Hairstyle | nct

Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

Renjun was right.

With a cup of ice cream—double scoops; one mint chocolate chips and cookies and cream—in front of me, I suddenly felt lighter. Like, maybe, I was doing OK for someone who had a rushed briefing and no training whatsoever.

Once Renjun saw the satisfied look on my face and the small smile, he had a small smile on his face as well. He lightly punched the side of my head. "You doing OK now?"

"Yeah," I answered, taking a big bite. The ground floor had my favourite ice cream shop and we were seated at the seats provided. I hadn't been here in a long time. The last time I was here, I was probably at the verge of hitting puberty. It has been a while.

Renjun smiled, satisfied.

All of a sudden, I stabbed my plastic spoon into my ice cream scoop, almost breaking the spoon into half.

Renjun was surprised and startled, then he quickly moved the ice cream cup away from me. "Jinseo, if something's wrong, tell me. I know for a fact something's bothering you."

The heavy feeling returned again. "I'm doing such a bad job." I felt my eyes sting for a second, like tears threatened to fall from them. "I feel like people are saying things about me in whispers. Like, I'm doing such a bad job at my job that even customers are annoyed by me. I don't know. I just... feel mad at myself."

Renjun leaned forward, resting his head on both of his hands on the table and stared at the table intently. His empty ice cream cup sat near his arms, showing the melted remains of the chocolate ice cream.

"Hmm," he hummed, still thinking. Then he stopped. And he looked up to meet my eyes. "Maybe... you're just getting used to it?"

I rolled my eyes and slapped his arm, hard. "Well that wasn't any wisdom at all. What the hell was that?"

"They're facts," he said, as a matter of factly. "Because, again, it's your first day. You will get the hang of it. I'm here to help you too, you know? I'll show you how the cashier works again. I'll tell you things you need to know. You'll get through this."

With a sharp inhale of a breath, I nodded. "You're right. Again. It's only my first day. After a week, I'll get better. I know it."

Renjun offered a fist. "That's the spirit."

I smiled and fist bump it.

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Round two of manning the cash register. There was one customer right now. Well, one plus her kids who were wandering around our small shop, noticing all the toys we had for sale and touching every single one of them. They were twins. Twin boys, as a matter of fact. They kept touching the dinosaurs we displayed on the floor and grabbed them every now and then, bringing it back to their mom and asking if they could get it. Of course, the mom said no but they kept persisting.

"Lee Yoon," his mother called him sternly, crouching down to meet his eye level. "Mommy is making stickers for you right now so we can paste it on your textbooks. If you don't stop this right now, I will scold you very hard."

The boy named Lee Yoon pouted and put the toy back in its place.

I simply smiled at the two cuties.