Sungyeol walked as though he treaded on air. His feet, his whole body seemed lighter than usual. The boy was smitten. All he could think of was Tzuyu, and all he could feel was the tingling sensation that lingered in the spot where her hand had touched his. Without much notice, he had arrived at the bus stop that would take him home.

The bus didn’t take too long to arrive, only a couple of minutes, and with the bus virtually empty, he chose a seat in the far back, the one next to the window. It was still relatively early in the day, around 10:40, Sungyeol’s mind began to drift towards thoughts of how he should spend the rest of the day. Then Sungyeol looked outside the window, at the bright cumulous clouds, and quickly began to smile as the image of Tzuyu seemed to plaster itself there, in a patch of blue sky that was fixated between the cotton candy-like phenomena. A little kid looked back as Sungyeol smiled at the thought of Tzuyu, and he was creeped out by his dumb smile, so he made faces at him. Sungyeol noticed these faces, so he stuck out his tongue at him. Sungyeol saw the kid tug at his mother’s skirt, so he quickly got off the next stop, not wanting any trouble. It was his stop too, so that was a plus.

“Maybe I should go back there tomorrow,” Sungyeol was thinking aloud.

Again, Sungyeol was consumed by thoughts of the girl he had just met, so much so that he bumped into a light pole. It was cute, Sungyeol rubbed his nose in a pathetic attempt to satiate the throbbing pain. But, Sungyeol continued to walk for another ten minutes until he arrived home. He had lived his entire life in that very complex, but it seemed lonelier today. When he twisted open the doorknob, he entered into the dim living room whose only light was the natural sun that peeked in through the closed curtains. Sungyeol looked up and saw a foil-red banner which read Congratulations. He began to feel guilty.

He took a seat on the couch and sank in, laying his heavy feet upon the table top. He stretched his arms behind his head and took a deep sigh. His mind drifted to think thoughts of how he could claim Tzuyu’s heart. That had become his number one priority. He thought of grandeur ways to confess his love, but questioned whether she would like such a man, a show-offy one. At any rate, he was smiling like an idiot, like a dreamer.

Eventually, he would scavenge the couch to get ahold of the TV remote and when he thought he found it, his hand felt something that piqued his attention. When he pulled out that something, his brow raised as his interest in it grew; it was a carton of cigs. It was his father’s. He set it at the table and continued his search for the remote, which he found shortly after, underneath a cushion. He flipped through channels endlessly, but nothing caught his attention. In a whim, he picked up the cigs and pulled one out. He began looking at it, filled with wonder over the thought of why it was so addicting to so many despite the dire consequences. He stood up and walked over to a drawer in the kitchen where various cooking utensils were stored.

He knew his father always kept a lighter there, so he took advantage of the fact. His thumb, almost instinctively, pressed on it and the small fire was triggered, Man this looks so cool. Again, almost instinctively, after setting down the lighter, he stuck a cig in his mouth and began taking pictures in the most ridiculous of poses. This then led him to consider actually lighting the cig and posing with it. After carefully placing his phone on the kitchen counter in order to capture a great scene, Sungyeol ignited the lighter’s flame, placing it next to the of the cig, and waited for the phone’s camera timer to take the pic. After taking the picture, he began to think of how exactly it tastes.

Just when Sungyeol lit the cig, the door opened and when he turned around to see who it was, he immediately exclaimed, “Mother-father, it’s father’s not mine!”

“Are you stupid, we don’t need two smokers in our family!” his mother rebuked.

Sungyeol was stunned, he dropped the lit cigarette on the floor and a small fire was kindled since it had landed on a stray paper napkin. The alarm wouldn’t shut up.

“Put it out!” his mother yelled.

“I’m on it! Don’t yell at me!” Sungyeol shouted as he threw a glass of water on the small fire.

The fire was totally quelled, but his mother’s fury was not. Nevertheless, with his mother rebuking him and all, Sungyeol went to the fire alarm and took off its battery to get it to stop.

“You better tell me you made it!” his mother said with a stern look.

Sungyeol slumped his shoulders and began looking at the floor, “I’m sorry.”

His mother took a deep sigh, “Well, I guess that means you have to look for work. We can’t have you bumming at home all day long,” she pointed at the extinguished fire, “just look at the trouble you cause…”

“I’m sorry mommy. I really tried, but I guess I just wasn’t good enough. Maybe next year?”
 

“Yeah…hopefully.”

“But why are you here so early?” Sungyeol questioned.

“I just came here to pick something up that I forgot earlier…” She noticed his pair of slacks that had stains on them and a small gathered up pile of sand on the tabletop, “Where were you?”

Sungyeol smiled, “Oh, I went to the park and-“

“You’re still a kid inside aren’t you,” his mother intermitted.

