Sitting on an empty box of grapefruits from South Africa – it seemed Joonmyun had gotten part of his exotic fruits selling wish – Soah was contemplating life. She could just feel the irony lingering throught the air, thick enough to taste. And Soah definitely though irony tasted bad just by the way it was always biting her in the… foot. With a loud yawn, she observed her reflection in the glass door of the shop. Her dark circles were horrible, closely rivaling Tao’s, the guy who worked the night shifts at the gas station and always looked sick. If only she could rock them like he did, now.

Although Soah would have loved to blame everyone and the whole wide world for her lack of sleep, she knew very well she had brought it on herself. She knew better! Or at least she thought she did… If there was something Soah’s 23 years on Earth had taught her, it was that she should never let her guard down. That was when bad things happened. She had applied this principle in her everyday almost religiously until now. Maybe working in a grocery store wasn’t enough of a threat and she ignored the danger, but for sure it was there! And it took the form of her very bosses. Both of them.

Soah remembered how it was like, when she first set foot in that grocery store. She had been taken aback by the level of non-professionalism that seep through every inches of the store. There were a pile of boxes in the corner, two employees were chasing each others with what looked like a small racket and the manager had tripped thrice when he came to greet her. She seriously considered not leaving her CV there, but other places didn’t need anyone or didn’t need college dropouts like herself. So with a mental push, she had agreed to work there full time. Maybe it had to do with the way Kim Joonmyun – then manager – had smiled at her and told her she was welcome. It felt good to be appreciated for herself.

Months after that, Joonmyun had realized he needed helped and that was when Kris came in. The guy had so many names, at first Soah had thought he might have been doing illegal business or was part of the witness protection program, but he had shortened everything down to Kris and he was far to uptight to be a gangster.

Soah would be lying if she said she never thought they were good looking. Both her bosses were out-of-this-world-ly handsome. But they were her bosses, they were older, they could have any other prettier and/or smarter girl and she had better – but still unknown – things to do than date. The very idea of dating again seemed like it could dump its load of problem on her head. She didn’t need this over her head.

But that was all until yesterday, when something unexpected and surprising happened. Her heart rate had accelerated, blood had rushed to her face, to the point were Soah thought she might have been sick. And now that everything was back under control, she felt like waiting to see how things would turn out. So she did exactly that, she waited, stared at everyone and examined her heartbeat. Everything was so normal Soah wondered if she imagined yesterday’s incident. When Joonmyun greeted her that morning, nothing! And now that she had seen him for hours without any further incident, she declared herself ‘not in love’.

Just as she finished wrapping a basket of strawberries in a paper bag, something caught Soah’s attention. She gave the client his bags of groceries and tried to observe the unusual sight. Some lady wearing a seemingly pricey fur coat had walked in, turning her head in every direction before hiding behind a display fridge of soft drinks. Bending her head at a weird angle, Soah tried to see what the lady was doing. Form what she was discerning, it looked like she was applying lipstick, a very think coat of ruby red lipstick that made her lips look dripping and made Soah cringe. Even money couldn’t buy style, and clearly this woman lacked some.

“What’s so interesting?” chirped one of her coworker, sneaking by her side.

“God, Jongdae, it’s way too early to be this happy,” she stated with a straight face.

“What are you talking about? It’s 11!”

“Exactly my point,” she sighed.

Jongdae rolled his eyes and looked the way she did few minutes ago. He turned to Soah with a questioning expression.

“Are you interested in that woman?” he asked with a half smirk.

“Ew!” Soah winced. “She’s not my type… What is she even doing here dressed like that?”

All she got as an answer was Jongdae’s hand, shaped like a gun, and discreetly pointing at a tall blond Chinese man.

“Kris?” Soah wondered.

“Just watch,” her coworker answered. “It happens every now and then and it’s always funny…”

Crossing her arms, Soah stared at the lady who was walking up to her manager while she waved a hand, holding a shopping basket in the other.

“Excuse me, Sir,” she began. “Would you be so kind as to tell me where this tomato comes from?”

Eyes, widening, Soah watched the lady try to throw herself at her boss, Chen burst out laughing as he also watched everything. The woman was obviously trying hard, making up every possible excuse to stand close to the 26 years-old man. She pouted, batted her long eyelashes and tried to hug him to thank him once he finished explaining everything about the many products she had picked. He was clearly not interested.

“Sir, could you take me to where the flour is? I’ve looked for it, but I couldn’t find it!” the lady than tried with a smile.

Kris, obviously starting to get annoyed, turned the cash register’s way and frowned at the sight of Jongdae almost rolling on the floor.

“Soah! Help the lady find some flour,” he coldly demanded.

After having exchanged a surprised look with Jongdae, Soah walked to the lady and directed her to the good aisle. They walked to the register for the articles to be paid. Just as Soah thought the lady was going away, she grabbed Jongdae’s wrist and held on quite solidly.

“Is your boss seeing anyone?” the woman asked the employee.

