“Me?” I questioned, still staring at our hands. My cheeks began to burn at the thought that the little man was me.

Jonghyun grabbed my chin with his free hand and pulled my head up to look at him. His dark eyes flicked back and forth as if he was searching for something on my face. I tried to look away from his overpowering eyes, but his grip was firm.

“Yes, you,” he finally confirmed. “These were all the times I’ve seen you.”

“Why would... but why would... I don’t understand.”

He let go of my chin, but I didn’t look away. I was fixed on his face, searching for the reason why. What were his intentions?

“Why would I what?” He cocked his head to the side as if he was confused.

“Why would you come to our craft store if you are this successful painter?” I sighed. “Not everyone gets to exhibit their art, let alone have a solo showcase. What are you getting at?”

He slid his hand out of mine and turned away. His frame shifted up and down gently as he took a few deep breaths.

“I ask myself the same question. I only went in that craft store one time because my mother wanted someone to accompany her to get her craft materials. I was very upset I had to go, but then I saw you. You were very beautiful when I first laid eyes on you and you still are. It took me awhile to talk to you or even decide to go back. I figure you had... other arrangements.”

“Other arrangements?”

There was a long pause, the air hanging still in the large room. I shifted uncomfortably, gazing at the painting once more. Jonghyun turned around, but I didn’t face him.

“A girlfriend,” he whispered, his voice cracking slightly.

“No... no I don’t do that... have that... one... girl,” My voice drifted off. I snuck a glance at Jonghyun and saw him smirking to himself.

“Does this mean I can see you again?” His eyes brightened up as he asked this, the room becoming less awkward.

“I suppose, but I think I should go back to work soon. Violet is going to be so mad I left,” I mumbled, brushing off his offer as casually as I could.

“Well, since I got you in this mess I could help out a bit to make up for the time you were gone.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me through the gallery and to the car.

~

“You left me all alone Jinki!” Violet screeched in my face, her high pitch voice violating my ears like daggers.

“I... I know. It won’t happen again I’m so sor-”

“Ma’am, I’m very sorry I didn’t respect Jinki’s work time. He told me he couldn’t leave, but I forced him,” Jonghyun cut in, smiling warmly at Violet.

“O-oh, you are Jinki’s friend?” She stammered, touching his arm. “Of course I can let this slide for such a ravishing young man.”

Jonghyun smiled as my manager fluttered about him, flirting her apologies to him. I stared, mouth agape at the fact Violet actually let things slide. I closed my slacking jaw when I noticed Jonghyun was looking at me. Now that it had been mentioned, Jonghyun was quite ravishing. There seemed to be another side to this angel that was completely unholy. His muscles rippled under his tanned arms as he waved off compliments, his crooked smile hit all the right spots, and his hands... his hands were so soft and delicate. I got lost staring at Jonghyun, losing focus of where I was.

“Jinki, you don’t have to get this close to me,” Jonghyun whispered.

I rubbed my eyes, realizing we were down one of the aisles. I looked down and saw Jonghyun had already started unpacking a box of merchandise and I was standing on top of him. Embarrassed, I took a few steps back, tripping on the cart of boxes, falling backwards under a sea of scrapbook paper.

“Aargh,” I grunted, my face heating up with embarrassment as I struggled to get up without crushing the papers all over me.

Jonghyun stared at me without any expression on his face. Nervously, I began picking up the papers when I heard a loud burst of laughter from behind me. Jonghyun was rolling at the fact I fell over boxes of papers. He wiped away the tears that had tried to escape his eyes and he began helping me pick up the scattered merchandise.

“Wow, you boys really make a mess,” Violet huffed behind us.

“Sorry ma’am,” Jonghyun apologized, standing to face her.

I too stood up and joined the pair noticing there was something very different about Violet: she was wearing foundation, mascara, lipstick, and bright eyeshadow that didn’t go well with her skin tone. Why does she have makeup on? Why is she so happy?

I followed her eyes to see she was checking out Jonghyun from head to toe. I laughed to myself as she made a fool of herself. She was obviously trying too hard to flirt with him when she tried to take a seductive drink of her water bottle, but ended up spilling it all over Jonghyun's chartreuse dress shirt.

“Oh, Jonghyun, sweetie I am so sorry let me.... let me.... oh look at the time I have to leave. My shift is over. Jinki,” she squeaked looking at me for the first time since she had approached us. “Give Jonghyun a shirt. Can you stay over time? Great thanks. Here’s the keys. Night.”

“W-wait,” I choked, trying to stop Violet from making a quick getaway, but it was no use.

Sighing, I pocketed the store key and  dragged Jonghyun to the plain shirt section and allowed him to pick the color of the shirt he was to wear for the rest of our nightly craft store duties. He picked a seafoam green shirt out of the stack.

“Sorry you have to do this. I can’t believe she spilled water on you after all you are doing for her. I mean you did take me but whatev-”

I stopped talking when I noticed Jonghyun ing his shirt. His hands expertly popped the plastic buttons out of their holes allowing him to then pull his arms out of the shirt gracefully. His shirt was tossed aside to reveal his perfectly toned abs, rich caramel ripples running up to his rock hard pecs. I tried to look at other parts of him, searching for a less alluring piece of him, but I couldn’t find one. I realized he was beyond perfect. I couldn’t help but stare as he pulled the baggy t-shirt over his fluffy head.

Dear god Jonghyun. This is what you’ve been hiding? This feels like the unholy side to your angelic face. I knew there was something you weren’t telling me. It has to be a sin to be this alluring. Oh god Jinki get ahold of yourself. Stop looking at him. I can’t. I have to, but I can’t. Just look at him. I could spend hours just his abs...

