A couple of months passed from the day Sungyeol got rejected. It was now late June and  he was doing his best to always  be on time and  stay out of trouble. He had begun to love his job for what it was especially since the pay was good, though Tzuyu was still the center of it all. He enjoyed every mundane moment the two spent together, from sweeping the place to attending the most demanding of customers. The place had also begun to get more busy. It seemed Sungyeol was the reason for it. His dastardly smile ensured that all the female customers would return. 

During a hot day at work Sungyeol spotted a little girl standing all by her lonesome outside the store's entrance. She had done this very thing the day before, standing all alone until her mother came and picked her up.

 "Tzuyu, the kid's standing outside the door again, should I shoo her away?"

 "No, I'm sure her mother will pick her up like she did yesterday."

 "Does she live around here?"

 "I think so..."

 "It's getting kind of hot, I think I'll give that kid the bottle of juice I brought from home. Then maybe I'll invite her in to the store."

 "Ok," Tzuyu said.

Sungyeol walked to the break room, took the bottle of juice, and afterward headed to meet the child outside the entrance. As soon as he opened the door the kid ran off. Sungyeol stared as she ran away, questioning why she was doing so, and then the kid fell. Sungyeol took a deep sigh and decided to help the kid out. She had scuffed her knee pretty bad.

 "You okay?" Sungyeol asked the child.

 The child cried out as soon as Sungyeol placed his hand on her shoulder, "Molester!"

 Sungyeol was shocked, but his instincts took over, he quickly covered the child's mouth and ran back to the store with the child in his arms before anyone came to the scene.

 Tzuyu was standing by the entrance and let him in, "What are you doing? I heard the girl scream"

 "I'm sorry, I just..." 

 The kid bit  Sungyeol's finger, "Let me go! I'll tell!"

 Sungyeol cried out in pain and let the kid go.

 "Sungyeol, you're gonna get yourself fired if you don't explain."

 "I'm sorry it's just, the kid fell and I tried to help, but then she goes and cries out 'Molester!' And so what else was I supposed to do? I'm sure you woulda done the same thing!"

Tzuyu rolled her eyes at  him  and knelt to talk to the little girl, "Are you okay? Did the big scary man hurt you?"

 The little girl was awed by Tzuyu's beauty, "No..."

 Tzuyu caressed the child's hair as she hugged her, comforting her.
Sungyeol was unsure as to what to feel. On the one hand, he felt slighted by the difference between  the girl's treatment of Tzuyu and the way he was treated by her, and on the other hand, he fell further in love with Tzuyu. 

 "Sungyeol, go and give a scoop of ice cream to this poor wittle girl."

 "Okay," Sungyeol obeyed.

 In a couple of minutes, the girl's knee was treated by Tzuyu as she ate the soft serve Sungyeol had given her. The girl admired Tzuyu, looking at her as though she were a princess from one of her favorite fairy tales. A few more minutes later and the mother finally arrived, apologizing and explaining how her daughter always manages to escape her view.

 "She always goes looking for her dad," the mother explained.

 "I see, but you should still be a bit more careful," Sungyeol said, jaded by her carelessness.

 The mother took a deep sigh, "I know, I'll try. It's just that with her dad overseas... that it's gotten tough around the house, and then I couldn't figure out how to explain to our daughter the kind  of work her father does, so I told her his dad slays dragons for a living..."

 Tzuyu stepped on Sungyeol's shoe, knowing he had struck a chord,

"I'm sorry," she told the mother.

 Sungyeol was lost in thought, pondering the reason why she had told her daughter that her father was a dragon slayer.

While Sungyeol contemplated the mother's reasoning, Tzuyu saw the pair off.

Things returned to normal for the rest of the day.

 

At home, Sungyeol kept thinking back to how Tzuyu looked so beautiful when caring for the little girl. He got lost in his daydreaming until he actually fell asleep. When morning came, there was no alarm to wake Sungyeol up; he fell asleep before he actually placed the alarm. His mother eventually came in to his room and shook him up, telling him he's late for work.

 "On no! I can't lose this job!" Sungyeol exclaimed as he quickly dressed himself up.

