It was a fine Saturday November afternoon when a young girl in her early twenties was walking to the record store that her friend worked in. She promised him that she could drop by and spend some time with him before his shift ends. It wasn’t like she really wanted to go there, but he insisted and being the nice friend that Seulgi was, she agreed. He wanted to show her around, maybe listen to a few records and show her a turntable, before they head out and get some dinner together.

The first thing that Seulgi noticed when she walked in the store was the amount of records that was displayed. She never has seen so much of them in her life and seeing some of them displayed like art or piled up in one side amazed her. She wasn’t much of a record enthusiast, but she really liked what she was seeing.

The store wasn’t that too big nor too small. To Seulgi, it felt a little too big to be a record store but it also felt right. Although the walls were dark, the lighting that they had was just enough to give this chill feeling with their music playing in the background. She walked to one of the rectangular carts in the middle of the store which was filled with records.

As she was scanning them, someone approached her and greeted, “Hey there, is there something specific that you’re looking for?” She looked up and saw a guy giving her a cheeky grin. She hit him on the shoulder. It was stronger than she intended it to be.

“If I didn’t know you, I would’ve kicked you out by now.” The guy groaned as he soothed his shoulder.

“Sorry,” Seulgi smiled apologetically and tried to soothe his shoulder too. While doing so, she noticed that some people were looking at them. “You were going to show me something right?” The guy nodded and led Seulgi to a side where the turntables were.

He started talking about them and how to put a record on it to play. Seulgi liked how he was very into what he was doing but she couldn’t really pay attention because she didn’t have a turntable. She also couldn’t really help feel a bit conscious since there were still people looking at them.

“You do know that I didn’t really like the idea of going here because people might think I’m your girlfriend.” Seulgi spoke as her friend took a short break from his turntable monologue. She saw him giving her a look with a little smirk on his face.

“Are you not?” He asked as he teasingly went closer to Seulgi.

“Girl space friend.” Seulgi slightly pushed him off. “That is a completely different thing, Kim Jongin.”

“I know.” He smiled and ruffled Seulgi’s hair before walking off behind the counter.

Seulgi puffed her cheeks as she followed Jongin while fixing her hair.

-

Seulgi was sitting behind the counter, waiting for Jongin’s shift to end. He told her to stay there since he needed to fix some stuff in their stock room. She played with her phone most of the time but she didn’t really want to drain out her battery too. She watched some of the customers look over some records.

There was this one girl that Seulgi couldn’t really stop looking at. She would try to shift her gaze to someone or something else but her eyes would always go back to this girl. Her frame was a bit small but her features were beautiful. Her light brown hair was tied up in a neat ponytail and Seulgi felt more attracted when she saw the cartilage piercing on the girl’s right ear. She also noticed that the girl would carefully pick up each record delicately and read whatever was written there with curious eyes.

She watched the girl go from one cart to another until she finally asked help from one of the employees about the record that she was looking for. Seulgi flushed into a light shade of pink when she saw the girl smile brightly as one of Jongin’s coworkers showed the girl the record. She smiled and thanked him when she took hold of the record. The girl then started to ask some questions to the guy about the record and he answered them confidently.

While Seulgi was watching them talk, she realized something. She quickly stood up from her seat and felt a bit flustered. She didn’t even notice that Jongin already came back from the stock room and she was glad that he was there.

“Can I take over the counter? Just this once.” Seulgi asked frantically as she saw the girl ending her conversation with the guy.

“What? You don’t even work here.” Jongin said as he looked weirdly at her friend. “Earlier you kept telling me that you don’t want to go here, but now you want to take over the counter?”

Seulgi looked at her back and saw that the girl was starting to walk to the counter. “Come on, Jongin! Just this once!”

“You’re being weird.” Jongin brushed her off and sat her back on her chair. “Twenty more minutes before my shift ends. Stay here.”

Seulgi couldn’t stay still. The girl was getting nearer to the counter and she had to do something. When Jongin noticed that the girl was approaching them, Seulgi stood up from her seat and gave Jongin a slight push. He was about to say something to Seulgi but then she twisted his and pushed him to the chair. She quickly took over Jongin’s spot on the counter and greeted the girl she had her eyes on for a very long time now.

The girl giggled as she looked at Seulgi. She probably saw the little chaos behind the counter. Seulgi blushed as she heard the giggle and she blushed even more when their eyes met. The girl was more beautiful up close.

