“Are you scaaared?”

Ilhoon stretched his arms across the empty dishes, soju bottles, and cooled grill towards Bomi. She cast a wary glance at his open palms. The pair had indulged in plenty of soju bombs and at this point, she was absolutely unsure of everything. Could Bomi just… trust herself?

“No!” Bomi defiantly glared back at Ilhoon. “Why would I be scared of you?!”

Words and glare aside, she sat there frozen with her own hands lifted, but held nowhere near his. She looked up at Ilhoon, catching the slight tilt at the right corner of his lip. Paired with a suspiciously raised brow, there was a sly glint playing in his eyes.

‘No way… he doesn’t think I’m gonna do it!’ a fire lit in Bomi’s own eyes. ‘THAT BRAT IS CHALLENGING ME!!’

Ilhoon watched the unmistakable shift in Bomi’s demeanor as she let out a loud huff and hastily rolled up her sleeves. It was odd… Although they had both knocked back a sizeable quantity of alcohol (Ilhoon taking shots that were poured with a heavier hand to place them on equal footing), the only distinct changes in Bomi were her personality. Drunk (or was she drunk?) Bomi was several things that Sober Bomi was not. She was brash, she was bold, she was confident… but she wasn’t slurring, tipping over, or acting in any way unruly.

On the flipside, Ilhoon was feeling the effects rather heavily. Even as he awaited her sleeve rolling (which Bomi seemed to be having trouble with), he couldn’t help that his body and outstretched arms were slowly swaying back and forth inches at a time. God, Ilhoon hoped she didn’t notice… He hadn’t wanted her to feel more drunk than he was, so as not to let her think that he would take advantage of it. Ilhoon didn’t imagine that he would have this much trouble keeping up with her though…

“You must hold your liquor well…” he murmured in her direction, as he watched her hands gingerly come to rest on his own.

“Mm…” Bomi hummed in response, each staring intently at their joined hands.

Ilhoon peered up at her, coming to the sound conclusion that she barely even registered that he had said anything (let alone heard what he said). He curled his fingertips a fraction inward, making contact with her hovering palms.

“Y-your hands are soft.” he faced her head-on as her eyes rose to meet his. Her laser-life focus softened as they simultaneously became distracted with the mumbled absent-minded observation (one that he didn’t mean to let slip).

And in that split-second change…

*SLAP*

Ilhoon’s hands had flipped on hers and had (to Bomi’s horror) JUST won their slap-game tie-breaker!! GOD, they had just landed on their seventh game. Not only that, but there was a dreaded soju bomb on the line for whichever unlucky sap lost.

Okay, so Bomi couldn’t trust herself… her reactions were absolute crap when she was drunk… and yes… she was drunk… and maybe a bit belligerent. Ilhoon was grinning like an idiot until… well, until he noticed Bomi’s clenched and shaking fists (and away, his grin went).

Uh-oh.

“YAAAA!!!!” Bomi stood up so quick that her chair nearly fell. “YOU LOUSY CHEAT!!!”

The sudden shock at her outburst was rapidly replaced with an all-out fear for his life. Ilhoon snatched the soju glass, dropped it into the beer, and chugged it... all in five seconds flat, which was certainly no ordinary feat.

“I knew you would see it my way…” a victorious Bomi said, pulling her chair in.

As she sat down, Bomi faced him with a beautiful, yet completely sinister smile.

“Wanna play again?” she asked in a saccharine sweet way. Even to the woozy/hammered Ilhoon, it was obvious that there was a lurking chill hidden right beneath the surface of that question.

*gulp*

“I… uhh… I-I think I’m good.”

Eunji popped her head out from the backroom, rag and window cleaner in hand. She did a visual sweep of the café, noticing that her dear manager was currently preoccupied with restocking the napkin holders. She retreated behind the wall that separated the two and leaned against the cool plaster.

‘You’re not doing anything wrong…’ she took a deep breath and steadied herself. ‘You’re just going out there to clean the windows… that’s all. It’s your job! Just tell Hyuna that that’s what you’re going to do. That’s all.’

Eunji was growing increasingly hesitant… but what did she have to be afraid of? She was just cleaning the windows… no ulterior motives here! Yeah… completely harmless! And so she put this very plan into effect as her feet took her out of that dreaded backroom before her mind could catch up with her actions.

“Fight or flight, Eunji. Fight or flight.” she self pep-talked quietly as she ventured into the lion’s den, avoiding all suspicious auras that were emanating from a certain individual who we will not name.

…And Eunji was virtually out the door until a chirpy voice rang out in question.

“Wow! Cleaning windows, huh?? Don’t you always delegate that to Bomi?”

Aaaaaaand she stopped.

Ack… Eunji should’ve known. She couldn’t get away with this if she tried. Bomi never let her do any of the outdoor duties, because that meant that she’d get hit with an onslaught of allergies (thank you, big oak tree that constantly drops pollen!). Hyuna’s job as a manager was literally to watch them, so of course, that wouldn’t have escaped her notice. Aside from the fact that she was paid to, Hyuna often liked to keep herself in the loop with the employees, being more friend than manager, because she loved to use what tiny tidbits of information she could to mercilessly cute little underlings (all out of love, she would say).

“Uhhh…………” the floundering girl tried to muster any sort of explanation that would be believable.

Eunji turned back towards that oh-so-sly voice at millimeters a second and was met with a curious looking Hyuna. You see, Eunji hadn’t quite caught on that her shift leader hadn’t seen through her shaky game plan. For all Hyuna knew, Eunji was doing her job. She had only really inquired because she was concerned that Eunji would be sneezing up a storm and have a full-on Rudolph nose by the time she was finished.

“I… I…….”

“Umm Eunji-ah? You… you good?”

“I PLEAD THE FIFTH!!!!” Eunji cried and took the briefest deep breath Hyuna had ever seen.

“I’mnotdoinganythingwrongIdon’tknowwhatyou’retalkingabout

*GASP*

wecleanthewindowsallthetimetheywerefilthytoday

*GASP*

andit’snotmyfaultihaveanexceptionallysensitivenose!!!!!”

To say that Hyuna was rendered speechless by Eunji’s stream of consciousness was a gross understatement. I mean, if she had known that this could’ve been related to a specific passer-by customer, then the overtly mischievous manager would’ve been on that in a second! Hyuna was not so subtle with these things, especially when it was teasing that was finely layered with attempts to get her friends to step out of their comfort zones.

*sigh*

“Alright, uhh… come sit with me for a bit, k?” Hyuna motioned for one of her favorite employees (although she would never admit to favoritism!) to the closest table.

Embarrassed by her speech and glum about practically selling herself out, she nodded before sliding the chair out and preparing herself for more jokes at her expense.

“And before I start saying anything, I need your full and undivided attention! Not a word outta you, capiche?”

“Fineeeee…” rolling her eyes, she hastily agreed since she was eager to go spy on the pabo.

“Oh! But you will be answering some yes-or-no questions for me. Starting with this one, has your pen-pal admitted that he likes you? And by the way, I’m not asking you to hurt you, you know I wouldn’t do that, but it’s just a disclaimer!”

“No.”

“Have you told your pen-pal that you like him?