11 | SWEET SPARK

Soobin

I feel so much lighter after cutting two and a half inches off my hair. It may not be a lot to someone else but it is certainly a lot for me. I’ve always had my hair long, it always stops just above my tailbone and once I feel the ends of my hair get past that point, it’s my cue to cut it.

Also, my hairdresser had to texturize my hair a lot.

I have a lot of hair and hairdressers could never skip the texturizing step otherwise it would not complete the look for me.

Hence my feelings of lightness now.

Now, I am on my way to the supermarket. I don’t have a lot of food items that I need and to be honest, I eat more at the restaurant than in my own home. But when I am home, like today, I eat very lightly.

My grocery list includes a value pack of yogurt, a carton of milk, Chex cereal which always has to be cookies and cream otherwise I won’t eat it, a pack of cucumber and a box of green tea. That’s all I need. Other items in my refrigerator are usually given by my parents, leftover from takeout, or from the restaurant I work at.

It’s pretty straightforward.

I don’t like my refrigerator very full; it makes it hard for me to look for things and it’s just overall not convenient and purely unnecessary. And I live alone, I don’t need a lot. Maybe someday, when I have found the right person to spend the rest of my waking life with, I’d consider filling up that fridge to the brim. Especially if this man loves food more than an average person, I don’t mind having to compromise with him.

But right now, there is no point.

Because there is no man at the moment.

Once I am parked, I head out towards the supermarket and grab one of their buggies. However, I stop myself from pulling it all the way out when a little girl appeared right beside me, reaching for its handle too.

“Uh, you need one, little girl? Let me help yo—"

I hear heavy footsteps behind that sound like a run. “Yulhee, don’t take someone else’s cart. That’s not nice, sweetie.” A deep voice speaks behind me so I turn around.

Tall. Very tall.

And … familiar.

“Sorry, miss. You can ta—” The man speaks halfway but stops when our eyes met. He’s really familiar but I don’t know where or when I’ve met him before. “Miss, have we met before? You look very familiar.” He tells me which assures me that I am not crazy. We have met before!

He lifts the kid to his arms as he looks up as if he was in deep thought. “Ah!” He makes a eureka sound so deep I almost thought I’m on drugs, not that I have been. Although, I’ve been under laughing gas if that counts. But he’s not in slow-motion, so there’s no way I am high or about to pass out. His voice is just really that distinct.

“I think you work in the restaurant of my old co-worker—no, actually, it wasn’t her restaurant. It was her boyfriend’s restaurant that just opened at the time, so I attended its soft launch. Ra Miyoung? She used to work at my parents’ art gallery.” He tells me and it finally fully clicked in me.

Right! He’s that guy.

I knew it.

“Ah, you mean The Alley Cat?” I ask and again, he makes the same sound and even snaps his fingers. “Right, that! You’re one of the servers there, right?” He asks. Wrong answer. “Manager, actually.” I correct him as politely as I can before lowering my head and smiling. He flashes a big smile and scratches the back of his neck. “Sorry, I was only there once so,” He shrugs.

“Anyway,” I pull the buggy out and bowed at him once. “You can go ahead and take this.” I offer kindly before taking another buggy out for myself.

I bow one more time before turning around towards the entrance. “So, how’s The Alley Cat doing? I haven’t been in touch with Miyoung since she quit.” The man, which I actually forgot to ask the name of, continues to talk behind me. I’d ask his name now and maybe introduce myself but then it’s kind of awkward now at this point. And before I knew it, we were walking side by side while the little girl, whom I assume is his daughter, stands in between us.

Well, even if he was in touch with Miyoung, I don’t think he would have known. One, because Miyoung went away for Canada right after she quit, I believe. And two, she’s not with Kyungsoo anymore—or at least, from what we know.

But we could never really know.

Those two have always been sneaky since the beginning. And we won’t be shocked if they’re actually back together. We just don’t say anything anymore.

“It’s doing really good, thank you for asking.” I flash a smile as I turn to him, although my eyes are glued to the aisle that I so badly wanted to go to. But I feel stuck here. I can’t be rude. What if he gets in touch with Miyoung again and then I somehow meet Miyoung for whatever reason and then she confronts me about it that I was rude to her friend?

I don’t want that.

He nods and then laughs, a bit softer this time. “Oh wait, I feel like I’m being rude. I’m Park Chanyeol, by the way.” He finally introduces himself and the name snaps inside of me. Right, now it does ring a bell. I remember typing him into the system for the launch guestlist. “And you are?” He asks for mine.

I bow once again. “I’m Choi Soobin.”

He only smiles as he nods. “Nice to meet you again, Choi Soobin. I should visit The Alley Cat again, one of these days.” His lips form a straight smile as he moves his eyes from left to right, quite adorably so. “Hope to see you there.” His gaze falls back at me as he lowers his head for a slight bow. “I’ll let you do what you gotta do now. Bye.” He waves a hand before walking away with his daughter.

But he’s going in the same direction as the one I was headed to.

No, that can’t do. It’s going to be way too awkward since he already said bye, and a bye is not the same as hi and if we go the same direction, we’re gonna have to talk again and that completely ruins the meaning of bye.

I’ll just go there later then. I turn the other way and stride to the meat section where I don’t need anything at all. I eat meat but I just don’t like touching meat hence I do not cook meat at home. I look at my wristwatch to check the time. It’s ten past six o’clock and I have a lot of free time before I have to pick Baekhyun up at eight o’clock.

Grocery shopping should take me about twenty minutes, depending on how busy it is at the cash register. Hopefully, there is no lineup. I plan to go home first to drop off my groceries, probably take another shower, take out my clothes from the dryer—maybe fold them if I have the time—and then drive to The Alley Cat to get Baekhyun.

Since picking up Baekhyun on my day off is a newly added task in my routine, I am yet to figure it out. I mean, that is if we always have lessons on Tuesdays. We didn’t really have a set schedule for lessons.

We probably should have one.

The only problem with that set-up is the very same reason I am even considering it in the first place—if that even made sense. I love routine. I obsess over routines. Routines and lessons with Byun Baekhyun put together might not be the smartest idea for me.

I might obsess over it.

I might get so used to it.

I might embrace it too much.

I might … love it.

That thought alone reminds me of what happened this morning. His warmth. His presence. His lips on my skin. His tongue all over my . I didn’t tell him this but … I always refused to remove my bra during . I don’t think I look attractive fully at all and it makes me feel very self-conscious and uncomfortable when everything is off.

One reason would be because my very first boyfriend, during university, once suggested I get a augmentation surgery for when we celebrate our first anniversary as a couple, which never ended up happening because we broke up only after five months of dating, and since then I’ve always known that it was … not right.

Small s are not y.

But today … Baekhyun made me feel like they’re y. I know that it’s only from his experience through his escorting job and he must have mastered it well but he really made me feel like my s are the best thing he’s ever had.

That my small s are actually y.

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