It had been nine days since Miran and Eunwoo's fight.

        Today was the first Monday of the month, meaning Miran had to travel to her company's bookstore and finish some tasks up. She would slowly walk around the displays of their merchandise, checking the inventory and making sure they were up to guidelines with the company policies. She ran her hands against the soft fabric of the new shipments of scarves they had selected for the season, delicately checking for any fray ends.

        Next, she went by their selection of water bottles, noting that the yellow colored ones were not selling as well as the pink. She jotted this down in her notebook. Her next stop was the candle and incense tables, these were some of the store's best merchandise sellers. She enjoyed the calming smells of their herbal candles, but was caught off guard by a sense of nostalgia. The scent seemed all too familiar and it was then, that she remembered this was the spot where she had first met Eunwoo.

        It was around four months ago, Miran was standing at this very spot, carefully jotting down observations in her notebook. She had noticed a few customers leaving caps from the incense bottles laying around on the table and made note to mention to the employees to regularly check the table for loose caps.

        "Hey, excuse me," a voice said behind her.

        Miran turned around.

        "Oh, uh, hi," he stuttered, not expecting to see someone so lovely. "Do you work here?" 

        The way she was jotting words down in her notebook made it seem like she did. "I guess so," Miran replied, a half true answer.

        The man excused her confusing answer. "Do you know where the historical fiction section is?"

        Miran looked around her surrounding area, hoping to find a stray employee to help him instead. "Yeah, you can follow me," she said, realizing there were none.

        She led him up the stairs into their fiction section, hoping to find the historical fiction. The truth was, she didn't exactly know where it was, but assumed it would be here. She rarely came to the bookstore, and when she did, would only be in the merchandise sections, not the books.

        Miran began to realize that it was in fact not in the fiction section. "Oh...um, sorry, I guess it's not here. Actually I think I know where it actually is."

        He laughed. "You do work here, right?"

        "Sorry, I guess I don't really. I work in the corporate office of this store. I come down here once a month to check up on merchandise," she explained.

        Miran went to the next logical place, the history section of the bookstore.

        "Merchandising? So you pick out all those little knick knacks at the front of the store?"

        Miran nodded. "Yes, I do."

        "Maybe you can help me after too, I need to find something for my father's birthday. He's sort of a nerdy historian type of guy," he said.

        "Oh, I'd be happy too," Miran said.

        Miran finally led him to the history section, and there sat the historical fiction. She noted this down in her notebook, she believed it made more sense for it to be in the fiction section instead.

        After he picked out a book they went back to the merchandising section.

        "So, is there anything else that he likes? Besides history," Miran asked him, trying to think of a good gift idea.

        "Umm…" he thought. "I don't really know."

        "Does he exercise or anything? We have some nice water bottles over here," she said, walking them over to the water bottles.

        "No, he doesn't," he replied.

        "Okay…" Miran murmured. "Oh!"

        Miran's face seemed to light up as she took him to their candle and incense section. Eunwoo couldn't help but smile at her sheer happiness, but tried to hide it. 

        "We just got these brand new orders of herbal incenses. I think he'd really like these if he enjoys history, they were said to heal soldiers' ailments by burning them. The back of each bottle has a small description about their use in the war." Miran picked up a bottle and showed him.

        "This sounds perfect," he said, grabbing the bottle. "Really, thank you so much."

        "No problem," she said. She had never interacted with a customer before and felt a sense of accomplishment.    

        "It was nice meeting you," he said. "I'm Cha Eunwoo."

        Miran was surprised by the introduction. "Nice to meet you too."

        He seemed disappointed that she didn't reveal her name.

        "The checkout is just at the front," she told him, thinking that's what he was waiting around for.

        "Oh, yeah. Okay, thanks," he said, a little embarrassed.

        He went to the checkout and bought his items. As he walked out of the store and onto the sidewalk, a pulling sensation formed in his stomach. It felt like he had left something behind. He had crossed the road and already decided that it wasn't worth it, that he should just go back to his apartment. But then, he remembered she said she only came to the store once a month. He didn't want to wait that long.

        He ran back into the store and found the girl again.

        "Hi," he said, slightly panting.

        Miran was scared, believing something to be wrong. She was wondering if he had left his phone or wallet behind. "Are you alright? Did you leave something behind?"

        "No. Well, sort of. I'm sorry, I swear I don't do this, but, are you by any chance single?"

        His comment was so out of the blue, Miran didn't believe she heard him right. "What?"

        Eunwoo laughed. "Can I get your number?"

        Miran stood still, her brain still processing the bluntness of his question. Her flustered face made Eunwoo's chest tingle.

        He grabbed the notebook and pen out of her hands and jotted down his phone number.

        "Here, why don't you call me instead," he said, handing it back to her. "I'll stop bothering you now. But, can I at least get your name?"

        "It's Kim Miran…" she mumbled.

        "Nice to meet you, Kim Miran. I look forward to seeing you again."

        Miran's heart ached from reflecting on the memory. Realizing the bleakness of her reality, she wished she could've gone back in time and changed things. She wished she could travel right back to that day five months ago and start over.

        "Hey, are you okay?" An employee asked her, gently touching Miran on the shoulder.

        Miran immediately nodded and smiled. "Yeah, of course."

        "Oh, okay. Sorry, you were standing here for a pretty long time. I thought you looked kind of dazed," the employee explained. She then noticed that Miran's eyes were beginning to water.

        "I must be sick or something," Miran said, sniffles interrupting her words.

        "Um…" the employee mumbled, realizing that Miran was beginning to cry.

        "I'm- I'm sorry," Miran said, trying to talk over her tears. "I don't know what's gotten over me."

        "Let me get you some tissues," the employee said.

        She dashed off to the staffroom for tissues, leaving Miran to have a breakdown in the middle of the bookstore.