“Oh man! The street is literally flooded by now.”

Mark rushed into the restaurant, raindrops falling from his wet hair and soaking school uniform. As a result, he splattered a nearby table which was cleaned up by Ten a minute ago.

Ten wryly shot him a smile and tried not to let any profanities fly out of his mouth. Even though it was his sixth time already, cleaning up the tables one by one, he couldn’t stop. He was utterly bored but couldn’t bear the thought of chilling out and not doing anything all day, though it didn’t seem like anyone would come in anytime soon.

It was 4pm, the time when Mark’s shift started but other than the sixteen-year-old part-time employee and the postman earlier in the morning, no one wanted to have a nice meal in their restaurant. Krop-krua was usually a popular place among high schoolers but that day was a bunch of boredom. The constant rain didn’t seem to stop, even for a few seconds and it deterred the frequent customers who always dropped by to have a nice tea or a bowl of khanom chin. On top of that, his parents were away to sign a contract with a new, catering company who would supply their restaurant with fresh vegetables and it was more than a beneficial deal.

“Anyone was brave enough to swim through the city and have a meal here?” Mark inquired with bambi eyes and ruffled his hair to make sure that he gets rid of as much water as he can.

Ten shook his head and his pout was way too disappointed. At times like that, his days seemed like a total waste of time, he felt himself a loser. He was 20, he should have gone to university but his parents needed him in the shop because they couldn’t afford to pay any employees other than Mark and a chef. Mark was an exception as he was their neighbour and needed some pocket money to get more comic books for himself. Plus, he liked spending time with the older guy and teasing him about his non-existent love life or poor Korean vocabulary.

„So, you wanna learn some catchy Korean pick-up lines?” Mark cooed five minutes later as he changed clothes, got an apron on and sat down at a table with Ten whose eyes were staring far ahead. He raised one of his eyebrows in question, pondering whether he was too grumpy that day or Mark was more lively than usual.

„You’re 16 for God’s sake. How do you even know such things?”

„I know what I need to know,” he stated, looking rather offended and even slightly huffed at the older guy’s comment.

„Still no,” he shook his head vaguely, not wanting to hear about anything considering girls or pick-up lines. Of course, his parents finally wanted to get a girlfriend for their son but he managed to talk them out of it. He was perfectly fine by himself and didn’t want to go on blind dates. Love comes in his way when it should, he was certain of that.

„Why?” the younger pouted sadly with which he actually resembled a pleading, little puppy. He always had rather childish features and when he stared at him like that, he couldn’t deny that he was only 16.

„I don’t need them,” he shrugged. “Plus, it’s not like anyone would come in anytime soon, not even a friendly, nice girl around my age,” he let out a heavy sigh while he let his eyes wander at the door. That would be a miracle if someone came in and by poor coincidence, someone who was a genuine, kind girl, who wouldn’t talk only about boy groups.

„You never know,” Mark wiggled his eyebrows, his pitch-black eyes filled with childish joy but the Thai guy merely shrugged his shoulder. It was absolutely unlikely to happen and he didn’t believe in fate or foolish things like that.

“So, how was school?” Ten cleared his throat and tried to broach a more pleasant topic. He didn’t like talking about girls as he wasn’t actually the womanizer type. He had two girlfriends so far but neither of the relationships lasted long and they both ended a pretty long time ago.

Luckily, Mark was such a talkative kid and he was so fond of sharing every detail of how his day went by that he couldn’t wander off for the next 15 minutes. He absent-mindedly sat there, listening to the raindrops falling on the roof of the house and catching up with Mark’s life. His life seemed more interesting than his, so he didn’t mind being distracted for a short spare of time.

When Mark was in the middle of portraying his History teacher, Mr. Kim, the doorbell suddenly rang and the entrance door swung open. Ten was so shocked to notice that the one who was actually standing there wasn’t even a familiar face that even his jaw dropped. They both stared at the sudden visitor and couldn’t even muster a single word.

She stared back at them, looking frustrated at the sight of her drenched clothes, totally wet hair and slightly ravaged suitcase. She was a slim, pretty small girl with long, curly black hair, shiny light brown eyes and tiny freckles. She was wearing a lovely black coat which suited her perfectly and a pair of old-worn Converse shoes.

“Uhm, well, hi,” her anxious and slightly shaky voice filled the utter silence of the place but neither of the boys could recover from the shock which her presence triggered. Noticing their startled expressions, she thought that she was being rude, so she clumsily bowed and made an attempt to shot them a sheepish smile.

