jihoon's muse

Chapter 34: Wanna Go Out?

Fortunately, Melissa let me off the hook, seeing that it was my last week there as an intern. Saewoo and I were made to apologise to each other- which we did unwillingly. 

The next day, Jihoon decided to start on a new song. We had been sitting in silence for 30 minutes. There were intervals of furious tapping, replaying of the few bars he had so far and sighs when our ideas did not work out. I looked over at Jihoon who had his hand on his chin. He glanced at me then looked back at the screen.

Seeing that we were at wit's end, I fell back on one of my strategies.

"Wanna go out?" I asked him.

His eyes shifted to me sharply and went wide. He tilted his head and blinked. "W-what?" he stuttered.

I stood up and tapped his arm.

"Let's go! It could clear our minds and allow for more ideas," I persuaded him.

He fidgeted as he pondered. In the end, he agreed. Immediately, I picked up my belongings and he followed, taking his phone and wallet. He saved the project and shut the computer down before leaving.

In the lift, I suggested using the back door to leave instead. And so we did. However, instead of turning towards the parking lot, I pulled the sleeve of his t-shirt and led him the other way.

"Where are you taking me?" He asked curiously, also fearing for his life.

"You'll see!" I smiled at him and headed for the bus stop.

While waiting for the bus and even on the bus, Jihoon kept expressing his distrust in me. He suspected I was going to bring him to a secluded area and murder him. I mean... That sounded like an idea. The me in the first month of internship would have considered it.

We got down three stops later and waited for another bus. It was not in a very easily accessible place. After we got off the second bus, we walked for about six to eight minutes to the location.

Soon, we arrived at a row of shops. The area had rows of shops- a variety that could appeal to both youths and elders. Teens and young adults streamed in and out of the cafes, families patronised the traditional Chinese restaurant at one end of the row. Some women entered one of the beauty parlours while the men wandered into a game store right beside it. Jihoon was in awe that there was a place like this in the area. His eyes twinkled as he looked around.

I stopped in my tracks after seeing the shop up ahead. Jihoon stopped too, looking at me.

"Remember I told you I had a third job?" I asked him and he hummed. "Guess where."

He looked ahead at the shops and stroked his chin as he tried to figure out where I worked. I watched him mumble to himself for a moment before he smiled.

"It's that dessert cafe, right?" he asked, gesturing to the cafe two shops down.

I sighed and nodded. "Thought you would guess the restaurant but yeah, you're right."

He chuckled and we headed right for the said cafe. I entered first and right away, I was greeted by a tan lanky boy across the place. He raised his hand up and yelled my name, causing customers to turn their heads.

Despite the embarrassment, I smiled and waved back to him. He came up to him, his eyes shining with delight.

"Ah, Eunjae-noona! It's been some time since I've seen you. How's internship treating you?" He asked me openly.

I side-eyed Jihoon and it got his attention. But he did not get the memo. Probably from how young Jihoon looked.

"Oh, who is this? Hi, sorry I'm Takyoung, Eunjae's junior," he introduced himself.

"Jihoon. Eunjae's supervisor," Jihoon said simply.

Takyoung's mouth formed an 'o' as he almost gasped. He exchanged glances with me and I nodded. He then ushered us in and we took a seat.

"If you want to order, you can just tell Eunjae and she'll prepare it herself, ok?" he said to Jihoon, throwing in a joke despite knowing he was my supervisor.

Jihoon chuckled. "Really? Ok, I'll be sure to order a lot then!" he returned the joke.

I clicked my tongue and flicked Takyoung's arm but he stepped away and stuck his tongue at me.

"I may be an employee here but right now I'm a customer and this is not how you treat a customer," I told him but he gave no cares. It only spurred him on to joke about me preparing my own food.

It was not until I chased him away, that he left us alone.

"What do you recommend?" Jihoon asked right away, glancing at the menu board near the counter.

As per usual, the cafe's top recommended menu items rolled off my tongue. He hummed before asking me to pick one for him, but I refused.

"You choose. I've tasted them before. They're all nice," I said, pushing the decision to him.

"I'll choose whichever is more troublesome to make then, so Injeolmi Bingsu," he grinned.

I rolled my eyes and got up. "Alright, coming right up..."

Just as Woozi was opening his wallet, I held my hand up and rejected his offer before he extended his card.

"This time, it's on me. And you can't do jackshit about it," I firmly told him before heading over to the counter.

Another familiar colleague stood at the counter and I told her my order. She eyed Jihoon before looking at me. The slightly older lady leaned in.

"So... He's not your boyfriend?" she asked.

"No! Didn't Takyoung tell you? He's my supervisor," I mentioned with a scoff.

"But he looks too young to be a supervisor..."

"Yeah, he's one year older than me. He's the only other producer in the company so I got stuck with him. Sucks, really," I sighed. I then stood up straight and put on a nice smile. "Can I come in and prepare my order? The hellraiser over there wants to see me suffer and I want to show him that this is easy for me," I gestured towards the machines that sat on the counter behind her.

She raised an eyebrow and was rejecting of the idea at first. I pleaded her with my hands clasped together and she gave in with a sigh.

