A few days later, I came into take over Soo-young’s shift. Today was the day I’d receive my first pay day.

I stepped into the store, I heard the regular, “Welcome to Sagilee’s!” before the groan of disapproval.

“Hey,” I greeted, Soo-young, who glared at me. She bit her tongue and forcefully smiled at me.

“Hi.”

I snickered, enjoying the fact that she had to be nice because the boss was still present in the store. I wandered through the backroom, greeting a few customers that remembered my face. I knocked on the door to the office that I first came into when getting interviewed.

“Come in!” the voice on the other side said. I twisted the doorknob and walked in, greeting in the process.

“Ah, [Name]!” my boss grinned when he saw me.

“Mr. Lee, how are you?” I chirped.

“I’m fantastic, and I’m sure you are too, since you’re getting your payday today,” he winked. He stood up from his chair behind his desk and handed me a white envelope. I almost cheered when it fell in my hands.

“Thank you!” I bowed, when I accepted the money. He shook his head.

“No, thank you. I have had compliments from the YG building and from the local people. It seems like you really know how to give customer service!” he chuckled, patting my back, before guiding me out of the door. He locked the door behind him and beckoned me to follow him to the head counter.

“Soo-young,” he called.

“Yes?” she replied, with her pretty, fake voice.

“[Name] can take over your shift now! You two have done a fabulous job,” the jolly man chuckled, patting both of us on the shoulder, before heading out the door. “I’ll leave it to you two to handle the rest!” he smiled.

We both bowed as he left. There was a short silence between us, before Soo-young tossed me the uniform apron. I caught it, quietly mumbling a thanks.

“Look,” Soo-young started. Not again… I internally sighed as I put on the apron. She was fixing her dyed hair as I looked up at her.

“Yes?” I grumbled.

“If you see one of the trainees, tell them to call me,” she ordered, brushing her bangs with a small purple comb. I watched her silently before walking behind the counter, setting my things down.

“Are you listening?” she snapped, shoving her comb insider her bag. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

“Yeah, I got it. Do you have a specific request for which trainee you want to seduce?” I asked, half joking, half serious.

She scoffed and glared at me.

“For your information, two of them, specifically Hanbin and Bobby, were about to ask me out until you waltzed in and messed up my shifts.” She snapped.

This surprised me. My eyes snapped up to meet her brown eyes, which seem to burn in a fiery hatred for me.

“Really now,” I tried to say sounding uninterested.

“Yes, really,” she rolled her eyes. She pushed her hair back and straightened out her shirt. “So don’t try to get cocky with them.”

Cocky? Is she trying to say that I’m trying to seduce them? That made me scoff.

“I won’t.” I muttered.

“Good,” she sighed, heading towards the door. Yeah, leave before I attack you, you darn witch.

“Oh,” she paused, before she left. I almost groaned out loud. “Remember, tell them to call me. I’ll be waiting!” she sickly smiled, before skipping out of the door.

As she left, I felt myself sigh. How annoying.

I looked across the store and dealt with all of customers before sitting down to pick at my nails and wait for more customers.

“Tsk, Hanbin and Bobby? With her?” I murmur to myself, feeling myself get more skeptical, but a bit worried of her words.

Really? Those two?

“No way,” I continued to mutter to myself. They were smart, not stupid. Why in the world would they fall for that wench? She was so rude and nasty.

“Well, she is pretty…” I sighed, feeling a bit jealous and confused. That was when I stopped myself. Why in the world would I be jealous from that? ‘Stop being stupid, [Name],’ I thought to myself, shaking my head angrily.

At that moment, the door ringed open and there was a loud, manly, squeal.

“[NICKNAME].”

I snapped my head up, bewildered, before seeing an excited Bobby bouncing up and down at the counter.

“Weclome—“

“Forget that jazz, I’m glad you’re here! You gotta come with me—“

I stopped him short with a hand.

“I’m working.” I stated. The excited smile on his disappeared, as a pout replaced it instead.

“Eyy, [Nicknameee]!~~” he whined, doing a ridiculous movement of “aegyo”. I looked at him, stupidly. What was this boy doing? “Surely, you can’t leave a cute guy like me waiting for you right? I need you to come with me!” he said cutely. What was this guy, 12?

