Night owl tendencies and an eternally screwed body clock that went off before 7 every single morning wasn't exactly the greatest pair in the world. Sunny, unfortunately, was stuck with the two qualities: a deadly combination that meant she was pretty much useless without her first ridiculously large cup of coffee for the day.
This morning wasn't much different. She'd stayed up ridiculously late the night before—finishing a piece in a burst of inspiration and helping keep her photographer brother awake as he finished some editing work. By the time that they'd both finished, bid one another goodnight, and hung up, the well-wishes were useless as it was 3:34 in the morning. Completely exhausted both mentally and physically, Sunny was fortunate enough to fall asleep quickly only for that to be absolutely shattered not even 30 minutes later when the dogs decided 4 am was the perfect time to expel all of their energy. In short, Sunny only got about two hours of sleep and was in dangerous need of a pick me up.
Despite being absolutely exhausted, she was cognizant enough to get ready without looking like an absolute disaster. It was one of the few soft skills years of fruitless trainee life had given her and she'd go as far as to say she appreciated it. She'd gone through her morning routine like clockwork: shower, hair, and makeup done in record time and, after a tongue click and double finger guns to the mirror by her front door, she made her way out into the world to her favorite cafe while a grin bloomed upon her lips as she read her boyfriend's morning greetings.
As she walked into the little coffee spot, she was dismayed to find a significant line but she had to remind herself that it wasn't 11ish like when she usually left the house. It was a little after 6 and normal, working people were starting their days off the right way. With a soft sigh, she queued up and decided to check up on other missed messages and emails.
The whole time, she couldn't shake the feeling of someone looking at her but elected to ignore it for as long as she could. She wasn't quite ready for intelligent conversation and half-awake small talk wasn't exactly the most fun thing in the world. She would glance up from her phone every now and then when it didn't feel like the guy in front of her was staring and, as expected, caught the back of his head. When the staring felt like it was going on a little longer than the other times, she shifted uncomfortably, transferring the bulk of her weight onto one foot as she idly stuck her non-dominant hand into the pocket of her over-sized blazer. She forced herself to be very interested in an email from the Sun Room's landlord, despite it only reminding her of the rent at the top of the month. She placed a mental note to remind the boys as well. Still, she was hyper-aware of eyes on her.
"I don't mean to stare or anything, but you're beautiful," The staring stranger's voice broke her out of her pretend concentration and she looked up from her phone, a neat brow raised as she assessed if he was really trying to pick her up this early in the morning.
"Erm...thanks?" she responded, though it came out interrogatively in her confusion. She was content for the conversation to end there, but the guy—who looked like he didn't shower past quickly passing water over himself (he DEFINITELY didn't wash his legs or butt often)—turned to face her better, continuing the conversation. Heaving an inward sign, and shifting back to the other foot, Sunny put on her nicest smile and engaged with practiced earnest responses until a familiar voice reached her.
"...Sunhee noona? No way! You're Lee Sunhee, right?"
Turning around to face the new contender for her attention, her expression brightened as dark eyes fell upon a familiar, boyish face. "Ohmygosh, Baek!" she greeted, not hesistating to launch into a warm hug.
"God, it's been forever!"
