< I don't think it's a good idea, so I hope he won't hire her. No matter how happy she'd be to work with you ]

[ why do you think so? >

< I've been working here for long enough to notice that he likes female employees more, and since I'm always the one taking care of interns and new ones, I know he treats them differently, unless they're married or taken ]

[ I thought he was just like that with Emilia? >

< unfortunately, no ]

Great. I was not even aware of it.

[ I hope he doesn't hire her then otherwise I'll lose my fucking mind if he dares to do anything inappropriate to her >

< I will too, don't worry ]

< she's coming back rn ]

[ alright >

I put my phone down and check the door, impatiently waiting for her but worrying about the answer.

I know for sure that I will lose my job if she is hired and that he tries anything.

Feeling like she could be talking to Luca, I peek at my phone again, and once I lift my eyes up, I catch sigh of her walking out of the shop.

I turn the ignition back on and analyze her body language, which could tell me without a word whether she got hired or not.

She seems happy, so that does not look good.

I never take my eyes off of her until she reaches the door, and I open it for her. She gets in with a paper bag she did not have before leaving this vehicle earlier and puts her papers down. "Were you talking with Luca?"

"Yes, I said goodbye, and look what I got," she holds the bag up. "Some more buns, and a latte but just for me because coffee isn't good for your heart," she gets the cup out and drinks from the straw. "What about the interview?" I ask, no matter how obvious it is given her mood, but remind her of something. "And put your seatbelt on."

"Yeah," she listens and does as told. "So, he said he can't hire me because I got no experience in sales and barely any knowledge in coffee, but," she ruins the beginning with an opposition and swallows more. "He said he liked how enthusiastic and motivated I am, and he wanted to try, so I have a contract, but it's a probation period. It will last for three months, but he told me he could put an end to it before that if I don't do the job well."

"It's as long as an internship," I check the road to turn and drive back home, and she sips on her coffee nonstop. "When do you start though?"

"Well, I got very lucky because he told me I'll start right after the intern's contract ends, which is when you'll go back to work too, so I'm relieved because I was scared he'd tell me to start next week, which means you'd have been alone every day," she worries about me, despite being happy about her first job offer. "I'd have gone back to work if it was the case."

"No," she shows some opposition. "The doctor gave you a date until you can go back to work, so I wouldn't have let you go back."

"I don't care about staying home without you, and I'm feeling better now. So I wouldn't have stayed home," I tell her the truth, the treatment helping me deal with it since I left the hospital. "But you still need that last week to fully recover, so I wouldn't have let you go back to work. Stop arguing."

"I'd have if I wanted to," I turn the steering wheel to enter another street, not liking the thought of her being away for seven hours every day for a whole week. I got used to having her with me twenty-four hours a day already, and I love it but need it. I feel safe, good, and happy that way, so I am scared to not have her near all the time anymore, no matter how unhealthy this could be.

"Whatever you say, I'll be home anyway, so we're arguing for no reason," she puts an end to our small disagreement and sips on her coffee, and since she is right, I keep quiet about it. "I didn't think about it but the intern is Emilia, so that means that bitch won't be there anymore."

"Oh, I didn't realize it either. That's good news then," she gets her phone out and opens her texts, and no matter how much I want to know who she is talking to, I keep my eyes on the road. "I'm surprised he didn't keep her though."

"I'm pretty sure Luca must know why. Oh, and by the way, I didn't know he's the supervisor. The boss told me he'll be the one to take care of me the whole time," she gets to know what I have been aware of since I started working there, and I nod, but still feel some bother. "Yeah. I can do it too though."

"But what's the role of a supervisor exactly then? Don't you all mostly do the same job?" she curiously asks, and I slow down the car to stop at a red light and look at her. "Not really. Some are just cashiers, and some others are only baristas. Luca and I can do both, but he's always been the boss's favorites, so he quickly got promoted to supervisor, which means, he's the leader of the team," I explain as simply as I can.