She didn’t realize that she was staring until she felt something under her hand. The girl was handing over the record she got and Seulgi felt so clueless because she didn’t really know what to do. She took a deep breath as she tried to remember what Jongin was doing earlier.

She still stole some glances at the girl every now and then and she found it so cute that she was swaying to the music at the background.

“You like the music?” Seulgi asked as she scanned the item successfully.

“I like the beat.” The girl replied and handed over her payment.

Seulgi was clueless once again. She tried to keep her cool and decided to keep talking to the girl so that she wouldn’t notice that she was guessing the right button to push on the cash register. “I like the sweater you’re wearing. It looks good on you.” The girl smiled at the compliment and Seulgi felt her insides dying. “I also like your cartilage piercing. It gives off this slight edgy feel. I like that.”

The girl giggled softly before teasingly asking, “Is there something else that you like about me?”

The question took Seulgi by surprise and she was glad that she pressed the right button at that moment. Seulgi wasn’t sure if the girl was flirting back or not but it sure felt like she was.

“I don’t think I need to answer that.” Seulgi replied as she handed over the girl’s change. She placed the record in a paper bag and placed it on the counter. She leaned over the counter and placed on her big smile before saying, “Thank you for coming and we hope to see you again.”

“You will.” The girl replied as she took the paper bag and smiled thankfully at Seulgi.

She watched the girl walk out of the store and she couldn’t wipe off the smile on her face. She started jumping behind the counter and shooting her arms up in the air. It has been a long time since she felt something like that. Her little celebration was stopped when she saw Jongin looking at her with a knowing look.

“You sly little monster.” He said as he ruffled Seulgi’s hair. Even if his hurt, he was happy to see his friend like this.

-

It was lunch time and while the two friends were walking to the fast food chain of their choice, they were talking about random things. It went from sharing game strategies to wondering how their professor has such an ugly mole. While Seulgi was talking about how excited she was for a new music album, Jongin was reminded of something.

“That girl you flirted with in the store,” Jongin started and this made Seulgi look at him curiously. “She went back and when she was about to pay, she asked where you were. She even had this cute little pout when I told her that you weren’t around.”

Seulgi stopped walking. She couldn’t believe what she just heard. The girl looked for her and even showed that she was upset because Seulgi wasn’t there. She started jumping and grinning in excitement at the middle of the street but she suddenly stopped when she saw Jongin looking at her. He looked so amused and this made Seulgi frown. She went close to him and threateningly hovered her hand over his chest.

“You were lying weren’t you?” She asked as she moved her hand closer to his chest. “Don’t you play with my feelings.”

Jongin pushed her hand away and continued walking. “I wouldn’t lie to you and please stop attacking my s!!” Seulgi laughed in amusement as she watched her friend stomp his feet away from her. Now she was sure that he wasn’t lying.

Seulgi couldn’t believe that the girl did go back to the store and even asked where she was. She felt so giddy that she ran up to Jongin and rode on his back as she thanked him many times. She wasn’t really sure what she was grateful for but she knew that she would be more than thankful to Jongin in the weeks to come.

-

Seulgi sat behind the counter while waiting for the girl to come in the store. A few days back, Jongin told her that the girl went back on a Saturday and around the same time when they first saw her. They both assumed that maybe the girl would do the same today and true enough, she did.

When the girl entered the store, she started to look around and she smiled when her eyes met Seulgi’s. She gave the latter a curt nod before walking to one of the carts to look for a record. Seulgi took the opportunity to approach the girl, not minding if she had a creepy grin because she just couldn’t stop herself from smiling. The girl was so beautiful.

“It’s nice to see you again.” Seulgi greeted as she stood beside the girl.

“I did say I’ll come back.” The girl smiled as she scanned through the records. “What kind of music do you listen to?”

The question surprised Seulgi, but it made her happy. She really loved music and she liked talking about it with other people. They talked casually and there was some flirting here and there. Everything was going well and Seulgi couldn’t be any happier. She even managed to find a record of one album she particularly liked – she didn’t know that they sold it in this form. She recommended the girl to listen to the album and the latter ended up buying it.

Like the last time, Seulgi tended at the counter when the girl bought it. When she told her that she hoped to see her again, the girl nodded and left. She watched the girl walk out with a smile on her face, and she was sure that the girl was smiling too.

