Two-Sided Coin

Chapter 6

"Wouldn't you be going to school at that time, young man?"

I paused for a moment, then smiled and shook my head slightly.

"No, ahjussi," I replied quietly, keeping my voice light. "I just really need this job."

He gave a kind, wheezing laugh and nodded, turning to get behind the counter.

"Alright, young man, when can you start?"

My eyes widened slightly.

"Really? Just like that?

He chuckled again and shrugged.

"Sure, why not? It gets pretty busy around here and we're just in need of some young blood. I clearly am not able to do as much lifting as I used to, so I'm glad to have someone willing."

"Thank you, ahjussi," I told him sincerely, grinning and bowing. "Thank you so much. I will work hard. Can I start now?"

He shrugged again, grabbing a wet cloth to wipe the counter. I shifted slightly, my hands folded in front of me, and looked around.

"Um, what should I do?" I asked politely.

He looked at me, then gestured towards a door off to the side.

"There's the storage closet," he informed me, the gestured towards the rest of the store. "Clean."

With that he ended it, walking off to the back and disappearing without further instructions. Great. Sighing, I went over to the closet and opened it, surveying what was inside. After a few minutes of blank staring, I picked up a broom and began cleaning.

...

This was unexpected. This was definitely not what I asked for. All I wanted was to spend a couple hours mopping the floor and maybe tending the register, but this was so much more.

Every five minutes my boss would call me over to lift this or carry that or rearrange those. Whenever the rare customer came at this late hour, they were almost all drunk. That night I cleaned up vomit at least eight times and called at least five taxis.

I was beat. Before I knew it, it was almost four in the morning. My boss was napping in the back, his cap over his face. Were there any other employees? Was I really the only one? Should I just go home?

No, I couldn't 'just go home.' There was no way I was leaving until the ahjussi woke; I needed to get my money at some point. And anyway, I probably wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway.

Just then, another customer walked in, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"Can we film in here?"

"Sure, nobody cares."

"Alright."

Interesting conversation. Definitely not just a bunch of drunks. There was a bit of rustling and footsteps, then a silence. I quietly made my way around the aisles and peeked at the customers.

They were two men in loose workout clothes and messy, sweaty hair that still managed to look styled. One was holding a hand-held camera out in front and slightly up to get a good angle. The silence was explained as both of them were inspecting how they looked in the monitor. After a couple seconds, they were satisfied and lowered their hands.

"Yes, so we are on a mission the hyungs sent us on," the one holding the camera began, glancing over his shoulder to share a glance with the other. "Because they enjoy torturing us by sending up out to buy food at," he paused to glance at his watch, "4:07. But we will persevere and buy them delicious things so that they won't get mad at us."

The second boy started laughing and leaned his forehead against the first boy's shoulder. The first one smiled and awkwardly patted his head with his free hand.

"Calm down, Binnie," he chuckled, swinging the camera around the film from a different angle.

"Can I help you?" I finally spoke up when the utter bliss that the two were in got on my nerves. They both turned their heads to look at me simultaneously, an identical deer-in-the-headlights look on their faces.

"Uh, no thank you," the first one stuttered, bowing his head slightly. I eyed the two of them for a few seconds, then nodded and moved on the clean. At least they weren't old drunk men with no sense of respect to public property.

But I wonder who they were. Were they famous? Why else would they be filming their freaking grocery trip? And who were their 'hyungs'? And, most importantly, why the hell were they so happy? Clearly they were tired and annoyed, but somehow that 'Binnie' managed to burst out laughing for no reason. It was so long since I'd heard such genuine laughter.

"Excuse me?" a voice sounded from a few feet behind me.

"What?"

That came out ruder than expected. To soften to blow, I put on a small smile when I turned to see the two of the, the first boy still holding the camera, though it was by his side and probably off.

"Sorry to bother you, but what's your name?" he asked. I shifted uncomfortably, wary of the strangers.

"Kim Taehyung," I finally answered, leaning against my mop. The one holding the camera grinned and stuck out his hand.

"Han Sanghyuk," he said brightly. "And this is Lee Hongbin."

I nodded, then cautiously shook his hand, then Hongbin's in turn. There was a temporary silence, then Sanghyuk finally spoke.

"Um, I don't want to leave the wrong impression, but...would you like to...come to our dorm?"

My eyes widened and I took a step back.

"I'm-I'm sorry?"

"No, no, no. Please don't think of us weirdly. It's just that you looked quite lonely and tired and, well, we clearly will have enough snacks, so we were wondering if you'd like to hang out," he rambled on. I listened quietly, the disgusted look on my face slowly melting off. I was exhausted. This couldn't be that bad, right?

"Sure," I sighed finally and the two boys high fived each other.

"Great, you can choose whatever snacks you'd want; we'll buy them," Hongbin told me, moving down towards the register with already full arms.

"Oh, no, it's fine. I'm not hungry," I lied, walking over to put away my mop.

"Alright," Sanghyuk said, not convinced, but put down the rest of the food on the counter and smiled.

I smiled back slightly and scanned the food items, wincing subconsciously as the numbers crept up to the ceiling. But they didn't seem to fazed. Sanghyuk already pulled out his camera again and was filming me (neck down, as directed).

"Ya, Binnie, how much do you think the hyungs will have to pay us back?" Sanghyuk asked his friend.

"You and Ravi should just pay for everything," Hongbin mumbled, earning him an elbow to the ribs.

"We release one song and we now have to pay for everything; that's not very fair, hyung," he pouted.

So, they were famous. And I was coming over to their dorm. At night. What was I getting myself into?

A/N
Sorry, guys. This is kind of a filler chapter. Also, in case you don't know, Sanghyuk (Hyuk) and Hongbin are members of VIXX. In this AU, they're still a thing.