"It's a bit difficult in our team though because Luca is not really a supervisor since he takes care of everything. He takes care of the interns and new workers, assigns tasks to us, he's the one who handles customers complaints and stuff, but he doesn't manage our schedules. The boss does. So we just call him the leader," I go back on the road once the cars in front of us move.

"Oh, alright. And you're gonna be very surprised, but the boss actually talked about you too," she gets my eyebrows to raise. "He said you and Luca are his best employees."

"He said that?" I ask for her to affirm, feeling like she must have misheard. "Yeah. I was happy when I heard it, but I couldn't say anything because he thinks we're just friends."

"Honestly, I'm not gonna be able to act like a friend. Workplace or not, if I wanna hold your hand or kiss you and that we're not in front of customers, I'll do it," I warn beforehand, not planning on caring about my coworkers more than my relationship with her. "I don't know why I knew you'd say that, but I wouldn't want the boss to be mad because I lied, so we'll hold back, okay?"

"Did you really tell him 'Jungkook and I are friends'?" I peek at her, and she nibbles on her straw. "No...but still. He knows I'm a friend of Luca."

"So? That has nothing to do with me, so he can't complain about any lie since you didn't say anything about us being friends. Your sex life is none of his business, and as long as we don't make out in front of others, they can't say shit about us and complain," I do not change my mind. "No one ever said a thing when the bitch would be loud and casually talk about getting dick downed right in the cafeteria with everyone, so they better not open their mouth about us just showing some affection."

"Well, we'll see," she gives up on arguing with me, ending it for the second time, so I let it go.

— One week later —

Monday, August 9th, 2021.

8:30 am.

Our first day working together finally starting, I tidy up and clean the counter while waiting for y/n.

I have to be honest with myself. If she was not here, going back to work would have been such a hassle, but having her with me makes it really enjoyable, despite how stressful it still is.

"Ah, you're here," Luca's voice brings my attention up to him as he spoke in the other room on my left, but I notice y/n standing in front of his tall figure, obliging me to keep my eyes on them. "I'm sorry, the apron is a bit too big, and I was struggling to adjust the strap."

"No need to apologize, you're on time. Are you comfortable that way?" he gently speaks and shows care as much as he always did with me, and she shakes her head. "I feel dumb in this. I don't know why."

"Hey, don't say that. You look cute," he moves closer to her and grabs the neck strap to help her adjust it. "Your boyfriend had the same problem on his first day," he smiles, mentioning me and something that I would not have expected him to remember at all. For some reason, that touches me a lot.

I wish he would let me do all that stuff since she is my girlfriend though, but I guess he takes his role very seriously.

"Is it good like that?" he holds it still to ask her before doing anything more, but two of our co-workers pass by and heads towards me. They both greet me, so I answer but look at y/n and Luca again.

"Here you are. Follow me now, I'm going to show you the different rooms so that you feel more comfortable with the environment," he takes her away before I could even talk to her, so I go back to doing my task.

10 minutes later...

At the sound of Luca coming back with y/n, I pretend to have been on my phone and raise my head up to set my eyes on them.

"You will do nothing difficult but watch and learn today, okay?" he smiles at her, and she nods to him. "Okay. By the way, what do I have to call you? Do I have to be formal?" she holds her hands behind her back, and Luca peeks at me, briefly. "No, just call me by my name. Unless you feel more comfortable if we're formal."

"Not at all," she shakes her head, and I notice Luca stick his hands in his pockets. "Alright then, I'm okay with my name or any nickname, so call me what you want," he walks past me to grab the papers that were left on the counter, and he turns around to make eye contact with me. "You can show her how the cash register works if you want." 

"Hm," I nod and move forth to turn the screen on. "Jungkook's gonna show you how this works, I'll be back before your shift starts, so if you need anything, I'm in my office, alright?"

"Alright," she shows obedience like she usually only shows me, and she stands next to me. Once he is gone, she lays her hands on the counter and looks up at me, so I turn the screen towards her. "Do you remember what I told you yesterday?"