“You look idiotic.” I bluntly confessed. He looked at me with despair, before recovering and standing up straight.

“That’s not nice!” he grumbled, “Most girls would find this cute too. It’s irresistible!”

I almost choked on my own spit. Is he serious?

“For real?” I asked him with wide eyes. He looked at me for a few seconds, before pinching my cheeks with his hands.

“Unless you’re into the bad boy type?” he suddenly whispered, eyes serious. His eyes were searching mine, making me shift uncomfortably. He looked like he was joking, but his eyes looked insanely serious.

“Don’t be stupid,” I argued, backing out of his pinch, feeling more awkward than ever. I pushed the feeling away before looking back at him. He reverted back to his normal, happy self. There was the Bobby I liked. “You’re fine just like that.” I answered his question, pointing to his face. He stared at me, before goofily smiling.

“Good,” he responded, before leaning on the counter. A few moments passed with him staring at me without saying anything.

“Err…” I hesitantly broke the silence, “Aren’t you here to buy something?”

He frowned, “Well, actually, I was here to get you to come with me, but you won’t go, so I’m going to wait.” He shrugged, and continued to stare at me with patient eyes. I shuffled uncomfortable before frowning myself.

“You can’t just do that—“

“I’m a customer, aren’t I?” he cheekily smirked. This guy was really good at persuading people.

“Looooooooooook,” I dragged out my words, “you’re not actually buying something, soo…”

He laughed. “Okay, okay,” he surrendered. I thought he was going to exit the store, but instead, he turned, grabbed a pack of gum, and slid it across the counter.

“There.”

I narrowed my eyes on him. What was his actual motive here?

“Okay,” I gave in, scanned the pack of gum, taking his money. I gave him his change and watched him shove the pack of gum in his pockets.

“Thank you for shopping at SagiLee’s—“

“Now I can do whatever I want here right? I bought something,” he playful said, going behind the counter, taking one of the stools in the backroom, and placing it next to me.

“I’ll chill here,” he happily said, taking a seat, leaning against the wall. His eyes sparkled playfully as he watched my reaction.

“Yeah, no.” I frowned.

“C’mon, [Nickname], we’re friends!”

This boy was seriously stubborn. Not only that, he was hard to get angry at.

“Bobby!” I whined, motioning him to leave if he was going to just loiter around.

“Don’t be like that!” he waggled his finger at me, getting comfortable. “If you came with me, I would’ve left a while ago!”

So this is my fault?

“This is complete bullsh/t.” I grumbled. His mouth opened.

“Wow, [Nickname], how vulgar!” he giggled. What was he, five?

“Your face is vulgar,” I snapped, instantly regretting how stupid that came out. However, Bobby didn’t take offense and just laughed, standing up to ruffle up my hair.

“Cute.” He teased. Before I could respond, there was a jingle at the door, and a shout of, “Hyung!”

I turned, locking eyes with Hanbin, and four new boys. Jesus Christ, how many trainees were there?

“There you are!” a black haired guy exclaimed, looking a bit irritated, yet relieved.

“Hyung…” two boys sighed. The last guy stood, shaking his head in the back.

“Are we interrupting something?” Hanbin asked, narrowing his eyes on Bobby’s hand, where it laid on top of my head. I shook my head furiously.

“Nope! You can take him!” I said, shaking his hand off my head and gestured to Bobby. This was my chance to have him leave.

“Actually,” Bobby chuckled, throwing his arm around my shoulder, “we were doing something important—“

“Not really…” I grumbled. He was so touchy.

“Well, too bad, we have to go. Practice is going to start.” Hanbin snapped.

“Wow, yo chillllll,” the taller guy in the back said, before stepping forward. “You’re [Name]?” he asked, smiling.

I nodded, shoving Bobby away from me. He flailed his arms and made little whining noises. He was just like a puppy begging for attention.

“You’re pretty average, not all that great— I’m Hongseok,” he held out his hand. I stared at it a while with a slacked jaw before snapping it shut.

“Did you just call me average?” I asked, completely surprised that he was so straightforward.

“Yeah. So are you going to shake my hand or—“ he grinned. It was like he was testing me. How rude.

“No.” I frowned. His grin grew wider, until he started to laugh. What was with this weirdo?

