9:00 PM.

It was time to start closing up the cafe. Dara and the other maids stood at the entrance and bowed at the last of the customers who were leaving. Once everybody was gone, Bom dusted off her hands and beamed at her workers.

"Good work today, everyone!" She chirruped. "Now that all the tables are cleaned up, you're all free to change in the dressing rooms and go home!"

The maids began to head over to the dressing rooms to change into their regular clothes. Once she reached her locker, Dara removed the white bonnet from her head and took off her apron. 

"Hey, unnie! I haven't had a chance to talk to you at all today!" A voice greeted her. Dara turned to see one of her co-workers smiling with her eyes forming little half-moon crescents.

"Minzy-ah! How have you been?" Dara smiled back at her. The girl shrugged as she began to change into her shirt. 

"So-so. Nothing to report, like always. My life is a boring one." Minzy flattened the wrinkles on the purple t-shirt with her palm and wiggled her eyebrows at Dara. "But I wouldn't say the same for you, unnie. Who was that guy from earlier that saved you from those two evil men, hmm?"

Dara rolled her eyes. "Saved? I could have taken those two creeps on easily. Kwon Jiyong didn't have to come butting in and make me look like a damsel in distress!"

"Kwon Jiyong? So that's his name?"

Dara nodded and Minzy giggled again.

"He stayed in the cafe for hours before leaving, unnie! And he was watching you the entire time!" Minzy exclaimed. "Is there something going on between you two?"

"We're not in that kind of relationship! The only reason why that creep was staring at me was to humiliate me!" Dara insisted. "And who in the world would sit by himself in a cafe for over three hours? Hogging a table for that long is inconsiderate to the other customers waiting to be seated!"

"There were no customers waiting to be seated, though." 

"That's not the point! Now that he knows that I work at a maid cafe, he's going to hold this over me for the rest of my life!" Dara felt like curling up into a ball and disappearing off the face of the Earth. Minzy bit her lip and closed her locker.

"Unnie, if I were you, I wouldn't worry so much about it. If that guy knows that you wouldn't want your secret to be exposed, I'm sure that he wouldn't go around telling everybody about it."

Dara grew silent as her mind processed Minzy's words. 

Kwon Jiyong wouldn't miss out on a chance to make her miserable... would he?

Dara walked out of the cafe with her backpack slung over her shoulder. It was dark outside and the streets were nearly empty. Her mind was full of worry and countless fake scenarios floated around her head as she imagined what life would be like if the entire school knew that she worked as a maid. Her tough image would be ruined and there wouldn't be a day without countless people taunting her about her job and visiting her workplace just for kicks. 

Even a zombie apocalypse sounded much more appealing.

Dara's footsteps screeched to a halt when she saw a figure leaning next to a lamppost on the street. His arms were crossed and he was staring right at her with an unreadable expression.

"Hey, Prez." Kwon Jiyong waved. "Had a good day at work?"

"......." Dara said nothing and continued walking at a faster pace. Jiyong jogged to keep up with her, making her eyebrows furrow in annoyance.

"Stop following me, you creep. I don't want to even see your face right now."

"Ouch. That hurts, you know. Especially since I've been waiting hours for you to get off work." Jiyong said sadly. Dara felt a twinge of guilt but it disappeared when she looked at him and saw that he had a hint of a smile on his face.

"Why are you following me, Kwon?" Dara slowed to a halt and glared at him suspiciously. "You already found out that I work at a maid cafe, so what more do you want? I don't have any more big 'secrets' for you to find, if that’s what you're searching for."

"I'm not searching for anything. And if you're wo