As soon as he was ready he bolted out the front door and ran with deer's feet to his bus stop. Sungyeol grew anxious because it wasn't arriving. He looked at his pocket watch, 9:40. Sungyeol kept looking out for the bus, but nothing in sight. Come on! I can't lose this job. Man, am I stupid? Why'd I forget the alarm?!

Then a car passed by and honked at him. Sungyeol was puzzled. He questioned exactly who it was who honked at him, Maybe it's just a random person. But lo and behold, the car had driven around the block and the passenger door opened, a voice from within telling him to hasten inside.

It was the old man from the antiques place. His son was driving him to work and the old man figured Sungyeol might be late for his.

 "You 're a lifesaver," Sungyeol thanked him.

 "No worries, " the old man replied, "but where exactly do you need to go? "

 "Aww man, I'm gonna be late to work! Can you please take me to that one ice cream store that's a couple of blocks away from your shop? I work there."

 "I see, the owner of that place is kinda stuck up! No problem though, my son can take you there!"

The old man asked his son to drop Sungyeol off first, knowing he might lose his job otherwise. Ten minutes were left till 10, leaving Sungyeol in a bit of a panic, but he was reassured by the old man that they would make it in time. They didn't. Sungyeol was dropped off a little after 10:40 because of traffic.

Sungyeol ran to the back of the ice cream shop and tried twisting open the knob but the door remained closed. He didn't give up though, he walked over to the front of the shop and went in as though he were a normal customer. Tzuyu noticed and looked at him with a face of disappointment.

 "You're very late, hopefully you don't get fired." she told him with a slightly worried expression.

 "I know, but..."

Dongwoo, their boss interrupted, "But no excuses, you're late!"

 "I'm sorry," Sungyeol pleaded, " it won't happen again! "

 Dongwoo  scowled at him, "Yeah, you're right, it won't happen since you won't be working here any longer. I already have your replacement ready! "

Sungyeol's face turned pale and in his astonishment he demanded to know, "You found a replacement so quickly?! It was only 40 minutes!"

 Dongwoo looked at his watch with a mischievous grin, "He will be here any minute."

 When his watch hit exactly 10:44, a young man stepped in. The wind whistled when he stepped in, almost as if it serenaded the man. He was handsome, holding a bright, docile expression on his face, his smile producing a palpable warmth and joy. His eyes were tender, radiating an indescribable peace yet they were almost teary, alluding to the mysteries contained in them. He was shorter than Sungyeol, but no less beautiful. He introduced himself as Jinyoung with a gentle, attractive voice.

 "He's the son of an old friend I had when I used to struggle to make a living in the States. He's gone through a lot and I figured he could work here for a while," Dongwoo explained.

 "Nice to meet you," Jinyoung said as he glanced at Sungyeol and then at Tzuyu.

 Sungyeol was upset, "So that means I'm fired?!" 

Dongwoo laughed at him, "Nah, I was just joking! Now go change."
 

 Sungyeol's worries had been put out. His eyes couldn't help but lock onto Tzuyu's, knowing he had left a bad impression.

 "Be  more careful next time," she told him, her eyes displaying a hint of relief and disappointment.

 At any rate, Sungyeol went to the back alongside Jinyoung and he quickly told him a couple of things about their job.

 "You got any questions?" Sungyeol asked.

 "Yeah, the girl's pretty. Do you know if she has a boyfriend? "

 Sungyeol was taken aback by his sudden interest, yet he confidently answered, "Yeah, you're looking at him!"

 "Oh, I'm sorry. But man, you're lucky! You gotta show me how to get a girl like that."

 "It's all about being confident and never giving up. I'll teach you my ways."

 After the two had finished getting ready they were halted by Dongwoo. He told Jinyoung to dress himself in a mascot costume and pass out flyers around the vicinity. Sungyeol was to carry on his job as usual. Jinyoung, to Sungyeol's surprise, did not complain but gladly accepted Dongwoo's orders.

At half past noon, people flocked into the store. Tzuyu felt glad Sungyeol had not been fired, since otherwise she would have been the only one serving out front.

She spotted Jinyoung coming in with his furry mask taken off. He was tired and drenched in sweat.

 "I'm going to give him something to drink. You take care of work here," she told Sungyeol.