“I think we’ll get along well,” he finally stated, leaving me in a confused state. I stood there, looking at him as if he was crazy.

“Well, I think she’s pretty,” the smaller guy said, catching my attention. I felt my ears grow hot as the guy smiled at me.

“I’m Jinhwan, the oldest one out of all these trainees—“

“I’m second oldest!” Hongseok pitched in, waving.

“Nice to meet you, Jinhwan. I’d introduce myself, but it seems like everyone already knows me somehow—“

“It’s because Bobby and Hanbin won’t stop yapping about you—“ Hongseok wittily in, “Oh, [Name]’s so cool,” he mocked them, teasingly. “But honestly, I don’t think you’re that cool?” he questioned, throwing the bait into the waters.

It seemed like I finally met that “friend” you call rude and sarcastic.

“Uh, but honestly,” I mocked, “I don’t really care?”

The grin wiped off his face, and was replaced with a smirk. “We can play that way, [Last name],” he snorted.

“Stop bothering her, sheesh,” Jinhwan waved him off, which he responded to by laughing loudly.

“It’s okay, I think you’re cool,” the youngest looking one smiled. “I’m Chanwoo.”

“And I’m Jinhyeong,” the puppy looking guy smiled cutely.

“Nice to meet you both,” I inclined my head. Hanbin groaned.

“Does she have to know each and every one of you? You guys won’t bother her right?”

“You want to keep her to yourself, is that it?” Hongseok mischievously laughed.

Hanbin shut him up with a deadly glare.

“I won’t be baited.” He snapped. I laughed.

“Hongseok, seems like he doesn’t like you?”

Hongseok scoffed, “Please, [Last Name]. This guy is scary, he doesn’t like a lot of people!”

“He’s just misunderstood,” Bobby teased Hanbin, who grew red, “He never dated at all!”

“Shut up!” Hanbin scowled, head locking Bobby. Bobby laughed loudly. I rolled my eyes.

“Cute.” I commented, as Hanbin’s head snapped up to stare at me. His cheeks were growing pink, but I didn’t take much thought into it. “Now if you guys are done fooling around, please buy something or get out.”

Jinhwan whistled. “Wow, tough cookie, aren’t you?”

“More like blunt,” Hongseok fixed, as he headed towards the door. “Don’t miss me too much, [Last Name]!”

“I’ll try not to cry.” I rolled my eyes, as Hongseok left. I waved bye to everyone else, but Bobby and Hanbin were the last ones to leave. When the store was empty, except for those two, Hanbin turned to ask me a question.

“If—well, just to say, pretend really, if I asked you out to go somewhere with me, would you go?” Hanbin stuttered. Bobby gasped.

“Hey, I asked her to come with me first!”

“Uhh, like to do an errand with you guys or to hang—?” I asked, confused.

Hanbin broke eye contact with me, his ears redder than ever.

“Yeah, that, sure,” he affirmed. I laughed.

“Sure, why not?”

Bobby once again, gasped. “Hey! How come you didn’t agree to come with me?” Bobby pouted.

“I’ll go with both of you, when I’m free of course,” I shrugged. Bobby seemed to think about my answer, before smiling happily.

“Okay!” he chirped. He reached into his front pocket to pull out his phone and then looked up at me. "Your number?" he asked. 

Hanbin scowled, before taking Bobby's phone. "Are you trying to flirt with her right now?"

"Of course not!" Bobby innocently smiled. I shook my head at them, before taking out a pen and a post-it note from behind the counter. Writing down my number neatly, I handed it to them.

"If you need anything, you guys can feel free to call. We're friends after all, right?" I smiled. They both seem to wince at the word "friend", before replacing their expressions with smiles.

"Alright, thanks, [Name]," Hanbin smiled at me. The way his eyes softened made my heart skip a beat. He always looked serious and tired, so seeing him smile so sweetly surprised me.

"It's nothing, really," I shook my head, all the sudden feeling very embarrassed. Bobby grinned, patting my head across the counter.

"We'll see you soon, [Nickname]!" Bobby said, as he turned to take his phone from Hanbin, and walked out the door. Hanbin followed, waving.

Just as the two left, something flashed into my head. Oh yeah, I was supposed to tell them to call Soo-young…

Oh well.

Too late now.