“That’s about it. Do you have any questions?” Mr. Choi asks Jaejoong as he finishes with the orientation.

“Nope, I think I’m good,” replies the latter. He had zoned out towards the end, but he got the gist of it. He makes a mental note to always keep himself hydrated every few hours starting tonight as practice.

“Alright, then. See you tomorrow at 5 p.m. for your first day of work.” Mr. Choi taps him on the shoulder once, then went back to his office leaving Jaejoong standing there with his new employee ID.

“Ah, my first job. I gotta make the most out of this,” he beamed at himself feeling accomplished. He was finally starting to feel like an adult. He was going to be graduating from college soon, but he had insisted on taking a part-time job to have a feel of how it was to earn money on his own so he’d have a better grasp of things once he had a full-time one.

Granted, dressing up as LINE friends’ Brown wasn’t anywhere near his major, but it was still a noble job and the pay was enough to cover the graduation trip to Jeju that he and his friends were planning for. Plus, he only had to work 3 times a week, 6 hours a day. It was a win-win situation. Or so he justified to himself as he passed by the bakery across the street to buy some bread before heading back home.

.

“Wow, this is heavier that I thought it would be,” Jaejoong thinks to himself as it takes two other employees to help him wear the mascot costume. “Is it too late to back out now?”

Before Jaejoong could voice out his thoughts, Mr. Choi gives him a few reminders before handing over the headpiece to him, “Now remember, even with the fan inside, the temperature can get up to 45°C. You can head back inside the store and remove the headpiece every 2 hours to get some fresh air and water. Just make sure no one sees you with the head off. We had an incident back then and let’s just say some kids will never see Cony the same way again.” Jaejoong laughs awkwardly at the last statement and starts to rethink his life decisions as he is assisted outside the shop by his other co-workers.

Minutes pass and before he knew it, he was already standing there for a few hours. The costume was a success and people passing by have stopped to take pictures of and with the mascot. It was mostly teenage girls, young women, or mothers with their children. Seeing the smiles of the people, especially of the young kids, was helping melt away the tiredness he was feeling.

“Minus the sweat all over my body, I guess my first day wasn’t so bad,” he tries to console himself towards the end of his shift. By this time, only a handful of people were passing by, so he had started swaying from side to side in time with the music from the bakery across the street to keep himself awake a little longer.

It takes a while before he notices an employee staring at him from the inside with an amused smile on his face. Momentarily forgetting he was inside a costume, Jaejoong abruptly stays still suddenly feeling self-conscious. “Ack. Kim Jajeoong, do something!!” He then lifts his right arm and moves it in what would look like a wave. The guy’s smile widens at that and waves back. He then turns his back away and moves out of sight.

“Okay, glad I handled that nicely. Whew. Time to get off work,” Jaejoong is headed towards the front door when he feels a pull on the suit’s right arm.

He turns around a little to get a better view. “It’s probably a last-minute photo op session,” he thinks to himself. Turns out, he couldn’t be more wrong.

“Hi! Sorry, we had some leftover cookies and thought maybe you’d like some to take home,” it was the guy that had smiled and waved back. Before Jaejoong could say or do anything, the other guy had already spoken up again, “Don’t worry it’s for free. You did a great job today, Brown-ssi.” And with that, he bowed his head a little and left.

“What just happened?” Jaejoong thinks to himself for a few seconds before he continued his way back to the front door, this time holding a brown bag with the logo of Milk & Honey printed on the front and something blossoming inside his heart.

.

Autumn came and the same bakery employee never ceased to smile and wave at him every time it was his shift. If his aim was to catch Jaejoong’s eye, then he most certainly had succeeded. Little by little, Jaejoong started to become curious as to what type of person the other man was. All he knew from looking was that the other was taller than him, wore thick black rimmed glasses, and his wardrobe consisted mainly of long sleeved shirts. He wasn’t bad to look at, plus Jaejoong found that mole above his upper lip quite nice on him.