He nodded in agreement and continued to work. Tzuyu stood out front with Jinyoung and the two began to talk for a short while. Sungyeol made nothing of it at first, but suddenly remembered something. He remembered the lie he had told and was now afraid Tzuyu might have learned of it through Jinyoung. As he served the customers, his eyes dotted back and forth over toward the two. Tzuyu's eyes locked onto his for a split second and Sungyeol was now sure his lie had been shared with her.

Sungyeol finished serving the last customer and quickly made his way toward the two.

Sungyeol's demeanor was an antsy one as he looked at Jinyoung and said, "Jinyoung, I can teach you how to serve the ice cream and stuffs now if you want!"

 "Dongwoo told me to pass out all the fliers and I still have a little left to hand out. I just came here to take a short break. And Tzuyu already offered to teach me the basics..."

Sungyeol gained back his composure, replying "Oh, that's all you were talking about?"

 "Yeah, what else would we talk about? " Tzuyu questioned.

 "Oh, nothing! Imma' go back to the cash register then..."

 "Yeah, I'll be there in a sec..."  Tzuyu replied .

Jinyoung left soon after and Sungyeol went back to his post with all his fears stripped away. His lie had not been shared, there was nothing to worry about, except there was. Sungyeol's conscious began gnawing at him and he figured he had to tell Jinyoung the truth, hoping to God he would tell nothing of it to Tzuyu. 

 "Are you okay? You look a bit tense and you're sweating a lot. Maybe you should take a break. I'll cover for you," Tzuyu told Sungyeol.

 "It might be the heat...I'll take up on your offer though. Thanks."

Sungyeol went to their break room and drank a bottle of chocomilk  he had brought from home. That refreshed him some, but it didn't quite soothe his tensions. He regretted telling the dumb lie. He looked at his watch and  3 minutes had passed. He chose to rest for another 5 minutes, stalling for time in hopes that Jinyoung might come in through the door.

He was glad he waited when he saw Jinyoung enter in.

 "Can I talk with you real quick?" 

 "Yeah, let me just get this costume off. It's hot! "

Sungyeol took out a bottle of water from the fridge they had there and handed it over to him.

 "Thanks! What did you want to say?" Jinyoung asked as he wiped the sweat off his brow.

 Sungyeol sank his hands deep into his pockets, "It's about me being Tzuyu's boyfriend. I gotta be straight with you man. I actually lied, but I really do like her."

 Jinyoung at first showed some bewilderment when he heard Sungyeol's words, but then made light of it, "Ok...I mean, what should I say?"

 "You won't say anything to her, will you? "

 "Nah, of course not, it'll be between us. Just don't lie anymore. It's bad." 

Sungyeol kept his sight on the floor, ashamed by his actions, "I know. I was an idiot to do so in the first place."

 "Well, I mean love can sometimes make you do crazy things," Jinyoung answered with a kind smile.

 Sungyeol felt fortunate that Jinyoung was a great guy. He thought Jinyoung would outright get angry since he's from the States, but he was rather compassionate.

He gave Jinyoung a big grin and hugged him in appreciation.

 "Okay, man. Don't worry about it. I won't tell. You can let go now," he said as he patted Sungyeol's shoulder.

 Tzuyu stepped in and caught the two in their embrace. She snickered a little when she saw them.
 "You can go back to work now, right?" she asked Sungyeol .

 "Yeah, I'll be right there!" Sungyeol enthusiastically replied.

 Sungyeol returned with Tzuyu to their post and awaited for their next customer to enter the door. 

Later on, when business slowed down, Tzuyu began teaching Jinyoung everything he needed to know about serving ice cream, treating customers, and other little details.

 "It's fine if it takes you a while to get used to it, but just don't be too slow," she told Jinyoung while glancing at Sungyeol .

 "Yeah! I'm sure he'll learn everything in no time!" Sungyeol said as he placed his hand on Jinyoung's shoulder.

 

When closing time came Dongwoo left with Jinyoung and Sungyeol along with Tzuyu were left to close shop.

 "That Jinyoung's a great guy!"

Tzuyu grinned rather slyly for a moment before she replied,  "Yeah, I think I like him! I hope he asks me out!" 

Sungyeol was shocked. "What?!"

 Tzuyu laughed as she looked at the pale face Sungyeol quickly got, "Please don't lie again."