Now Playing: JUNIEL(주니엘) - 연애하나 봐 (I think I’m in love) 

 

It was another busy day with plenty of customers shopping alongside their kids, partners, and friends. Even with so many people loitering in the aisles, Sehun still found a way to sneakily observe Luhan at his station; Luhan was busy with all of the customers queued up to check-out.

 

“Good morning, Sir.” Luhan greeted one customer, reaching to scan the first of his items.

 

“You’re really cute.” The blonde haired customer lowered his voice, leaning over Luhan’s register with a seductive expression.

 

Luhan just ignored it. It was normal for people to compliment him or suddenly start flirting – people constantly asked for his number here.

 

“My name is Choi Minho,” The guy kept trying as Luhan finished his scanning. “How about dinner tonight? My treat. When does your shift end tonight?”

 

“Your total is 34,000 won. Cash or card?” Luhan asked nonchalantly, trying not to provoke him and get his way out of the situation as quickly as possible.

 

The guy in front of him laughed in irritation and grabbed Luhan’s wrist. “Are you ignoring me? Are you deaf or something?”

 

“Please let me go, Sir. I’m still on my shift and I have an obligation to serve all of my customers equally. That means not chatting with you while other people are patiently queued up.” Luhan reasoned calmly, trying to yank his wrist away.

 

“Hey, what are you doing?” Sehun, who had been watching closely, suddenly appeared next to Luhan’s register and fixed his gaze on the blonde customer.

 

Minho released Luhan’s wrist and turned to Sehun with a scowl. “I asked him a question but he’s pretending he didn’t hear me. Are all of your employees so ignorant?”

 

“I think I’d rather hear from my employee about what kind of question you asked. If it has nothing to do with your purchase, then it’s just idle chit-chat and you’re holding up the line.” Sehun answered confidently and looked over at Luhan, who was smiling so brightly at him that he thought he might melt.

 

“Luhan—um, you can talk honestly to me. What happened?” Sehun couldn’t believe how little he could keep it together in front of his dream boy.

 

Luhan stared at Sehun for a while before sighing. “This customer… well, basically he asked me to go to dinner with him tonight and I said no.”

 

The incident caught the attention of all the queueing customers, who were staring at the event in interest and irritation.

 

“That guy was talking nonsense.” An older woman behind Minho yelled in annoyance. “Of course the cashier is going to ignore you! And now we all have to wait even longer because of you!”

 

“Hey, young man! This isn’t the place to try to pick somebody up! Go call a e if you want a date so bad.” Another elderly man groaned, glaring at the customer.

 

As the entire line of people began complaining and shouting, Minho seemed to fall into a rage, leaning over and grabbing Luhan by his collar.

 

“You son of a ! How dare you lie about me? Why would I ever ask a worthless, low-class kid like you to dinner?!”

 

“HEY!” Luhan only distantly heard Sehun’s angry shout as he struggled to pry Minho’s hands off of him. Suddenly, Minho dropped to the ground with loud groaning and only seconds later, security guards began to drag him away.

 

“It’s okay, everybody. I apologize for disturbing your peace while shopping here. I assure you he won’t be bothering anybody anymore. Please continue to check-out and thank you for choosing Exo Mart.” Sehun turned to face the customers and bowed deeply

 

“Branch manager Oh Sehun is so cool!” One customer clapped her hands.

 

“He’s handsome, tall, and strong!” Another woman sighed in a dreamy tone.

 

“Manager Oh! Thank you so much.” Luhan bowed gratefully, giving Sehun his brightest smile.

 

Sehun almost melted at Luhan’s beautiful expression, returning it with a grin. “It’s okay. You can go back to work in peace.”

 

Sehun’s heart was beating faster as he wondered if Luhan thought of him more positively now. Not even Kim Minseok, Luhan’s supposed “boyfriend”, could have helped him like Sehun did.

 

With this thought, Sehun hummed happily and returned to his office.

***

“I have no idea you could do judo.” Chanyeol muttered to Sehun over lunch – he had finished telling the story to Chanyeol and Kyungsoo as they sat down with their food.

 

“I studied it in high school. I don’t practice anymore but thank God I still know enough to throw a guy on the ground.” Sehun explained proudly.

