chapter.11  »  i can't get away from you.

I knew I shouldn't tolerate what Prince did, but what could I do?  I couldn't hit him, that was animal abuse.  I couldn't shout at him also, I didn't have the guts to do even just that.  In the end, I just ended up cleaning the mess.  As a result, I pushed aside the shower part.

Prince trailed behind me everywhere I went around the house.  I knew he was starting to regret what he did, but he had to learn his lesson.  Even though inside me I knew I wanted to pick him up again and play with him.

But I had to go to work, so I didn't want to distract myself even more.

Silently, I watched Soojin as she packed her small backpack up with her things to bring to work.  I knew she was still upset with me, but her generosity outshone her disappointment because she still had the time to bring food and water and my toys to me.  I tried to run a little to get the red ball, but I couldn't move much.  Instead, I stayed plastered on the ground, the ball stagnant under my paws.

The wind picked up outside, I could tell from the branches of the tree I could see from the windows in the living room.  Soojin looked out as well, and shook her head when she looked at the sky.  It was a little grey, so she stuffed an umbrella and an extra jacket in her backpack.

A paining awkward silence fell upon us like a thin blanket, and even though I wanted to break it, I couldn't.

Soojin passed by me in the living room, almost like she was ignoring my existence.  It hurt me, the way we were being so quiet.  If only I could turn back time and followed the little angel that popped up in my head instead of the devil one, it wouldn't have been this... silent.  If only.

Quietly, she put on her shoes.  Her eyes met mine, but she looked away immediately.  She stood up and walked to the door, grabbing the knob and murmuring a small goodbye to me before she left.

The witch was right, probably, for one thing.  I couldn't act like a real prince, let alone a man.

As I walked to the café, I half-wished Prince would run out of the house and we would somehow meet halfway to Sweet Swirls and we'd stop in the middle of the road, hugging, without cars hitting us.  But that was stupid, considering 1) Prince was a dog, not a guy from a drama, and 2) I locked the house, so there was no way he could get out.

I shook my head of naïve thoughts and kept walking until I reached the café.  How surprising it was, it was full.  But as more people came, more people also left.  I hurried walking.

“Soojin!  Thank goodness, you're here already,” Mara said as soon as I stepped inside.  I bowed at the customers who acknowledged me through smiles and nods and light hellos.

“I know, I know.  Am I late?”  I asked as I got closer to where she was inside the circular counter.  I noticed more tables had been brought in since the tables were now more than ten.

“You're just in time.  Go and change into your uniform, we have lots of customers today.”

I nodded and carefully went inside the employees' room at the back of the café.

“Hello, Seungpyo.”  I bowed at him slightly as I passed by him in the room.  The previous day, after Mara and I drank our coffees, she showed me the employees' room and my locker which was beside Seungpyo's.

“Good morning, Soojin.”  He greeted back with a smile, briefly stopping from stuffing his locker with things.  “Oh, and you don't have to bow.  It feels weird.”

I laughed and grabbed the apron and the cap from my locker, replacing the contents with my backpack.  There was also a white plastic pack inside, so I opened it.  It was a khaki polo shirt with Sweet Swirls' logo on it.  Pinned on the right of the shirt was my nametag.

After changing into my uniform, I exited the employees' room, and was welcomed by the gust of wind inside the café and the noises made by the customers.  Seungpyo struggled with carrying three chairs, so I helped him carry one and brought them to another table that had to be manually put there.

Mara sighed as I joined her in the counter.  “There's really a lot of people here today.”

“For the first time?”  I asked, getting an all-purpose spray and clean rag from the cabinet in the cleaning utensils part of the counter.

“No, but this is a surprise,” she said.  “It's maybe the reason why I feel so tired.”

I patted her shoulder reassuringly.  “The day will end, don't worry.”  She smiled at me and I left the counter to clean some tables.

