Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Psychological, Friendship

Summary: "The convenience store wasn't the best of places to meet, but right now as she leans into her touch, Chaewon breathes out a sigh of contentment."

or;

Chaewon battles with her mental health issues; Hitomi helps everything get easier.

Word Count: 8010

Hashtag: #SSBB_ConvenienceStoreBlues

convenience store blues.

Chaewon is all too familiar with those two words. Two words that have haunted her every waking moment like a stubborn ghost, the two simple syllables that have plagued her sleep like a worn-out lullaby.

Give up.

"Let's just give up on that, alright sweetheart?" Her parents had said when she had tried to get them to let her take piano lessons.

"Maybe it's for the best that you give up here, Chaewon." Her elementary teacher had said as she was the only one who couldn't continue with the relay.

"This again, Miss Kim? Just give up on it." Her professor had told her as he rejected her research proposal for the nth time.

Give up. Give up. Give up.Give up.Give up.Give up—

"Why do you keep trying? Just give up." She had said to herself, because at this point, what else is there? She had been told so many times to give up that it's all she knows how to do.

-----

Chaewon is bored out of her mind as she absently flips through a magazine she had taken off the rack of the convenience store she works at. She doesn't even know what it's about, simply indulging in the mind-numbing repetitiveness the action brought.

The fluorescent light overhead flickers as it casts a sickly pale light over the counter, harsh and uninviting. Chaewon idly wonders why people come into the store in the first place considering that it's so rundown you'd think it had been open since the 70s; but the truth is that the manager didn't bother hiring people for maintenance, instead entrusting all that to his employees (read: Chaewon and another girl who works the day shift). The only thing good about this place is the air-conditioning that is surprisingly kept in mint condition. 

I bet he spends most of that maintenance money on beer. She thinks, wrinkling her nose as she remembers the very pungent alcoholic smell inside their manager's office. She then thinks of the shelf above the communal break room filled with white and green action figures. That, or his weird obsession with Buzz Lightyear.

Deciding that she's had enough of looking at the same pages over and over, Chaewon closes the magazine and moves to return it back to where she got it. 

As she's ducking under the counter (their manager had superglued the small door that would usually be there to step out of onto the counter because it had been hanging by its hinges, and that man really did not want to pay for repairs), the sound of the door opening startles her and she hits her head on the way out.

Mortified that some stranger had seen her hit her head as she's ducking out, Chaewon scrambles to her feet, magazine left on the floor, and faces the door with her best customer service smile through the throbbing pain on her head. If she pretends nothing happened, then hopefully the other person wouldn't ask and make this ordeal ten times as embarrassing.

"Hi, can I get you anything?" Chaewon says, and she gets a good look of the person who had seen her at her most embarrassing (dramatic, but sue her).

"I, uhm, a–are you okay?" They stutter out, and Chaewon thinks this woman in front of her right now is the most gorgeous person she's ever seen in her life.

Long blonde hair fell over her shoulders in waves, framing her face with the cutest pair of cheeks she's ever laid eyes on. The look of concern in the woman's eyes makes her look like an angel to Chaewon, the fluorescent light overhead not flickering like a dying firefly for once, lending the woman an almost ethereal glow. Well, as ethereal one can get when your glow is of the 7900 won variety

"U–uhm, excuse me?" God her eyebrows are scrunched up in the cutest way imaginable. And her pursed lips? Man, if Chaewon hadn't been hooked at first glance, she definitely is now.

"M–miss, are you alright? If, if it hurts let me help you sit down for a bit." The gorgeous stranger makes a move to grab her wrist and only then does Chaewon snap out of her trance. She jerks her hand away from the woman's, watching as confusion paints her face. Chaewon thinks she could die right then.

"Uhm, a–are you alright now?"

She feels heat in her ears from the absolute embarrassment she's brought upon herself in front of this beautiful stranger, and she squeaks. Squeaks. A high-pitched, tinny little thing that wouldn't have been too audible if it weren't for the fact that it's 2 AM and the store is completely empty. Only the low hum of the air-conditioning can be heard, but even that couldn't overpower her mighty hamster sound that was seemingly echoing throughout the store. 

