It all started one Tuesday morning. 

Kyungsoo had worked at the local grocery store for a month now. He figured he could use the money to help pay off his college loans and pay the bills for his shared apartment. His life as a college student was nothing out of the ordinary, at least he thought it was until that one Tuesday morning when he found a sphere of lettuce misplaced in the sauces and seasonings aisle. 

Being that it was his job to make sure everything was in place before the store closed, Kyungsoo shook it off as some sort of weird customer habit and casually put it back in its place. Everything seemed to go smoothly for Kyungsoo, or so he believed. 

The following Tuesday Kyungsoo resumed his work at the grocery store, manning the cash register and giving smiles to customers. Occasionally he would switch shifts with his co-worker Jongdae and he'd be bagging for other customers as well. As they closed up shop Kyungsoo surveyed down the aisles to make sure all the food items were where they needed to be. But it was on this particular Tuesday that Kyungsoo didn't expect to see something familiar.

He spotted another sphere of lettuce on the same shelf he found it the last week. 

This trend went on weeks. It became part of Kyungsoo's work routine. Every Tuesday before the shop closed there would always be a lettuce sphere on the same shelf and Kyungsoo would be there to put it away. It wasn't like he minded at first, but then the routine increased from every Tuesday to twice a week, and pretty soon everyday before he would leave to close the store there would be some lettuce waiting for him to place back.

"Do Kyungsoo, please report to aisle A5. Do Kyungsoo, please report to aisle A5."

Aw crap, not again, Kyungsoo thought to himself after the intercom sounded off. Aside from the constant misplacement of lettuce, he usually got complaints from various people around the store, mainly from his boss Kris. Nice as he was to give Kyungsoo the job, he often scared the living daylights out of the other employees just from his notorious " face". Kyungsoo wondered what the fuss was all about this time.

He reached the aisle and sure enough, Kris was there. What he didn't expect was lettuce lined all the way across the shelf where the chips would be normally placed. "Explain this," his boss stared him down as he pointed at the row of lettuce. 

"I-uh, I literally have no idea, Kris," Kyungsoo looked up and waved his hands. "Seriously, I have no-"

"Just fix it," Kris told him gruffly as he left. "And that's boss to you, Kyungsoo."

For months this routine went on, and this time lettuce could be found in different aisles throughout the store. At this point Kyungsoo was beginning to think someone decided to pull this prank on him for no good reason. He tried to ask around if they saw anything, but usually he got back with replies along the lines of, "No, I haven't seen anything at all" or "Wasn't me, bro." (That last response was from Jongdae, whom Kyungsoo suspected of pulling something like this on him.)

Kyungsoo felt extremely tired. He couldn't wait to get home and get his shift over with. The next person in line pulled up all of his items to the conveyor belt and Kyungsoo began to scan them sleepily. "Long day?" the customer asked.

Kyungsoo simply replied with an "mhmm," weakly looking up to where the voice came from. In front of him stood a tall young man who appeared to be not that much younger than him. The customer had scruffy brown hair and toned bronze skin. His lips were quite plump, too, and Kyungsoo couldn't help but gaze at how soft they looked. Come to think of it, it's been a while since he's been with someone, and right now Kyungsoo couldn't help but think about how attractive the stranger was.

He snapped out of his thoughts quickly and calculated the total amount on the cash register. "That'll be $25, sir."

The stranger fumbled around with his pockets in search of his wallet. Once he found it, he took it out and sighed to himself in dismay. "I'm sorry, uh, I'm a little short. Mind if I subtract the lettuce?" he asked. 

"Sure, no problem," Kyungsoo replied as he took the lettuce out of the customer's purchase. "That'll be $19.43, sir."

"Oh cool, thanks," the stranger flashed him a smile before he paid and then left. 

"Have a good day, sir," Kyungsoo told him as the stranger ran off with his groceries. For some reason something about what he said seemed familiar to him, but he was too tired to think about it.

"Kyungsoo, do you know why you're here?"

He stood awkwardly in front of his boss's desk with nothing to say. This routine was getting quite old and honestly, he had enough. "It's the lettuce again, isn't it?"

Kris leaned back on his chair and propped his feet on his desk. "Kyungsoo, you're a good kid, I know that. But this whole lettuce thing is getting out of hand. Customers are complaining about the disorganization of this place.

"I'll keep it short, if you don't find a way to fix this I'm gonna have to let you go," he simply told him.

Kyungsoo walked out right after that discussion. He could go on putting lettuce back where it was supposed to be, but that was much too tiring and he was getting sick of this routine. On the other hand, if he stopped, it was possible that he could get fired, and he needed the pay to keep up with his taxes.

So Kyungsoo formulated a plan to catch the culprit once and for all and talk to him about why he, or she, was making such a mess. Sure enough, Kyungsoo would probably have a long talk with him or her about it, since he couldn't really put a fight for his life. The real question, however, was how the heck he was going to find out who his lettuce boy/girl was. 

As if by chance, Kyungsoo spotted the bronze-skinned stranger again, this time at the vegetable section picking out lettuce. Wait, Kyungsoo suddenly remembered. That definitely was the same guy from the other day. Deciding to get on the case now, Kyungsoo followed him around as sneakily as possible. He took off his apron and name tag, placed them aside on a shelf where he hoped no one would find them, and began his investigation. 

He trailed behind the stranger and made sure he wouldn't be seen. Kyungsoo watched him from afar and sure enough, he did look attractive. He was wearing a simple outfit; some jeans, a plain black v-neck t-shirt, and some flipflops. His hair was still as scruffy as it was the other day when Kyungsoo met him. Halfway as the stranger looked down from the cereal shelves he turned around and Kyungsoo quickly turned and hid. Oh crap, don't tell me he saw, Kyungsoo slightly panicked. He waited for a few minutes before he came out from his hiding place only to find the stranger gone. Kyungsoo ran to where he saw the stranger stand, and sure enough, there was a sphere of lettuce left right where a box of Cheerios would be. 

Kyungsoo felt a sense of victory overwhelm him. He now knew who his lettuce boy was. He just hoped he could get the chance to talk to him the next time he appeared.

But that day hardly came around.

Or at least not to Kyungsoo's knowledge. After that day lettuce stopped appearing on different aisles and everything was well for the next few weeks. While Kyungsoo was quite pleased that Kris didn't have to yell at him anymore and he got to keep his job, he found himself thinking about the bronze-skinned stranger he saw. Perhaps he saw him that day and decided to skip out after all. Or maybe he just decided to stop shopping at the store and decided to carry out his own little habits elsewhere. Either way, Kyungsoo would never know. He was almost sure he wouldn't see him again. Almost.

It was on a Tuesday evening before they were about to close up and Kyungsoo made sure that everything was in place. He went to the sauces and seasonings aisle where he first saw his first sphere of lettuce. Not expecting to find anything new, Kyungsoo was quite content that everything was fine. At least, that's what he thought when he found what would be his last sphere of lettuce. 

Kyungsoo reached out to grab the lettuce and walked on to return it to its proper place amongst the vegetables, but not before he noticed a little sticky note attached to it. It read:

Hey,

I guess you caught me, huh? Your little lettuce boy. I'll explain everything over lunch, if you'd like.

Here's my number: xxx-xxx-xxxx

-Kim Jongin

P.S. Don't think I didn't notice you staring that day at the cash register. But for what it's worth, I think you're pretty cute, too.

Kyungsoo closed up shop that day with a smile on his face. Jongin, huh?