" Happiness! Lalalalalalalalalala happiness!"

     I pause the music on the stereo and a pair of narrowed eyes filled with animosity stared intently at me without diverting it's gaze. "Oh please, it's not like you never listen to this song. You listen to it all the time. I think your obsession with Red Velvet is getting unhealthy."

    "It's not an 'obsession', it's an 'interest'," Hoshi scoffs.

     "Mhmm, yeah, sure. Anyways, what's up with Seokmin?" I ask him, getting straight to the point like I always do.

     He coughs and I swear his eyes faltered in fear. "I uhh don't k-know what you're talking about," he laughs nervously with one hand leaning against the piano and another awkwardly placed at his hips in his obviously failed attempt at acting natural.

     I roll my eyes at him and raise an eyebrow.

     "That dang eyebrow again! Ugh! Fine. I guess I'm not the only one who noticed that he's been acting a little off lately. Actually, I noticed that he's been that way for quite a while now," Hoshi opens up.

     "A while? Really? How long is 'a while?'" I interrupt him, unable to contain my curiosity.

     "Even before my birthday. He's been absent for a few days now and I wish I knew why but all I know is that he's constantly on the phone with someone," Hoshi concludes with a shrug of his shoulders.

     "Could you hear what his conversations were about? If they were multiple phone calls from multiple people or just one?" I ask, hoping to obtain some clues so as to form a rough picture in my mind.

     "To. Not from. I didn't eavesdrop on his conversations though. He deserved at least that much privacy so I don't know if it was one person or many."

     "Is this worrying?" I ask, biting my lips.

     Hoshi takes a deep breath and runs a hand down his face before muttering, "Yeah."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

     Ding!

     "Welcome to Dish By Dish! Where we improve your day, dish by dish! What may I- Yah! Get changed before-"

    "Before what?" Dong Jin peeks out from behind the wall with an unimpressed expression plastered across his face.

       "Heh, heh well, you see, I wasn't trying to hide her or anything. I just-"

     "Oh just get back to work, Ja Kyung," he says, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his barrel chest, unspoken threats pulsating from his well-toned muscles.

     "Mhmm, yup. I will do that," Ja Kyung obeys immediately as she awkwardly escapes the situation.

     "Get changed and start working. You're lucky I'm so generous," he praises himself, turning back to me.

     "Oh you know you wouldn't be able to punish me even if you wanted to," I poke his shoulder, teasingly.

     He puts on an over-exaggerated smile that disappears in a second.

     "Now."

     I wipe the smirk off my face and dash into the locker room to get changed into the Dish By Dish uniform which was a white long-sleeved blouse, a pair of black pants and a half-apron with 2 dishes, the Dish By Dish logo, printed on it. I quickly slip a notebook and pen into the pocket of my apron and head out the door.

     I clamour over the boxes of pots and pans littered all over the floor and scurry over to the door. Every time a customer walks through that door, I smack on a plastic smile and greet them with the line I have said every Tuesdays to Fridays for the past 2 weeks and will say many more times again.

     "Hello! Welcome to Dish By Dish! Where we believe that we can lighten your mood, Dish By Dish!"

      When I wasn't greeting people, I was taking orders, serving or cleaning tables. Our restaurant was clearly understaffed. Being a newly-opened restaurant, we attracted many customers which meant there was never a quiet moment in the restaurant. It was kept busy with the hordes of people busting through the door every few minutes. It didn't help that there were only 3 waiters here. The waiters being Ja Kyung, Hyeon Cheol and me. Hyeon Cheol isn't too happy about being the only guy either.

     On the bright side, trainees probably wouldn't visit the restaurant considering their busy schedule and the limited seats available. Perhaps it will aid in keeping my job a secret.

     If you were to train here at Pledis, you'd wanna keep your lousy job in the dark too. I took on this job because I need it. Other trainees do it to pass time. For example, Min Ah who works at a fashion boutique as manager while Hye Ra doesn't even need to work.

      I let out a deep sigh as I wipe the table. A hand pulls my arm and another takes the cloth from my hand.

     I look up at the body attached to the said hands. "You've been wiping this table for 5 minutes straight," Dong Jin sighs. "Sorry that you have to overwork yourself because we're short of employees. I'll hire another person soon."

     Did I ever mention how soft Dong Jin really is? Sure, he might be big and tall and intimidating at first, but he truly is a softy at heart once you get to know him.

     "Nah, take your time. I'm kinda used to working," I stretch my arms and shrug it off to show him that it really did not bother me. Nonetheless, he continued to stare at me with a worried look in his eyes. "I know, it's sad," I admit, "But really. I don't mind. It helps me get some thoughts off my mind. Its therapeutic really," I respond, beaming.

     Okay. So I lied. We established that I do that pretty often like a few chapters ago. But although work wasn't relaxing and 'therapeutic', it did help me clear up my mind a little bit.

     "But you're a trainee. You already have to jumble studies and training and now you have to work too."

      "Dude, I told you that I've worked numerous jobs for quite some time now. I'm used to it."

     "You still insist on becoming an idol despite all the sacrifices you have to make," Dong Jin sighs. "You better be on thousands of reality shows and write super popular songs," he jokes.

     'Write super popular songs.'

     Huh. I completely forgot about that piece Woozi helped me work on a long time ago.

-----------------------------------------------------------
》Irah《
Hey, beautiful;)
I know you guys are used to my messy uploading schedule but i felt the need to apologise again. Im currently taking my EOYs so I only managed to write a short chapter. Still, I wanted to slip one in for those who are also studying for exams:) Good luck and all the best:*

P/S: Do vote if you've been enjoying my book so far and leave me a comment!:)