Monday. A dreaded day for most. It was even more hated by the younger ones since they had to go to school after working so hard for the past two days. So with them getting ready before they went to school, the older ones were expected to greet the day early with passion.

But they were just the same. Awaken by the alarm he had set the night before, Taeyong lazily got out of bed and stretched his limbs. After the short morning stretching session, he ran his hand through his hair to pull back his hair out of habit.

Getting ready alone before heading to the shop, it didn't take him long to arrive and open the shop up by himself. The slightly chilly morning sent shivers to him every now and then but as he turned on the lights of the shop, he felt warmed up.

As he headed to switched on the coffee machines, he managed to grab his apron. Ensuring that he flipped all the switches he needed to, he wore his apron and headed to the kitchen to start baking fresh new pastries.

Not long after the silence wafted the shop, the door was pushed open and a voice echoed, "Hello."

Head tilted slightly at how an open shop would be empty without a single worker, the person came in and placed their bag on one of the tables. Slowly making way to the kitchen, the door creaked open to reveal Taeyong busy measuring ingredients.

"Taeyong?" calling out his name, Taeyong quickly turned to look at the person. Letting out a sigh of relief, facial muscles loosening from its tense state, he smiled, "Oh, Nari. You came by so early."

Walking towards Taeyong and standing next to him, Nari watched as Taeyong continued his work. Hands busy roaming around the table, her eyes followed the movements of his skinny, beautiful hands.

"I figured I'll come by to get my very needed dose of caffeine before heading to campus. But when I came in, it was empty," Nari explained and he nodded at her words. "Sorry, I thought at least Johnny would come after a few minutes I arrived. I'll make your drink once I finish making the dough."

But as soon as Taeyong finished his speech, a voice heard from outside, "Excuse me. Anyone here?"

The two looked at each other, "A customer," Taeyong said. Followed by Nari giving him a yeah-obviously expression.

"Could you please get her order for me? I'll make your drink free later. I really need to finish getting these ready and my hands are just messy right now," he pleaded to her. "I don't want the shop to get a bad review when it just opened. Pretty please, Nari," he continued.

"I get it, don't worry. I worked at a coffee shop before and I understand. Just a pro tip, get one of their asses to come down with you. You really don't want to work alone, even if not a lot of people would come at times like this," patting his shoulders, she headed out to serve the unexpected customer.

Looking at her walking out, he thanked her in a low, happy, and a little bit of shy tone.

"Hi, sorry for attending to you late! Welcome to NCT!" Nari said as she rushed to tie the random apron she took.

"Oh, Nari!" the customer cheerfully said. Looking up, it was Inês, the girl who miraculously met her friend at the shop the day before. "Thank you so much for yesterday! And this is a great place you're working here," she continued with Nari just nodding at the statement of her working at the shop.

"It was nothing, I was just a bit more excited than you were. So, what are you looking for today? Coffee? Tea? Or many something with chocolate?" Nari fluently asked, as if she actually one of the workers.

"I'm actually like something with lemon, if you have those on your menu," eyes wandering on the menu looking for something that fits her preference. Remembered that she saw some lemons at the kitchen, Nari came up with an idea, "There is something with lemons that I could whip up that's not on the menu if you want to try it."

"That would be lovely," happiness bloomed on her face as she nodded at the idea.

At the same moment, the door opened and Mark peeked inside, "Taeyong?" Remembering from the cloudy memories of her, Nari managed to correctly call out his name, "Mark! Would you please come here for a second?"

From the shock of his name being called, he quickly made his way next to Nari. "Would you punch in her order? Just choose something from the smoothies section while I make her drink," Nari pointed to the cash register before her hand found its way to the blender.

"Ah, okay. But why-" his words cut off as Nari continued, "Taeyong's busy in the kitchen. I'll explain later. Inês is more than ready to pay, would you please attend her."

Thoughtlessly nodding, Mark tapped the touchscreen register and the amount due appeared on screen, "That would be all for your order of..." unable to continue, not knowing what exactly the customer had ordered.