“I don’t know…” Jongdae replied, trying to break free. He turned to Soah with pleading eyes.

“I don’t think he is,” Soah guessed.

Satisfied, the woman smiled and released the boy’s wrist. She proudly walked out, as if she had just done something incredibly amazing.

The two employees stayed fazed for a short while before bursting out laughing.

“What was that?” Soah rhetorically asked. “She’s so desperate.”

“I know! Each time I see her, it’s always that funny,” Jongdae said while nodding his head, eyes in a daze as if he was remembering things.

“How come I never saw her before?” Soah asked the guy.

“She doesn’t come that often… And she used to be there when Kris worked other shifts. He changed his schedule last month.”

“Oh, right. I never really worked with him before… I guess that’s why I never saw her.”

Jongdae let out a sigh before patting his stomach.

“I should thank her for helping me get abs… By the way, do you really think Kris is single?”

“I don’t know and I don’t care, but I haven’t see him with anyone so I assumed.”

“Weird! I thought he’d get a girlfriend already…”

Soah lifted a brow at her coworker who was now casually leaning forward on the counter, not looking at her.

“What do you mean?”

“Obviously he’s a catch!” Jongdae replied, turning his head to look at her like he had just lost hope in her. “He’s good looking, smart and rich.”

“Kim Jongdae! Are you in love with your boss?” Soah asked teasingly.

“What? No!” He answered, horrified. “I’m just stating facts, geez!”

The cashier laughed at him. 

“I see you are happy here? That’s good,” said Joonmyun as he was just passing by.

But the owner stopped in his track and turned around. “Chen? What are you doing at the register?”

“Nothing else to do,” Jongdae muttered.

“Don’t worry, I’ll find something you can do!” Joonmyun offered with a smile. He took Jongdae by the shoulders and maneuvered him toward the back of the shop.

The rest of the hour, Soah got few customers and served them with a surprisingly genuine smile. One could always count on Jongdae to lift one’s spirits.

“That’s much better,” mentioned Kris, talking about her smile, as he handed her a bill for her to put in the cash register.

And this time, instead of acting all grumpy, Soah smiled and thanked him. He froze in place and awkwardly went away, surely taken aback by the mood swings Soah could go through from one day to the next.

The rest of the day was pretty ordinary. Soah spent her lunchtime eating in the back store while Jongdae was napping on a nearby pile of potato sacks. She did poke him to make sure he was still alive and also wince as she imagined the pain he would be in when he woke up. Potatoes weren’t known for their comfort… Her day was punctuated with happy moments when customers she knew came in and asked her about herself. Thought she never said anything, it always felt good to be asked. Mrs. Kim, for example, a nice and bright old lady always asked her what ‘a pretty girl like herself’ was doing in that place. The question made Soah smile every time. The old lady would always ask Soah to tell her boyfriend he should take care of her. And somehow, even though she tried the first time, she didn’t felt like correcting her.

So it was a pretty normal day, until the moment she had to take a bathroom break, that is. Leaving another employee at the cash register, Soah went to the employee’s room in the back store, walking on two people making out. Eyes widening, Soah immediately closed the door, forgetting all about her earlier bathroom needs. Absentmindedly, she walked up to Jongdae, who was filling the dairy products’ fridge.

“I just saw Jinah making out with the blonde guy…” Soah bluntly stated.

Jongdae’s jaw dropped and he let go of the box he was carrying, which was hopefully empty and crashed on the floor without making much of a noise or mess.

“Jinah? She was with who?” he finally managed to stutter.

“The blond kid who is working with her…”

“Daehyun? You saw Jinah and Daehyun? Is this store becoming a dating agency or what!”

Seeing the blank expression on Soah’s face, Jongdae realized she had no idea what he was talking about. He stared at her with the same blank expression until she began frowning.

“What do you mean?” she asked him after few seconds.

“I didn’t say anything!” he immediately retorted, keeping his poker face on.

“Fine!” Soah said with her brows furrowed. “I just shared an awesome piece of gossip with you, but keep all yours for yourself!”

And she spun on her heel to leave under the dubious stare of her best coworker-friend. Jongdae rolled his eyes before going back to his carton-boxed milks. He swore that girl was so oblivious for not seeing what was just too obvious to the outsider. “No wonder she never had a boyfriend…” he whispered cheekily.

Few hours later, Soah was free to go home. As she punched out, she noticed how both her bosses were sitting together, probably talking about the store’s budget. Something Soah had definitely no interest in. Both seem to notice her at the same time and Joonmyun gave her a smile before going back to work. Kris, on the other hand, and this was the weird part, stood up, walked her way and asked her she needed help with something and if she was okay.

“I’m good, thanks,” she managed to say despite the shock.

He gave a nod and went back to his seat. Something seemed really funny in this budget – probably the cost of the toilet paper that was available in the employee restroom because Soah swore she saw some of her coworkers cover the entire second aisle in white toilet paper flakes – because Joonmyun suddenly started laughing. Soah decided she didn’t care and proceeded out of the building.