Hairstyle | nct

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Hyung wasn't here today.

When Renjun and I arrived at work, it wasn't Hyung who we saw seated at the usual seat behind the computer. In fact, it wasn't even a male who was seated there. It was a female, probably around her mid thirties, who greeted us both with a smile. She was short and had the typical middle aged Korean woman look.

"That's Hyung's replacement. She came from our other branch," Renjun whispered to me when we took a seat.

"Where's Hyung?" I asked him in a whisper.

"Family emergency. He'll be gone for a week," he whispered.

"What do we call her?"

"Who?"

"Hyung's replacement."

"Noona."

I giggled. "So, same thing with Hyung but the girl version?"

He chuckled. "More or less."

I came to like Noona. She wasn't anything like Hyung, who would rather do things himself. Instead, Noona liked to split the jobs. If she was the one making the stickers, then she would hand me the money customers passed to her and told me the exact amount needed to be punched after telling me the total. Hyung would usually tell me the total and I would have no idea what to punch in specifically.

Noona was kind and more like an older sister who guided me. If ever I made a mistake, she'd laugh softly and tell me that it was OK, and helped correct my mistakes. She was so understanding and kind and I already felt such at ease with her. And I was able to pick up more confidence with dealing with customers thanks to her.

By the time lunch break came, Renjun and I decided to take away our food from the restaurants and eat at the shop so that Noona wouldn't be that lonely. Usually, I would feel suffocated to stay another minute in the store during my break but it didn't feel like that today. It felt calm and I didn't mind.

"Where's lover boy?" Renjun asked as we snacked on our gigantic sized burgers we bought from the street vendors across the street of E-Cube Mall.

"Who?" I asked him.

"Don't play dumb," he said flatly but had a grin on his face. "You know, Lucas."

I nearly choked on the beef patty I bit into. "Lucas? Who? What? I don't know a Lucas. You must be hallucinating."

He laughed, as if he struck gold in a mine. "You're so cute, Nam Jinseo. Look at those cheeks turn red. Any progress made today? Or yesterday? Spill me the juicy tea."

"Nothing's happening!" I nearly screeched. I was beet red and I wasn't sure what Renjun was gaining from my utmost blubbering state. I was blabbering nonsense because I was so embarrassed. "I don't know! Just the other day he said he said he wanted to pinch my cheeks because they were cute."

Renjun's grin got wider. He waved a finger in front of me. "Ooh, smooth. He's making his move but his moves are so slow. Tsk, tsk. Get yourself a man, not a boy."

I swatted his hand away from my face. "He's a year older than you, you know."

"Is that so?" Renjun started counting with his fingers. "Then that would make me and him batch mates, since I'm in a year ahead. What do you think? Should I go down to Oppo and say hi?"