Hard Work

Kokyung tugged on her Dr. Martens and finished getting ready for work, she could hear the usual crowd's soft hum out in the lobby. Looking at herself in the mirror of the back room she decided to put her hair into a bun before working just to quicken the process before class. As soon as she was happy with her hair she went into the lobby of the cafe.
Mr. Kang and Mr. Jun were playing their usual Go near the door. Ms. Kim was quilting a small baby blanket at one of the small round tables on the edge of the room. The business people were tapping away on their laptops in various places.

It had been a couple weeks since the young man had come in, every shift Kokyung worked she had hoped to see him. She found it silly to hope to see a person she had only ever seen once in her life, but he made the place seem a little less tired and boring. He had been so focused on whatever he was doing it was refreshing to see a young person focusing so much. He couldn't have been any older than herself.
Going behind the counter to get a small cake for Mr. Kang, the small bell on the door rang out.
"Welcome." She called in a friendly tone without turning around.

As she turned to go give the small cake to the elderly man playing Go. She caught sight of a head of messy black hair, she looked down slightly and noticed the young man from before sitting at the table in the corner along the wall of windows showing the outside world. He was pulling out a notebook, and a pen. Looking away she focused on Mr. Kang, he offered her a kind smile and took the cake from her.
"Gamsa." He croaked before looking back to the Go board.
Kokyung took it as her chance to leave and walked behind the counter so she could observe the young man from a distance.

Yoongi looked out the window, it was cloudy outside. It was pleasantly quiet in the cafe. He turning his head down to his notebook he began to write lyrics again.
The rest of the group had been surprised to see him leaving his room like he had two week prior.
"Motionless Min...leaving the house? I'm shocked." Jungkook laughed as the elder member left the house again.
Shaking his head he focused on the work before him. He knew that he wanted to finish at least one song.
The girl with rainbow hair walked up to him with a polite smile.
"Anything I could get you?"
"Uh?" Startled by her offer he blinked. He didn't really want anything but he knew he should order something to show that he wasn't there for no reason.
"Could I get a latte?"
"Of course." She bowed slightly and turned around to go make his coffee.

Kokyung stood beside the coffee machine and groaned inwardly, she felt stupid. He looked so startled when she asked him if he wanted anything. He looked so focused, maybe she would learn not to interrupt him. Granted that he came in more often. She lightly tapped the coffee into the holder and slid it into the slot on the machine.
Small pieces of her bun fell out around her face, she could feel them lightly blow in the fan that circled above her head. She let out a puff of air and her bangs blew upward. The coffee machine was taking forever. She just wanted to read and wait for someone to need her, looking back she noticed the cup had finished and was ready for her to prepare the rest of the latte.

Yoongi glanced up to see the girl finishing the coffee he had ordered, she looked so concentrated on pouring the steaming milk. He laughed on the inside and decided not to look like he was staring at her when she turned around, to accomplish this he turned his gaze back to his notebook. The footfalls of the small girl neared him and he noticed a white cup sitting near his hand. He looked up to see the girl retreating to behind the counter. He smiled slightly and carefully took a sip of the hot coffee.

Kokyung knew her shift was almost over, she was hoping the young man would pay before she left. Thinking about that she felt ridiculous, she didn't even know the guy. It didn't really matter to her weather or not he payed on her shift. Rubbing her eyes she looked over the crowd.
Mr. Jun was winning Go so far, Ms. Kim was halfway done with the quilt, the business people hadn't moved at all, finally the young man was reading through whatever he had been writing all afternoon. She smiled at the calm of the shop and straightened her back out waiting for someone to pay. One by one the people in suits began to file into a line to pay.

Yoongi looked up at the people who were moving to go pay at the register. The girl, Kokyung, had a smile on her face. Suga noted that she had a pretty smile, he decided that he would need to head back to the house and help Jin with dinner if he wanted to eat any time soon. He stood in line behind a man in a suit who was rummaging through his briefcase for something. The line slowly moved forward and finally Yoongi was at the front standing before the waitress.
"I hope everything was good." The line sounded so rehearsed but still sincere in a strange way.
"It was, thank you." He said, her smile widened and she nodded in appreciation of his thanks.
"Have a nice day."
"Oh, you too." He said as he turned to leave after placing the money in her hand.

Kokyung grinned as the young man left, just in time for her shift to end. She closed the register and smiled at her small crowd left.
"Have a wonderful day." She bowed to the elders that she was leaving in the cafe in the capable hands of her coworker Kiwon. She turned and walked into the back room to get changed into her ballet clothes and get ready for class. She twisted her mothers ring on her finger and let out a quiet sigh. She wanted to see her, she missed her a great deal. Shaking her head from the sad thoughts that plagued her she pulled on her leotard.

Pointed toes, straight back, curved arms. The ballerina looked in the mirror to check on all of these things, she noticed that she was in almost perfect form. She pulled her head higher and allowed for her back to straighten more. She could hear the sound of F.T. Island coursing though the dance room of the Academy. She smiled to herself at the sound of the rock she was practicing to, if Ms. Kuriyakin were there it would most definitely been Russian ballet music. Kokyung was glad for this time alone in the room. She could work on what she was thinking of for the classes she was going to be teaching. Her instructor hadn't mentioned how long they were going to be teaching, or who they would be teaching.
She began in first and moved to fifth, the music caused for her movements to be sharp and fast. She looked in the mirror to see herself, she looked lost in the room. A groan of disappointment left her as she realized she would never be good enough for the Seoul Ballet. She would just have to work harder and longer than she was now. She wanted to audition for the ballet soon, but with the work she was putting forward she would never make it. The weight of this weighed down on the 20 year old.

Yoongi stared at the lyrics he had written, some of them were okay. The rest were garbage, he let out a stressed sigh and looked at the clock on his desk. 12:20, he knew why he was stressed now. It was prime writing time for him, he stood from his desk and walked down the stairs to get food from the fridge. He could hear the TV playing in the background of the living room, as he neared the bottom of the stairs he could see Namjoon and Taehyung sitting on the couch watching some drama. He shook his head and walked to the fridge to search for some kimchi fried rice. Succeeding in this he microwaved it for a few seconds and carefully picked his way back up the stairs.
"Hyung, share?" V's voice called as Suga started back up the stairs.

The light of her phone lit the way into her apartment, she knew there was some kimbap in the fridge waiting for her. She hadn't meant to practice for as long as she had, it was past one in the morning. She could hear Yao meowing from the kitchen as she unlocked her apartment door. Opening it she could make out the small Siamese running towards her feet.
She flicked on the light and smiled down at her pet, she knew he was probably hungry. She had put a weight on the lid of the cat food so he wouldn't keep getting into it.
"Ready to eat eolin-i?"
He meowed impatiently and led her to his food dish.
She dropped some food in for him and rose from her kneeling position.

The emptiness of her apartment hit her as soon as she realized she wasn't at home. Her mother wasn't in the other room reading a book waiting for her to greet her. Her father wasn't snoring loud enough for her to hear from the kitchen. The fact that she would never experience that situation again was daunting, she could feel the tears prick up in her eyes. Forcing her thoughts away from her family she opened the fridge and pulled the kimbap she had made that morning out.

Notes