 

“Ah, the power of love.” Kyungsoo remarked sarcastically.

 

“Just wait until you fall in love with someone. You’d do anything for them.” Sehun threatened after swallowing a bite of kimchi fried rice.

 

Kyungsoo pursed his lips. “I’m sure I’ll fall in love someday but not with somebody in this mart.”

 

“What’s wrong with the people who work here?” Chanyeol furrowed his eyebrows, thinking particularly of one cute customer service assistant he met yesterday.

 

Kyungsoo just shrugged and continued to eat his lunch.

 

“I thought you had something with the guy from customer service. You know, the tan one.” Chanyeol remarked in a baiting tone.

 

Kyungsoo choked on his food and hurried to swallow a drink of water. Before he could respond, Jongdae pulled out an empty seat and sat down.

 

“What are you doing here? Where’s Seulgi?” Chanyeol diverted his attention from Kyungsoo to Jongdae.

 

“Yeah, you almost never eat with us anymore since your fiancée always brings you lunch.” Sehun added.

 

“Shut up. She had a lot of work at her gallery so she didn’t have time to come.” Jongdae answered disinterestedly.

 

“Why you always look so stiff when we mention Seulgi?” Chanyeol raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

 

“Ah… I’m so hungry.” Jongdae abruptly rose from his seat and headed for the queue at the front of the cafeteria.

 

“Wow… Jongdae is really good at avoiding questions.” Kyungsoo commented.

 

“You’re no different.” Chanyeol rolled his eyes.

 

“What do you mean?” Kyungsoo asked bitterly.

 

“Kyungsoo-ya, you haven’t answered Chanyeol’s question about that tan guy.” Sehun reminded his friend. Kyungsoo uncomfortably shifted in his chair, looking relieved when Jongdae abruptly set his food down.

 

Chanyeol pointed at Jongdae’s face with his chopstick. “Why you always appear when we’re questioning Kyungsoo?”

 

Jongdae squinted. “What are you talking about?”

 

“About Kyungsoo and his crush.” Sehun grinned mockingly.

 

“Apparently, it’s some guy from customer service and you’re the manager!” Chanyeol flicked his finger.

 

“Fine! First of all, for your information, that tan guy has name and it’s Kim Jongin. I’m just friends with him! It’s just nice to talk with your employees, okay?” Kyungsoo finally surrendered.

 

“You never nice when you talk with me,” Chanyeol whined and Sehun nodded his head in agreement.

 

“It’s because you’re both idiots and won’t leave this thing alone. I won’t fall in love or have a crush─” Kyungsoo narrowed his eyes at Sehun, “─on anybody inside this mart. I’m finished with my lunch.”

 

Kyungsoo left the dumbfounded Sehun and Chanyeol behind, while Jongdae didn’t seem to care a bit that his friend had stomped off.

 

“Is he being serious? I saw him talk with Jongin like there was no tomorrow.” Chanyeol reported.

 

Sehun just shrugged and Jongdae piped up. “Just let him be, Chanyeol-ah. I also saw you talking with another customer service assistant.”

 

Chanyeol’s cheeks flushed. “I… just helped him with the ladder. He needed to tidy the top shelves!”

 

“Wow… at this rate, I guess I’m not the only one who has a crush on an employee here.” Sehun whistled happily.

 

Chanyeol crossed his arms. “I just helped him. I even mistook him for another employee and he seemed upset about it.”

 

Sehun clapped like a seal and mocked Chanyeol for being an idiot as per usual. They stopped talking when suddenly Jongdae’s phone rang. He put his chopsticks down and when he saw the caller’s name on the phone screen, he pushed his phone away, ignoring the call. However, Sehun was nosy and peaked to look at the caller ID.

 

“It’s from Seulgi, your wife-to-be. Why wouldn’t you take her call?” Sehun asked, completely dumbfounded.

 

“It’s none of your business, Sehun-ah.” Jongdae snapped as he slurped on soybean paste stew.

 

“Is it because you have no feelings for Seulgi?” Chanyeol blurted out abruptly. “I mean this whole engagement and marriage planning, it’s arranged by your family, right?”

