SUGARED ROSES

SIXTEEN

"I ordered an iced coffee with no milk! What the hell is this?"

Chaeyoung's ears feel like fire, quickly grabbing a new cup as the customer stared at her with a furious gaze. It was her first day on the job, and she had already messed up someone's drink.

"I'm sorry, I'll make a new one."

The angry woman shakes her head, clearly frustrated with her drink as she pushes it towards Chaeyoung. "No, this won't do. I want someone else to do mine. Is there anyone else here who can do things right?"

Before she could respond and call for someone else, Jin appears beside her with a smile plastered on his face. "Iced coffee, no milk?"

He hands her the newly made drink before she grumbles off about how annoying new employees were.

"Hey."

Jin places a reassuring hand on Chaeyoung's shoulder.

"Don't worry about it too much. You'll get used to it. Just smile at them, and stay positive."

"Easy for you to say. You're good looking, of course people would shut up when you smile at them."

He lets out a laugh before he goes back to the counter, beaming at the oncoming customers. He was the charmer of the cafe, that much Chaeyoung knew. He won't hesitate to crack a joke whenever he could, and unfortunately for Yoongi, he's been Jin's victim too many times.

"I still can't believe Yoongi ditched the busiest day of the week," Jin grumbles as he finishes up a customer's order, "And he left you alone too on your first day. Aren't you his friend? I think I saw you in here before."

Chaeyoung forces out another smile at a customer before preparing another latte. Her cheeks felt so sore from having to force herself to stay positive.

"Yes. But it's fine. You can't convince him to stay anyway. It's Yoongi we're talking about," she chuckles under her breath, "he likes to be alone. And besides, I have you to help me."

"Very observant. Hopefully you like jokes because Yoongi's not here to hear them. I stayed up late last night looking for some good ones," Jin announces, "Maybe they can be of use to you in the future."

"Tell me! I've been hearing about your jokes. I wanna hear it myself," Chaeyoung laughs, feeling relief that the morning lineup was finally beginning to die down. Luckily, there were no customers lining up at the particular moment. She rests her hip on the counter, and crosses her arms.

"Oh, so everybody's been talking about me? I knew it would happen eventually. A face like this complete with a good sense of humour comes only once in a lifetime. Anyway, I've got a really good one. What do you call a sad cup of coffee?" Jin asks, his eyes brightening.

Chaeyoung hums, her eyes travelling to the wooden floral decorated ceiling as if searching for the answer. Of course, it wasn't there. Jin stood in front of her, eagerly waiting for her response so he could deliver the punchline.

"I don't know. What do you call a sad cup of coffee?"

"A depresso!" Jin shouts, slapping his hand on the counter for effect. "Get it? Because the coffee's depressed! And it sounds like expresso."

His laugh is loud, almost sounding like a dry windshield wiper trying to wipe rain off, and squeaking as it moved back and forth.

Now she finally understood why Jin was famous for his dad jokes. They were terrible, but his laugh made up for how corny the delivery was. She could see the tips of his ears flushing into a deep red, but she chose not to mention it. She starts to laugh along with him, rolling her eyes.