New World | SOOKAI

Chapter 7

I awoke earlier than usual, without the assistance of my alarm. It was still dark outside, but the inside of my house was illuminated with my smile that even sleep hadn't seemed to have disturbed. I skipped down my stairs to start breakfast, deciding to make myself some pancakes. I poured 3 medium sized gooey circles into my pan and waited for the underside of them to cook. I started gently tapping the edge of the hot metal with the side of my wooden mixing spoon, a pseudo drum, feeling a particularly old R&B song pop into my head and I sang it out loud, unashamedly.

I don't know why I love you, but I do.

I grinned as the rest of the song played in my head, slowly swaying in front of my stove top. Every inch of me felt so light and animated. The stack of bills behind me on my dining table seemed as if they didn't even need to be paid. The thought of going to work to see Jack and to be met with the unrealistic pressure of him almost felt compelling. Soobin didn't enter my mind, he had become my brain. As curious as I had been about him the previous night, that morning there was less of an oddity about him and more of an acceptance. Did I know what he did for a living? No. Did I know how old he was? No. Did I know where he was from? No. Did I even care? Not in the slightest. He was perfect, just the way he was, to hell with the details; love is blindness.

I could suddenly smell a crispy scent make its way up into my nose.

"Damn it.."

I pulled my pan from the stove, flipping my pancakes over to reveal the colour of my breakfast to be a little too dark for it to taste any good. I just smiled at them. I wasn't even mad. It was nothing a good helping of maple syrup and fruit couldn't fix.

I left for work a few hours later, walking through the front door and loudly announced my arrival to Jack, seated behind the counter with a calculator in hand.

"Good morning, Jack!"

He looked up at me, a thick, bushy eyebrow quirked at me.

"Mornin'.."

I felt his gaze follow me as I went into the backroom to hang my jacket up. I came back out with a box of drum sticks that had come in and I set to work beside Jack, sorting them into pairs.

I hummed quietly to myself, happily working away with the monotonous yet oddly pleasing task. I had coupled together at least 20 sets of them in front of me, I didn't even notice there was a tension slowly building in the room until Jack threw his calculator away onto the counter.

"Right. I've had jus' about enough of you and that stupid bloody smile on yer' face.."

I blinked at him to my left as I stopped what I was doing. Was I being too obvious?

He leaned over the counter on his elbows, dipping his head low to make sure I caught the look in his prying eyes.

"So what's er' name then?"

Her name? How the hell was I going to explain to him.. Maybe if I was just honest.

".. Soobin."

He looked deeply disorientated at my reply.

"What the fuck is a 'Soobin'?"

I laughed loudly, the sound deflecting off every surface within the small store. I eventually looked back at him, he was still waiting for a reply. I honestly didn't know what his reaction would be, but I was in too good of a mood to really care.

"Soobin is.. a man."

He still looked perplexed at me and slowly looked around himself, I could see his mind trying to work out what I had just admitted to him. His expression eventually changed slightly as he scratched at his red forehead.