Hani

My final year of high school was full of after-school classes and juggling the graveyard shift at a local convenience store.

If it wasn't because of my father’s death 3 years prior, I wouldn't be in this position. I would probably be at home, having midnight snacks with my family, while my dad watch the weekly English Premier League. Unfortunately, life usually don’t go as planned, so currently the only places I knew was school, the convenience store and home. This was also the reason why I had few friends. After rejecting them for a night out a few times because of my part-time job, I noticed that after a while they didn't bother to ask me out anymore. As if they knew I would reject. I don't blame them though, because I knew what my priorities were; to survive.

I looked at my watch, the one Dad had bought for me many years ago, it was half-past 11. 

"30 more minutes",  I thought, counting down the minutes anxiously. 

I had received a call earlier that day. Mum was sent to the hospital due to overwhelming stress and lack of nutrition. Mum had assured me that she was fine and emphasized that she did not want me to skip work just because of her.

In the midst of all the worries, I suddenly reminisced back to the day Dad passed away. How Mum and I were informed about the accident. How she lost consciousness in the hospital after seeing the doctor shake his head. But the most lasting memories I had were the events that happened after the funeral. I witness Mum locking herself up in her room, and when people tried to offer her food, she would cry instead, almost every hour. Constantly worried about our next meal and bills. How we were going to continue living life without our sole breadwinner. How hard for her to find a job at her age, just to provide for the both of us.

Remembering those painful events, tears starts to well up and began to stream down my cheek. As I wiped off my tears and straighten my posture, I noticed two young men were in the store but the memories were overpowering my mind that I wondered back to those painful memories. I closed my eyes, trying to avert my thoughts to something else, when my phone rang.

I was rather thankful for a moment that I was distracted from the memories. I quickly picked up the call without even checking the caller ID.

"Hello?" I answered.
'Beep, beep' and the caller hang up. I looked at my phone and wondered, "Must be some prankster. Oh well."
Just as I was about to keep my phone in my pocket, packets of potato chips and a few cans of Coca-Cola were placed on the counter. 

"Oh right, I wasn't alone in the store." I  thought again and looked up to smile at the customers. The two young men.

Then something caught my attention. Their school uniforms. They were the same as mine. I prayed really hard that they wouldn’t recognize me. It would be a bother to have someone from my school to know where I work.

"Why are they even still in their uniforms at this hour?" I thought. I shove the thought away, thinking it was none of my business, I scanned the items that they placed on the counter. I then noticed that one of them held out his right hand towards my face. I flinched at the contact of his fingers on my left cheek and I quickly shifted away from his touch uncomfortably.

"Sehun, you gave her a fright. Don't just unknowingly wipe away someone's tears," the second man commented, with a slight tease in his voice. I lifted my hand to check and true enough, there were still tears running down my cheek. I awkwardly cleared my throat. I was really hoping they did not recognize me.

“Are you alright?” Sehun asked, with a concerned tone.
I cleared my throat again, “Yes. That will be $12.60, please.”

His friend grabbed the bag and headed towards the exit whilst Sehun was still paying for the items. I gave him a bow as how I would normally greet a customer but was surprised to feel a little touch on my head. 

Sehun patted my head, “Cheer up, things will get better. Maybe not now, but eventually.” When I looked up at him, he gave me a warm smile but before I could even react, he was out of the store, leaving me astonished.

"What just happened?" I asked myself. I could not really process the things that had happened the past 10 minutes.

"Did Sehun recognized me? Maybe he did? But how was that possible?" His unexpected gesture left me wondering. Just as the clock struck midnight, I did not waste any moment. I grabbed my things and dashed out of the store without even saying goodbye to the colleague relieving me for the next shift.

Days passed since that incident but I could not put my thoughts away, especially since I had seen the boys a couple of times in school. I was sure that they did not recognize me at the store because they had not acknowledged me before in school. I later found out from a classmate that Sehun was actually one of the popular kids, alongside with a few other pretty boys. The other guy that was with him that night was Jongin, or popularly known as Kai. Now that they got my attention to them, mostly just Sehun, I was quite amused at myself for not knowing them earlier. They were seen as heartthrobs to many girls in school.

It was also one of the reasons why I couldn’t stop thinking about Sehun. I assumed, if he did recognize me at the store that night and only said those words to mock me, then why did he not acknowledged me in school before? Instead, the thing that got me more confused was if he hadn’t recognized me at all, then what was his intention giving his words of encouragement?

Other than Sehun, my other thoughts were preoccupied with my studies. The final and major exams were nearing soon, I would be sitting for my college entrance exam. I decided that I needed more hours of studying. I even had to ask my store manager to change my shift timing as I would not be able to make it for the 7pm-12midnight shift. Instead, I suggested him to change it to the 12mn-5am shift slot. With much difficulties, he agreed to my request.

“You know that old lady will never stop grumbling at you from now onwards,” he said.
I shrugged. “Yes, I know but I have no choice. Anyway, thank you very much sir!” I replied.

I knew this meant I had lesser hours to sleep, but all I could think about was acing the exams so that I'll be eligible for scholarship. Even while working, I would sneakily peek under the counter, where I had left my notes. I did not understand why I wasn't allowed to study during working hours. It wasn't like the store was always busy, especially at midnight. I swore that I would probably only serve 3 customers per night, at most.

"...a waterfall forms slowly as rivers erode rock and break it apart..." I whispered to myself one night, trying to read a chapter on the formation of a waterfall from my Geography notes from under the counter at work

Seriously, why am I studying this? I grumbled to myself.

"Yes, please tell me more,” a voice suddenly said. I was startled upon hearing the voice across the counter. I quickly pushed my notes away and looked up to greet the customer. I must have been so engrossed reading up on waterfalls that I did not notice a customer had entered the store. I looked up. It turned out that my customer was none other than Sehun.

Sehun chuckled at my flustered face while placing the items, a can of Coca-Cola and a pack of bun with chocolate filling, on the counter. I was not sure what to reply him so I decided to ignore his remark and started to scan the items. I waited for him to take out his cash to make his payment, and while he was doing so, I looked over to the clock on the wall. 15 more minutes to end of work shift.

"Did you change your shift? What time are you getting off work?" Sehun asked while handing me some cash.

I was a little surprised by his questions. It also made me feel anxious.

Why is he asking me these questions? Does this mean he remembered me from many nights ago? So many questions flooded my thoughts, it was certainly odd.

“Here's your change. Thank you!" Choosing to ignore his questions, I handed him the change and quickly bowed to him, indicating that the conversation is over.

Sehun stared and blinked a couple of times at me. I could see from the corner of my eyes that he was still looking. So I stayed at that position until he turned to leave the store and mumbled to himself, “Did she not hear me...?"

I quietly chuckled to myself upon hearing how bemused he was when I ignored him. I pulled out my notes from under the counter and continued to read about the waterfall.