 

Jongdae set down his spoon as he finished his meal. “Yeah… and I don’t know how to turn it down. My family and Seulgi’s family have been close for decades.”

 

“But why would you want to turn it down? I mean, Seulgi is pretty and she’s also a famous painter. She had her own gallery, she’s smart, she’s good at cooking, and you’re into girls. What’s holding you back?” Chanyeol asked in disbelief.

 

Jongdae suddenly looked down at his hands, studying his nails quietly before sighing. “I’ve never liked girls. I’m gay like you two. And I’ll die if my family finds out about it.”

***

Jongdae’s sudden confession was still lingering in Sehun’s head as he strolled the aisles, not even paying attention to the sound of his name being called.

 

“Manager Oh! Manager Oh Sehun!” Sehun blinked back to reality and found Luhan approaching him with a sweet smile.

 

“Um… did you call my name?” Sehun asked, unsure that Luhan would actually seek him out to chat.

 

“Yes Sir. I… I just wanted to thank properly for your help during this morning’s incident.” Luhan said, bowing deeply to his boss.

 

Sehun returned the bow. “It-it’s okay, Luhan. One of my duties it to make sure all of my staff members are safe and comfortable.”

 

“So… um, what I mean by thank properly... um, are you free tonight?” Luhan suddenly asked, his pale cheeks flushing bright red.

 

Sehun’s gulped nervously. “What? I mean… uh… yeah, I’m free tonight.”

 

“Great.” Luhan responded sweetly. “Dinner tonight? My treat, okay? And don’t expect something fancy, I don’t have as much money as you.” At this last part, Luhan let out a giggle.

 

Sehun’s jaw almost dropped to the floor. His crush of a lifetime asked him out for dinner!

 

“O-okay. That sounds great.” Sehun responded, his heartbeat growing faster by the second. Luhan smiled again, waving as he returned to his work place. Sehun could hardly contain his happiness, practically dancing back to his office, arms swinging around. Only when he noticed all the staff members laughing did he blush and abruptly stop.

***

Chanyeol mind was also occupied with Jongdae’s sudden confession. Chanyeol have no idea – he always thought Jongdae was the straightest of his friends, especially because he had a beautiful fiancée. He should have known not to judge a book by its cover.

 

Chanyeol was walking without other thoughts, completely wrapped up in Jongdae’s situation, when he suddenly bumped into somebody.

 

“So-sorry! Are you okay?” Chanyeol was quick to apologize, feeling terrible since it was his fault.

 

“Well… except for almost falling on the floor, I’m perfectly fine.” The person in front of him responded jokingly – as Chanyeol made eye contact, he realized it was Byun Baekhyun.

 

“Ah!” Chanyeol shouted. “It’s you!”

 

“Hello, Manager Park, we meet again. Do you remember my name?” Baekyun grinned and naughtily hid his nametag. He wanted to see if Chanyeol would call him Kim Taehyung again or if he actually made it an effort to remember.

 

“Of-of course,” Chanyeol responded. “Baekyun-ssi. Byun Baekhyun.”

 

“Nice.” Baekhyun chuckled, his eyes still straight on Chanyeol, making him squirm.

 

“So, um… you turned down my invitation yesterday for an apology dinner. How about today?” Chanyeol said, finally getting the courage to ask again and hoping that luck was on his side.

 

Baekhyun’s eyes glittering as he blinked. “No… I’m sorry. I have something to do today.”

 

Chanyeol clasped his hands awkwardly, throwing out more bait. “So… did you have girlfriend or boyfriend or something?”

 

Yeah -- Park Chanyeol was the king of fishing.

 

Baekhyun went silent for a moment before answering. “Is it any of your business if I have one?”

 

Chanyeol scratched at his hair awkwardly. “No… I’m sorry if you took that as me intruding in your personal life. It’s just that you keep turning down my invitations and I just thought maybe you weren’t accepting because you’re dating somebody and didn’t want to give off bad intentions.”

 

Baekhyun smiled and bit his cherry lips cutely. “Nope, I don’t have one but if I had one, it’d be a boyfriend – I’m gay. But really, I have something to do so I’m sorry.”

 

With those last words, Baekhyun bowed and left the clueless Chanyeol behind.