Tables were very easy to clean, only if the customers who used it were clean themselves.  Sadly, there were some who left some extreme messes as if they decided to play with their coffees instead of drinking them.  I kept on wiping the tables and chairs, complaining only by breathing exasperatedly through my nose.

When I finished cleaning the tables, I helped Seungpyo with bringing in more chairs and tables in the café.  He got them from the storage room, and I had a slight clue that they all came from those tons of boxes piled on top of each other.  I also delivered and took orders to and from the customers, sometimes even doing both at the same time.

A customer was sitting quietly at one of the tables in the middle.  I couldn't tell who it was since I could only see their back, but they were alone, and from the haircut I figured they were a guy.  I delivered one last order to a table before I asssisted that customer.

“Hello, sir, what can I get—” I gasped lightly, but successfully regained my composure.  “W- What can I get for you today?”

He looked up at me.  “Oh, hello.”

It was the guy.  The guy.  I felt was stupid for having my eyes dilated a little, but I couldn't stop staring.  The pen in my hand trembled against the notepad.  His smile was too bright for me, although it was almost lopsided.  For a second it looked like he sparkled.

I blinked a couple of times.  “Oh, s- sorry.  What was your order?”

“Just a small caramel macchiato, please, with extra foam.”  He sounded like Kyungsoon ordering from that restaurant we met at some days ago.

I wrote his order down and told him to wait for a couple of minutes.  He thanked me, and I struggled walking back to the counter.  I slowly ripped the order neatly from the notepad, failing almost because it looked like it was ripped by a baby.

“What's wrong with you?”  Mara looked at me weirdly.  She picked up the paper and squinted at it.  “What's wrong with this?”

“I just took that guy's order.  Do you know how much effort that took?  Do you?”  I said, slapping my cheeks to wake me up.

“Ah, so you were dazed.”  Mara chuckled as she went to the macchiato grinder and started grinding the beans.  “Dazed so were the past employees who, like you, marked their words when they said they were not going to have any interest in him.  Oh, the irony.”

“Oh, whatever.”  I turned around and left her, hearing her chuckle behind me.  I continued helping Seungpyo set some tables up in the front, earning a few glances from the guy since he was facing us.  Mara delivered his order more precisely than when I took his.

As time passed by, less people came in and more went out.  It was towards the end of the day, but the guy was still there, sipping his coffee cup.  It occurred to me that he probably drank coffee everyday which was sort of unhealthy.  But then, it also occurred to me, why should I care?

Mara and Seungpyo shouted my name here and there, cutting me off of one task and another.  I was still able to do everything I needed to do, however, while having my two work mates play hot potato with my name

Later on, thank goodness, the guy left.  I wiped more tables before the one he sat at because I was a little... dazed, still.  Using Mara's words was difficult, like she could be right.  I was wiping a table in the front of the café when Seungpyo called me over.

“Soojin, I think this one's for you.”  Seungpyo pointed at the table the guy used.  I squinted at it, and saw a paper placed on top of it.  Mara walked to the table and looked at the paper.

“Soojin, hurry!  You have to see it!”  She had a huge smile on her face that scared me a little.

I sighed and dragged my feet across the floor.  When I got there, they welcomed me with their hyper-looking faces.  Right then and there I knew there really was something written on the paper, and there was.  I didn't expect it.

“Nice to meet you, Soojin.  I'm Jonghyun.”

I lifted my eyes off of the paper, and was met by Seungpyo and Mara's faces.

They teased me, of course.  They said at the same time,  “Oooh, Soojin's got an admirer!”

I rolled my eyes.  I didn't even ask for his name.  On the bright side, we didn't have to call him ‘the guy’ anymore.

author's notes.

hello, guys!  so this is the update.  told you it was gonna be a little lengthy!  LOL  xD  but on a serious note, did you guys like it?  ;;  i thought of making Jonghyun a little ‘rude’, but i can't do that, heheh.  thank you guys for reading and commenting!  love you all!  bbuing bbuing ✰ 

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