Seulgi browsed through the Italian foods section, in search of the bottle of pesto she really needed.  Her mother had dragged her out in the middle of the afternoon to make use of the pile of coupons she’d cut from the Sunday newspaper.  Seulgi sighed as she glanced at the price of the bottle.  It was extremely difficult to find foreign ingredients in Korea and the ones she found were always overpriced.  She took the bottle off the shelf and told herself she would get it this time.  If her mother disagreed then she wouldn’t give in like she usually did.  Seulgi found her mother in line for the register and plopped the bottle down in the cart. 

“Put it back,” her mother commanded tonelessly.

Seulgi squared her jaw, glancing at the people around them.  There were a few ladies that seemed to be her mother’s age looking their way as well as a male cashier around her age, whom Seulgi had to admit was attractive.  She sighed, realizing that if she didn’t want to make a scene, she’d have to do what her mother told her.  The cashier smirked as she lifted the bottle out of the cart and went to go put it back.  When she returned, her mother had already finished paying for their items.

“Seulgi, I didn’t buy your favorite tampons because they were too expensive.  That’s okay with you, right?” her mother asked loudly.  The cashier had paused mid checkout to stare.  Mortified, blood rushed to Seulgi’s cheeks and dropped open.

She grabbed the cart from her mother and rushed out of the supermarket with it.  Seulgi didn’t slow down until they had reached the car where she promptly opened the trunk.  Her mother caught up with her, huffing and out of breath.

“Seulgi, that was no way to behave,” her mother scolded.

“You embarrassed me and now you’re saying it’s my fault,” Seulgi muttered to herself as she finished unloading the cart.  Unfortunately, her mother had caught on to what she’d said and she was immediately being hit on the back.

“How did I embarrass you?  You embarrass yourself.  Go put the cart back,” her mother said, continuing to smack her.  

Seulgi flinched and grabbed the cart once again and hurried away with the it, making her way back into the store.  She bit the insides of her cheeks, trying to ignore the pain she felt.  Tears began to prick her eyes.  She opened and took a shaky breath in an effort to control her reaction.  She wiped her tears away with her finger and sniffed, thankful that she’d forced herself to stop crying.  Seulgi made her way back to the exit.

“You could actually be the only girl I know that looks pretty when they cry,” a voice said, stopping her in her tracks.  She turned, coming face to face with the cashier.

“Thanks, but please mind your own business next time,” she said, squinting at his nametag. “Jongin.”

Jongin raised an eyebrow.  “You don’t know me?  We go to the same school, Seulgi.”

Seulgi thought about all the kids at school she knew.  Not once, had she ever seen Jongin before.  Even if she had, she could not remember his face.  Seulgi cocked her head to the side and then it suddenly clicked in her mind.

“Jongin.  You’re Kai.  Sorry, it’s just that you look different now than what you look like at school,” Seulgi said.

Jongin nodded, understanding her confusion.  “Yeah, the manager here doesn’t exactly like the piercings, eyeliner and leather jackets.”

“You really like being a bad boy, don’t you?” Seulgi asked, analyzing his words.

Jongin grinned.  “What gave it away?  My ego?”

“It’s nice to know you know you have one,” she commented.

“It’s nice to know you’re not the everyone says you are,” he shot back.

“You don’t know anything about me, Jongin.” 

“And I think it would be better if we kept it that way,” he said, ending the conversation.

A car horn beeped from outside, startling her.  Seulgi spun around and rushed outside not wanting to provoke her mother’s temper.  She’d forgotten her manners momentarily and realized after she’d buckled her seat belt that she hadn’t said goodbye to Jongin.  It took another second for her to realize it didn’t matter.  He had no intentions on becoming friendly with her.  For someone with Jongin’s reputation she’d expected him to flirt with her a bit or tell her he’d want to get to know her a little.  It wasn’t that she wanted Jongin to flirt with her.  Merely being interested in him would be social suicide.  Seulgi came to the conclusion that it had probably been the mention of her mother’s tampon selection.

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