Chaeri
Apartment 23 | 2.0 || hiatusunderstanding
n, \ˌən-dər-ˈstan-diŋ\
1. the knowledge and ability to judge a particular situation or subject
2. an informal agreement
3. a willingness to understand people’s behavior and forgive them
21st of January, 2014
With her tongue settled between her lips, she hastily scribbled ‘Hennesy C.’ on one of the last lines on her notepad. There was no need for the whole name to be written because Chaeri knew that, in the end, her handwriting was never one of the best to read. Smoothly, she set the guitar-shaped bottle back and scanned the lower shelf for empty spots and bottle contents. Chaeri had already been working at Blackjack for two months but even now, she found Minseok’s extensive liquor collection amazing. She knew that clubs were required to have a certain amount to run properly, but she thought the manager had definitely exceeded this.
Just when Chaeri was about to note down the next bottle and its quantity, two voices caught her attention over the muffled sound of the music that was playing in the background.
“Where were you last night? I didn’t hear you come back and then this morning you were gone again,” Hana asked, her tone noting that she was quite annoyed. Sehun grinned and whipped the towel he was using over his shoulder before he sauntered over to her and cornered her against the counter. “Did you miss me that much?”
Hana moved back with a frown when the blond came dangerously close to her and crossed her arms. “Yes, so much because now I had to do the dishes of last night’s dinner all by myself while it wasn’t even my job to,” she sarcastically smiled at him while cocking an eyebrow, showing the attitude that hid in her words. The bartender’s smile faltered a little but still he remained steadfast as he yet again leaned in while caging the girl in his arms. The latter wasn’t impressed, however, and remained where she was with the same frown.
“I’m sorry, but I had a meeting with someone,” Sehun bumped his nose against Hana’s before grazing it along her cheek, pressing small kisses against her skin until he reached her ear, “let me make it up to you tonight.”
A blush began creeping onto Chaeri’s cheeks so she quickly looked away from the scene because it was none of her business in the first place, but still heard a low whine escape the blond’s lips.
“Make it up by doing the ing dishes next time!” Chaeri heard Hana end the conversation before the latter walked around the counter to continue cleaning the tables. When Chaeri looked back at where Sehun stood, she found him bent over clutching onto what seemed the area near his hips. The girl didn’t need long to figure out what Hana had done to leave him in such pain.
Chaeri smiled to herself before she focused on checking their stash again. Even though the group had been through a lot, Hana never seemed to have lost her feisty spark. Chaeri knew Hana was envious of her easygoing, free spirited way of thinking and handling things, but it was Chaeri who envied Hana’s cool yet strong mindset. She wasn’t one to back down in a fight - she undoubtedly got this from her father in the way he had raised her - but she was still a little insecure in her actions. This was what fitted the two friends like a puzzle; they completed each other, they filled in the gaps of where the other was lacking.
Keeping this in mind, refueling Chaeri’s desire to fix things with her best friend, the girl continued working, not noticing Minseok walking into the bar area. The elder was, for some reason, in high spirits today but nobody knew why - nobody minded either because a happy Minseok meant reasonable hours with a pleasant atmosphere. Nodding at Yixing who sat at the bar, Minseok also spotted his ace and let out an amused laugh when he heard the whines and curses that left his lips. He passed him, patted the younger on the shoulder as a form of encouragement, and continued to Chaeri who stood at the far end of the bar.
“Hey, how’s the inventarisation going?” he asked with a smile when he had reached the new girl and leaned against the counter with his lower back. Chaeri returned his gesture and checked her notepad, flipping through a few pages. “Well it’s not like we’re running low on bottles but it won’t take long so restocking would be the strategically wise thing to do.”
Minseok nodded at her explanation and took the notepad to check what quantities she had written down himself. Seeing that it was quite an amount, he looked up and around until he spotted the one he was searching for near the wardrobe. “Jongdae! Come here for a sec,” he called the darkhaired man over when he caught his attention. The younger wiped his hands on his dark jeans to dry them and set off to his boss and new colleague. He met eyes with Chaeri for the slightest moment when he arrived and showed a tightlipped smile before glancing at Minseok. “What’s up?” he asked casually, leaning against the shiny black marble counter.
“The wall needs restocking and since you know how to drive the Beast, I need you to go with Chaeri,” he explained and handed the younger Chaeri’s notepad.