It was taunting her, in a way, and oh, she's made a fool of herself for the third time in the span of a few minutes.

I see one gorgeous woman and suddenly I forget basic human functions! Chaewon growls in her head, because you'd think she'd know how to act around people but apparently she's decided to give up on that too.

As she contemplates whether or not to just crumple to the floor and hope it would actually swallow her whole, she hears laughter. Looking up, she sees the woman doubled over in laughter, her face lit up in mirth as she clutches her stomach. 

Chaewon should be embarrassed knowing that she's no doubt the cause of said laughter, but she stands absolutely captivated by the woman's beauty, and she soon finds herself laughing along with her. 

Chaewon wipes a few tears away as she sees the woman dab a tissue at her eyes. She's huffing a bit as she calms down from their bout of laughter, but her smile doesn't fade. 

Locking eyes with the woman, Chaewon flushes but flashes her a smile. "I—I'm really sorry about, uhm, not saying anything earlier."

The woman beams. "It's alright, I was in a pretty bad mood and you just made my night."

Chaewon decides to take that as a compliment. "I'm glad I could be useful for once," she grins crookedly.

"My name is Hitomi," the woman says. "Nice to meet you, Chaewon-ssi."

"H–how did you know my name?" She sputters, a bit flustered to hear her name from the wo—Hitomi's lips.

Hitomi laughs and simply taps the space below her left collarbone. Her hand goes up to the same place and feels the plastic of her employee nametag on where she has it pinned to her shirt.

"O–oh. Right. I'm still on the clock." And suddenly her mind is kicked back into the well-oiled machinations of her customer service persona. 

"Uhm, please, don't let me hold you up more than I already have." Chaewon bows slightly and gestures further in to the store.

Hitomi giggles. "I'm not in too much of a rush, don't worry."

"Still, it's very late and I wouldn't want anyone to be walking back later than they should have because of me." Chaewon insists, because gods if anything happened to the woman in front of her due to Chaewon holding her up at the stupid, run-down convenience store, she would never forgive herself.

She sees a flash of... something on Hitomi's face, but before she can figure out what exactly that was, Hitomi says, "Well... if you really want me out of your hair that much then..."

And Chaewon flusters like the human interaction-starved person she is. "I didn't mean it like that! It–it's just that you never know what could happen in the early hours of the morning and I'm just worried about what would happen if a beautiful woman such as yourself walked alone through this street because this street isn't the safest, you know, and woops did I say beautiful I meant stunning—no! I mean gorgeous and absolutely—"

"Chaewon-ssi, breathe."

Hitomi's eyes are sparkling with amusement when Chaewon immediately clamps shut, fearing what else it would let out without her permission. Her lips are curled into a smirk that's equal parts mirth and amusement, and goodness Hitomi looks stunning.

So stunning, in fact, that Chaewon just stands there for a good ten seconds looking at nothing. 

She opens and closes as she tries to speak words but all she succeeds in doing is a darn good impression of a fish out of water.

And Hitomi is still looking at her, clearly amused by the display given how her smirk has widened into a grin, her eyes shining. Feeling the heat in her ears, Chaewon wishes for the third time that day for the floor to just open up and save her the embarrassment.

"I'll get back to my shopping then." Hitomi says, the mirth never leaving her eyes. She bounds over to the many aisles of convenience store goodies and starts to browse for her purchases, leaving Chaewon to stand there looking like the most unprofessional convenience store employee.

Chaewon bows her head, ears still red, and shuffles over to her forgotten magazine on the floor. The magazine had opened to a page with an article titled 'Top 10 Tips to the Terrifically Talk-Troubled' and Chaewon slams it shut with more force than necessary.

When she's back behind the counter, Hitomi emerges from the drinks section, basket of goodies in tow, and she gives her a blinding smiled as she approaches. Chaewon is still much too embarrassed to even open around Hitomi so she smiles back as best as she can and rings up her purchases without another word.