"Yeah, I even reread it this morning," she smiles, expressing sincere happiness and eager. This makes my heart melt to see her excited about this new job, but I wish she did not follow her heart more than her mind.

"Alright, then if I tell you that I wanna order a Frappuccino, and two cream buns?" I test her right away and put one hand down, and she heaves one finger up to the screen. She doubts for a second and turns around to check the menu. She enters the price of a Frappuccino and adds the one for two buns, which she knows after tomorrow's order she passed, and she does a perfect job.

"Good," I remove what she entered and do not test her with something more difficult since she will not work yet. However, I get the glove I took for her. "Which hand are you gonna use to hold cups?" I wait but expect her to pick the right one, and she does. She lifts it up. "Why?"

"If you ever have to hold hot drinks. I don't want you to get burnt because it happened to me many times," I put the glove on her hand to protect her skin in case an accident might happen. "You're already considerate of the new girl. That's suspicious," she speaks in a low voice so that only I can hear her, and I raise my eyes up to hers but cannot help smiling.

"Love at first sight," I mumble while staring into her eyes, not caring about how obvious I must seem, and she giggles but turns away out of shyness and glances at the chocolate candies that are in a closed container.

"How are you feeling?" I distract her from them so that she does not get tempted to eat one, and she holds her hands on the counter. "Nervous, but happy."

A smile curves my lips up, and she sets her gorgeous sparkling eyes on me. "How about you? Are you feeling alright?"

"Yeah, I can tell that the pain is fading away, so it feels really good. And I'm relieved to have you with me, it makes work enjoyable," I do not keep it to myself, letting her know that having her near makes everything better. "I wonder what it would have been like if we went to school together."

"Well, I dropped out of school when I was fifteen, so—"

"In a better life, let's imagine it like that," she corrects what changes the whole story. "Well, in a better life with us ending together no matter what, then I'd have caught you staring at me every day on the bus," I tease her about what I will never forget, and she raises her eyebrows. "Excuse me? I never did that."

"Yes, you did," I lick my lips and control the smile upon my face as a co-worker joined us, and we both look away from each other.

"Hey, are you ready for your first shift?" Thomas gets close to her to open a napkin box for his task, and she answers, not knowing who this guy is. "Yes."

"It's gonna be tough, so if you ever need or want to, you can take an espresso shot here," he points his finger at the coffee machine that she must not know how to use yet since it is completely different from the one we use at home, and she turns around. "I'm not a fan of strong coffee, so I'll leave it for somebody else."

"For some reason, I'm not surprised. Has Luca made you try different coffees yet?" he does not leave her alone, sticking to her like glue now that Emilia is not here anymore. "No, he hasn't. Will he?"

"Yeah, even if you're just a cashier, you must have some basic knowledge to be able to describe what coffee has this or that taste and all in case customers need advices or something," he folds the napkins here when he would usually do it one at a time while setting the tables out. "Oh, alright. I hope I won't have a stomach ache afterwards..."

He scoffs and glances up at Callen. "Heard that? She's scared to get a stomach ache after tasting coffee with Luca."

"I puked at the end of my first day because of that, so tell him beforehand because I can tell you won't handle more than one espresso," Callen speaks in a mocking tone and comes closer, but y/n does not silently take it without shooting back. "I'm not that weak, so I know I'll definitely handle more than you did," she fakes a smile that I have never seen on her before.

He smirks and stares at her as Thomas laughed. "I already like her more than Emilia," he dares to compare her to that worthless bitch and walks away, Callen still not swallowing what my girl responded with. "Ah yeah? I wonder why."

"Why did she not get hired?" I question him and take his attention away from y/n. "You don't know?" he sneers and glances at Thomas as if he was concerned. "The boss caught her having sex with him, and they both found out she was using both for sex."

"I knew it. I just didn't care," Thomas claims while setting the tables out. "Sure, that's why you were so mad when you got to know that you weren't the only one to fuck her, and you hate her now. That's really weird."

"Shut the fuck up and don't talk about that shit in front of the new girl," he does not call her by her name as if it did not matter, so I remind him of it. "The new girl has a name."

