“Are you alright?” Lay asked concernedly. “You didn’t hurt yourself when you fell, did you?

I must have looked shocked, which I supposed I was. I was shocked and blushing like crazy. I could feel the heat radiating off my face. I shook my head and scrambled to my feet before Lay had the chance to offer me a hand.

“May, is that really you?” he asked, inspecting my red face with good humor. He smiled and ruffled my hair. “You’ve gotten even prettier.”

“Yes. Thank you,” I said rather stiffly. My voice reverberated loudly in my own head and I cringed. I cleared my throat and tried again. "How have you been?" It was hard for me to look him in the eye, so I stared at his hands instead. Something surprised me. The ring on his finger, the ring that had been so conspicuously there when he had taught me piano, was gone. I wondered whether he was still married.

“Ah,” he said, sweeping an arm across the store. He made a face and winked at me. “As you can see, I am the epitome of contentedness and financial security as I reign over a vast kingdom of overpriced products.”

I was unsure if I should ask him whether he still taught piano. He hadn’t asked me whether I still played piano. Then again, that answer was obvious. Of course not. Piano would have been the last thing on my mind after my father lost his fortune. I finally decided to stay on the safe route of conversation that we were currently navigating. “It looks like you’re doing well for yourself.”

“It’s alright,” Lay said. He paused, but it was a tiny pause that would have been imperceptible had I been paying slightly less attention. He smoothly switched the topic, turning more businesslike than I had ever imagined he could be. “Now, what brings you here? Looking for something in particular?”

“I’m actually here to apply for the job,” I said. Although slightly taken aback by the change in his demeanor, I was grateful that our conversation had veered away from the deeply personal. “The cashier position.”

A look of surprise flew across Lay’s face. “You’re here for that?”

“Yes.”

With a considerable amount of effort, Lay schooled his features back to neutrality. “I’ll just need to take a look at your resume.”

I handed my underwhelming resume over to him, a little abashedly. All in all, my resume was a very sad reflection of my life if he chose to see it that way. Lay spent a long time looking at that single sheet of paper. It might have been out of respect for what little dignity I still had left. Or he might have been trying to subtly pry into my curious life. I knew at least a few things must have stood out. The disparity between my school and my home address. The fact that my list of accomplishments was primarily academic when he had never known me to be a strong student. His intense scrutiny was making me increasingly self-conscious.

When he finally looked up, he smiled. “I think you’re a perfect fit.”

I could hardly believe my ears. I let a minute pass before saying anything, just in case Lay had let the wrong words slip out. When he continued to look at me expectantly, I felt as though I were floating on a cloud.

“Thank you,” I said, relieved. “I’d love to take on this job.”

“Just wait a moment. I’ll go and get the stuff you’ll need to fill out.” Lay disappeared between the shelves. He returned a few minutes later, carrying a rather intimidating stack of papers. He handed me at least ten, explaining each as he went along. “This is agreement you’ll have to sign before you start working. It has a list of all the duties you’ll be responsible for. Here’s a code of conduct. This is a criminal record check that you’ll have to complete within ten days of starting the job. We’ll cover the cost of course, so long as you bring us back a receipt. This is the training manual that you’ll need to look over…” And on and on it went, the information coming at me so quickly that it made me lightheaded.

Though the information overwhelmed me, the one part of my brain that was still functioning registered that between all the training I had to undergo and all the paperwork I had to complete, it would be a relatively long time before I actually started working. And an even longer time before I could get my first paycheck.

My rent was due tomorrow.

Perhaps Lay saw the look on my face. At any rate, his tone softened. And after he finished explaining the papers, he pulled out a blank check. In impeccably neat handwriting, he wrote out ₩400,000. He handed it to me.

“It’s a pay advance,” he explained. Seeing my confused look, he said, “We do it for all our new employees. Boosts morale, increases employee loyalty, and stuff like that.”

The money was just enough to cover my rent. It was a of luck, really.

I walked out of the store with the papers in my backpack and the check carefully folded in my pocket.

I had been lucky.

I didn’t believe in luck.

Something was off.