Just before walking out the doors, Hitomi turns and gives Chaewon one last smile. She reciprocates, feeling her ears warm and her heart hammering dangerously in her chest.

-----

She's outside affixing one of the convenience store's many promotional posters on the store walls when Hitomi comes by the store again.

"I see you're working hard." 

Chaewon drops the stapler she's holding in surprise, hitting her foot in the process. She yelps, scrambling to pick the stapler up from the concrete, and turns to face Hitomi who has an amused smile on her face.

Feeling the heat crawl up her neck, Chaewon waves awkwardly at the woman. "H–hitomi-ssi! Good evening!"

"It's technically morning right now, but good evening to you as well, Chaewon-ssi."

"A–ah right..." She almost thinks that Hitomi is doing this on purpose now, trying to embarrass her at every turn. Deciding to steer clear of any more embarrassing moments that might arise, Chaewon ushers Hitomi inside the store since that's what she most probably came for.

Of course that's what she came for! What else did you think she came for here at 2 AM, you? Yeah, right.

Once inside, Chaewon resumes her post behind the counter. "You're back here again, and at 2 AM no less."

Hitomi nods, "Yes, this is the only convenience store nearby open almost twenty-four hours, and my roommate has a nasty habit of making me buy ice cream for her at ungodly hours of the night." She ends with a sigh.

"But enough about me," Chaewon sees a glint in Hitomi's eyes that she can't just blame on the lights, and she involuntarily gulps, nervous. "I'd like to hear some things about you, Chaewon-ssi."

Chaewon is a bit taken aback because who would want to know more about her, and she says as much to Hitomi. "Why would you want to know about me?" 

Hitomi looks at her, confused. "Why wouldn't I?" 

And now it's Chaewon's turn to look confused. No one has shown any sort of interest in her, platonic or otherwise, and in the present it's no different. The people around her all expected something from her but never really tried to know about what she actually wanted. And maybe that was the reason she had isolated herself most of her life; trapped in the cage of others' expectations.

When she had failed to live up to said expectations people had set for her, what little interest people had in her dwindled down to nothing. She had been freed from the cage, but at what cost? She felt just as isolated as she had been inside of it.

At least the cage felt familiar. Being outside of it had been worse. 

As she grew older, most saw her as a failure, and so she started giving up. By this point, Chaewon was convinced that she was no good, that she really was a failure and had no bright future ahead of her. 

Who could blame her, though? Time and time again she had been told to give up on various things, and she justified being told such by convincing herself that she wasn't enough. If she wasn't enough, then why bother trying?

And now, in some sick self-fulfilled prophecy, she was kicked out of university for not turning in requirements and was forced to work the graveyard shift at a run-down convenience store in the shadiest part of town to earn enough money for rent.

"... Chaewon-ssi? Are you...okay?"

Coming back from that rather painful recollection, Chaewon plasters on her best smile and reassures the other woman (when had she started to frown?). "I–i'm completely fine, Hitomi-ssi! S–sorry about that, I'm not usually this spacey."

Hitomi looks entirely unconvinced but decides to drop it, for which Chaewon is grateful; she doesn't really want Hitomi to know how much of a disappointment she is. 

The silence that ensues is awkward at best, Chaewon fidgeting with the scanner under Hitomi's burning gaze, until Hitomi starts the conversation back up.

"So, Chaewon-ssi, do you mind if you tell me a bit about yourself? You don't have to if you don't want to." Hitomi smiles, soft and encouraging, and Chaewon feels oddly comforted.

"I... I don't mind, but there are some things I don't like talking about so, uhm, yeah." Real eloquent. 

With an encouraging look from Hitomi, she starts her mini-introduction. "Uhm, I'm Kim Chaewon and I was born in Gangnam-gu, Seoul." 

"Have any hobbies?" Hitomi prompts.