"Yeah, but I forgot what the boss said, and she hasn't told me," he comes back after doing his job and looks at her. "What's your pretty name?"

They are acting the same way they did with Emilia. That pisses me off. She is not like her at all, so she deserves respect.

"Y/n," her tone of voice changes as I noticed that her body language is now expressing bother and discomfort. "Alright, y/n. Do you mind if I call—"

"Leave her alone, or I'll tell Luca you're being inappropriate," I cut him off, not standing the way he is making her feel, and he stands right behind her and keeps his eyes on me. "I'd have expected you to hate her as much as you hated Emila," he takes an espresso shot before starting the day, and I do not answer. I get close to y/n and take the container of chocolate candies to place it on the customer's side of the counter.

I grab one for y/n since I know she loves them, and I sneak one inside her pocket while they are not looking, before moving away to grab my bottle and drink some water.

•••

11:50 am.

"Y/n, get the milk out of the fridge for me, and put a pancake on a dish, please," Luca tells her to do after I got a new order, but since it has already been stressful enough for her this morning and that the next customer is only heading towards us, I get hold of the right dish and place it right in front of her as she opened the display case. She bends over and lays one on them, so I take care of the customer.

"Good morning, Sir. What can I get for you?" I force a smile to greet him, and he checks the menu on the wall behind me. "Hello, I'd like a Matcha latte with a croissant, please."

"Okay, and what type of milk? We have soy, almond, whole, half-half, or skim," I give him the different options and look back at him, but he shrugs and does not seem very sure. "Whole milk."

"For here or to go?" I enter what he asked for on the screen. "To have here."

"Alright, that's five dollars," I give him the price, and he pays with cash, so I take the money and put it in the register. "You can pick a table, and we'll serve you in a few minutes, okay?" I tell him.

"Okay, thank you," he steps away as some more people came in, so I check what time it is and peek at y/n. "You can take your break," Luca notices and allows me to stop, and he calls Callen instead.

He quickly stands in for me, so I walk up to y/n and Luca to ask him a question. "When can she take her break?"

"In a few minutes, I'm explaining something to her," he answers but stays focused on her, so I argue with myself but leave to not disturb them, and I head towards the lockers to take my apron off and head to the break room afterwards.

10 minutes later...

The door opens again as I was trying to distract myself on my phone with nobody else in here, and I land eyes on y/n with Luca. As soon as she sees me, she makes her way up to me, but my best friend stands at the door. "Come here for a minute, Jungkook," he asks for me, so I get up, but y/n grabs my attention. "Can I use your phone, please? Mine didn't charge last night."

"Yeah," I give it to her and leave the room with Luca. I close the door behind me and look up at him. "What is it?"

"You know I don't like making remarks, but Jungkook, when I tell y/n to do something, you cannot do it for her, okay? I do this to see how this goes and what I'll need to focus on with her, but I can't do it if you're constantly doing half of her work," he comments on my actions, which I naturally did. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize it. I'm just worried."

"Worried about what?" he crosses his arms, and despite being serious and rebuking me, he still does it kindly and calmly. "I don't want her to be exhausted, work too hard, or make a mistake and feel bad. I know how she is."

"But she has to make mistakes. That's how she'll learn, and you know that even if she does, I won't tell her off the same way I do it with you guys. So don't baby her. I know the reason why you do it, it's hard for me to not do it too, but let her learn and show she can do the job herself, alright?" he talks to me in a gentle but poised voice, and I acquiesce.

I noticed that he does not tell us off the same way. He always get pretty authoritative and strict with the others, but when it is me, he is more like a big brother, so I do believe and know he will be soft with her, but still.

"I don't want you to do it again unless I allow you to, alright?" he lowers his chin, so I comply. "Alright."

"Good. And don't call her 'babe' in front of the customers ever again, dummy," he chuckles at the mistake I thought went unnoticed, and I bite my lips to hide my smile. "It was unintentional because I'm used to calling her that all the time."