Chaeri stiffened at this because Jongdae and her weren’t exactly on speaking terms because of everything that had happened, but to her surprise, the male agreed. “She wrote down what we still have so work from that,” Minseok continued, not noticing the awkward vibe that had settled the moment Jongdae had joined them. “But it’s not finished,” the girl quickly interrupted but Minseok just waved it away. “Oh that’s okay, Jongdae has an eye for things like this.”
The male bartender nodded and again pressed his lips together. “I’ll drive the van around,” he reported and eyed Chaeri, “I’ll meet you in front,” before he began walking to the backroom. Chaeri watched how he disappeared behind the black door when Minseok caught her attention. “We have a place where we always go when we’re running low,” he explained, “a friend of ours has a liquor store but also a storing unit we can plunder.”
Chaeri let out a slightly uncomfortable laugh at his explanation before she bid him goodbye and passed him to get her jacket from the backroom. While passing Sehun, she noticed that her nerves began building up in her system, resulting in her heart beating faster in her chest because also with this man, the girl wasn’t on good terms. To her luck, the blond just nodded with a slightly painful wince on his face in acknowledgement and let her be.
After getting her necessities, Chaeri quickly made her way to the front entrance. The parking lot was mainly empty so the spots were all covered by a layer of crispy snow, creating one big blanket of white. Chaeri rubbed her bare hands together to warm herself as she scanned the empty area for the ‘beast’ Minseok had spoken of earlier. She quickly spotted a large black van with the Blackjack logo on the side, making the cogs in Chaeri’s head work because now she understood why her boss had called the van like that.
With careful steps, she scurried over to it, making sure not to fall on the snow covered road that separated the lot and the building, and climbed into van. The few seconds she had spent outside still managed to leave a small blush on her fair skin but the warmth that instantly surrounded her when she took a seat in the van was slowly seeping into her clothes, warming her bit by bit.
Her cheeks tingled because of the contrast of warmth and cold but something felt off. When she turned to the driver, she met eyes with Jongdae for a moment, a small smile creeping onto his lips when he noticed the blush playing Chaeri’s nose and cheeks.
“Are you cold?” he asked when she put on her seatbelt.
“Not really,” she mumbled and pushed her bare hands between her legs to warm them. Jongdae watched her for a moment, pressing her plump chapped lips together with a small frown creasing her eyebrows. Her expression was almost sorrowful but there still was this hint of hope twinkling in her dark eyes which for some reason warmed the man. His smile hadn’t faltered, so with the same calm expression, he turned up the heater before he revved the car once and rolled out of the lot onto the main road.
Regardless of the situation, the ride to wherever they were going passed by comfortably silent and surprisingly quick. The busy streets of Busan had changed into empty roads with meadows on either sides, leaving the girl speechless to the breathtaking scenery that flashed by her window. Their destination was located near a harbor where stranded boats laid untouched, surrounded by large brick buildings. They probably originated from the late 50s, because the large empty lot in front of them looked like a place where large fishers markets would take place.
After a few maneuvers, Jongdae held back on the paddle and stopped in front of a large entrance that was closed off by a storage gate. He honked once and a few seconds later he got a response because the gate rattled and began rising. Chaeri gaped at this and glanced at Jongdae. “Well, that was very maffia-like,” she mumbled to herself, leaving Jongdae chuckling as he drove into the large white hall. Chaeri’s mouth never closed because the building they had entered turned out to be an old large factory warehouse filled with endless rows of metal shelves containing what Chaeri recognized as liquor bottles.
Slowly, she unbuckled herself and slid out of car, followed by the Jongdae. The lights weren’t too bright; just enough for one to read the labels on the bottles and see where they were walking. Jongdae obviously knew where to go so he walked more into the warehouse with Chaeri on his heels. At the side, she spotted a small office where a figure appeared and began approaching Jongdae with spread arms.
“We’re all mad here. I’m mad, you’re mad,” the man spoke up with a wide smile, making Jongdae laugh and shake his head, “How do you know I’m mad? said Alice. You must be, said the Cheshire cat, or you wouldn’t have come here.”
With this, the blackhaired man grinned satisfied and gathered the young bartender into a hug. “It’s getting old, Byunghee,” Jongdae smiled and patted the man on the back.
