I wipe the tears that were squeezed out of my eyes from intense laughter and calm the situation before it gets too out of hand.
The three of them run past me and I grab the wrists of both Soo-Yun and Kyubok.
"Alright, playtime is over you guys. Let's finish setting up before the birthday girl comes with her fancy cake and yells at us for not finishing."
Soo-Yun and Kyubok glare at each other. I tighten my grasp on their wrists and they whimper in pain and fear.
"Okay okay I'll stop singing." Kyubok winces, struggling to release himself from my grasp.
"Good." I reply, releasing them.
The second I release them Kyubok's mischievous smile returns to his face as he sings, "LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO SOME NEW THINGS!"
Soo-Yun raises her hand in a fist and sucks in air through her teeth.
I sigh and reach up to grab Kyubok by the ear to drag him to the storage room. As I drag him I call back to the other two.
"Will you guys finish wiping down tables? I'll have this idiot restock all our supplies."
"Yes ma'am!" Soo-Yun smiles happily at Kyubok's pain.
When we reach the storage room Kyubok rubs his ear in pain.
"That hurttt." He whines.
"Oh, be quiet." I scoff. "It's better that I drag you, or did you want me to let Soo-Yun beat you? I think the rest of us would have preferred that."
"Ah I see how it is." He smirks.
"See what?" I ask with my arms crossed.
"This is your way of showing that you love me. You must have a crush on me."
I burst into laughter. "You wish."
"Am I wrong?"
I stare at him in disbelief.
"Yes. Yes, you are wrong." I shake my head. "Since you seem to be recovered, bring the boxes of cups and napkins and go refill the cup stack behind the counter. Oh, and refill all of the table's napkin dispensers."
"By myself?" He asks wide eyed.
"Yes." I smile and walk out of the storage room.
Because of the manager's unique personality, I often get stuck with these types of jobs. The manager can sometimes prove herself, but other times she is pretty clueless, so someone else has to step up. As one of the older employees, I get stuck with filling that role.
Actually, Kyubok is the same age as I am, but anyone can tell that he is not cut out for the management side of our café. I admit, he's amazing at drawing customers, we all are, but that doesn't mean he can manage things behind the scenes well.
Myung-Dae is the same age as Soo-Yun and is probably responsible enough to fill the role, but his shy personality gets in the way of instructing others. Soo-Yun would rather not take on more responsibility than she already has.
I was amazed and surprised at how this café was able to last as long as it has under these conditions. Either way, this role filling, leadership part of my job allows me to put a part of my buried past into use. So I guess I am pretty thankful for it.
"Yoo hoo!" A voice calls from the entrance of the café.
We all look up to see whose voice it is. Behind the glass doors is none other than the birthday girl herself, the one in charge of our paychecks, the woman of.... the day? The birthday girl, Gyeong Mi Young, our manager. Mi-Young stands at the door with a huge box, which I assume is her cake, blocking her line of sight.
"Why doesn't she use the employee door like the rest of us?" I hear Myung-Dae whisper under his breath.
I stifle my laughter. This boy is typically shy and kind, but when it comes to Mi-Young, he has absolutely no patience.
Kyubok unlocks the front door for her and holds it open. He bows in a princely fashion and then grabs the cake from Mi-Young to carry it for her. Soo-Yun gags beside me.
"Who does he think he is?" She rolls her eyes at him but walks to Mi-young with a smile on her face. Kyubok responds by crossing his arms and sticking out his tongue at her like a child throwing a tantrum.
"Everyone come here!" Mi-Young says in her high pitched voice. Which, according to everyone here, tends to have an oblivious ring to it.
We all walk over to the table where Kyubok was directed to place the cake box.
"Guys, you are going to love this cake. It was 100 dollars, so it should taste amazing."
"A hundred dollars?" Soo-Yun gasps.
"Yup! I got it from the bakery that was featured in the kdrama, 'A Baker's Love.'"
"Is that even an existing kdrama?" Myung-Dae asks.
"I don't think so.." I whisper to him.
He looks at me and chuckles.
"Let's open it already!" Kyubok pleads. "I want to eat a delicious, expensive cake."
"Just be patient, you pig." Soo-Yun comments.
The incompatible couple exchange a look of hatred.
I inwardly sigh.
Mi-Young breaks the tension, something she probably wasn't even aware of.
"Okayyy! Here I go!"
Mi-Young opens the box and reveals the cake.
Kyubok, Soo-Yun, and even Myung-Dae stare at the box in anticipation. To be honest, I was anticipating something amazing too. However, the second the sides of the box dropped, our faces filled with anticipation quickly turned to faces of disappointment.
"That's… That's it?" Kyubok asks, disappointment slipping out of his mouth.
I elbow him and hiss, "Be nice."
Thank God she's oblivious.
"Sorry." He whispers.
Soo-Yun laughs nervously and tries to compliment the cake.
"It's very minimalistic! I heard that was trending these days!"
The cake is indeed minimalistic. It is 14 inches tall and covered with white frosting made from whipped cream. It has tiny gold flakes decorating the top of the cake, and that's about it.
"I know right!" Mi-Young gasps, staring at her cake with sparkling eyes. "It was so worth it!"
"If it makes you happy, I'm sure it tastes amazing." Myung-Dae says half sarcastically.
"Thank you so much! You're so kind!"
… Again… thank God she doesn't possess the ability to discern his sarcasm…
"Let's sing happy birthday." I suggest.
"Good idea!" Mi-Young agrees.
I count us off.
"Ready? One, two, three."
"Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday dear Mi-Young.
Happy birthday to you."