Chaewon flusters a bit at the sudden question and rack her brain for anything she's been doing lately aside from working, eating, and sleeping. She finds an activity she's actually enjoyed doing recently and goes for that. "I–uh, I've recently been, uhm, trying to compose music again..."

"Oh! Really?!" Hitomi suddenly exclaims, slamming her hands down onto the counter with more force than necessary as she leans forward. She shrinks when she realizes the volume her voice had been at; she had even spooked poor Chaewon who recoiled into the wall in surprise. "...Sorry about that." 

Chaewon rubs the spot where she collided with the wall as she waves a hand in reassurance. "Don't worry about it, Hitomi-ssi, you just surprised me that's all."

"I just got a bit excited when you mentioned composing music since I've been trying to learn composition myself," Hitomi explains. "I've also been looking for someone who can guide me through it." 

Chaewon's eyes widen in surprise, "You compose, Hitomi-ssi?" 

The other woman nods, "Though it's really hard for me to find the exact notes for the melody I have in my head so it's a really slow process for me."

As Chaewon was just about to nod sympathetically (because working up to something half-resembling perfect pitch was just honestly hard to do) and let Hitomi go on with her ice cream errand, she just realized what Hitomi had said a few moments prior.

Hitomi was looking for someone to help her in composing. She just mentioned that she composes. She could help her with composition. Chaewon could offer to help her and see her more.

And without much thought, Chaewon says, "I could, uh, I could help you with composition..."

"Really?" The way Hitomi lights up and beams at her has Chaewon's ears turning red, and she nods a confirmation, not trusting herself to speak lest she somehow embarrass herself in front of the woman again.

Hitomi claps her hands in what Chaewon assumes is delight, "Thank you so much!" She starts rummaging through the tote bag she's carrying and pulls out her phone.

"Here," Chaewon looks at the phone presented in front of her, confused. Hitomi giggles at her apparent confusion, reaching over the counter to grab Chaewon's hand and place the phone in her grasp.

"Put your number in so that we can contact each other and coordinate times." Slightly dazed at everything that was happening, Chaewon just nods dumbly and does as she's told, saving her contact name as 'Kim Chaewon'. She holds the phone out and Hitomi takes it back with a smile.

"I'll send you a text later so that you'll have my number as well, " Hitomi flashes her one last smile before she's walking towards the doors. "I'll see you around, I hope!" 

Chaewon, finally regaining some semblance of consciousness, hurriedly says to Hitomi's retreating figure, "Y–yes! I mean, I–I'll see you around as well, Hitomi-ssi!" 

The doors slam shut, pushed in by the wind outside, and Chaewon is left pondering about what just happened in the now quiet convenience store. 

Okay, so Hitomi-ssi needed some help getting the grasp of composition. I mentioned that I compose music, as such I offered to help her. I gave her my number, and now she'll be texting me 'later'...

Suddenly, everything just registers and crashes into Chaewon like a sack of bricks dropped from a ten-story building. 

She had just offered her help to someone who needed an actual music teacher! What on earth was she thinking? She might teach Hitomi all the wrong scales and keys, or—or fail to even remember what notations are for which music clef! God, what she would give just to strangle past-Chaewon into not opening at that moment.

She puts her head in her hands and tries not to scream out all of the bubbling anxiety that's crawling its way up .

What if Hitomi deems her a bad teacher? What if she s up so bad while teaching? What if Hitomi pushes her away because she's failed at teaching her and then she just never sees her again?

I can't do this after all! Maybe I should just giv—

Chaewon feels her phone vibrate in her pocket, abruptly pulling her out of her thoughts. She fumbles for her phone and takes the device out with shaky hands, turning the screen on to find a notification.

1 new message from:

+827xxxxxxx

Hello, Chaewon-ssi, I got a quick look through my schedule and saw I had Friday free this week. Would Friday afternoon at Celeb be alright with you?

There's no pressure here, okay? You'll do great.

Hitomi 🍓

You'll do great.

Chaewon feels the tears threatening to spill as she reads those words on the scree