"I know, clumsy boy. Just be careful from now on," he goes back to the break room and enters it, so I follow, and since he is getting the food out of the fridge and that no one is here yet, I step towards y/n and sit down next to her. We both look at one another, and I lean over to steal a kiss from her. "How are you feeling?" I drop my hand on her bare thigh to caress it.

"Good, but too hot, and you?" she smiles and puts my phone down, and I keep my eyes fixed onto hers. This feels good to not have to hold back. "I'm good too," I rub my thumb over her warm skin, and she inches closer, skimming her hands up my exposed arm. "Did you or I do something wrong?" she whispers near my ear.

I lie to her and shake my head so that she does not worry about it, but out of need of physical affection, I kiss her lips for the second time.

"Hey," Luca speaks out. "Come here and eat lunch," he tells us to do. I give a squeeze to y/n's thigh and get up, and we both sit at the table with him. He gives us the right food we brought and opens his Tupperware.

"If anyone want some pasta, I've got more than enough," he grabs a fork after catching all of my girl's attention, and I smile but take a bite of the meal she cooked for us, and which is better to me. "Do you cook your food yourself?"

"Yes. If I don't, nobody else will anyway, but I love cooking," he digs in as well, and she does the same. "Oh, that's great then. I love cooking too, so I understand."

"Jungkook told me, and honestly, from all the things he said about you, I really get wife vibes from you," he smiles and nods, exposing the fact I talk about her a lot. "I know you're still a baby, but like, you already give wife vibes, and I find that sweet."

"Did you hear him?" she darts her eyes towards me to make sure I did not miss it. "Yes, I did."

"You can remind him more often so that he doesn't forget it," she speaks to him, taking this seriously as if it meant a lot, and some people comes in the room. We keep quiet once we hear Thomas and another co-worker talk.

"Hey, how's your first day going so far, y/n?" Thomas peek at her and grabs a can of coke. "Great," she keeps it short, which I know means she does not appreciate him. "Great? Luca's not too hard on you?" he grins at her and gives a furtive look at the one he mentioned.

"No, he's kind and very patient," she lays eyes on Luca and smiles. "Wow. That means you're the leader's darling because he doesn't treat us the same way at all."

"I treat my co-workers the way they deserve to be treated, so stop crying about it," Luca does not allow him to complain and make him a bad guy. "I've always been a good co-worker though."

"Seems like you have a short memory," he takes a sip of his drink. "You just give her the princess treatment for one reason, but I won't say it at this table."

"It's better like that. Keep it to yourself," he sighs but glances in y/n's direction, and they both make eye contact. "Do you want some? You need more food for the day," he moves his dish towards her after noticing she already emptied her small one, but she shakes her head and pulls her lips away from her straw. "It's yours. I had enough."

"You wouldn't have swallowed it all so quick if you had enough," he does not listen to her but takes her dish and fills it with some pasta, which must be delicious too. "I did. What about you?"

"I know I'm a big guy, but I can't eat all that," he puts her portion in front of her and softly tells her to eat, and he then targets me. "Tell me if you want some too afterwards, alright?"

"I'm fine. I'd rather leave it for her if she's craving some food at the two p.m break," I refuse and enjoy my own meal. "I'll leave it in the fridge, and whoever wants it can take it."

"Can I?" Thomas bothers him, and Luca does not agree. "No. You've got some food in the fridge, and they come first."

"Did you both know each other before she got hired that you're so sweet with her?" he finally understands after four hours. "Yes. Do you think I'd give her my food if we weren't close?"

"Oh, I get it now. You got the boss to hire your girlfriend. Is that it?" he never shuts up, trying his hardest to find a way to start some drama. "Yeah, you're right. You're such a smart guy," he sarcastically grins at him with no single hint of sincerity, and the one facing him bitterly smiles back. "I know."

Not standing him and his comments anymore, I take a peek at y/n and see her enjoy the pasta Luca served her without paying attention to Thomas anymore.

I guess working makes her hungry.

15 minutes later...

