Half-drunken Coffee

He grimaced. The blonde-haired boy being slobbered on by his three dogs could not make a good cup of coffee. He forgot to stir it. Too bitter. Not enough milk and so hot it burnt his tongue. Each time, he didn't let it show. He just smiled gratefully at the boy when he looked up at him watching him sip the coffee in his hands.

Maybe he would enlist the help of Amy, although Amy was still mad at him. What if she'd been showing him how to make this awful coffee? What a perfect revenge. He sighed into the steam coming from the mug, making ripples on top of the undrinkable liquid, before standing to his feet. He dismissed himself to the boy, who was too busy to notice with his furry friends. At least he was good at keeping his children entertained.

───── ❝ please make it drinkable ❞ ─────

"Amy" he tipped his coffee mug towards her. "Help me" he pleaded. His eyes begged her.

Amy folded her hands, her eyes moving from his eyes to his mug of half-drunken coffee.

"That's not like you" she exclaimed.

"It's awful", he made a face. "Please, help me".

Amy, who had been feigning being angry at her boss for not letting her help in his endeavors to find a husband for his sister as it would "interfere with her work", couldn't hold it in any longer.

She laughed hard and loud, nodding in agreement between catching herself for a moment.

Choi Baek-Hyun was relieved. He had been on edge these past few days unable to get his caffeine fix. Trust me, he had tried to sneak off, dump the coffee down the sink, and brew a new one, but every time he found himself about to commit the act of, he'd turn around and find him standing right there, smiling.

"Make it subtle" were his last words before turning back to the office, bringing the mug to his mouth instinctively, then shuddering as the foul liquid touched his lips.

───── ❝ a perfect compassion ❞ ─────

Amy was able to handle her boss' problem with tact. She grabbed the new boy on a day when the boss was half-awake in his office, after having spent a long night going over the first draft of a new novel. The boy hadn't even had a chance to say good morning to him.

"Let's make the boss a cup of coffee", she linked her arm through his and marched him towards the staff kitchen, "he's been up all night so he'll surely appreciate it".

She nudged him towards the coffee machine and watched him curiously. As he was about to scoop the beans in, she gently grabbed ahold of the scoop.

"He prefers these coffee beans", with her other hand, she grabbed another container from the open cupboard, placing it on the surface and taking the offending beans, and putting them out of his reach.

The new boy didn't seem to take offense to her taking charge, and instead let her lead him along. How many scoops. How much sugar to spoon in. How much milk. The perfect way to stir it. How the boss liked it to be blown on to dissipate some of the heat so it didn't burn his lips.

Amy could see the delight on Choi Baek-Hyun's face as she opened the door for the boy to go in with his morning coffee. He could likely tell she had had a hand in the making of his morning cup of coffee, and he trusted she wouldn't torture him so early in the day. His hands instinctively reached out to take the mug from the boy, and eagerly put it to his lips, he smiled. After depriving himself of coffee to save face yesterday, it couldn't help but break across his face as he was now ready to face the day.

She never knew how much a cup of coffee could make someone smile. Amy had taken a liking to Byun Dal.