jae turned to look at her, curious. "You know this guy?"

"Yeah, uh... He..."

"And why is he wearing your ex boyfriend's shirt?" He interrupted.

Sera forced a casual smile, but her fingers were twitching. "Uh... He lost his... uh, suitcase. Yeah. So I lent him some clothes."

"He... stayed at your place?" Jae was growing suspicious, which made Sera more panicky.

Her eyes darted around, trying to think of some excuse. "He's staying because he's on vacation. He's my... relative."

"Long distance internet friend." Joshua blurted out at the same time.

Jae's eyebrows were arching so high now, Sera swore they would take flight.

"Yeah, an internet friend who happens to be my relative." She smiled, while squinting at Joshua, trying to get him to play along. "Wow, what a coincidence!"

"Yeah, a coincidence." Joshua chimed in.

Jae stared at them, then sighed. "Okay. Whatever. What were you saying again? Er-"

"Call me Joshua." He dipped his head politely, and offered a handshake, but faltered a little when Jae warily shook his hand. He was staring a little intently at Jae, as if he was trying to remember something. "You look... familiar."

"Do I?" Jae grinned, completely different from he was moments ago. He had returned to the usual crackhead he was. "Well I do say I'm rather famous around here."

Sera rolled her eyes. "You're not. All you do is post guitar covers on Youtube."

Jae ignored her inviting Joshua to the backroom. "Grab your work clothes and a rag. Your first task is clean the tables after customers leave."

"I got the job?"

"He got the job?" Both said in unison, a little too loud. The lady on her computer gave them a look.

"You're not even the boss, Jae," Sera complained, whispering loudly, "You can't just give random people a job?"

"Hey, this is my family's shop. I can hire anyone, my mom wouldn't mind. And besides," He clapped Joshua on the back, "You know this guy. So he's not exactly random."

Except I don't exactly know who he is, Sera thought to herself.

Well at least she'll have more money to pay off the rent and other stuff. Good thing Joshua wasn't going to laze around at her apartment doing nothing.

The day passed by rather smoothly. They didn't run into rude, angry businessmen who yelled at them for not adding enough sugar or snotty rich woman threatening to "contact the manager" when accidentally bumping into her chair. Joshua was doing fine too, though his only job was to be a janitor and there's not really a way to screw that up.

The sun had set and Jae turned over the sign on the door, closing the little cafe. He gestured to a nearby table and told Sera and Joshua to sit. "Have some coffee. My treat."

They all sat down and Jae brought over steaming mugs of coffee and a hot chocolate for himself. "So, Joshua," he said, casually stirring his drink. "Where do you come from?"

Joshua glanced at Sera, who shrugged. "Uh..." he said, sounding unsure, "Seoul...?"

"Ah. That's like two hours of driving. Here in Cheongju it's a bit more quiet than Seoul isn't it."

"Yeah. I was taking a break from my busy job." Joshua replied, apparently catching up on his lying ability. "But then I lost my suitcase."

"You know, the funny thing is," Jae said, looking directly at Sera, "Sera here told me she lost contact with her entire family. Including relatives."

Oops. Yeah, I said that before. Sera took a long sip of her coffee, avoiding eye contact.

"I... I lost contact with them too." Joshua smiled sadly. "I didn't know Sera did too because I was neglecting them by being so busy with work."

Damn. Joshua is lying through his teeth so naturally now. She hid a smile behind her mug.

"That's tough man," Jae said, " What was your old work, exactly?"

Joshua suddenly looked very nervous. He picked up his mug, but it was already empty. "I, um, work as an, artist, sort of."

"Ooh! Sera here is also an artist!" Jae exclaimed, patting Sera on the back. She flinched. "She draws and stuff!"

"Oh, uh, I meant music stuff. You know, singing, dancing..."

The two boys had somehow found common ground and was discussing guitar, and Sera let her mind stray, and stared out the window.

For once, her boring lifestyle flickered a spark of change. Like it or not, letting a random, lost dude into her house had changed her life completely. With a second person living with her, and he was working as well, maybe he could help her pay off rent and buy daily necessities. And maybe, maybe, she could finally chase after her dream she left home to achieve.

There was a hunched figure outside in the dark, standing under a flickering lamppost. The person looked at Sera straight in the eye, smiled, and winked. And with another flicker of the light, the person was gone.

Sera blinked, a little taken aback, but she was sure that it was the old lady she saw in the alleyway just last night. It felt like ages ago. But on some hunch, she just knew the woman was related to everything that had happened.

She had to find that old fortune teller.