A Little Change

Thursdays were delivery days and Nayeon's least favorite day of the week, even more so than Mondays. She was currently restocking the shelves with the name brand accessories that the boutique sold, the leather belts' buckles twinkling at her as she arranged them prettily on the shelf. While she was working she was listening to her neighbor and friend talk to a girl that was lagging back after her purchase to helplessly flirt.

“This is the prettiest jumpsuit I've ever bought,” the girl was casually bragging, fishing for a compliment from Jongdae. The girl had been talking about the outfit she had bought for the last ten minutes and the fact that she kept calling it a jumpsuit was slowly wearing down on Nayeon's control to keep shut. It was a maroon romper not a jumpsuit.

Placing the last belt on the shelf Nayeon sat the now empty box aside to start on the box of sunglasses that went on the left most wall alongside the full length mirror, while Jongdae was trying to be civil in conversing with the girl. Nayeon was almost done with the glasses when Jongdae called out to her so suddenly that she jumped, startled. She fumbled with the box for a moment before she had a firm hold on it and leaned around the rows of aisles to look at the front counter where Jongdae and the girl were.

“You called me right?” he said with a desperate look on his face.

“Ah,” Nayeon stammered. She could tell that her friend was indirectly asking for her help, but she wasn't sure what to do to get him away from the girl.

“Which box is it that you wanted?” he asked keeping up with his facade.

“Oh, the watches please,” she said quickly taking advantage of his offer.

Giving her a thumbs up Jongdae moved away from the brass and glass counter with the register. The girl who didn't know that she had bought a romper tossed her hair over her shoulder as she looked from Jongdae, who was quickly scurrying to the 'staff only' door behind the jewelry counter and then over to Nayeon with narrowed eyes. She clearly was not pleased to have her conversation cut short though she had been around for nearly twenty minutes after she checked out that followed half an hour of shopping.

With a hmph the girl her heel and strutted out of the boutique.

Glancing at her wrist Nayeon checked the time and saw it was already pass closing time, so she hurried to the front door to lock it and flip the sign to closed. A moment later Jongdae poked his head out of the back room eyes scanning the shop with a nervous expression.

“She's gone and I've locked up,” Nayeon told him.

He released a long relieved sigh as he stepped out of the door, no box in hand to Nayeon's disappointment. “Thank god! She was driving me insane. I was about to pull my sleeve up and tell he that we weren't a match.”

“You're still too awkward with rejecting girls,” Nayeon commented. As she spoke she began pulling the shades closed to the large front windows so people couldn't peek in as she continued working on shelf stocking.

“Like you're one to talk. You work in retail and you're thee most awkward human being I know,” he countered.

“So?” she grumbled with puffed out cheeks. “We're talking about you, not me. How do you plan on finding your soulmate with that mentality of yours?”

“My soulmate shouldn't annoy me with blabbering on for half an hour about herself,” he retorted.

Finishing with the last blind Nayeon sighed and faced Jongdae who had reclaimed his place on the stool behind the checkout counter. “I guess you have a point. I never really think about that stuff,” she muttered. Having no soulmate mark gave Nayeon a sort of luxury that others didn't; she wasn't under the constant pressure of finding her soulmate or helping others find one another because their marks matched. Nayeon was unmarked and swamped with work at the boutique (her father having suffered a heart attack last year and her mother spent most of her time taking care of him).

Shaking her head of thoughts of her solo future Nayeon faced Jongdae who was boredly scrolling through his phone, probably on LInk – Love Ink – an app to help people find their soulmate through categorizing the marks people were born with on their arms – anywhere on their forearms. “Hey what about the watches?” she inquired.

“Huh?” He glanced up at her with a frown. “You were serious?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “The box is really heavy and you promised to help me out today.”

“Yeah, so we can go see the new horror movie,” Jongdae whined.

“So help.” She pointed to the back room door with a pout to rival Jongdae's as they stared at one another. “Pwease master Jongdae,” she begged in a baby voice. Jongdae had declared himself master of their apartments since he was the eldest and liked being the leader for once in a circle of his friends, though it was just him and Nayeon. It really gave him an ego boost.

Her neighbor groaned in defeat as his shoulders slumped and he tossed his head back. “No fair cheater. You can't pull the master card while you're at work,” he complained.

“Then you're not allowed to use puppy dog eyes on me when we're out and you forget your wallet,” she countered.

Jongdae blew a raspberry in her direction before stomping off to the back room like a huffy three year old. Nayeon smiled at her win as she went to crush boxes and place them out back in the recycling. When she returned Jongdae had the box of watches sitting on top of the long jewelry counter with a sour pout on his face that Nayeon only smiled wider at. Though Jongdae was a kind guy and a caring friend he had a very childish side when it came to work, which explained why he was going to university for acting, he could pretend to be others for a living and he was very good at it.

“Thank you master,” she hummed stepping behind the counter.

“Just finish up quickly, I want to get good seats,” he waved towards the box with an eager expression.

She nodded as she began opening the box and unpacking the watches into the display case and below it in the storage case. Nayeon was nearly finished, the w