Wick | 민윤기

Three

7 October 2016

The faint pitter patter of rain hitting the streets outside wafted through the door along with the scent of wet pavement. It gave her an idea for a new fragrance, so that's what she was working so late at night. It was approaching eleven and she didn't expect any customers, so she closed the door to keep the freezing draft out.

She loved the rain—especially at night when she could relax by herself and listen to it fall. It wasn't difficult to make the scent in liquid form. Since it was all around her, the oils seemed to pop out to her and the scent of Wet Pavement was done in no time. She was thoroughly satisfied with her creation and hopped off the stool behind the counter to make the wax in the back, but then the door opened, the bell dinged, and Yoongi stalked inside, reeking of cigarettes.

"Hey, Candle Girl—"

"Oh, God, not you again," she whined while setting the cup with her fragrance down. It was late, she was tired, and she was definitely not in the mood for this joker.

Yoongi smirked and closed the door, muffling the sound of the rain before walking up to the counter. "Can you stop making it so obvious that you like me?" She groaned and covered her face with her hands while he approached the wall and picked out a candle that he had clearly already smelled before. "Anyway, I've been thinking, and I'm pretty sure Northern Downpour should do the trick."

"For the kid's bike?" she asked, hands falling away.

He shook his head abruptly, giving her a weird look. "No, no. I took care of that. This is for my friend. We got into somewhat of a....quarrel."

She raised an eyebrow at his choice of words that sounded too 16th century. "Quarrel?"

"Sorry, I'm just trying to relate to you people."

"You people?"

Yoongi set the candle on the counter. "People with sticks up their bums."

"Why are you here?" she retorted, jaw tight as she stared up at him.

He raised one eyebrow and gestured to the candle on the counter. "I'm buying an apology gift. Duh."

She pushed her tongue into her cheek and toyed with the parmesan shaker filled with coffee beans. "Candles aren't exactly apology gifts."

"Who made you the person who decides what kind of gifts you can give as an apology?" He asked and pushed the candle further toward her. "I think he'll love it."

She sighed in defeat and picked it up to scan it. "Fine. More business for me." Yoongi watched her carefully, the tiniest of smiles tugging at his lips when she subconsciously chewed on her bottom lip upon waiting for the price to pop up on the screen. "That will be seven-thousand won."

"Your stuff is so cheap," he remarked while pulling his wallet out of his pocket and handing the bills to her. "How do you make a living?"

The girl placed the bills into the cash register and gave him his change while muttering a small, "I get by." He studied the way her eyelashes seemed to touch her skin when she looked down to count the money. She handed it to him with another sigh. "Since this is a gift, I'll grab a decorative box, but it's in the back so I'll only be a minute." She paused, eyes narrowing at him. "Don't touch anything."

"You have my word, Princess."

"And stop calling me that!" she called as she disappeared behind the sheet that led to the back.

Yoongi only chuckled a bit and pulled out his pack of cigarettes. Sure, she had clearly said that smoking wasn't allowed in the store, but he wanted to push her. Her reactions were satisfying for some reason. She was pretty sexy when she got angry in his opinion. He stopped and cocked his head a bit. Is there something wrong with me? But then he shrugged and shook his head before pulling the lighter out. Nah.

He flicked the light on under the tobacco and sucked in before blowing the sour smoke out. He then eyed the candle he had just bought and wondered if he could light the wick with the end of his cigarette. He lowered the butt to the wick and tried to encase it in the smoke.

"What are you doing?" she shouted when she came back. "No smoking in the store!"

Yoongi pressed his lips together and drew it back. "Where do I put it?"

"Trust me, you really don't want me to tell you where to put it," she seethed and grabbed the tiny stick from his fingers. He watched her stomp to the door with a smirk and throw the smoldering object into the rain. Just then, a blaring alarm sounded right in Yoongi's ears.

He covered both ears with his hands and frowned. "That's loud."

"Yeah, it's loud!" she yelled and grabbed the stool to stand on so she could disarm the smoke alarm. He just stood there watching until she looked down at him and stomped her foot. "Would you fucking help me?"

"Man—you really like bossing people around, don't you?" Yoongi smiled at her use of the profane word. He'd never heard her swear and it kind of turned him on. He grabbed a towel from behind the counter and tried to whip the smoke away. She had found the button because the noise stopped.

He held out his hand to help her get down from the stool, but she only glanced at it with disdain and jumped off, landing clumsily on the carpet. He steadied her with one hand but she shrugged him off and took the towel.

Silently, she boxed his candle and put it in a bag before handing it to him. "Have a good day, Sir."

"It's night."

"Bite me."

"That an invitation?"

She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for him to leave, but his cheeky voice pierced her ears one last time before the door closed and the bell dinged to celebrate his leave. "You might wanna move the stool before someone trips over it."