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...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
After leaving home in the morning, the rest of my day dragged out a lot.
There weren't too many customers and I was alone at the store, so I was focused on my phone for most of the time.
After everything that happened the last two nights, I was scared to death to just leave that girl alone.
Even if I knew, that she was a grown up person and probably able to take care of herself, after I had seen this strange look in her eyes when I got her out of that apartment, I wanted to protect her by any means possible.
As I was checking the screen of my phone again, the clock on my display already showed 2PM, when the first few customers arrived at the store.
Rolling down my default a few times, my mind was still focused on the small smile Jimin showed me the night before, which I just couldn't figure out.
I was worried.
Would she be alright, all by herself?
Didn't she need someone to like... lean on, or something like that?
My gaze wandered off to the other side of the alley, searching for any movement in the window I saw her face in last night.
It was ridiculous.
I knew that she was at my place.
I probably would've seen it if she came back here, right?
I slightly rubbed the still bruised section of my ribs.
It was getting better but still hurt, when I was standing or walking for too long.
"Excuse me... Sir? Sir?"
Startled, I looked at the woman in front of me and gave her an excusing expression.
"Sorry..", I mumbled and quickly processed her purchase.
I really needed to get my shit together.
If my boss had been here right now, he probably would've sent me home without thinking.
But I really couldn't focus anymore.
After the last customer was served, my legs walked me to the dressing room and I pulled my warm sweater over my head, as it was getting colder outside, pulling the big hood deep into my face.
I needed something to clear my mind, as I still had two hours of work in front of me.
And if I didn't get my nicotine right now, it would've been disastrous.
I grabbed the small package out of the pocket of the sweatpant in my locker, closed it down and went to the front of the store, to light the cigarette and take a deep puff of it.
As the smoke was leaving my lungs, it felt soothing.
And it was strange.
Whenever Jinhye wasn't here, I catched myself smoking way more than usual.
Probably because she didn't like the way I smelled, when I came back inside.
And when she wasn't at work, I just didn't care about it.
I stood there for a while, even lighting up another cigarette after the first one was done.
And as I was deeply involved in my own thoughts, I didn't even recognize the familiar face on the opposite side of the alley.
The moment I realized it was, when I suddenly felt a light weight bumping into me and desperately clinging to the fabric on the back of my sweater.
With my eyes widened from surprise, I looked down, as I finally saw the purple-pink mob of hair that was pressed against my chest and hid the face that I knew so well now.
It struck me like a small lightning, when I felt her small body shaking and my sweater getting slightly wet on the spot where she placed her face.
After I kind of came back to my senses, I carefully put one hand to the back of her head and lowered my own a little, to somehow approach her a bit more.
What was happening right now?
And where did she come from, all of a sudden?
My questions were cleared, when I felt something slowly sinking to the ground next to my leg.
I let my gaze wander off to the unknown object and closed my eyes, when I realized, it was a huge bag.
So she really went back in there.
Without hesitating, I put my other arm around her, to slightly pull her closer to me and bury my face in the pink hair down on my chest.
"Why didn't you call me, idiot..? How can you go back there again without telling me? What if he hit you again..?", I quietly mumbled into her hair, when she finally looked up to me with swollen eyes, still breathing heavily from crying and running.
"What were you thinking..?", I asked again, with a slightly shaking voice and looked her straight into her warm kitten-eyes.
"I don't know.. I didn't want to bother you.."
I took a deep breath and placed both of my hands on her cheeks, pulling her face closer to mine.
"It's not bothering me, if there's even the slightest possibility that you could get hurt. Understand?"
I watched her nod and carefully pushed her face against my chest again, taking another puff of my cigarette.
"Did he hit you..?"
"He tried to.."
"Tried?"
"I kicked his balls before he could do it.."
"That's the spirit."
A light smile took its place on my face, before I gently let her out of my arms and looked at her again.
"You know, that I won't let you go anywhere right now, right?", I asked her, slightly tilting my head to the side, and saw her nod again.
"Good. You can stay with me until I'm done with work.", I responded to her nod and gently pulled her inside the store, placing her on the chair behind the cashiers counter and quickly got another one, on which I sat down next to her.
"Sometimes the right hug from the right person at the exact right moment makes all the bad in the world disappear." -unknown