 

Byun Baekhyun was like Pandora’s Box – completely mysterious and even if dangerous… making Chanyeol want to open up and learn more about him.

***

Jongdae was currently having a mental breakdown after spilling his secret to the two biggest idiots at Exo Mart. What sane person would trust Chanyeol and Sehun with their deepest secret? But he’d realized that by telling his secret, it’d taken a load off of his heart and he felt much lighter. He just hoped Sehun and especially Chanyeol would keep their mouths shut.

 

Jongdae’s grandmother, Park Hae Won, was a former famous model. She was best friends with Seulgi’s grandmother, Shin Min Seo, another former model too. Seulgi inherited her grandmother’s beauty but didn’t work in the modeling field. Instead, she liked painting from a young age and was now an accomplished artists. Finally, she became the youngest female painter in Seoul to have their own gallery. Jongdae hoped that he would like Seulgi but he couldn’t change the fact that he was gay. His older brother, Kim Jonghyun, was the original candidate to marry Seulgi. However, he had bravely come out as gay and Jongdae’s family had kicked him out right after. He ran away with his partner, Kim Kibum, and the two were currently living together in the United States. Jongdae wanted to follow his older brother path but he was his grandmother’s sweetheart and was now the only son left that could marry Seulgi. There was no way he could turn down this engagement now and tell them the truth.

 

“Are… you okay, sir? You look pale.” Jongdae tried to identify the man standing next to him, looking at him in concern. He was wearing a cashier’s uniform with semi-wide framed glasses and green highlights through his hair.

 

“Um… yeah, I’m fine. Just… you know, work stuff.” Jongdae responded with a sigh.

 

“Well… I have some aspirin. You look like you have a headache – here, take it.” The guy placed a single pill onto Jongdae’s palm.

 

“Thank you. I’m so sorry but I’m not really familiar with all of the staff here.” Jongdae shook his head, looking apologetic.

 

“My name is Kim Minseok and, as you can tell from my uniform, I’m a cashier here.” He responded with a grin.

 

“Right, Kim Minseok. Thank you again for the aspirin, I didn’t realize how bad my head ached until now. I should head back to my office now.” Jongdae smiled and returned to his office after returning Minseok’s bow.

 

Kim Minseok. What a nice name for a nice guy. Jongdae thought as he stared at the aspirin in his palm.

***

Tao was currently watching Descendants of the Sun, drooling over Captain Yoo Si Jin, during his lunch time when the security post door suddenly opened and the angry dragon appeared. Tao hurriedly closed his laptop and stood up, bowing to welcome his manager.

 

“What were you doing?” Kris asked Tao, narrowing his eyes.

 

“Um… Just watching something.” Tao responded quickly.

 

“? You really hurried to close your laptop when I came in.” Kris grinned evilly.

 

Tao’s face flushed scarlet. “I’m not! It’s just drama! I’ll even show it to you.”

 

“No need.” Kris calmly replied. “It’s not my business if you spend your lunch hour to . So, straight or gay ?”

 

“YAH! MANAGER WU, I’M NOT THAT LOW!” Tao shouted, his anger overflowing.

 

“How dare you shout at me?!” Kris yelled back, crossing his arms. “Never mind. Anyway, how’s that blonde guy, Oh Sehun threw on the ground?”

 

Tao exhaled before answered. “We’re working with the police and they say he’s already been charged with ual harassment at other grocery stores. Luckily, Manager Oh got there before he managed to hurt Luhan hyung.”

 

Kris nodded understandingly and called out for Tao before he left the security post.

 

“Hey Tao.”

 

“Yes?”

 

“Stop drooling over that drama guy. I’m a million times hotter than any actor you’ll see on television.”

 

Tao widened his eyes. “What the…”

 

Kris flashed a crooked smile as he left a very confused Tao behind.

***

Thank you so much for smugjong for helping me with this chapter despite her busy schedule ^^ Yes, and almost all pairing make their appearance on this chapter. Hope you enjoy read this chapter. Don’t forget to subs, upvotes, and please leave some kind comments because all of them are so lovely and made my day!♥ Anyway, fighting for EXO-CBX debut!

- scarlet -