“Jinki, can you please hurry up and restock the seasonal stickers! I have to tend to the register and these ladies will be upset if they can’t get holiday stickers for fall.”

“Yes, Violet,” I muttered angrily under my breath as I grabbed the cart full of boxes full of assorted stickers.

I grunted curses under my breath as I ripped open box after box of various brands of stickers. All this was so useless. Countless women spend hours in this craft store picking out paper, books, and stickers to decorate their already unnecessary pictures of memories they hope to hold onto. There were so many brands that had nearly the same pumpkin on their sticker sets, but women felt the need to buy every brand. It was ridiculous and wasteful, if you ask me.

Checking to make sure Violet wasn’t around, I cautiously slipped my headphones into my ear and hid the cord around the back of my ear, under my hair. I was silently rocking out to my favorite band as I unpacked box after box of stickers when I heard a small voice behind me.

“E-excuse me,” stammered the voice. I stood up from the boxes, sighing quietly before I turned around with a fake smile. It quickly faded, however, when I saw before me a man. I blinked a few times, trying to see if I was becoming delusional from the stickers, but he was still there. Men never came into this store with their wives, let alone by themselves. Most men who were unfortunate enough to have to come in here were dragged in here by their bossy wives who had some sort of reason to punish them.

“Yes?” I said, the fake smile returning to my face.

“Could you point me in the direction of the paints? I need to finish up a project at home and ran out.”  He smiled a brilliant, white smile. His white tousled hair matched the white teeth, giving him an angelic look. He seemed so perfect I felt...uncomfortable?

“Of course, follow me,” I managed to say as I quickly walked ahead of him to aisle 17 swallowing the sudden knot in my throat. “Here we are. There are the cheaper paints and there are the more expensive paints. If you need anything else I’ll be over in the stickers aisle.”

I walked away, dumbfounded at the fact that a man stepped foot in this store on his own free will to shop for craft supplies. I, for one, only came into this store for a job that would pay me money. My luck had run out of chances to work for various restaurants and shops since all the summer shifts had been taken. This was my last chance to make money before classes started in fall. This man could have easily gone to a less embarrassing store, such as an art store, for his paints. Then again, most men don’t spend hours contemplating on their surroundings to the point they want to recreate it with glitter, fancy papers, and other frilly things.

Sighing, I grabbed the box cutter and began opening boxes again. In a few moments, however, I got the sense I wasn’t alone. I looked over my shoulder to see the man was back. In his hands were a bunch of paint tubes.

“Which hue of blue,” he smiled, holding out the tubes, “do you like the most?”

“I don’t like blue,” I replied coldly forgetting to pretend to be happy, turning back to my work. Mindlessly, I kept shelving pumpkin stickers when I noticed he hadn’t left.

“Well, what color do you like?”

“Huh?”

“I asked what color you like?” He smiled again, making my breath catch in my throat. What was going on? Why was this man caring so much about what I liked?

“Uh, I like red. Why does it matter?”

“You’ll see. I’ll show you when I see you next time.”

“Next time?”

“This isn’t my first time coming here, silly. You just never seem to pay attention to anyone, but all your attention goes to your work.”

I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly looking down ashamed. Color began to flood to my face, betraying me.

“What’s your name?” I asked, looking up again.

“Jonghyun. Nice to meet you… Jinki?” he said, reading my nametag.

“Onew,” I corrected. “My friends call me Onew.”

“Alright Onew. I’ll see you in a few days.”

His fingertips grazed the top of my shoulder as he breezed past me. I watched Jonghyun leave the aisle and go about his business. I sat back onto the display, rubbing my hands down my face, slapping my cheeks a bit. Jonghyun was very charming and kind, but I shouldn’t expect much. I had honestly never seen him in this store. I almost felt as if he had come in the store to make a fool of me. I wonder if one of my friends had put him up to it? No, he seemed too sincere, but why do I care?

I picked up a sticker sheet that stood out from the rest and noticed it had various hearts all over it.

“This doesn’t belong here,” I whispered to myself, standing up to replace it on its rightful display.

I was about to slip the set onto the holder, when I noticed a little folded over sticky note on the other set already hanging. I took it off and opened it. It read:

See you later, my dazzling Jinki.

“Okay, this is definitely a joke, right?” I whispered, pocketing the note and quickly replacing the stickers. Today was becoming a very strange day in the little store.

“Jinki, what are you doing?!” Violet yelled from the main aisle. “Get back to work and stop staring at the hearts. This isn’t the time to be a hopeless romantic!”

“Yes, ma’am,” I mumbled, going back to the seasonal section, sighing as I resumed unpacking box after box, my mind occasionally wandering to that Jonghyun guy.