"But put on your apron-"

I bowed to her and ran around the counter. She stepped aside and I grabbed a spare apron from the cupboard near her and put it on. Swiftly, I tied my hair up into a high ponytail and got to work. I glanced as discreetly as I could to see Jihoon was indeed watching me.

Although I tried to carry on as per usual, the thought that I was being watched made it more difficult. So as I tried to balance the bite-sized rice cakes on the pile of shaved ice and other toppings, my hands were a little shakier.

Yet, I pulled through. I turned around to take a deep breath and put on a smile before carrying on. Yes!

I grabbed some utensils and condensed milk and placed them on the tray next to the cold dessert. My hands gently and slowly held the sides of the tray and lifted it. I navigated my way around the mildly-crowded cafe to our table. I swore I saw Jihoon's eyes shine when he saw the bingsu coming his way.

I placed it down and dusted my hands.

"Give me a few seconds," I told him before returning to the counter.

I picked up the two cups at the counter. My hands gripped onto the handles as I made my way back to the table. Jihoon had been gazing at the sweet icy delicacy with round eyes. I set one warm cup in front of him and his attention shifted to it. He stared at the brown steaming liquid.

"What's this?" he asked, peering at the drink.

"Espresso mixed with bleach. A personal favourite of mine," I replied sarcastically with a smirk.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Weak. I drink it with rat poison. It has a really good kick," he retorted.

I chuckled at his remark while he continued to convince me why rat poison is good for one's health. While he spoke, I grabbed the spoons and thrust one into his hand before digging in. I slowly poured some condensed milk on it before I scooped up some of the bingsu and ate it.

Thank god, I did not forget how to make this. It had been months since I worked here. As we ate, I glanced out the glass windows of the store and the door. There was no sign of suspicious activity. Huh... Did Saewoo decide to take a break after I broke his nose?  Pfft! Weak!

Then again, perhaps they would not dare ambush me in a mildly crowded cafe with cameras in almost every corner.

A hand came up waving in front of my face and I blinked repeatedly. I turned my head to Jihoon. He cocked an eyebrow and asked what I was looking at as he turned around to look in the same direction. Seeing there was nothing, he snickered and assumed I was stoning.

I reached out and slapped him on the arm. He was about to scoop a chunk of bingsu and I intercepted it, taking the load off his spoon and feeding it to myself. He was taken by surprise and stared at the spoon for a second or two before humming and taking another scoop for himself.

"Anyways... How long have you been dancing?" I asked out of the blue.

"Ummm..." he dragged out his answer as he sifted through the red bean sauce and ice. He furrowed his eyebrows. "Professionally? No experience. But for fun... I don't keep track but I started going for classes not long after I joined SVT," he answered while looking off to the side.

"Was it Soonyoung who dragged you to your first dance class?" I asked, guessing it did not take long for the two to click.

Jihoon seemed to recall a memory and laughed. He gestured wildly while telling me how he met Soonyoung and ended up having his first impromptu dance class.

A week or two into joining SVT, he was asked to pass a thumb drive to Soonyoung in one of the practice rooms. When he entered, he was mistaken for a new trainee and Soonyoung welcomed him cheerfully. Jihoon felt too awkward in the situation that he just went along with it and ended up in a dance class for trainees.

But surprisingly, he followed along quite well. Soonyoung even singled him out to demonstrate some moves. When break time came around, he was finally able to come up to Soonyoung and hand him the thumb drive. The dancer then chuckled and cooed at Jihoon who went along with his enthusiasm out of awkwardness.

Jihoon decided to take his leave. But that was not the end. Soonyoung convinced him to stay the rest of the session. After that session, he was dragged to get dinner with him and they started talking and meeting more since then. Each time, Soonyoung never failing to praise him and try to persuade him to consider dancing as a profession. But that was not within Jihoon's thoughts and desire so he turned him down every time.

Eventually, to shut Soonyoung up, he attended one of his external dance classes. Though he dreaded it at first, he came to like dancing and would attend classes almost every week or two.

"Have you... Ever considered taking up dancing as a profession?" I asked him, feeding myself another spoonful of the cold treat.

He looked down and sighed.

"I don't know. I like making music more than anything else. Plus, that's too much movement," he mentioned, shaking his head.

I found myself smiling as he complained about how he was comfortable where he was- that he would rather sit in one place then be moving a lot almost every day. It seemed to tire him just thinking about it.

"You're weak," I said and he almost choked on his food. "I think you can do with a challenge. I've only seen you dance once and I think you're good! You should do something with that talent. It can get boring if all you do is sit in the studio all day. You need hobbies and interesting experiences to supplement your songwriting," I advised him.

"Are you going to write songs about your job-juggling act and how you are hypocritically nice to customers but punch people in the face in your personal life?" he questioned.

Geez... Harsh much?

"Thanks for the idea. I could actually do that!" I exclaimed.

Sometime later, I brought out my phone and checked it. Oh god...

It had only been almost an hour since I last checked my phone and I was already flooded with notifications! By that, I meant 50 messages and 5 missed calls from Mingyu, with the latest one being literally a few minutes ago. I had left my phone on silent so that explained why I did not notice him calling me.