“Oh that is where you are wrong, my dear Cheshire cat. It is, to the day, still oh so very funny,” Byunghee smiled before looking past him and meeting with Chaeri’s curious eyes.
“Where do you want to get to?” he asked with a charming smile, continuing his monologue, and gallantly held her hand as he did a small bow. “It doesn’t matter,” Chaeri surprisingly replied with a small smile and got twirled around by the tall man once. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” he finally said and kissed Chaeri’s hand before letting go and glancing at Jongdae. “She’s a keeper,” he pointed at the girl and wrapped an arm around the male, leading him to the shelves. “Now to what do I owe this visit?” Byunghee then asked Jongdae. The latter fished Chaeri’s notebook out of his pocket and pressed it against the man’s chest as they walked to the other side of the unit. “Business, Mr Joo.”
“A word I love so very much,” Byunghee smiled and took the notebook before flipping through it, “How’s our Minseokie doing these days?”
“As good as it gets,” Jongdae replied and folded his arms as Chaeri joined the two again. “Blackjack is doing great! Its popularity is rising every day so this obviously equals a happy boss.”
Byunghee laughed at this and cocked his head once. “Of course.”
“I’ll go get your register so you can get started,” he then smiled and eyed Chaeri for a moment, a satisfied grin curling his lips when he noticed her looking around in awe. “Impressed?”
The girl nodded with the same stunned expression. “This is amazing.”
“If you have as many clients as I have, it’s only logical,” Byunghee smiled and winked before leaving to his office.
“Come on,” Jongdae snapped the girl out of it when he took Chaeri by her elbow to lead her to the shelves, when he noticed her lingering eyes on Byunghee’s retreating back. He took off his jacket and hung it off a hook on a rack when they stopped in front of the shelves, telling Chaeri to do the same. The latter was surprised by how cold it actually was inside of the warehouse when the surrounding air hugged her arms.
“If you’re cold, you can keep your jacket on,” Jongdae muttered before he left Chaeri alone for a moment to get two metal cages on wheels. The girl rubbed her arms to warm herself but chose to smile through the cold and leave her jacket as it was. When Jongdae returned, he began assembling the metal structures until they formed shelved cages with the sides closed off to properly protect the bottles that would be placed inside.
“Minseok made some changes to the assortment so I marked those red, in case you haven’t seen them yet,” Byunghee informed when he joined the two bartenders again. “Really? Where does he think all the extra’s will fit,” Jongdae frowned and took one of the stapled sheets out of Byunghee’s hands to scan the names on it.
“Don’t worry, I checked. He took some out too so it’s fine,” Byunghee added as he read over the man’s shoulder. “I trust you on this one, then,” Jongdae sighed and threw the sheets onto a shelf in the opened cage. Byunghee let out a dry laugh and patted the man on the shoulder. “That is not always the best thing to do, but this time is an exception.”
Jongdae rolled his eyes and took a few steps back from the rows of beverages to estimate how long it would take them to collect everything. Chaeri watched him run a few fingers through his raven hair before tapping his chin in thought, leaving a small smile to grace her lips.
“And a copy for the lady,” Byunghee interrupted Chaeri’s train of thoughts when he smiled and handed her the sheet. “Do you know how this works?” he asked when he saw her eyes widening at the amount on the papers, and mindlessly shook her head. Byunghee laughed and moved next to her. “It’s fairly easy once you understand the system I have - ”
“I think we’ll be fine,” Jongdae interrupted a little irritated when he had joined the two again and rolled one of the wheeled cages to Chaeri, “I’ll explain it as we go.”
Byunghee stepped away with his arms up in surrender when he saw Jongdae’s expression, but still he threw Chaeri another smile and winked, “Call me if you need me.”
“Thanks, Byunghee,” Jongdae said annoyed again and watched the man laugh as he saluted them and his heels to leave. “He’s nice,” Chaeri smiled a little to herself as she pushed the cage to the hundreds of shelves in the unit. “Very,” her colleague responded, irritation still evident but his behavior went completely past Chaeri. She just focused on properly rolling the cage without bumping into anything fragile, with in the back of her mind the feeling of appreciation towards Byunghee because he had been so nice to her; nicer than anyone had been the past months, at least.