Our break now coming to an end, I step out of the room before Luca who opened the door and let y/n and I go first, but instead of following her to the lockers, I turn around to ask him something. "Hey."

"Yeah?" he puts his phone back in his pocket to give me his attention. "Do we really have to hide our relationship?"

"You and I?" he cracks a joke and smiles, making me chuckle and shake my head, and he proceeds to answer me. "Listen, I'd tend to say yes because I'm not a big fan of PDA in the workplace, but," he heaves a sigh and seems to be musing on it. "Just be professional in front of the customers, and the boss, but other than that, it's okay if you show a bit of affection, but you must be ready to hear some drama and gossip if you do, and some guys won't shup up about it when the boss's around."

"And do you think the boss would have a problem with it?" I slowly head towards the lockers with him, y/n already putting her apron back on. "Not really, and to be honest, it's better if he knows y/n isn't single. As well as for the others.."

"You're right," I recall what we talked about by text and do not say anything more, and we join y/n.

•••

10:50 pm.

After a long day of work, I drop my body on the bed and join y/n, who was already dozing off on the couch nonstop after dinner. I take my shirt off and throw it in the laundry basket, and I lie down. Without waiting, Y/n rolls over to snuggle up against me and wraps her arms around my body.

I put one of mine around her neck and drop a kiss on her forehead. "Working tired you out?" I smile and skim my thumb over her cheek, and she hums. "Yeah. I feel like I'm gonna have a really good night."

"We won't have our night talk tonight then?" I run my fingers through her hair and keep my lips near her forehead. "I want to talk, but I keep falling asleep."

"Sleep tight, it's okay. We'll talk tomorrow," I smile and kiss the crown of her head, and she tightens her embraces around me. "I love you, sleep tight too."

"I love you too, baby," I turn the lights off and rest my head on hers, and I close my eyes to go to sleep too.

— Next day —

Tuesday, August 10th, 2021.

8:30 am.

"Jungkook," y/n asks for my attention as I got the tea pitcher ready, so I turn around and check what is going on. "Yeah?"

"I still don't understand why the drawing gets messed up when I pour the milk," she complains about the struggle she is going through because of the latte art. "It's okay. No need to worry, it's not easy to do it. Has Luca taught you the techniques yet?"

"He did yesterday, but I still can't do it, and I know Luca is gonna test me soon, so it stressed me out," she causes herself some unreasonable anxiousness, and the side I should hide here takes over me. "Hey, he's not gonna test you so soon, so calm down. It took me two whole weeks to finally do a heart at the beginning, so it's fine. Put that one the side, I'll drink it. Get some espresso and milk again. It's steamed and you picked the good one, right?"

"It is, and I think? I got the oat one," she doubts herself, despite being right. "It is the good one," I stand next her but notice both her hands are bare. "What did I tell you about the hand you use to hold hot drinks?" I look for the glove I told her to always wear. "I forgot."

I grab it and put it on her left hand, and once everything is ready, I go right next to her and tell her to grab the cups, then, I put my hand over her right one to hold the pitcher of steamed milk with her. "What art do you want to do?"

"A rosetta design," she says and does not move, so I bring the milk closer to the cup. "Incline the cup a little," I tell her to do, holding back from standing behind her and holding both her hands to do it together. She does as told, so I pour the right amount of milk into the coffee. "I'm gonna show you the easiest way to do it. Always start in the center, okay?" I merge both liquids and start creating the design she asked for by forming a white dot, then rocking my wrist from side to side every time I add another dot.

"Here, high and slow at the beginning," I speak while teaching her with my actions. "Then low and fast. You have to follow that same movement," I finish the work with a line through the flower, and I move the pitcher away but catch her smiling. "Did you get it?"

"I think, yeah," she looks at me, and I cannot help peeking down at her lips. "Why are you smiling like that?" I point it out, knowing what words caused this, but she pretends not to know. "Just like that," she shrugs, but Luca calls her name.

We both turn around and see him standing at the door frame. "Come in my office."