Another thing he noticed was how he was particularly fond of children. He would smile sweetly at all the other customers, but he would give extra attention to the kids by giving them treats. All the little boys and girls who entered the bakery got this special treatment without exception. Jaejoong was starting to wonder if he wasn’t getting yelled at by his boss for doing so and how come he seemed to be the only employee of the shop.

One particular morning though, Jaejoong wanted to take a short break from standing for so long in his mascot costume and spotted a bench nearby. As he was about to relax on the backrest, he noticed there was someone else sitting there too. It was the bakery employee.

“That’s odd. He looks like he’s in a daze,” Jaejoong thought to himself. The other person also seemed down and out of sorts. “This is not like him at all.” He waited for a response from the other but it didn’t look as if he was even aware of his presence.

Just as Jaejoong was deciding if he should leave, the other person suddenly spoke up. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t see you there,” he said with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“We’ve spoken a couple of times, but I haven’t even introduced myself. Where are my manners? I’m Jung Yunho,” he continues speaking while extending his hand.

Jaejoong extends his hand too but doubts it if he would be heard by the other if he spoke without taking off the headpiece of his costume. Since they were in public that would be a big no-no, so Jaejoong settled with miming the letters to his name instead.

Yunho looked confused afterwards and that’s when Jaejoong realized he was drawing the alphabet to his name by his point of view. He had to draw it backwards for Yunho’s benefit. “Ah, JJ!”

Jaejoong holds up his arms in triumph since giving a thumbs up wasn’t possible with the costume either. “That was fun. It was like we were playing charades,” Yunho laughed and this time Jaejoong was sure he was sincerely delighted.

That amusement quickly faded and the sad look on his face returned. “I know you’re probably just on break and wanted to relax for a bit, but would you mind hearing me out? I’ve got no one else to talk to.” And that pleading face was added to the list of things Jaejoong had noticed were slowly taking up space inside his heart.

.

It was winter when Jaejoong got to know more about Yunho. The latter confided in him that ever since he was younger he felt like it was easier to talk to plush toys about his problems than real life people. Toys were great listeners after all, and sometimes people weren’t. In that sense, Jaejoong could relate too. He had some things he wanted to say but feared no one would care enough to listen much less understand. So he figured he’d be there for Yunho.

Jung Yunho apparently was the owner of Milk & Honey bakery and that he had opened the shop after graduation. He wanted to prove to his parents that he could handle it on his own and they gave him 6 months to make the business a success. Aside from his friend who was the baker, he was the only other employee. They were a bit understaffed, but so far they could still manage.

It was halfway through the deadline and Yunho felt like they were still lacking a lot. He shared his worries and fears about not succeeding and disappointing his parents. All Jaejoong could do was listen and pat him on the back as comfort.

Yunho, however, found the talks therapeutic and reassuring, making Jaejoong glad he could help in any way. .

The next time Jaejoong and Yunho interacted after that was Christmas eve and the LINE store was having a free hug event to raise funds for charity.

They were entertaining the last few people when Yunho had come forth and chosen to approach Brown out of all the characters there. He flashed his endearing smile before enveloping the mascot in a hug one would normally give to a dear friend.

“Thank you for everything this past year, JJ. I hope you have a great one next year. See you after the holidays,” Yunho said before letting go a moment later.

If his heart racing faster than usual wasn’t enough to make Jaejoong realize he was falling for Yunho, then his knees losing strength and a lot of people panicking over a mascot who was literally about to fall down was a sure enough sign.

.

“JJ!” Yunho shouted from across the street, “would you care to taste this new cookie my baker came up with?”.

Jaejoong wobbled over making Yunho chuckle at the cute sight. After checking around if there were any children nearby, he partially lifted the headpiece of the mascot costume just enough for Yunho to be able to give him a bite.

“How is it?” Yunho looks on expectantly. Before Jaejoong could mime his answer, the former had already babbled on about ingredients and fillings.