“There’s an alphabetical system in this all,” Jongdae began explaining when he stopped at the first row of shelves. “On our list is Amaretto so it’ll obviously be in one of the first shelves. It’s pretty easy but sometimes you won’t find bottles here; those are refridgerator-bound and placed in the back where the cooling area is. They're marked with an R on the list.”
Chaeri tried to take it all in and after a few examples, she understood the system and was assigned from the letter A to K on the list whilst Jongdae would do the rest, including modifying agents and anything extra. At first, Chaeri had to get used to the mindboggling amount of names that were written on the list but once she had a technique down, the girl began having fun. She knew she had to learn those names one day, would she properly want to tend in the evenings, so as she carefully put the bottles in the racks, she made sure to make a mnemonic to remember each of them.
The two bartenders placed the full cages near the van so when they were done, they could be rolled in easily. When Chaeri was working on her fourth cage, Jongdae dropped by and handed her something to drink. He also brought their jackets so they could sit down against one of the racks and not get cold because of the ground.
“I’m done with my half so I’ll help you after our break,” he spoke up after a few minutes of resting. “Already?!” Chaeri exclaimed surprised by how fast the man worked. Jongdae smiled at her reaction. “Have you forgotten that I have done this infinitely more than you?”
Realization dawned upon the girl and she mentally smacked herself. “Right.”
Jongdae again chuckled at her behavior and took a sip from his drink as silence surrounded them. The cold that Chaeri had felt in the first place, was replaced by a comfortable warmth because of her endless working the past hour. But she knew she didn’t feel warm because of ony that. As she played with the straw in her juicebox, she glanced at Jongdae next to her. He had his legs stretched out in front of him and wore a casual expression. No matter how he placed himself, Chaeri knew that Kim Jongdae would always be undeniably handsome to her.
He had told her she was beautiful multiple times, but Chaeri doubted he still felt the same way.
“When will we be able to talk normally to each other again?” she asked quietly when she had averted her eyes to her juice box again. Jongdae stiffened at this question and carefully placed his empty box next to him. “Aren’t we already?”
Chaeri hesitated whether or not now was a good time to discuss their relationship but she knew that if they didn’t, she’d have to wait for another perfect opportunity like this to be thrown her way.
“Are we really? Because I can’t remember when it was the last time that you have properly looked me in the eye,” she continued softly, still not looking up to meet with Jongdae’s hard eyes. The latter also didn’t speak up for a moment as he remained silent in thought and looked down at his hands. “How can I look into the eyes of someone who ripped their best friend’s life apart?” he answered lowly.
His words were sorrowful stabs in Chaeri’s chest because she knew he was right but it didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt. “I don’t know,” she replied, her voice barely above a whisper as she pushed back the tears. Jongdae glanced at the girl next to him and remained silent before he spoke up again. “How do you live with yourself?”
Chaeri creased her eyebrows at the question and pressed her lips together as she shrugged. “I don’t,” she answered and looked at Jongdae, “not a day goes by with me properly living it and at the end, when I lay in bed, I close my eyes and hope that the next day will be better.”
As she dictated her thoughts, Jongdae ran his eyes over her features and finally saw how drained and lifeless she looked. The situation had definitely taken a toll on everyone but it might’ve been Chaeri who had been hit the hardest; she was the cause and therefore had to deal with the consequences on her own.
“I’m not doing this because I want to hurt you, Chaeri,” Jondae spoke up softly and to the girl’s surprise, took a hold of her hand and laced his fingers with hers before cupping it with his other. “I need to cope, I need to learn to trust you again because what you have done in the past was not okay,” he continued and met eyes with her, almost desperately trying to convey his feelings and looked down at their entwined hands. “But I cannot do that when you’re by my side because it’ll only end up hurting you - and me.”
He then let go of her hand and stood up, tensing his jaw as he carefully chose his words. “You messed up, Chae. It’s not my fault; not Luhan’s nor Hana’s. Yours. You’re the one who created this for yourself so you have to understand that when the truth comes out that not everything will go back to how it was. It can’t.”
Jongdae felt his own throat closing up but if he wouldn’t say it now, he would never.
“Everyone has gone through something that has changed them in a way that they could never go back to the person they once were. But I’m trying, I really am, but you have to let me deal with it on my own. As should you,” he continued and by now, the tears that Chaeri desperately had tried to keep in, were already flowing down her gaunt cheeks. Jongdae averted his eyes from the sight and began walking to her wheeled cage.