-

It was the first week of December and Seulgi was hanging out at the record shop once again. She has officially been an unofficial employee in the place for a few weeks now. Every Saturday she would be there just so can she can meet the girl for a few minutes as she bought herself a new record. She was thankful that Jongin’s coworkers didn’t mind her presence that much and they just let her be. They knew Seulgi was there because of the girl. They practically allowed her to do anything that she wanted but she knew her limits. She swore that she wouldn’t assist any other customer because she doesn’t want the store’s reputation to be ruined due to her lack of knowledge about the store.

Seulgi was busy playing a game on her phone when someone approached her. It was a customer and she told Seulgi that she was going to pay for the record that she was holding.

“I’m sorry but I don’t work here.” Seulgi replied, not taking her eyes off her phone. “Please wait for Jongin to come back. He’ll assist you.”

“But I saw you working behind the counter before!” The customer exclaimed as she placed down the record on the counter. “Can you please punch this in? I need to go soon.”

Seulgi placed down her phone and gave herself a small massage at her temple before saying, “Listen, miss. You got it all wrong. I don’t work here. I do help out in the store but I have no authority to do that.”

The customer continued to argue that she saw Seulgi working at the counter before and Seulgi tried her best to explain that she doesn’t work there. Seulgi kept on repeating herself and she was starting to lose her patience. The girl was so persistent that it started to annoy her. Luckily Jongin finally arrived and assisted the customer. He apologized and supported what Seulgi kept on explaining earlier.

“You don’t work here?” A soft voice asked when Seulgi was rubbing her face to calm herself down. She felt herself flush in embarrassment when she saw who asked the question. It was the girl she had been crushing on and flirting with for the past few weeks.

There was no point in lying. Seulgi was sure the girl heard her argue with the customer so she just nodded.

To her surprise, the girl beamed and said, “Great because I actually don’t own a record player. The first time I came in and bought a record was a birthday present for a friend. Now I have presents lined up for her for the next few years.” Seulgi couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The girl laughed when she saw Seulgi’s confused face and pinched her cheek. “You know, we’ve been talking for weeks but I still don’t know your name.”

“Seulgi. And you are…?”

“Joohyun.” The girl smiled and placed the record she was holding to one side. “So Seulgi… do you want to have some coffee with me?”

Seulgi nodded quickly and took her coat. She told Jongin that she was going. Seeing that his friend was finally going out with the girl, he just smiled and wished her well.

As they stepped out of the store, snow started falling from the sky. The both of them looked up in awe.

“It’s the first snow of the year, isn’t it?” Joohyun asked as she opened her hand, trying to catch a bit of the snow.

Seulgi looked at Joohyun with eyes filled with admiration. She responded, “Yeah. Beautiful.” and she was sure that she wasn’t just referring to the snow.

-

It was a chilly Christmas Eve when Seulgi arrived at Joohyun’s doorstep. She held on her gift nervously as she waited for the older girl to open the door. It has been a year since they started going out, but she still gets nervous whenever she was about to face the girl. When Joohyun opened the door, she hugged Seulgi tightly before inviting her in.

They enjoyed a simple dinner that Joohyun prepared just for the two of them. When they were done eating, they started talking about what they did the past year and the memorable things that they have done together. Seulgi brought up the record store, the place where they first met and where they were unofficially meeting each other every Saturday.

“I remember recommending some albums to you,” Seulgi started. “You even bought them because of me. It’s a shame that you don’t own a record player. They had really good songs.”

“I bought the albums online. They were really good.” Joohyun replied as she held onto Seulgi’s hand. “I actually kept the records you recommended because they reminded me of you.”

Seulgi smiled as she stood up from her seat to get her present for Joohyun. Upon seeing the shape of the present, the older girl had an idea what was inside. She carefully opened the present and saw a record player. She looked up at Seulgi and saw the younger girl giving her a cute grin.

They set up the record player and Joohyun placed the first record that Seulgi recommended to her over a year ago. They listened to the music quietly as they cuddled on the couch. They enjoyed each other’s warmth with soothing music playing in the background.

Joohyun shifted her position so that she was snuggling close to Seulgi’s neck. She whispered, “I love your gift.”

“And I love you.” Seulgi replied as she kissed Joohyun’s temple and later on kissed her on the lips as well. “Merry Christmas, Hyun. And… Happy anniversary.”

Joohyun giggled and gave Seulgi a quick peck. “Happy anniversary~” Another peck. “Every Christmas is more special because of you.” And another, but this time the kiss lingered longer. “I love you too.”