The Unexpected Rhapsody || ✅

Chapter 1

As another customer pushes the Café's door open, the bell on the top of it rings. Without looking up from her computer Himani sweetly greets the person, "Welcome!"

A tall and bulky man in his early-forties clears his throat as he comes to stand at the third counter to catch Himani's attention. "I'll have my regular, as usual."

"I'm sorry, sir. But since I'm new here, I don't know what your regular is." she pauses as she timidly glances up at the man. "Can you please tell me your order so that I can remember it from now on?"

She gulps as she feels his eyes from her head down to as low he can go, which is her waist against the counter. She has never felt this uncomfortable. Sensing the dark vibe around the brooding man, she tries to smile when he does not reply. "Sir?"

"Ah, yeah. I want one Iced-Americano with Waffles. It's my regular." He says while biting his lip as he continues to stare at her figure.

"That will be 5500 Won."

He makes the payment, still not bothering to take his eyes off her.

"Please take a seat, sir. Your order will be ready in two minutes." she softly but firmly replies without looking back at the male.

Himani has been working at the 'Daily Café' ever since she has come to Korea, i.e., for about a couple of weeks now. There have been numerous customers of different personality cults. But she has certainly not encountered such a trashy one. She despises such people with all of her heart.

She had to serve the man, anyway. She decides to ignore his rude manners and thinks about other things. She reminds herself about the shopping date with Mira in the evening, which brightens up her face. When the creepy man leaves, she smiles to welcome other beautiful people.

Although Mira could not get a job in the same café as Himani's, she managed to get a good one at a private library. Himani often tells her bestie about how jealous she is of Mira to stay between walls covered in books. Back in school, she was often termed as 'HimaNerd'. But little did they know that her reading habits were the ones which had made her into the creative and attractive person that she is today.

As the break time finally occurs, she glances at her fellow mates. Some touching up their make-up, while some simply scrolling through their SNSs. She lets out a deep sigh.

"Is something wrong?" Junseok, the guy next to her asks in a concerned tone.

She wonders how two people can be so different from one another.

She simply smiles at the taller. "Nothing's wrong. Please don't worry."

She turns around to make her way to the shop owner's desk.

"Excuse me, ma'am."

The old lady looks up from her book and gazes at the younger. "What's it, dear?" she asks in her sugary voice.

The former decides to come straight to the point. "Well, my semester at SNU begins from September 2nd. So, I was wondering if you could switch my daytime shift to an evening one... if that would be possible."

"Oh, is that it? I'll check it and tell you by tomorrow." she assures her.

"Thank you so much, ma'am." she beams and bows down.

~~

"Daebak! It's hard to believe that the nasty boss agreed." exclaims Mira as the two girls walk through a bookstore.

"Don't say that," Himani frowns, "she's a nice woman." She reaches down to grab another 'Advanced Korean' workbook from the lowermost rack.

"You think like that about every person," Mira complains. "You should be able to judge others' intentions by now, girl."