chapter.14  »  meet again.

Having made up with Prince made the next morning worth waking up to.

What was it that had me happy the next morning in such a quick snap?  I had no idea, but at the same time I did.  Prince and I were okay, Prince and I were happy, Prince and I had a good sleep... Tons of ideas.  I just couldn't pick one.

Breakfast came and we ate our meals.  Prince was playing with his red ball that seemed to be his favorite toy while eating.  No matter how many times I kept on telling him it was bad playing while eating, he would just bark playfully at me and I would end up laughing at him.

Soon it was time for me to go to work.  Prince didn't complain which was unusual.  I stepped out of the house with the unusual feeling still creeping up on me.

If Soojin was wondering why I didn't complain, well, I was wondering, too.  Either way, at least we didn't argue again.  I couldn't afford having another sleepless conscience if that happened.

Life alone in the house was starting to suit me better and better each day, for only several days.  The only things I had to make sure was eat to fill my appetite and play to fill my satisfaction meter.

I was half-waiting for the witch to come again, but I knew she wouldn't come anytime soon.  Then I remembered what she said:  “Has it ever crossed your mind that there is not only one lesson you can learn?”  Were there more than one lesson I was supposed to learn?  What were those lessons about?  I had enough of worrying about myself, and started to worry more about two things.

First was the kingdom.  How were they doing?  I had plans in mind before the night I was cursed.  Plans that could change the kingdom for the good, and perhaps make it the best out of all in the Under Earth.  How was Mother and Father?  I couldn't imagine the worry they have been going through for the past days because of what happened to me... that was a largely my fault.  I missed them terribly.

And second was... Soojin.

How was her work?  How was she doing?  Were her work mates being nice to her?  She was my owner now, and as much as I hated that term, I still worried about her.  Speaking... was there any way that she couldn't be my owner?  Probably something more since I was technically human—

I mentally slapped myself.

What was I thinking.  I continued kicking the red ball across the room, and didn't pick it up anymore after that.

“Somebody's waiting for you.”  Mara walked behind me and snickered as she passed by.

I rolled my eyes as I wiped the table up by the entrance.  “Let that ‘somebody’ wait, then.”

Seungpyo screamed all the way from the back of the café.  “Get his order, Soojin!  You know you want to!”

“Be quiet, Seungpyo!”  I replied and he laughed out loud, clutching his stomach as he took the orders of the customers in his part of the café.

When I arrived at the café, I saw that the ‘Now Hiring’ poster had been removed and replaced with good percent-offs deals that could be redeemed in the café.  There was also an enough amount of customers, better than the amount yesterday that almost choked the building from the overcrowding.

After finishing wiping up the table, I took the spray bottle and the rag back to the cabinet under the counter and walked off to the customer that was waiting for me.

Surprise, surprise.

“Hello, sir, what can I get for you today?”

“Hello, Soojin.”  He smiled.  “You can call me by my first name, you know.”

“Okay, then.”  I returned the smile.  “What can I get for you today, Jonghyun-ssi?”

“Drop the formality, too, please.”  He laughed while shaking his head.

I couldn't help but laugh, then stopped when the people near us started cooing.  I cleared my throat.  “Well, what can I get for you?”

“Same as yesterday.”

I started writing his order on my notepad: Small caramel macchiato with extra foam.  Now how did I still remember his order.

“But two,” he added.

I stopped writing and looked at him.  His smile was still the same, a little lopsided.  I wrote ‘2’ next to the order and circled it.

The day proceeded and as usual, Jonghyun didn't leave his seat.  Every time Mara walked by me, she'd either whistle or coo.  Seungpyo would playfully tap me on the shoulder and pretend he didn't do it.  And when I accused him, he'd point at Jonghyun, and Jonghyun would look at us then Seungpyo would laugh.  Then I'd mouth a sorry to him and he'd look away, grinning and shaking his head.

Later in the afternoon, I heard Seungpyo cluck his tongue.  I looked over to him as well as Mara.

He pointed at a cup on the table where Jonghyun sat.  “It's like he's trying to be Santa Claus.”

Mara and I looked at each other and started our way down to the table.  The sign outfront was turned and it said ‘Closed’, so we didn't have to worry about a customer coming in.  We all stared at the cup, now cold, until Seungpyo pulled out a paper that was stuck underneath it from behind.

He held it up for me to see.  “Do you see this?  Do you see this?”

“Oh, I see it, alright,” Mara said, then started poking me.

There really was nothing special about the paper, apart from it saying “This one's for you, from Jonghyun” with a huge colored-in heart next to it.

author's notes.

CRIES.  i'm so sorry if i didn't update this week.  i'm updating today because i'm not sure if i'll get my hands on wi-fi the rest of the weekend before i start school next week.  but either way, thank you for the love!  the new subbies, hello!  and thank you for reading ^^

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