’75 won’ Tiffany drawled out each syllable. ’Se-ven-ty-fi-ve won, huh.’

‘I can explain.’

‘I’m sure you can’ the girl turned around once again, heading straight for the counter. Taeyeon followed sheepishly behind. She saw her take out a wireless phone from underneath the till.

‘Hello? Police?’

‘Hey! I-‘

‘Yeah, could you send someone over, there’s this drunk person in the store who passed out and now refuses to leave…’

‘Dude, I’m not drunk! And I did not refuse to leave’

‘…got the address? Yeah, okay, thank you so much’ the girl put the phone down. ‘Didn’t refuse to leave right? Okay then, leave’

‘It’s raining really badly’

‘I don’t care. This is a shop where you come to- surprise!- shop. Not pass out between the rice flour and sugar’

‘I missed the last bus’

‘So? Walk then’

‘I didn’t really know the way’

‘That’s not really my problem’

There was an awkward pause.

‘Have you ever tried been nice?’

‘Why yes, I have’

‘And?’

‘It turns out that I don’t like being nice to thoughtless, irresponsible, selfi

‘Why you!’

‘Threatening me now, are we? Shall I update the police on that little detail?’

‘’

‘And don’t you ever forget it’

Taeyeon sighed and sat down on the floor

‘Hey you, get up now!’

‘Shut up and leave me alone’

‘I said get up’ she went around the counter to try and pull Taeyeon up.

‘Hey, let go of me’ Taeyeon struggled against her grip, thrashing her arms about. She felt her hand hit something hard and almost immediately, the pressure on her shoulders was gone.

She looked around and saw the cashier girl bent over, hands covering her face.

A single drop of blood fell on the floor. Then another. And another.

‘I-I, god, I’m so sorry, I didn’t m-‘

‘Shut the up!’

‘Can I get you anything?’ she gingerly placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder, only to feel her chest been shoved and her body making contact with the floor. She didn’t dare move, or even breathe. Taeyeon stood there silently as the other girl her heels, head held up high to stop the blood dripping all over the white tiled floor. Tiffany made her way once again behind the counter, rummaged around the sides for something before pulling out a wad of tissues and hastily placing them, or more like crashing them, against her nose.

‘Is it broken?’

‘No.’

‘Can I get you anything?’

The girl sighed.

‘Yeah, a big dose of shut-the--up’

But her words no longer carried the same tone of harshness, of roughness akin to sandpaper.

‘I’m sorry, I-‘

‘I don’t care’

Taeyeon got up, brushed the white dust that had collected on her jeans and made her way to the door. She side-eyed the cashier girl, waiting for her reaction, but she seemed too caught up in trying to avoid the blood from getting on her clothes to notice what she was doing.

‘I think it’s better if I leave then?’

No answer.

She tried opening the door. It was locked.

‘I told you, I called the police. They wouldn’t be too happy if I made them come all the way here for nothing’

Damn it, she’d forgotten about the whole police incident.

‘But, look I’m not drunk- and definitely not high, I just don’t have my glasses with me. It’s com-'

‘They’ll tell. They’ll bring the alcoholmeter.’

‘And are they going to bring a syringe also to take a blood test?’ she scoffed.

‘Why would they do that? Besides’ she glared at Taeyeon ‘I’m sure there’s enough blood here’

‘IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!  And they’ll need the blood test for my supposed highness’

‘They can do it just with a saliva sample immediately now. As part of the traffic controls they carry out’

‘That’s impossible.’

‘That’s your ignorance.’

‘Yeah, and how come you know that, huh, miss Tippani? Been caught a few times DUI, right?’

The girl didn’t answer. She hadn’t even reacted to her ‘tippani’ provocation either.  Taeyeon gave up. She might no longer be wet and cold but she was still tired and hungry and arguing was too exhaustive without the adrenaline rush of seeing the opponent lose control. She walked back to the counter and sat cross-legged on the floor, glaring angrily at the floor. All she had ever wanted to do is to get back home, have a nice warm shower, look over the damned music sheet and make the melody flow in the way it was supposed to, in the way it sounded in her head. Not stuck in some stupid 24 hour shop with an equally stupid staff member who had also decided to call the police. She looked at her watch. It was nearly midnight.

It was looking to be a long night. A very long night indeed.