Chapter Six:

"Here it is," Gray parked the car and waited for Chanmi to get out in front of a large, but rather old cafe. It was situated a few blocks away from his apartment complex, so and he had set eyes on it several time, but not once did he ever consider entering it. From the look of it, Gray guessed it would one of those cafe more geared toward adults than teenagers, or in other words, it was suspicous. On the exterior, the colors were bright, almost gaudy, and even the name was strange to him. For some strange reason, he had a bad hunch about this.

She works here? I mean I understand she needs money, but is she crazy? It did not make him feel any better knowing that Chanmi needed financial help either. He remembered when the tears built up in her eyes when she told him she was afraid of not being able to attend SKY University anymore. Is money the reason for that?

At the same time, Chanmi was starting to question her decision. I wished I had visited this place before I sent in my resume, she thought. But once the image of her dad popped up in her head, she felt stronger again. You can do it; no, you need to do it. Just take this job until you find a better one. 

"Hey, you know what?" Gray said suddenly, causing Chanmi to pause midway when she was about to close the door. 

"Hmm?" She raised her light eyebrows at him.

"I might as well check out this place since it's near my apartment anyway," Gray suggested. "You can just leave your backpack in my car instead of carrying it." He said.

"Suit yourself," Chanmi shrugged. "Thanks about the backpack though." 

Walking side by side to the building without saying a single word, one could almost mistaken them for a shy high school couple. Their hands awkwardly yet cautiously dangled, trying to look natural without making any contact as they made they ambled towards the cafe. 

Once they entered the building, Chanmi scurried off to change into her uniform and get her name tag while Gray grabbed a table and observed his surrounding. The interior of the cafe was pretty much the same as the outside, with dim, yet colorful lightning. Does this place sell alcohol? Gray grimaced as he took a whiff of a familiar smell he gets at parties. 

"Hey, are you here alone?" A girl who Gray assumed to be in her mid-twenties approached him. Although she looked pretty in dark black jeans, a white chiffon top, and rouge lipstick, Gray did not spare her much attention. 

"Kind of," he vaguely replied, uninterested. Instead, he felt like a low-key stalker of Chanmi, who he kept checking on occasionally. 

"What would you two like for this afternoon?" A waitress in a short tight skirt asked them with a friendly smile. She sounded both young and preppy, but her thick makeup and eyeliner made her apppeared more mature and older. Is that the uniform Chanmi is going to be wearing?!

"Uh, we're not really-" 

"We'll take two of the special," The lady did not let him finish and ordered.

Right at that moment, Chanmi appeared in the exact uniform the waitress was in, except with one fifth of the amount of makeup as her. What is this place? A cafe or a bar? Are you kidding me right now? Gray was starting to get irritated. 

"So, do you come here often?" The stranger continued to go on. 

"No, and I don't really plan to," Gray answered. He did not want to be rude to someone he just met, but he was nowhere in the mood to be chatting up with this lady right now. All his eyes did was trailed right behind Chanmi's every move. Rather than feeling jealous or angry, Gray just felt plain worried and uncomfortable looking at the innocent girl in such a get-up. Do these people know what she is like? She's a girl who gets lost like every time I see her; a girl who cried because she was worried she can't attend college. Of course, they don't care. All they care about is how good she looks in that skirt and how many customers she can attract with it. 

"Oh!" A voice called aloud. "Aren't you that girl in my math course?! What's your name again? Chan-hee? Chanmi?"

Chanmi froze on spot, wanting to dig a hole and hide herself.

"I can't believe you work here! Wow, you act so innocent and shy in class yet here you are," The guy clicked his tongue and smiled at her. 

"Uh, yeah. I work here," Chanmi tried to keep her composure. She recognized the male college student who always talked during class and tried to hit on girls; the type of guy she would avoid at all cost in normal circumstances. Even worse, he was sitting a table with three of his friends, meaning there are actually more of his kind. 

"Really?" He raised his eyebrows at her with a smirk. "I like this side of you."

"Uh, thanks, I guess" She replied in a monotonic voice. "If you don't need anything, I'll get back to work."

"I do. Can you come help me clean this up?" He picked up his drink and slowly poured it down on the floor. As every last drop fell, Chanmi could feel her own her cheek's turning up their temperature. Anger, embarrassment, and shame all mixed together. What could she do? Tell him off and get fired? Punch him and get a visit from the police? Life, unfortunately, was not that easy.

Instead, Chanmi just returned with some towels to clean it up. Unaware of their smirks and intentions, she was about to bent down to clean the mess when a cold hand got a gripped on her wrist. 

"I'll clean it," Gray cleared his throat and started cleaning the pile of liquid. He had been watching from afar the entire time and it took every muscle in his body to prevent him from letting loose and killing these immature erts. He questioned how jerks like them even got into SKY University. 

"Who the are you?" The guy shouted.

"Dude, that's Gray," his friend nudged him. "He's from our school."

"Gray?" The guy thought for moment and as if the light switch on his head had , the expression on his face immediately changed. "Sunbae! Is this your girlfriend? Why didn't you say so?" 

"I'm-" Chanmi was shaking her head, but Gray just pulled her to the back of the cafe, completely disreguarding the existence of the suprised male students.

"Quit this job," He suddenly demanded in force once he let go of her wrist near an isolated area. 

"What are you talking about?" Chanmi replied. "I know they're being i