First part of the Beverage-Series
Seoul, South Korea. Inbetween of skyscrapers and millions of people, there are two people who somehow seem to always hit the Rock Bottom of life. Mentally, financially, always down to do whatever it takes to some...
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After Jinhye was finally done with her torture and banned me from doing any kind of work where I had to lift or carry stuff, I sat down on a chair behind the cash register and stared at.. nothing.
I was bored to death and my best friend didn't make it any better.
After a while of doing absolutely nothing, a huge tiredness overcame my mind and I let my head sink to the back for a few moments, while my lids were getting heavier from second to second.
But before I could doze off completely, someone threw a small package on my legs.
For a brief moment I was so shocked and startled that I had one of these mini-jump-near-death-experiences, comparable to those dreams where you suddenly fall from somewhere and wake up as a complete mess, that I jumped up and instantly fell down to the chair again.
It took me a while to realize that three people were standing on the other side of the desk, looking pissed as hell.
After I got up to serve our lovely customers, I threw a glance at Jinhye, who was standing on the other side of the store, rolling her eyes.
I mouthed a silent 'Sorry' and eventually smiled at the man in front of me.
"Welcome to GS25, how can I help you?", I rattled down my default-greeting, calculated his purchase with the cash register and sent him off.
And again, I got this weird feeling I already had when I entered the store earlier.
It kind of creeped me out right now, as it was getting stronger and stronger.
With that strange feeling, I narrowed my eyes and put the received money into the registry.
As the next customer approached me, I didn't look up at first. I just did my job and, again, rolled down my greeting.
Well, at least I tried to.
"Welcome to GS25, how can I..."
When I first met her glance, I was out of order for a few seconds.
The cold blue of her eyes pierced through me like an icicle and I felt like I wasn't able to breathe for that moment.
It kind of felt like I was a kid, getting scolded by his parents for messing something up and I just stood there, unable to move or even think straight.
Until a light, husky voice brought me back to reality.
"Can I help you?"
I looked at her with a confused gaze and finally realized, I was staring at her the whole time.
The annoyance in her whole body language gave me chills and I silently stared at her face.
Her Make-Up and colorful hair were completely ruined.
That was the first thing that struck me, after her unusual eyecolor and cold appearance, and I suddenly asked myself, what had happened to her before she came here.
I didn't see the bruises that graced her arms and shoulders at first. And I probably never would have, her face was mesmerizing enough to me.
I slightly shook my head and got myself back together, after I heard Jinhye's voice from somewhere again.
"Welcome to GS25, how can I help you?"
"Pack of West Ice."
"Sure.."
I turned around and let my glance wander through the many shelves of cigarettes behind me, until I found what she asked for in the lower left, put it on the counter and told her the price.
And I couldn't help but follow her with my own eyes, when she turned around and left the store, walking towards a building on the other side of the small Alley.
I quickly served the last customer and sat down to the chair right after that, when Jinhye did the same thing on the counter in front of me.
She looked down to me, but I was completely buried in my own thoughts, when I suddenly had a blurry flashback of the last night.
I remembered pink, purple and ice-blue.
Bruises and a loud scream.
A knife flashing in front of my eyes.
"You alright?"
"I.. think so. Jinhye-ah..?"
"What?"
"When you found me last night.. Was there someone with me?"
"Uhm.. I don't know? I was a little bit more focused on you, covered in your own blood, you know?"
I looked at her with a completely motionless face and let my glance wander to the other side of the alley again.
I was so sure about it.
And I was pretty sure that I've never been sure about anything in my life.
