Spring Snow

1

That same kid that doesn't buy anything.

Naturally ink coloured hair bounced on his head with his every stride, and I watched the student confidently walk across in front of me(my location being behind the grey cash register). His black school shoes weren't even heeled, but they broke the eerie silence of the extremely vast shop.

The boy headed to a new area of art supplies; different to the previous weeks, where he had browsed the various sharpeners and watercolour pads.

He seemed the nerdy type, with a never emptying navy backpack, and thin rimmed, Harry Potter like glasses placed on the bridge of his nose. As if he was a detective, he inspected each box of watercolour palettes that caught his eye, rotating them 360° and more in his slender hands as he constantly pushed his glasses up with a  finger.

Today, he had come in with a paper, rectangular, sticky label on his gold and black accented blazer, probably because he had just returned from a school trip. Now I knew this mysterious boy's name.

Jeon Jungkook.

Distracting my thoughts, a mid-twenties woman entered with a pink buggy, strolling around a sleeping cute baby. Sudden freezing wind harshly whisped into the store as she entered, and it made me instantly regret not bringing my coat. Feeling vulnerable, I squeezed my hands in between my thighs and moved about in my seat(a wooden stool).

A deep, distant chuckle entered my ears. I looked to my right to find Jungkook shaking his head slowly in disappointment.
"It's too cold," I complained, smiling awkwardly whilst rubbing my hands against my inner thighs, hoping to get warm. Trying to get the student to speak, I asked him a question. "Your blazer is open, how are you not cold?"
"I'm far from the door." The younger chuckled, placing a pocket sized box of watercolours back in its spot. "If you have to sit at the door all day, I'd wear my coat."
"I didn't know it'd be so cold today..." I let out a small laugh as I whined in annoyance.

Without warning, I heard an increasing heavy sound, and Jungkook confirmed what it was.

"Hey look, it's raining." He walked towards the old wooden door, not before whipping off his backpack and searching for what I supposed was an umbrella. The younger swiftly revealed a black one, one that matched his hair. "It's 6° today, but tomorrow it will drop to -1." Jungkook informed me, but honestly I hated this information. I despise cold weather. "Expect snow." With that, the peculiar student yanked open the door to the point it hit the wall behind it with a silence piercing bang.

An expression of regret mixed with shock appeared on his young face; he whipped his head to look at me and mumbled a split second apology. I found myself giving a short chortle to the other's clumsiness. Surprised he hasn't broken anything in the store yet. Then he stepped past the gold metal threshold, unfastened his protection from the skies, placed it over his head and walked past the window closest to me like he did every few days. For the first time, he didn't disappear without giving brief wave goodbye.

Somehow, Jungkook made my job interesting, which is why I hadn't quit it already. All I did was wait for customers to arrive at the the till for me to scan their desired item, then ask them for the appropriate amount of money. It was repetitive and draining, my only source of entertainment being my phone when the kid wasn't here. I did think about this once though- being in a quiet area makes you think it was intended to be quiet, and to some, it made one feel awkward.

That was probably how Jungkook felt until today.

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I made sure to bring my warmest coat, yet I still felt as if my limbs were going to detach themselves from my heat concentrated torso. It had been 24 hours and I was sat on the same wooden stool, in the same desperate position, with the same thoughts: will that Jungkook kid buy something today?

Two black hooded men short strided into the shop, hands deeply shoved inside their pockets and looking at all sides of the art shop except mine; the right side. It was only out of habit I decided to keep an eye on them, because they looked stingy from their gait to their clothing. Until they were out of sight, I kept an eye on the pair with squinted eyes, observing their figure at that moment to compare it to when they left the shop.

The taller male's actions reminded me of Jungkook- the way he picked up supplies and analysed all angles of the packaging before moving to another that struck his aesthetic appeal. However, his stouty partner rushed his movements as if he was under pressure. Before going up the minor set of stairs to the next level, the lean teenager turned and met my eyes instantly. Alarmed, he whipped his head back around and disappeared behind shelves of expensive spray paint. Go upstairs, take whatever you want and see if I won't catch you.

A customer who had arrived about five minutes ago came down from the second level and walked straight towards me with an A4 canvas and a pack of paint brushes. They were an elderly woman, but what saddened me was that she appeared so feeble, she looked like she'd drop at any moment.

Which she did.