“Go to the car, I’ll finish up here.”
Chaeri had slipped out of her jacket when she reached the backroom of Blackjack and noticed there that Hana’s belongings were gone. She figured the girl had gone home for the night, and after hanging her jacket away, she walked into the club. Yixing greeted her as he was busy testing his disks and sliding board, waving at her from the island. Chaeri had noticed that the DJ was the most neutral person of the team; he was never really present when his colleagues found themselves in a sticky situation, nor did he partake in any of heavy conversations that would arise.
As the newbie - yet acquaintance - at the club, Chaeri appreciated that he didn’t bring up anything other than how she should talk to the guests and what was the best technique to make her way through the crowd when he was spinning. She waved back at the man and when she reached the bar, she spotted Sehun working alone, just how she had left him there.
“Hey,” Chaeri greeted him when she passed the blond and wanted to continue walking to the end of the bar, but the next thing Sehun said caught her attention.
“Looks like your little outing didn’t exactly work in your favor,” he answered her greeting without looking up from his cleaning. Chaeri frowned at this and turned back at the guy. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that it may look like I’m not interested in whatever you all do here, but I see you, Chaeri. And I see how you carry yourself. But I hope that you realize that that,” he nodded at a frowning Jongdae who clumsily opened the backdoor while trying to pull one of the cages with him onto the dancefloor, “is all your work.”
“He’s not fine, even if he sometimes says he is,” the blond continued and casually proceeded to dry glasses, “Hana may look fine, but she isn’t. I, for one, honestly couldn’t care less because we are not friends; we’re not close in any way so I won’t take this whole ordeal personally. But I’m involved because Hana is and it bothers me that she’s so affected by it.”
Chaeri clenched her jaw as Sehun continued to speak; he wasn’t exactly nice but he wasn’t mean either. He was just being Sehun who was painfully honest when the situation called for it.
“I’m not particularly fond of you either, but I’m not angry with you. I know and understand your reasoning, but it doesn’t mean that I approve of whatever you have done. However, seeing you work here amongst the people you hurt requires a lot of willpower and strength,” Sehun spoke and stopped his actions for a moment to meet eyes with Chaeri, “It shows that you’re trying and that’s something to be proud of. But again, that doesn’t mean that others are doing the same.”
A smile found Sehun’s lips.
“It just means that you have to work harder to find out.”
Chaeri was rendered speechless because she couldn’t make out of his words if he was actually supporting her or looking down on her for her actions and really didn’t care about anything. To add to that, this was the most Sehun had ever spoken to her so she was more than a little confused at the end of his speech.
The blond watched her think to herself and chose to pull her out of her misery for the slightest bit. “Minseok went home for a bit but he told me to tell you that before you put in the new bottles, you need to wipe the shelves,” Sehun spoke as he continued to put the glasses in their place, “Something about using your time efficiently.”
She quickly nodded - Sehun’s method had worked - and scurried over to Jongdae, carefully asking if she could take one of the carts. She smiled at him when he granted her with a normal answer and wished him luck outside before leaving with one of the cages. Her behavior left the bartender a bit confused and Sehun saw this but all he could do was smile at the smallest interaction between them and continued his cleaning.
Chaeri felt notably light after her conversation with the surprisingly wise bartender and tightened her apron around her hips. She was trying to get back to how it was, and knew that the road wasn’t going to be easy, but as Sehun had said before, she didn’t know if the others were thinking the same.
She’d just have to work harder to find out.
AN: [31.08.14] i hope you all haven't forgotten about chaeri and what her importance in the story is. i also hope that you have caught on that the replacement female bartender in the one to last chapter of apartment 23 was chaeri! she came in the place of ara, who had disappeared without a trace, and here we see chaeri two months into her job at blackjack. also, the couple whom everyone has been waiting for had a cameo! don't worry, the next chapter will be sehun so no more waiting or guessing :) btw, some of you may know him but i used joo byunghee as the liquor supplier bc im still not over shut up flowerboy band ;A; and he fit the roll perfectly! thank you all for your comments, they all were very caring towards luhan because he indeed loved hana very much and since no one knew how he felt after the breakup, i guess you could feel for him. i will reply to you all, and hope to receive your thoughts on this chapter as well!
im not even sure if people read this but if you do, then thumbs up and maybe drop a message?
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