“How does this look,” Jonghyun wondered, as he twirled allowing the extra fabric to whirl around.

“Good?” I sputtered, trying not to let on that I was blatantly staring at the blonde changing.

“Lets get back to work then, Jinkers. You don’t want to be stuck here all night with me do you?”

Jonghyun ruffled my hair, leading the way back to the pile of boxes that needed to be unpacked. I watched after him, staring blankly for a few seconds before I shook my head.

Be realistic here, Jinki. You are just jealous of his abs. You’ve been trying to workout and improve your image for months. You are just jealous of him.

I followed him over to the aisle and began unpacking stacks of brightly colored papers, scrapbook tools, and other various craft supplies. It seemed like time flew by faster when I was accompanied in my work, or maybe it was just I enjoyed being around Jonghyun. I felt more comfortable around him and, by the time we had finished unpacking and shelving everything, I felt like I had known him for ages.

“All done,” I cheered, holding my hand up for Jonghyun to high five.

“Really? Already?” he asked, slapping my hand in praise. “What about these sticker sheets and this paint over here?”

“Well if you look at it the stickers were cut wrong and the paint tubes came half full. It happens from time to time. Factory defaults and such. You know how that goes.”

“What do you do with this stuff then?”

“Oh we just throw it out. There’s nothing we can do with it.”

Jonghyun grew silent, staring at the paint and the stickers. He walked over and picked them up, examining the different colors and sheets. I turned, ready to get my stuff to leave when a felt a finger poke my face.

“Hey, what are you doing?” I whined, rubbing my face. I felt something smooth under my fingers as I rubbed my face, however, and it was definitely not my skin. Stickers.

“What are you going to do, Jinkers?” he giggled, grabbing more poorly cut stickers off the sheets, sticking more on me.

“Oh you little,” I began to say as I grabbed a few tubes of paint and squeezed various colors on my fingers.

“No, no, no, no!” Jonghyun cried in a high pitched girl’s voice as I smeared paint under his eyes like a football player.

I continued to smear paint on Jonghyun’s face as he furiously tried to dish out as many stickers as he could all over my shirt, arms and face. Within a matter of minutes we were both covered with each others items. Jonghyun grabbed some of my paint and put a dot on the tip of my nose. I giggled, sticking a sticker on his forehead, fleeing the scene. I hid behind a decorative holiday cupcake display in the center of the store waiting for Jonghyun to come around looking for me.

“Jinki? Onew? Where did that er go?” I heard Jonghyun call a few minutes later, as his voice grew closer and closer. “Don’t do this to me. It’s scary in here alone.”

Three.

“Onew?” he whispered.

Two.

“Jinki,” he demanded.

One.

“O- NOOOO,” Jonghyun shrieked, jumping five feet backwards.

I had jumped out from behind the display just in time to see Jonghyun nearly pee his pants in fear. I dropped to my knees laughing so hard, I had to clutch my stomach.

“You.... you... you should’ve seen your face!” I howled, pointing at Jonghyun, who now looked more pissed off than scared.

“Why you little...”

“Jonghyun!” I continued to laugh, calling his name.

“Are you done,” he huffed, waiting for me to pull myself together.

I rubbed the tears of laughter out of my eyes and stood up to find myself nose to nose with Jonghyun. My breath caught in the back of my throat. I was frozen, gazing into his eyes, afraid to move. He smirked, cradling my cheeks in his hands so I would only look at him. He leaned in closer to me, our lips nearly touching. I shivered, his breath hot, yet gentle on my lips.

“J-jong, what,” I stuttered, not able to fully complete my thought.

“Don’t speak,” he whispered, still hovering over my lips.

I stood still, trapped by Jonghyun’s hands, confused as to what was going on. I squeezed my eyes shut, scared to see what was going to happen next. The hot breath left my lips and made its way to the base of my jaw as his head rested on my shoulder. His hands left my face and wrapped around my waist in a warm embrace. I hesitated, unsure of what exactly was going on. I decided to embrace him back, pulling him closer to me. We stood there for some time, holding each other still covered in dried paint and stickers. Suddenly, the lights turned off and Jonghyun pushed away from me.

“What’s happening?” he whispered.

“It’s the light shut off that happens every night at eleven. Wait, holy crap it’s eleven. Oh no.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I was supposed to go to a party at ten at Uni.”

“Oh.... I’m sorry. I can take you.” His face drooped into a sad puppy face.

“No, no this was fun. This was actually the most fun I’ve ever had at work. Don’t worry about it.”

“Really?” he asked, face brightening a bit.

“Yeah, I hate this job, to be quite honest.”

“I hate this store, to be quite honest.”

“Why do you still come here then,” I chuckled, walking towards the front doors to begin locking up.

“To see you,” Jonghyun called from his spot.

I paused mid-air, the key almost in the lock. I stared blankly at the glass door in front of me as a rush of random, jumbled emotions ran over me.

“Why?” I whispered, still paused mid-action.

“Because I like you,” Jonghyun whispered, now behind me. He rested his head on my shoulder and assisted my hand to place the key in the door. Together we turned the key and locked the store up for the night.

Outside, Jonghyun walked me to my car and waited for me to get in before he spoke again.

“Can I take you out? Properly take you out?”

I looked up at his face, unable to make out any of his features in the dark. I nodded, about to close my door, when he leaned down and pecked my stickered cheek.

“Goodnight, Jinkers,” he called, prancing away to his car.

I waited for him to leave first before I rested my head on the steering wheel, breathing very slowly. This night had turned from very boring to very fun to very emotional all too fast. I just wasn’t sure how I felt about the all-too-perfect Jonghyun, nor did I think I wanted to know.