relationships

둘

today was an ordinary day like any others. as usual, i got up at 7.30am. after washing up, i changed into a simple plain white shirt and denim jeans. tying my hair up into a messy bun, i grabbed a quick bite of sandwich and proceeded to rush for the 8.15am bus. upon arriving at the cafe, i went to the staff lockers room. putting down my bag, i took my uniform and went to the toilet and changed into it. there was still some time before it was time for the cafe to open and all preparations were already done, so the staffs had a little casual talk.

all of a sudden, the manager cleared his throat and spoke to me in a serious tone, "chaewon, there will be a newbie coming in today. remember to give him his name tag and uniform. show him around the cafe and teach him some things. i'll be away for some personal matters for the next whole week so he is all for you to guide. take good care of your other juniors too and discipline them if necessary."

once the manager left, hayoung, the youngest of all the staffs, said secretively, "i saw this new guy during the walk-in interview, and i would say he is pretty much of the heartthrob kind. i even heard from the manager saying that his academic qualifications are quite high, seems like he graduated from kaist (a/n: korea advanced institute of science and technology, ranked as the 2nd most prestigious university in south korea in 2015). i wonder why he decided to work here with that good certificate... oh, and i heard that he's just 1 year older than chaewon unnie."

i knocked her on the head lightly while saying, "ya, stop talking so much and get down to work. i'll be busy guiding this newbie around today, but don't try to take this chance to fool around okay. any emergencies or whatsoever, just call me."

it was already 9am — the doors opened. soon, customers started flooding in and it marked the start of yet another busy day. leaving the matters to my juniors, i waited for the newbie by the entrance anxiously. to be honest, every time before there were newbies joining us, i would start to feel immense pressure. it was my job to guide them around and ensure that they fitted in well in this environment. before my train of thoughts could trail off any further, he arrived.

this guy... he was different from the other newbies. why? upon his arrival, my heart immediately began to race. how can this guy be a year older than me? my eyes started to trace his tall figure almost as slender as chopsticks, from his almost-bed yet fluffy dark golden brown hair to his black converse shoes. his deep set almond-shaped eyes which were in beautiful shade of ebony seemed to sparkle every second. below his defined nose was one of his most attractive features — his lips were ever so soft and plump that it seemed so kissable. wanting to calm myself down, i took a deep breath. instead, all i was inhaling was the floral and fruity scent of his cologne. while i was subconsciously submerged into admiring this good-looking guy, i was awaken from my daydream by a semi-husky voice.

"you are... miss nam chaewon... right?" the guy asked.

startled, i took a while to react before replying, "y... y... yes i am."

"nice to meet you! i am the one who was hired through an interview. my name is kang seungyoon."

he spoke with an expression that was oh so attractive — an eye smile coupled with a broad smile spread across his face. kang seungyoon. somehow, this name had a great impact on me.

not wanting to waste any more time, i brought him to his locker and told him that this is the place whereby he should come to every morning to put down his personal belongings and changing into his uniform after reporting to the manager.

"but for the next week, the manager will be absent so you can report to me instead."

next, i led him to the counter-cum-kitchen, the most important part of the cafe. i told seungyoon about every single detail possible, from the process of making a beverage to operating the cash register. he listened attentively and carefully, and nodded every time i ended my sentence. after finishing all the basic introductions, we went outside. since it was seungyoon's first day here, i didn't assign him any work. i just ordered him to stay beside me for the whole day and observe how i served the customers and how things operated here.

since our lunch period was a rotatory routine, although i usually went to eat with hayoung, i chose to eat with seungyoon today so that i could get to know more about him. we went to a food court just a few shops away to have our meal. i ordered a bowl of noodle soup. because i was already holding my wallet, phone and staff identification, i had a bit of a difficulty while carrying my bowl. just as the hot soup was about to spill over, seungyoon rushed over and grabbed both the bowl and my hand just in time. i froze for a few seconds. his hands were slightly bigger than mine so it was actually... nice to have my hand being held by him? his forever sparkling eyes stared into mine and my heart thumped so quickly, it seemed as if it was going to burst out any time. realising the awkwardness, we broke free from each other soon and headed for an empty table. while having our lunch, we chatted a lot regarding ourselves.

suddenly, seungyoon asked, "have we... met before?"