"I mean no harm, Ms. Kwang," Taeyeon starts, "But I felt that you would need to know about my current situation with how I - just a few hours ago - lost my job."

The landlady makes disgusting spitting noises at the back of and swallows, "Taeyo, I don't have any time for jokes right now. I have to go feed my cat."

As she makes her way to turn inside and leave Taeyeon blurts, "I'm not kidding!"

The seemingly broad back of the landlady now looks twice as intimidating as she slowly takes a 180 with a menacing glare in her eyes.

"You're what?" Ms. Kwang asks, "Not kidding?"

Taeyeon gulps audibly.

"Taeyo, are you going to tell me that you no longer have any income when you're three months overdue on rent?"

Deciding that this will probably not be the best time to correct Ms. Kwang's use of her name, Taeyeon replies, "No ma'am! I was just letting you know about how I will be able to get enough money from..." Taeyeon's thoughts go running wild as she tries to come up with a good excuse to appease the frightening woman. "... A better job I gained! I lost my current job because I was offered a better position at another one. I'll have all of the rent ready by the end of the week."

Ms. Kwang continues to sport an annoyed look on her face as she mutters something about Taeyo better having the amount ready or else having to prepare for eviction and leaves into her residence.

Taeyeon lets out a sigh.

Well... time to go make that lie reality.

❖

As Taeyeon exits her apartment's gates, she notices that the sun raised into the middle of the sky beats down on her. She makes motions to kick pebbles off the sidewalk while walking and they roll onto the road. She then finds herself walking down a busy tourist street near her apartment that connects to the ocean with melodic sounds of street vendors advertising their ripped-off hoodies.

At one point, she reaches a petite antique-looking store completely overshadowed by larger and more brightly advertised gift shops. There wasn't even a sign on top of the door, there was only a sandwich board notifying the average pedestrian that inside was a string instrument shop named Sunshine Instruments.

A small ding announces her arrival when Taeyeon pushes a creaky door of a small music shop open. Inside there are dozens of string instruments lined up perfectly; hanging from walls and splayed across wooden tables. She feels her eyebrows rise in wonder and eyes widen at the varying displays. The smell of wood and polish fill her nostrils.

"Hi there! Looking to find anything particular today, ma'am?" The perky store clerk behind a glass counter asks.

Taeyeon looks up from her moment of awe and manages to reply, "Not really, I'm just stopping by to look."

The clerk nods rapidly, "Let me know if you have any questions!"

"Sure."

After about five minutes of wandering through the store and compiling all her thoughts together, Taeyeon stops in front of the counter again. The clerk's face brightens as he stands at attention, excited to have a first interested patron today. Taeyeon squints at his nametag that reads Yoon.

"Yoon?"

"Yes?!" The hyperactive clerk immediately answers.

"I have a few questions for you," Taeyeon says.

"I will answer all of them to the best of my ability."

"You sure?"

"Yep!"

"Positive?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Alright," Taeyeon smiles after having enough of teasing the energetic boy, "Do you own this place? You seem young to me so I was just wondering."

"No ma'am I do not. As much as I would love to have a place like this of my own, this belongs to a family friend of mine who gave me this position to work."

"I see. And why only string instruments? What about all those other instruments like woodwind, brass, percussion..."

"Oh - I'm very sorry to have cut you off by the way, force of habit! Ha ha - it's just that the owner and her family specialize in creating strings. Especially Western-style string instruments. You'll find the top quality guitars and violins here! That's for sure," Yoon happily buzzes. He seems to be so comfortable in a field he's completely interested in.

"That's interesting. And why is the shop so small? Wouldn't it just be easier to expand it?" Taeyeon genuinely questions.

Yoon sighs contently, "That's where I admire the shop owners the most. This was their first ever shop. And now that they're world renowned string instrument makers, they don't want to upgrade or change anything. They want it the way it is to remind them of their humble roots."

Taeyeon gets more intrigued by every word she listens to from Yoon.

"Now I have a question for you, Miss." Taeyeon breaks out of her daze when she hears Yoon's purposeful voice.

"Yes?"

"Why did you decide to come into this run down shop on this particular afternoon with this particular weather perfect for particularly-ing swimming since we're so near the ocean and buying particular clothes from the particular vendors outside?"

Taeyeon blinks. "Was that supposed to be funny?"

Yoon immediately jerks backward, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry if it wasn't funny. I guess I was just trying too hard on getting to know you because you've just been the most patient person I have ever met all week and you actually seem interested in these things which make me so happy and oh my gosh now I'm just ranting-"

Deciding that she couldn't keep her snickers in any longer, Taeyeon bursts out laughing as she finds Yoon one of the most endearing characters she has ever met on this particular street. She couldn't believe that she hasn't met Yoon earlier. Then again, she had always been busy with juggling her dream job and an unstable part-time job that she was let go of two months after starting.

"I actually came here to look for a job," Taeyeon says.

Now this time, Yoon blinks.

"Oh."

Taeyeon hums.

"I'll just ask the boss lady if we have any positions available when she comes in later today."

"Please do so."

"Yes miss, I'll just need your name and contact information so I can notify you if we have any available openings."

Taeyeon writes the necessities onto a small notepad that has music note print around the edges. Yoon then tapes the written note to the side of the register.

Noticing Taeyeon's inquisitive look, Yoon says, "I easily forget things so I remind myself with sticky notes throughout the day."

The lifeguard just nods as she begins to exit from the shop, "Thank you, Yoon. Please tell me right away if you do or do not have positions available!"

"No problem ma'am. I will make sure to do so!"

Ahem. Sorry not sorry for the 8-month late update. I had stuff to do with my life and AFF was definitely not one of the top priorities. Nope.

By the way, found an awesome author named Malfunction. We hit it off pretty well and now I'm a co-author for the story Wild (TaeNy).

PS. I don't proofread because it's almost 12am and I'm tired and I don't want to update tomorrow because I want to update right now.