Chapter 11

                “Hi, my name is Jessica, please take care of me,” the new girl introduced herself to you. “Nice to meet you, I’m _______,” you said with a small bow. “Train her well, okay, ______-ah?” your boss, Leeteuk said to you with a smile before walking back into the kitchen to check on the other staff members. “Have you been here long?” she asked, her heels clicking against the hard wood floor.

                “About six months.”

                “And Leeteuk-ssi trusts you to train people?”

                “Yeah, I guess he thinks a lot of me,” you said with a laugh. You really like your boss, he was a good guy. Occasionally, he would get too motherly with the staff, but that didn’t happen often. He looked after you really well, giving you flexible hours due to your situation at home. “Why don’t we get to my training then,” she said with a smile, but it looked slightly forced to you.

                “Yeah…Let’s do that,” you said, suddenly not as excited to train the newest member of the café family as you had been before. Despite your sudden lack of enthusiasm, you trained Jessica in the art of waiting tables as best as you could.

                The next couple of weeks went by somewhat normally except for that act that Jessica kept on stealing your tables. You thought it was an accident the first few times, but by the third week, you were done with it. “Please stop it,” you said after work.

                “Stop what?” she asked, looking at you innocently. “Stealing my tables. If it’s an accident, that’s okay, but please stop.” Her smile faltered for a second but soon returned to its place as she gave you some sort of BS answer. You knew it was BS because it just got worse from there.

                “It’s like she’s trying to steal my job, Seunghyun-ah,” you said as he paused the game he had been playing. “Maybe she is,” he said with a shrug. “What do you mean?” you asked, sitting up on his couch. “I mean we can’t rule out the possibility. From what it sounds like, your theory might be true.”

                “But why would she be trying to take my job?”

                “Remove the competition?”

                “For what?”

                “Your boss?” he asked, turning to you with a small smirk. “Yah! I was being serious!” you exclaimed, throwing a pillow at his head. “So was I!” he whined before throwing the pillow back at you. “Why would we be competing for my boss? He’s so much older than the both of us.”

                “I don’t know! You’re a woman; shouldn’t you be able to figure that out on your own?”

                “No!”

                “Ugh…You’re hopeless,” he mumbled before dodging another pillow, “But I can help you!”

                “How would you do that?” you asked, curiously. “Well you could always try flirting with him a little bit and watch her reactions.”

                “I don’t know how to flirt.”

                “You really are hopeless,” he said with a sigh, “I can’t believe I actually have to teach you how to flirt.” You rolled your eyes before saying, “Shut up and teach me already.”

                For the next three days, you very subtly flirted with Leeteuk according to Seunghyun’s instructions. You felt bad about doing this, so after that week you stopped completely. Unfortunately, three days was all that it took. “What are you doing? Do you know how bad it is to flirt with your boss?” Jessica demanded as the two of you closed up the café.

                “So you like him?” you asked, now wishing that you hadn’t followed Seunghyun’s advice. “Of course I like him! Why else would I have taken this job if I didn’t?” she glared at you, “So stay away from him.”

                “Okay,” you agreed. “Okay?” she asked in disbelief. You nodded, “Yup. I’m okay with that as long as you quit trying to take my job.” You shrugged and turned away from her so that you could finish sweeping up. “Why you!” she hissed before pushing you, sending you falling forward.             You tried to break your fall by grabbing onto the table, but the chairs that had been placed upside-down on top of it fell down along with you.

                “Ah!” you exclaimed, falling down hard on your arm. “______-ah! Are you okay?” Leeteuk exclaimed, coming out of his office. He stayed there late at night and had heard your exclamation. “What happened?” he asked Jessica as he helped you up off of the ground.

                “She fell,” she said before turning away. “You should be more careful,” he chided, but his eyes were soft as he helped you walk back to his office where the first aid kit was coincidentally. “I’m sorry,” you said with a sigh, not wanting to correct him about what really happened.

                “I just don’t want you to get hurt,” he said before sitting you down in one of the chairs. He grabbed the first aid kit and kneeled down in front of you as he began to gently wrap your wrist and arm. “Yeah I guess I’d be a liability then,” you tried to joke, but winced as he accidentally squeezed you.

                “No, that’s not it,” he said before finishing taping the wrap. He didn’t look up at you as he said it though. “Then what is it?” you asked, starting to get a little worried. He traced his fingers down your arm, ghosting them over the tape before curling his slender digits around your palm and moving your hand up to his lips. He gently kissed your knuckles before looking up at you with a look you had only ever seen from Seunghyun.

               “Leeteuk-ssi,” you whispered your voice suddenly dropping. “I wish you’d call me ‘oppa,’” he said before leaning up. Your breath hitched in the back of your throat as he got close enough so that your lips were almost touching. A knock on the door interrupted the kiss that was about to happen and you immediately stood up. “Good bye, Leeteuk-ssi,” you stuttered before walking as quickly as you could out of the café, leaving Jessica and your boss alone together.

                You never came back. You couldn’t handle the idea that your boss could like you or that a co-worker would hurt you.

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sorry this took so long but college is stealing my free time

also no hate against Leeteuk or Jessica, i just needed some names ^^;;