TEASER ONE

"Bae-yah, you finished with room 515 yet?" A woman in her thirties asked as she tapped the young man on the shoulder to get his attention.

The boy was silently stocking up on cleaning supplies and bathroom items to restock the next couple of bathrooms he had to clean. A beat up tape deck was attached to his side while his headphones were attached to his ears, music playing loud enough for the woman to hear.

Jumping at the sudden touch, obviously startled by the woman's gesture, he quickly tore his headphones off and turned to the lady behind him, eyebrows furrowed in surprise and confusion. His hands lightly shook from the sudden shock to his system, a nervous reaction he had to his personal space bubble being invaded, that he quickly wiped his hands on his pants to hide the shaking. Noticing that it was just one of the woman he worked with, he softly said, "Oh, sorry, you scared me," while he rubbed the back of his neck, "What did you ask Shinhye-sunbaenim?" 

Not noticing the slight cagey-ness that had overtaken his vision for a second, she re-asked, "Are you finished with room 515 yet?" 

A small smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she wanted to giggle a little at the boy's satoori coming into play, voice sounding quite charming to her ears, even if it did make him seem quite small town compared to the city boy that he was now. The satoori was something she was sure not everyone would like, but it was cute and the boy was more than polite that she likened him to what Americans would call a 'Southern Gentleman' instead of a 'hick.' 

Nodding at the question, he quickly replied, "Yes, I just have to put in the shampoo and soap in the bathroom and I can go to room 517." 

"Ah, okay then, I just wanted to know if we were still on schedule for today, but it seems like we're doing good on time, so don't rush or anything, alright?" 

Nodding again, he gave, "Yes, sunbaenim," before awkwardly excusing himself to go into room 515, putting his headphones over his ears again as he walked, music back on. 

The boy had always listened to music while he worked, English and British bands making up the bulk of his collections of tapes for his tape deck. The tapes being much cheaper than buying a CD or mp3 player, she knew he had quite the collection of music for himself, most likely picking up tapes at nearby garage sales or thrift shops for quarters. 

Billy Idol, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Genesis, and a couple other bands were a few of the bands she usually heard him put on repeat while he worked. The boy humming every so often that Shinhye would notice a tune she recognized that had been quite popular back in her high school days, rock being the type of music that made her parents worry endlessly over her choices in life but made everything seem so much fun.

She had often wondered what the younger man had wanted to do with his life since school hadn't been something he excelled in or was something he and his family didn't have the money for as he was working here instead of getting an education. The scholarships either not enough or he just couldn't get one with how competitive they were these days. But even with the terrible odds of getting into college and a good one at that, it was quite uncommon to see someone like him work a job like this than go off to university, even if the college was terrible.

Wasn't it a dream for all families to see their children get into college and work a job that didn't pay minimum wage?

Wouldn't his family want better for him than seeing him work this job? 

She didn't know and she didn't exactly want to pry either as it was his business and his alone, but she still couldn't help but wonder about it every once in a while, even if she let most questions like that drop. But the thought of him wasting himself away in a place like this with people like her or some of the other workers that worked here, most working 2-3 jobs to support families or were part-timers that were only working because they needed to get out of the house from their overbearing husbands that just wanted them to support their children, she felt that there had to be something better for him than just cleaning hotel rooms and bathrooms all day.

But she knew he needed the money, because most people that worked at the hotel needed money, and despite being quiet and rather aloof, he was a good worker and didn't slack off, so she had no reason to bug him about it. Even though he worried her and instilled motherly feelings in her, making her wonder if he was getting enough to eat since he always seemed to be too thin or if he was alright and wasn't overworking himself.

Seeing him come out of the room and silently tell her that he was starting on the next room and that he would be done in about fifteen minutes, she waved him off before grabbing a set of sheets herself to finish off the room on her left. She lost herself in work, filling in the hour making beds and dusting anything that needed to be dusted on her side, that when she was done with room 520, Bae was already waiting in the hall for her, ready to go to the next floor. 

"You good?" 

Nodding, the two quietly made their way to the elevator, Genesis softly filling in the silence between them, Shinhye couldn't help but wonder if music was the only thing that kept the kid going. 

A/N: So here's a little teaser to my character (even if it's more outsider POV than anything) and an insight to how I write. I know nothing really happened in this, but it should give you all a taste of my writing style anyway and should reveal to you that Bae's not a Seoul native, but he's from the South Jeolla Province of SK. And the best way to picture his accent is that it's kind of similar in the way Canadians' add an extra 'Eh' to the end of their sentences, usually whenever they ask a question, but if Bae was speaking Korean, he would add an extra '-ing' to the end of his sentences, especially if he was asking for a favor. So in laymen's terms, he's doesn't speak standard and one would liken him to being a hick from the southwestern region of Korea who's now living in Seoul.