"This isn’t it either. The color is right but the smell isn’t the one she has," you let out another sigh as you sniff what seems to be the hundredth bottle of perfume in bath and body works.

So maybe it wasn’t the best idea to get your friend her favorite perfume, not know the name of it, but use your unreliable photographic memory of what you think the color is and what you think it smells like. And maybe it was even worse that you decided to wait two hours before her party to buy it, but you didn’t think it would be this difficult to find it!

You cursed your genes for cutting you short ten inches of the length of your six-foot tall parents as you tried to place the perfume on the top shelf. You were on your tippy toes,even jumping to reach the top shelf, and trying to figure out how you managed to get it from off that shelf in the first place.

You tried to inch more on your tippy toes, but unfortunately found yourself losing your balance and tipping over.

You were expecting to feel the pain from your body coming in contact with the hardness of the concrete, but it never came. Instead you were met with a slightly firm, warm body that felt like you were wrapped around a blanket on a chilly winter day.

This moment was short lived when your ‘blanket’ coughed and you came to your senses, realizing that that warm blanket was actually a man.

His hair was a color that you quite couldn’t put your finger on, strawberry blonde maybe, and he had the deepest set of chocolate eyes that your found yourself getting lost in. They were truly like a batch of brownies fresh out of the oven.

You swore you felt the sides of your mouth salivating at the thought, when the man coughed again. A little bit louder this time.

"May I help you?" you said with a bit of acerbity, that came out harsher than you intended.

His eyebrows raised a bit but fell as quickly as they had risen and he replied,”No, may I help you?”

"Excuse Me?" you replied back incredulously, because was he trying to get smart with you? The customer?? 

"I said may I help you?" he repeated again, but this time sounding slightly confused and a bit unsure.

"I heard you the first time, but help with me with?" you were mentally rolling your hand out as if this were a game of Wheel of Fortune and he just so happen to be the contestant brave enough to guess the whole phrase.

"With anything, I work here," he flatly said.

oh

"Oh," you said your thoughts out aloud.

"I’m sorry for ugh- having you break my fall, and thanks," you sheepishly said as your eyes fell to the ground and you started scratching your head with your left hand.

"It’s okay, we have to make sure our precious customers don’t get hurt," and you felt your face starting to get warm. 

"Also you might have tried to sue us, and that wouldn’t be good for me because I probably be one of the first ones to get cut," he added.

Your eyes immediately shifted from the floor back to his and you scoffed at him with a scrunched up face, and he let out a small chuckle.

The hard expression on your face fell as his eyes had reduced into fine lines. His mouth curled upward, and goodness, you just had this strong urge to pinch his cheeks.

After a moment he regained his composture and asked you why were you even attempting to reach the tallest shelf. 

with that height of yours, you could read the implication in his words as he looked you up and down.

"It’s actually one of my friend’s birthday. Her party starts in less than two hours, and I’ve been in here for maybe half an hour looking for the perfume she has but I can’t remember if the color of the fragrance is blue or purple, maybe it’s even red, I don’t even know. I’ve been smelling all of these perfumes, and they are all starting to numb my senses and all smell similar. Not to mention I’m on the verge of having a major headache, which could be a migraine, did I mention I have those? And if I do end up having one of those then I’m seriously screwed because goodness forbid the day I have one I forget to carry the medicine in my purse, and those jokers are really painful you know? I’d probably actually sue y’all if that makes you happy," and with that the man burst into another fit of laughter before calming down once again.

"What made you think it was a great idea to wait until the day of her birthday, two hours before her party, to start searching for her gift?" you could tell by the way he was replying that he was trying his hardest to stifle his laughs.

"Okay, I thought it would take some time to look, but I wasn’t expecting to spend my time sniffing the whole bath and body works inventory!"

The man’s face curled up at the sides again, and he walked off leaving you confused. You were about to call his attention, but he returned in a matter of seconds.

He held out a perfume that was baby blue, and on the top read in big bold letters, Sea Island Cotton.

"Here, smell this one," he said. 

You reached for the bottle, and looked at him before putting it up to your nose. Your eyes widen and when you looked up at him he had a grin on his face.

This was the one.

"I’m assuming this is the one you’re looking for yeah?" with his grin plastered from one side of his face to the other.

"It is, how did you know it was this one?"

"It’s actually one of the four fragrances that’s really popular right now, so I was guessing it had to be one of those," he says with a shrug.

"I don’t think you ever told me, but what’s your name anyways?" you asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Well you never asked, but if you read my name tag," he paused to grab and emphasize the white and red house shaped name tag, with Sunggyu in bolded black letters,”it says Sunggyu. So maybe my name is Sunggyu.”

"Well, Sunggyu, I’m Sarah, and aren’t you supposed to do that when you first help out customers. Give the standard "Hello, I’m [insert your name] and how can I help you?"? Isn’t that supposed to be common customer service etiquette?” you look at him and he starts to walk closer into your space.

With each step he takes it feels as if your heart is palpitating loud enough for him to hear, but you try to keep your face composed and indifferent so he won’t know that you’re fazed.

He’s inches away from you and reaches his hand out to take the other perfume you had in your right hand and places it on the top self, something that you were struggling to do and why this whole conversation with him started in the first place.

He then takes a few steps back to give you your space, and looks at you with a smile across his face.
"You know what? You aren’t that bad Sarah."

You returned the smile back to him before replying,”Likewise, I could say the same to you, Sunggyu.”