“Yeah, but then I had these encounters of the “old kind”, and I saved an old man’s life,” he took out the pocket watch he had been gifted, “he gave me this as a thanks. And then I went to this one ice cream place and…”

“And what?”

“I think I’ll go there again tomorrow. The ice cream was good there.”

His mother smiled at him, “Fine, but you better start looking for work, if not you can help me volunteer for a while…”
 

Sungyeol quickly wagged his head in agreement. His mother gave him a smile and went to pick up what she had forgotten, afterwards leaving. Sungyeol went to his room and shut himself in there. He played on his PS4 for a couple of hours until he got tired of it. He then walked around his room and looked at the various stuffs that were once passions to him, an old sketchbook filled with miscellaneous attempts at drawing portraits, a journal filled  with various lyrics from when he dreamed of making it big as a rapper, a small sculpture that vaguely resembled a frog (although he intended it to be an eagle), a mouth-guard from when he dreamed of being of boxer after his friend showed him Rocky in elementary, a worn-down leotard from when he was deeply interested in pro-wrestling (his father took him to learn “real wrestling”), a flute from when he played in middle school, a baseball mitt from when he played in his school’s team last year (he was actually good at that, just not good enough to earn any type of scholarship), and finally his eyes laid hold of a picture of his ex-girlfriend that cheated on him. He questioned why that was still there and quickly tore up the picture.

He threw himself on his bed and began to clean his glasses, it was cathartic to him. He the radio too, and so he eventually drifted to sleep. Hours later, his father came back and knocked on his door. He was disgruntled at first when Sungyeol told him he failed to get into college, but placed his arm on his son in an attempt to comfort him. Sungyeol felt uneasy by such action, so in order to change the topic, he took out the pocket watch he had been gifted and explained the story behind it.

“Do you think you can fix it?” Sungyeol asked his father as he handed over the pocket watch to him.

“Yeah, I know a thing or two about these old things. My father had one just like this,” he told Sungyeol as he began to marvel at its intricate details.

The next day Sungyeol got up at around 9 and got himself nicely dressed with the hopes of finding a part time job somewhere. His parents had left him alone, so he quickly jotted down Went looking for work, might come home late on a napkin. He made sure he locked the door and headed down the flight of stairs with eager anticipation of seeing Tzuyu’s face. He had already set his heart on getting a job near her so he could frequent the store on a daily basis if possible. The sky was bright, it wasn’t too hot, he didn’t wait too long at the bus stop, and the seats in the back (his favorite spot) were empty, so his mind had somewhat configured all these details as a sign of good fortune.

After getting dropped off near the college he failed to enter in, he retraced his steps to take him to the vicinity he travelled along yesterday. Unfortunately for him, there was no Help Wanted sign anywhere to be found. He kept on walking a couple of blocks until he reached the antiques store.

“Old man, do you need some help around the store?” Sungyeol asked the owner.

“Well, if it isn’t the young boy from yesterday!” the old man greeted with a radiant smile.

Sungyeol approached him and explained his situation, “I would like to work for you. I can do anything, I can sweep, I can clean, I can do inventory, I can reach high places too!”

“That’s nice, my boy. You got a nice set of skills, I’m sure anyone would love to hire you!”

Sungyeol smiled and flexed his muscle, “Yeah, I’m quite strong too, so I can do heavy lifting too!”

“That’s nice!”

Sungyeol was excited, “So that means you’ll hire me?!”

The old man then apologized, “Oh no! I have my son that comes in and helps me, so I don’t need any workers, really.”

Sungyeol’s face was downcast, “Oh, well thanks for getting my hopes up…”

“I’m sorry. I’m sure you’ll find work in no time, though! Just keep smiling…”

Sungyeol took a deep sigh and left after kindly shaking the old man’s hand. He continued to walk around for a few more blocks, and his joy was rekindled when thoughts of possibly seeing Tzuyu again permeated his soul. Then, from off in the distance, his eyes caught hold of something, outside Tzuyu’s store, he noticed a Help Wanted sign. A new breath of life entered his heart.

Sungyeol entered the store, took the sign, and walked over to Tzuyu who was taken aback by his actions.

“I can work here?” Sungyeol asked with puppy-dog eyes.

“Yes, I think…Let me call the manager in the back,” Tzuyu replied.

Sungyeol took a seat and thanked God for his fortune. His lot had fallen in a pleasant place, and he began to dream of the possibilities this opportunity had afforded him, I won’t be a bum, I won’t be a disappointment or a burden to my parents, and I might even get close to Tzuyu!

Several minutes had passed and Sungyeol was getting antsy, but out came Tzuyu from the back with a middle-aged man behind her. Dongwoo was the name on his badge.

Tzuyu gestured at Sungyeol to come up, “This is the guy who wants to work here…”

“Is this your first job, kid?” Dongwoo asked Sungyeol.

“Uhmm, yeah!”