-Walk with me-

Rain

            Two weeks went by slowly and with every morning that came, Suji wondered if she would see Taehyung that day; to see if he had finally decided to quit. But every day he showed up on time and endured the harsh day of work with her. Frankly, Suji felt relieved and delighted that there was finally someone that she could count on to be there the next day. They didn’t talk much on the clock but his presence was enough; she had grown used to seeing him around and they would walk back to the train station together after work (usually in the same silence). Though she couldn’t say she was exactly comfortable around him, she was nonetheless pleased to have him stick around.

            It was raining heavily on this very day. Despite the heavy rain, there were still people that came in and out of the store. They were located in a busy area of the city after all, and all sorts of customers came through even with the bad weather. The rain usually had no effect on them except that they have to mop up the floors every now and then when it got slippery.

            When the store quieted down, Suji and Taehyung left the registers to get on with other things. Suji went around the back to mark up items while Taehyung went to mop up the floors. Over the weeks, Suji had learned that Taehyung was really capable with handling the customers. It’s wasn’t that Suji wasn’t able to speak to customers, but the capital’s alarming zest still surprised her; she was slowly growing used to Seoul’s people but Taehyung was one of them and he was able to cope with interacting with them without effort. It wasn’t ideal, but if there were someone that can do one job better then Suji would rather let them do it and take up the background job.

            After fifteen minutes, the stock list was up to date and Suji returned outside. To her surprise there was a middle-aged woman speaking to Taehyung at the register. As soon as Suji stepped out, the woman turned around and ignored whatever Taehyung was saying. Her eyes lightened up when she saw Suji and began approaching the girl. Suji was alarmed by the sudden ambush and tried to make eye contact with Taehyung, she hoped to get some reassurance from him; but he was distracted by the woman and glared at the back of her head as she cornered Suji. She had never seen such a look on Taehyung’s face; he was usually more composed in front of customers (even troublesome ones). Just as Taehyung’s eyes snapped to meet hers, the woman stepped in front of Suji and blocked her view.

            “You work here, right?”

            “Uh- yes, I do,” Suji nodded back politely. “Can I help you, ma’am?”

            “I’m looking for this brand of cigars,” she held out a small box out to show Suji. “The boy at the counter said you didn’t have it but I’m sure that it’s available here.”

            Suji didn’t recognise the brand as any of the cigars that they carried – in fact, she’s never seen this type of cigar brand in South Korea. She understood why Taehyung had such a face on. Cigars themselves were already uncommon in South Korea and considered a foreign delicacy; it was obvious that no chain mart would carry such an expensive looking brand of cigars. She contemplated for a moment how she should approach this situation.

            “My apologies but he’s right, ma’am. We don’t carry this brand, and I think you’ll have a better chance of finding this brand in a larger shopping centre or tobacco store,” Suji brought her direction to the counter where Taehyung was standing. “But if you like, we have some other brands you can take a look at.”

            Suji slowly stepped past her and much to her relief she heard the woman follow her to the counter. She stepped behind the counter and began rea