“Well, good afternoon,” Ten croaked, still in the state of shock while his eyes were still glued to the girl. Mark slapped his back to make sure that he was still alive but indeed he was and his slap hurt like hell. He only resisted the urge to let out an annoyed grumble because they got a customer. If it wasn’t for her, they would have been in a fierce fight by then.

“Please, take a seat. My name is Mark and I work here as a part-timer. I guarantee that we have the best Thai food in Seoul.”

“Oh, really?” the girl exclaimed with a bit of an accent, cautiously looking around her and observing the interior. “I haven’t noticed that it’s a Thai restaurant,” she admitted nervously and bit her lip as she averted her eyes back to the boys.

Ten almost snorted in annoyance but luckily, his reaction couldn’t be noticed due to Mark’s quick response.

“Never mind,” he shrugged and led her to a wonderfully cleaned table where she could put down her bag and finally sat down. “What can I get for you?”

“I’m freezing, so I’d like something really hot.”

“Why? He’s not hot enough for you?” Mark pointed to Ten who almost cried out in horror. He felt his eyebrows furrowing and his anger boiling up inside him. That kid was seriously too much! “It was just a joke, it was just a joke,” he raised his hands in defeat when his eyes met with the girls’. Her expression was written on her face; her cheeks turned scarlet-red, her tiny freckles almost glowed in the dazzling light of the room and her eyes displayed baleful storms which could attack them in the next minute. Nonetheless, beyond the startled façade, her lips slowly curved into a tiny, shiny smile.

“Please, don’t take him seriously,” Ten shook his head fervently and feigned a chuckle. Mark joined in but their act was more like a comedy than an actual distraction. The girl merely bobbed her head, rather looking confused and embarrassed but didn’t say a single word.

They soon fell into an awkward silence. As the following seconds passed, confidence freely started to ooze out of him. He already thought that the whole situation was disastrous and hoped that further mishaps wouldn’t occur. Well, he was dead wrong.

“Okay, then,” Mark boasted one of his boyish smiles and Ten had to admit that he was actually kind of captivating – as a sixteen-year-old kid could be. “How about a cup of lavender tea and a bowl of khanom chin with spicy Thai curry? You can’t say no to this!” he donned a grin and earned a subtle smile from the girl.

“Oh, well, that sounds nice. I guess I’ll have that. Thank you.”

“Cool!” he clapped his hands in excitement and already made his way to the kitchen when he promised that he would be back in a minute.

Ten was now left alone with the totally wet customer who was nervously biting her lower lip. He also noticed that she was shivering even though she was wearing a black coat and even though it was already the middle of June. He couldn’t help but make his way to the restroom and get a towel for her. When he reached it out to her, her eyes widened but sparkled with gratitude.

“Thank you. I didn’t think that it would rain so heavily,” she shook her head in disbelief and started to blow-dry her hair. Ten had to admit that she looked kind of cute with her drenched curls but didn’t want to think much of it. There were tons of pretty girls out there and beauty could be still deceiving.

“The weather forecast didn’t say so,” he found himself saying the words, although he didn’t even have the intention to start a conversation.

“I know, right?” she giggled. “Nowadays you can’t even believe what the weather forecast says.”

“Of course not. They are liars,” he clicked his tongue and actually made the other one chuckle even more. Her laugh was rather childish but definitely a really sweet melody. Something that he hadn’t heard for a long time.

Mark happened to appear right after this friendly scene and shot him a suspicious smile when he put down the tea cup in front of her. He promised that he would make sure her order will be ready as soon as possible and left without saying more. Ten felt betrayed. That kid really wanted to get them together and let them alone on purpose, he was certain of that. He had known him for quite a long time now, he sometimes shipped him with the customers but never acted like that. It was way too obvious and he couldn’t help but mentally curse himself for being such a considerate guy because he couldn’t leave her alone. He was a man with manners, he knew that it would be rude and didn’t want to do so. She didn’t deserve such behaviour.

“So, are you a part-timer here?” she cleared and Ten only realised then that he was still standing in the middle of the room, looking at the spot from where Mark had left. He managed to pull himself together and actually answer without even the slightest nonchalance in his voice.

“No, I actually work here full-time. My parents own the place.”

“Oh, really?” her eyes widened in surprise. She could get so amazed in such a short spare of time but her reaction wasn’t frustrating at all. It actually set him at ease that someone was interested in his life. “That’s so cool! And can you also cook?” she inquired but he somehow couldn’t mind. It wasn’t confidential information, she could know about it. He wouldn’t mind.

“Just a little. My parents thought me the basics and I know how to prepare some meals but I’m not a professional,” he shrugged because it wasn’t a big surprise. He was the