Corner Store

02 | rain

The next time she sees him, Sanem isn't quite sure if he's real or just a figment of her overactive imagination.

He's standing there, true, looking at her like he means to say something--but the soft glow spilling into the store from the streetlights falls on him like a halo and so she can't really discard the idea that maybe it's just her mind's idea of a hobby--pulling beautiful men out of thin air.

She decides he's real when he waves a little, snapping her out of the daze. He stares for a minute, in that curious way she remembers, before the silence turns a shade of awkward

"Eggs!" he says abruptly, eyes shifting

Eggs?

"I need eggs--I mean, do you have eggs? You probably sell eggs--this is a grocery shop after all, what grocery shop doesn't carry eggs?"

She squints a little, tilting her head "Eggs?"

He nods "Eggs"

"Eggs" she repeats again, mostly to herself, already closing the notebook she'd been keeping herself busy with. It's always slow around this time of the night, only minutes before closing time and so she has to stifle a yawn on her way over to the refrigerated area.

"Long day?" he asks, just left of casual, sounding instead like he'd rather ask something else

"Something like that" she tells him, already wrapping up a handful of eggs

"I'll take a couple more if you don't mind"

"More, okay" and as she's fetching another handful, he coughs a little into a closed fist to clear his throat

"So, have you been a grocer for a long time? I mean, have you worked here a while?"

Still crouched at the end of the refrigerated aisle, she smiles "Since I was a girl" she says, fondness coloring her voice "my father owns the shop, I only work here on his days off"

"Ah, I see" and the angle she's at when she looks up at him really does do him a lot of favors. He's handsome, of course, beautiful in that way only a man could be. But then theres something more, something in his eyes, a gentle kind of sadness that he can't hide, even as he blinks a couple times, smiles, and tells her that he doesn't need any change, keep it, I don't like to carry coins. Its glossy over his brown gaze, barley there, like a silent whisper she wishes she could hear.

"Eggs" she tells him, motioning towards the bag as she's handing it over

"Eggs" he agrees

He loiters for a moment and then, with some conclusiveness "well, have a good night then, Sanem"

She smiles "you as well, Mr...?"

"Can" he says quickly, as if forgetting that he hadn't told her his name

Can

It becomes a sort of habit between them. He pops in, usually at the end of the week, usually right as she's about to close, always needing something- eggs, cheese, soap

Today its laundry detergent and she wonders out loud if he'll be washing at this time of the night

"No" he says, explaining "I like to be prepared though, I mean you never know when you'll urgently need laundry detergent"

"Right" she agrees, a small smile pulling at her lips "you never know"

They draw out the purchase long enough for her to tell him about the one time she flooded her house trying to help her mom with the chores. There truly were bubbles everywhere, I've never seen my mom so close to throwing me out, and he's staring at her again, in that careful way of his, laughing at the story, shaking his head a little