I had closed the shop again the next morning and decided to open it later in the evening. I would like to say that it was to buy me time as I finish cleaning up from the night before, but really it was so my puffy red eyes could settle down back to normal.

            Yuri wasn’t here to help me set everything back to the way it was, which means I was working slower than yesterday. But I didn’t mind. I needed to be alone, and working got me distracted. Well at least only for a while.

            “!” I cussed as I dropped my fifth ceramic mug. I was losing my mind. One minute I think I’ve got my emotions in control, it slips and I end up thinking about a gazillion what ifs and how to crack into Jaejoong’s head to see what he was thinking before I started screaming a confession.

            I sighed and got a broom, sweeping the pieces away to the trash. I was going to have to buy a whole new set of mugs, aren’t I? I decided to leave the untouched liquors for last and work on the tables. If dropping empty mugs were already a big problem, then alcohol on the ground and my outfit was way out of the question. That would require extra work to get a mop and change. And I don’t have time to waste if I want to open the shop on time.

            I heaved as I turned an upside down table to its right side. I then half carried and half dragged the thing to the other side of the room. There. One table was set back to its original place. I retreated back to the end of the room and repeated at least ten more times before there was a knock on the locked glass door.

            I straightened up from the sound and noticed that I was already sweating and breathing heavily. I took a glance at the clock and saw that I had two more hours to go. I silently cussed once more before looking out the door as the knockings started again.

            To my surprise, it was Jaejoong. A sober Jaejoong up this early with his guitar swung on his back. He gave a lazy wave while the rest of his face remained still and cold. I wiped my perspiring forehead and headed to the doors.

            “What are you doing here?” I asked as I let him in.

            “You’re closed today?” He asked in return.

            “No,” I answered. “I was setting things up. It still looks like a bar in here. I will open it up later.”

            He glanced behind the counters and saw the liquors lining up on the shelves rather than cups and plates. Jaejoong nodded in agreement. He was a man of such few words these days.

            “Why are you here?” I asked again, trying not to sound rude.

            He shrugged. “Didn’t know you weren’t open right now.”

            “Oh,” I said. I rarely know what to reply to him lately.

            “Let me help you,” he offered, taking off his guitar and leaning it on the counter.

            “O-okay,” there was really no reason for me to refuse anyway.

            He followed me and took one end of a table while I took the other. It was definitely easier to move these tables when you had a second person, but I can’t help but think that he could actually just do this by himself. He sure as hell got the strength to carry one table all by himself and I seem to be bringing his speed down as we slowly paced across the room.

            “So,” he said. “Where did you disappear to last night?”

            “Huh?” due to shock, I let go of the edge of the table and it came smacking down, missing my foot by an inch. “Sorry,” I apologized. He set his side gently down and I embarrassingly fixed the table straight in its position. Once it looked about right, I stepped away and was about to walk back to the rest of the tables that needed repositioning, but I was pulled back.

            “You’re not going to answer my question?” he sounded concern. “Were you sick?”

            My right shoulder twitched and refused to look up at him for some reason. “Sure,” I agreed with him easily.

            “Soo Yun,” he said and my breath stopped. Honestly, when was the last time he called my name? It almost sounded foreign. I didn’t know I had missed hearing something as insignificant as that. “We,” his hand squeezed my wrist. “We rarely get to talk these days.”

            I chuckled dryly and gazed up at him. “Oh, we do talk. It’s just that half the time you tend to slur your words and don’t remember anything that happened.”

            His eyes narrowed down at me. “Why are you being like this today?”

            I whipped my head away. Right. I was being a and I don’t know what came over me. But I will admit that it sort of felt good to let something like that out, since I barely do so. “Sorry,” I said anyway and sighed. Maybe I’ll save the iness for later. He had seemed so sincere when he came in, like yesterday. And oddly, maybe a part of me was scared to know why he was being this way. “What did you want to talk about?” I asked, removing all the sarcasm.

            He released my wrist and I tried to remember the warmth as it slowly faded away. Jaejoong hopped onto the table that we had just set down and crossed his ankles. I hesitated before doing the same, hoping that the table doesn’t t