"I don't know. She said it's something off the menu," shrugging her shoulders, Inês let out a laugh as she paid the exact amount that appeared. Awkwardly laughing along, he accepted the cash and printed out the receipt. Walking away from the now in a daze Mark, Inês went to watch what Nari was up too.

Leaning against the countertop, Mark also watched Nari. Her hands busy peeling off big chunks of the lemon from its skin. Dunking them into the jar that already housed some sugar, ice cubes and what seemed to cold water, she threw in some lemon zest in the end before plopping the lid on and blending all the ingredients together.

After a short while, she turned it off and took the jar to another counter. Her free hand grabbing a plastic cup, she placed it beside the jar. Taking off the lid, she poured the contents into the cup. Softly placing the jar into the sink, Mark quickly went to wash it and Nari fetching a round plastic lid to securely cover the drink.

Hugging the drink with a tissue, she handed the drink to Inês who took it with a big smile. "Wow, this looks delicious. I'll get going now, I have a lot of places to visit today. Have a nice day!" Inês bid the two before she slowly went towards the door.

Rushing to grab a small box, Nari placed a lemon-flavoured cupcake into in at handed it to Mark, who plastered on a confused expression. "Mark!" Nari silently screamed but Mark still had the same expression.

"Run to her and give her that! She came in without someone greeting her, the best is to give her something for her troubles!" Nodding, the boy ran out to catch up with her to give her the cupcake.

A good thing that she had not walk far, he jogged his way to her, "Excuse me." Inês turned and was greeted with the lad who had his school uniform on. "This is from Nari, thank you for stopping by NCT!" he said as he politely handed over the box and bowed to her. A slight blush on her cheeks from his actions, she thanked him before they parted ways. Managing to wave, he bid her goodbye.

Returning to the shop, Nari was taking off her apron as Taeyong came out of the kitchen. Mark found himself a chair, taking a moment to comprehend what just happened. He thought of coming to ask Taeyong for a sandwich for his lunch before going to school but came to Nari being a worker at NCT and apparently, ordering him like she was his boss.

"Aww Mark, did I make you run late for school? Sorry!" Nari apologized as she finally noticed how Mark had his school uniform on and the time closed into the first bell. "Oh no, I still have a few more before school starts. But what are you doing with my apron and making a drink for a customer just now?"

"I asked her to help since none of the other, very dependable, no longer having school guys aren't here to help," Taeyong said as he began wiping the tables. "Oh, I'll just grab something to bring for lunch," Mark said as he stood up. Walking to the showcase, he placed a piece of chocolate cake with a cherry on top into a box and headed out.

"See you later!" walking out, Mark headed to school. As he passed through the door, Yuta came in. "Oh hey Yuta!" he greeted the older lad but Yuta only replied with a nod, different from how he would usually have.

Silently coming in, he ignored when Nari greeted him joyfully. Taking a seat on the cushioned chairs mounted to the wall, Yuta began to stare blankly outside. A questioning expression pasted on her face, she looked at Taeyong who shrugged his shoulders before tilting his head towards Yuta, signing for her to ask Yuta herself.

Sitting closely next to Yuta, her arm touched his as she leaned back to the cushion like him. With the lowest pitch she could muster out, she asked, "Want to talk about it?" Yuta didn't respond as he stood still, eyes still looking at the outside world.

She looked at how his eyes had half opened lids and the corners of his lips were at the same level of his lips, unlike how she saw him the days before. His hands twitched a bit making him ball them up into a fist for a while before opening them and placing them back on the table.

"If you want to, you can tell me. I don't want to see a gloominess on that beautiful face of yours," persuading him if he wanted to open up.

"I just watched an accident happen right in front of me. Blood everywhere and the screams. I felt as if I was dying," slowly he said with a soft voice, that had sorrow, worry and horror tainted in between. He looked at Nari straight in the eye before looking away, a gaze so serious and sent a chill up Nari's spine as if the grim reaper came to her in the form of Yuta.

Placing her hand on his, her fingers gently tapped on the back of his hands, not knowing what words would be accurate to be said at that moment. A weight fell on her shoulder, Yuta had rested his head on her shoulder.

"I'm scared, Nari."