Purrfect Pair

Binders Keepers

"Wow it's so pretty!" Dongmyeong shouts as he enters the bookstore. He makes a beeline straight for the kids' section with a not-nearly-as-excited Dongju trialing after him. Geonhak smiles to himself seeing how cute the twins are pointing out the different animal pictures bordering the walls. There's a giraffe on one end and an elephant on the other, all drawn in a childlike cartoon style.

"Oh good! You made it." Geonhak spots Youngjo waving at him from the cash register. There's no one in the store, so he's sorting the new arrivals to be shelved.

"Yeah, I didn't forget." Geonhak goes over to the counter to greet Youngjo. "How's it been?"

"Not too bad; there was a wave of kids from a daycare that came in earlier, but other than that, nothing too crazy. I called you in to help me take stock. I need to shelve these," he gestures to the wrapped books on the counter, "and I can't man the register at the same time."

"I got it, hyung, go ahead."

"Thanks, Geonhak." Youngjo picks up the pile of boxes and carries them to the back room. Before he exits behind the door, he shouts, "I love you, Geonhak!"

"Geez, hyung," Geonhak says under his breath, but only slightly annoyed. Geonhak shoots a quick glance back to the twins who are now attempting to read the English picture books before turning his attention back to the register. It's not like he needs to put all of his attention into the register, it's just he doesn't have much to do in general. He's so immersed in counting the day's earnings that he doesn't notice Dongmyeong in front of him holding a book.

"Can I buy this, hyung? I thought it looked cute." He presents a book titled Peep and Egg and smiles giddily. It's in English, so Geonhak doubts Dongmyeong recognizes any of the words, but he can see why it's appealing. It's in a very cute art style that appeals to Dongmyeong's childlike innocence.

"Let me see," he takes the book from Dongmyeong and checks the price, "sure. It's cheap and you seem to really like it. Let me just put the money in the register..." Geonhak puts the book down to press the button to open the register. It lets out an old-fashioned ring and the bottom drawer shoots out. He places a bill in the drawer and closes it. Then, he goes to the computer and marks the book as "sold".

Dongmyeong leans closer, fascinated by the modern machinery, "Wow! That's so cool!" He points to the register, "You just press a button and it pops open?"

"Yeah, want to try?"

Dongmyeong lights up, "Really?"

"Yeah, come here." Geonhak gestures Dongmyeong through the slot in the back of the counter and points to the button in the bottom right of the panel that opens the register. "Just click it and it'll open."

Dongmyeong cautiously presses the button down and almost jumps as the drawer shoots out quickly, "Wow!"

Geonhak giggles, completely taken by how excited Dongmyeong is over something so simple. "If you think that's crazy, you can even scan the back of the books and it'll tell you the price. The customer can then pay with cash or card and it'll automatically transfer the money to us. Then, we mark the book as 'sold' in case we are running low in stock. So we can purchase more."

"Scan the back?"

"Yeah look," he picks up Peep and Egg and flips it over. "This is the barcode," he points, "when I scan it with this," he picks up the barcode scanner attached to the register, "it'll bring up the book on the computer there." He scans the book and its picture pops up on the computer along with the price.

"Amazing!"

"And on the register, it also puts the price so I can charge the customer. Once they pay," he mock-pays for the book, "it marks the book as sold." On the screen, the book's picture fades grey and puts a green box over it reading "sold". "When we're out of stock it'll be marked 'out of stock' in red."

"That's so cool." Dongmyeong stares at the picture and points at the different things, quietly reviewing to himself the whole process.

"Would you like to try running it?"

"What?!" Dongmyeong's eyes widen and his hand comes to cover his mouth, "I couldn't, I'll mess up."

"Relax, it's easy. You seem like you're a pro already. If there's any problems, just ask me."

"Ok!" his smile returns.

Geonhak smiles back but is interrupted when the bell for the front door rings indicating someone has entered, "Our first customer, get ready Myeongie." Dongmyeong straightens his posture and puts on a determined face. "Hello welcome to Binders Keepers how may I-"

"Geonhak! Why are you here?" Geonhak's interrupted by a familiar face: Lee Keonhee. He's known Keonhee for quite some time now, ever since Youngjo proudly introduced him as his boyfriend when they were back in university. Back then, he was too shy to do anything too crazy, but he was quick to open up and show his true nature. Despite how crazy he is, Geonhak always has fun when he's around. Maybe it's because of his dad jokes and puns; Geonhak wants to act like he hates them, but he always ends up snorting when he says one. He's even the one who convinced Youngjo to name the bookstore what it is, hence the pun. "Where's Youngjo?"

"He's in the back, should I get him?"

"No, it's fine. I just wanted to drop by and say that I got off work tonight and wanted to see a movie with him. I was expecting to see Seoho, though, is he alright?"

"He called in sick today, so I took his shift."

"Oh that's nice of you."

"Uh..." Dongmyeong awkwardly smiles at Keonhee, unsure of what to say.

Keonhee gasps, "Hyung! You never told me you had such cute friends!" Keonhee bends down to meet Dongmyeong's line of sight and smiles at him, "Hi! I'm Keonhee, and you?" Keonhee flashes a wide smile to get Dongmyeong to relax a bit.

He returns the smile easily, "Hello! I'm Dongmyeong! Nice to meet you, Keonhee-ssi."

Keonhee waves him off, "Let's skip the formalities, just Keonhee's fine."

"Ok, Keonhee..."

"Hyung." Geonhak states.

"Hyung? Oh, you must be really young, Dongmyeong!"

"Yep, I'm eighteen. But I'm older than my brother by one minute!"

"Your brother?"

"Yep," he turns around, "Dongju! Come over here and meet Keonhee-hyung!" Dongju's head pops out from the fiction section and he nods. He quickly paces over to join the three.

"Hello, I'm Dongju, nice to meet you."

"Aww! You're both so cute!" Keonhee wraps his arms around the twins and starts to rub his cheek against their heads affectionately. "I could just put you in my pocket!"

"Keonhee-ah, they're going to suffocate." Geonhak states unfazed.

"Aww, you're no fun." Keonhee pouts but releases the twins. "So where are you guys-" Keonhee freezes mid-sentence and his eyes widen in shock. "Oh my god are those ears?!"