The Real You || Jung Sungchan

Chapter 3

Miyoung:

I was working my normal shift at the convenience store. It was 10pm and my shift ends at 11pm. I started my shift after school since I have no extracurricular actives anyways. There was nobody in the store, and I was too busy doing my homework to notice if anyone did come in. Usually trainees or athletes come in the store this late, but it hasn't been happening often for some reason. My boss was in the back, either sleeping or reading a book, and I was the only one working. I finished putting away all of the expired food at 9pm since that's when the store gets less people.

I finished my homework and went on my phone, seeing that I got 60 new followers. I ignore that and go look at some celebrities pages. I looked to see if there were any upcoming comebacks of any groups that I like and was disappointed when there wasn't any.

"I miss Red Velvet." I sulk, sighing and crossing my legs.

Suddenly, two people with masks came in and I put away my phone quickly to greet them.

"Hello, welcome in." I bow, they do the same. I sit back down and go on my phone secretly so that my boss doesn't see me on the security cameras. He doesn't care if I do my homework, but he cares if I'm using my phone or not, even when there's nobody in the store.

From the corner of my eye, I could see the two people were getting so much food that they needed one basket each. I looked at the time and it was 10:42pm, meaning I still had 18 minutes before I could leave. Sometimes my classmates come to the store to see me, but I just pretend I don't know them and ask my boss to shoo them away from me. The people were finally finished and handed me the baskets so that I can scan everything.

"$23.47 is your total, would you like a bag?" I ask, one person nods as the other gives me their card. I use the card swiper to swipe their card and give it back to them. I put everything in two bags and hand both to them. They leave immediately after saying goodbye to me and I do the same. Once they're completely gone, my boss comes out of the break room.

"Miyoung, go home. You have school tomorrow." He says, coming next the counter.

"Really?" I ask, he nods his head and I take off my apron and hand it to him.

I immediately run to the break room to get all of my stuff. Once I'm done, I thank my boss for letting me go early and he tells me to stay safe when walking home. I leave the store and I walk to the bus stop. While I was waiting, I saw that the two people were also there.

The bus arrived and the two people let me go first, I thank them and get in the bus, sitting in the back. I plug in my headphones and listen to music while looking out the window. The bus ride from the store to my house isn't that far, in fact, it's close enough k my house that I can walk, but my parents don't want me to walk because I have late shifts and it's dangerous. When we were getting closer to the bus stop near my house, I took off my headphones and put them back in my bag.

I got off of the bus and walked to my house. My house is two houses away from the bus stop, so I didn't have to walk very far from there. Once I got home, my mom was on her computer on the couch, probably doing her work. She noticed I got home and shut her computer off, coming over to me and giving me a hug.

"How was school, sweetie?" She asks, taking my bag from my back and placing it near the staircase. I take off my shoes while she does so.

"It was okay." I respond, heading to the kitchen.

"Your brother and I ate ddeokbokki and rice balls, we saved extra for you. Are you hungry?" My mom asks, I nod and she pats my head.

Right now, my dad is overseas in England for his job and it's just my mom, my younger brother, and I. My younger brother is 2 years younger than me and we go to the same high school. I don't walk in with him though because he says that he doesn't want to be crushed by the guys that bombard me the second I walk into school.

"Mom... you know how you were really pretty when you were my age?" I ask, my mom hums in response.

"Did you ever... you know... have a lot of people chasing you?" I continue awkwardly, my mom puts my food in the microwave and smiles at me.

"Yeah. I always pretended like I loved the attention, but in reality I hated it. I hated people who caring about how I look. There were times where I would purposely not put on makeup or perfume or brush my teeth just to see how they would treat me. And when I did that, they ignored me. But the second I put those back on, they started liking me again. It was terrible. I felt like I couldn't trust anybody." My mom shares, sitting next to me.

"But then I met your dad. He was very quiet and to be honest, I don't even remember him looking in my direction back then. But one thing led to another and we met. I liked him because well.. he wasn't crazy over me like the others and that made me realize he's different... Why are you asking?" She asks, putting my hair behind my ear.

"It's just ... I'm going through the same thing.." I trail off, my mom pats my back in response.

"Don't worry. You just have realize your self-worth. Your father made me realize my own self-worth, and now I love my true self. Hopefully you find it yourself, but there's always going to be one person to help you." My mom says, getting my food from the microwave.

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