Normally Jaejoong hated small talk much more with people he barely even knew. Somehow with Yunho, he could listen to him ramble on even if he didn’t understand half of what he was saying about flour and eggs.

“Right?” Yunho asked suddenly snapping Jaejoong out his thoughts.

Jaejoong made a circle above his head to signal his agreement to whatever Yunho was saying. He had found the cookie delicious anyway.

“I knew I could count on you!” Yunho beamed in response and said his goodbyes as he went back inside the bakery.

As Jaejoong turned back to cross the street, a young woman about his age notices him and flashes him a beautiful smile. Jaejoong does some cute moves as fan service and she giggles happily before heading into the bakery.

.

“Wow, she’s been visiting him everyday huh?” Jaejoong overhears his fellow employees Min Chae and Ji Min talking the following week.

“Rumor has it they’ve been set up for an arranged marriage by their parents.”

“It’s already 2018. Do people still do that?”

“Beats me. Looking at her though, she wouldn’t have a hard time getting a guy. Wonder why she agreed to the set up.”

“Well he isn’t a bad catch either.”

“Ah~ I’m so jealous. They’re gonna have beautiful children.”

“JJ-ssi, do you have a girlfriend?” Min Chae calls out to Jaejoong as he was about to leave the shop wearing his costume. He didn’t look back and just signalled an X over his head as his answer.

“Yaaaay!” Min Chae cheers in delight. “You honestly think JJ would go for you?” Ji Min scoffs at her instead.

As the girls fight over who Jaejoong would go for, the sounds around Jaejoong were being drowned out by the ache in his heart.

.

Jaejoong doesn’t hear from Yunho for several weeks until he finds out about the temporary closure of Milk & Honey bakery come February.

“You’re graduating already? Time flies real fast. Real fast.” Mr. Choi shakes his head as he gives Jaejoong his final paycheck.

“It was great working here. I enjoyed helping out a lot.” Jaejoong says as he surrenders his ID.

“It was great having you. I wish you could have stayed a little longer I would have promoted you. It’s such a shame,” Jaejoong smiles sadly at the other. “But I’m glad you’re off to grab other opportunities more in line with what you studied for.

“JJ-ssi, you can still call us to hang out even if just as friends okay?” Min Chae says as Ji Min and her give Jaejoong a group hug.

“I will. I’ll treat you all when I get my first full time job.” He waves goodbye and exits the store.

He looks at the bakery across the street and feels regretful he didn’t even get to say goodbye to Yunho. “I wish you happiness,” Jaejoong whispers to wind and walks away.

.

“Our little Jaejoongie’s all grown up,” his mom says in between sobs as they pose for graduation photos outside his university.

“Honey, stop crying for a bit, so we can take a proper picture,” his dad tries to console his mom as Jaejoong finds the proper angle to take their family selca.

“Son, just ask someone else to take our picture,” his father says before someone taps Jaejoong on the shoulder.

“I’ll take the picture for you,” Jaejoong recognizes the voice even before he gets to turn around to face the speaker.

“How did you-?” Jaejoong manages to say despite his confusion. “They told me at the store when I asked for you,” Yunho smiles sheepishly as he hands Jaejoong a small bouquet of congratulatory flowers.

“How do you even know how I look like?”

“I’ve seen you without your head piece one time as I was looking over from the bakery.”

“So all this time you knew I was a guy?”

Yunho nodded in response like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Aren’t you engaged?”

“Well, we did meet a few times, but there was just something missing.”

“How come?”

“She didn’t like the cookie when I asked her to try it,” Yunho looks away feeling embarrassed.

Jaejoong laughed before saying, “Just because of that?”

“Well that and a few other things,” Yunho looked into his eyes this time as he said that.

“Jaejoongie, is your friend unable to take our picture?” his father and mother long forgotten by Jaejoong.

“Let’s talk later,” Yunho says as he holds Jaejoong’s free hand briefly before taking the camera from his other hand.

“Say kimchi!”

“Kimchi!”

end.