Hayoung looked expectantly at her phone, but there was no alert, no vibration. She didn't quite know if she was waiting for the notification of a job, or just a few words from Kris. 

"Aish! Why do I even bother waiting for a job to drop from the sky?"

She finally gave up looking at it, and got up from her chair to grab a glass of water while Daesoo was busy playing with the toy soldier that she bought for him the other time.

"I want to be a soldier when I grow up!" Daesoo beamed at her while bobbing the soldier up and down when she returned to the living room. "I will protect the country!"

Hayoung couldn't help but smile at how patriotic and how innocent he was. If only he knew how terrible wars were, he might not be thinking that way.

"Aunt Hayoung?" 

"Mmm?" 

"What do you want to be?"

Hayoung didn't know how to answer as Daesoo shot that question at her. She hadn't given much thought to it, especially not in a recession where a job was nearly impossible to find, needless say a dream job.

"Well," she the glass, "I've always wanted to be a businesswoman. Work in some multinational company, get rich, set up my own company, come up with a set of products that would sell like hot cakes, and be even richer. But it's just me thinking that the world is that simple."

"Why not?" Daesoo looked at Hayoung with bright, innocent eyes.

How am I supposed to explain to a toddler that the world is evil, that not everything is as easy as ABC?

"Because," she took a deep breath in, "because in reality, you can't get everything you want when you ask for it." Daesoo just looked confused, and she continued.

"For example, not everyone will get you a toy soldier just because you ask for it."

Daesoo's mouth opened in utter horror.

"WHY NOT!" He started to yell, and Hayoung was so shocked by his outburst that she nearly fell off her chair and almost dropped the glass of water.

He must have been really really pampered by his parents. I can't keep pampering him though - what if next time, he asks for the latest technological devices? Money? Alcohol? DRUGS?

Hayoung grew horrified at the thought of it, and shook her head violently at all those thoughts.

Really needs to stop pampering him-

Daesoo pouted slightly, as though he was reading her mind and was disapproving it. She couldn't resist how cute he was, and her heart was melting all over again.

"Candy?" She said weakly as she grabbed a lollipop from her pocket, and Daesoo immediately ran up to grab it, seeming to have forgotten about what had happened just now.

Forget it.

Kris sulked while sitting at a corner of the shop. He was really annoyed by all the girls that were flooding the shop, with obviously no intention to purchase anything. He was contemplating if he should just paste a sign outside that said NO GIRLS ALLOWED but that would be ist - plus, this wasn't his shop.

"Those girls getting to your head?"

Kris looked up, only to see the boss smiling. He didn't find it very funny, and remained silent as the boss pulled up a chair to sit next to him.

"Do you know why I set up a toy shop, even though I know that it isn't very profitable?"

That caught Kris' attention, and he turned to face the boss, who was a middle-aged ahjusshi, complete with a pot belly.

"I've never had a complete family. In the past, in the present, in the future - never," he gave a sad smile, "I grew up in a single-parent family. My father was too busy with work to bother with me, and I often spent time alone playing with all my toys. It gave me great comfort to know that even though no one was there for me, my toys were. I guess I brought that love for toys into my adulthood, and now that I'm destined to be a bachelor, I might as well give other families the happiness that I once had, and once yearned."

Kris didn't realize that there was so much significance behind a simple toy shop, and the story tugged at his heartstrings. He recalled the sight of Hayoung and Daesoo, and it was then that it truly hit him what the boss meant.

"Boss?"

"Yes?"

"Do you think you could afford to employ another person here?" 

The boss didn't answer as he pondered over it, and Kris prayed that he would agree.

"Is this person someone you know, and is the person a she?" The boss winked.

"Uh..yeah." 

"Ah. Figures. Anyway, it would be good to have an extra hand around here, an especially a girl to keep those crazy girls out there away."

Kris widened his eyes in surprise.

"Boss, does that mean.."

"Yup. Now go tell her that she has a job, I think it's quite important, and so is she." 

Kris immediately got up and bowed in gratitude, and the boss chuckled as he left to go and do stocktaking.

"Silly boy. You always have that poker face on, but your thoughts are so easily read. Young people these days have their hormones raging all the time, as if I don't know."