Youngjae stared at the clock just barely visible over his cubicle wall, trying to urge the hands to move faster. He drummed his fingers on the arms of the rolling ergonomic chair he was sitting in. With three hours left of his 8 hour shift he had been ready to leave 2 hours ago.

            “Hey, Youngjae. How are your calls going?” A female co-worker asked while walking by.

            “Oh… uhh you know how it is,” Youngjae chuckled slowly, covering up his real feelings.

            Once the woman was out of earshot, he sighed and turned back to his computer. There were still millions of numbers to call. ‘Never-ending calls but, I’m never able to talk to people.’

            Facing the inevitable, Youngjae adjusted his headset and then dialed the next number on his list. He twirled his pen while listening to the ringing.

            “Hello, you have reached the Choi family. We are unable to reach the phone now—“

            Youngjae hung up, and groaned out of boredom, ‘Why did I think being a telemarketer would be a good job?’

            He marked the last number and proceeded to the next and then the next, and the one after that, and still five phone calls later he still hadn’t said a word.

            ‘I’m going to go crazy if I can’t talk to someone soon!’ He looked over his shoulder but, no one was there to talk to. Looking at the clock, he counted that it had been only an hour since his last break. Youngjae chewed on his bottom lip, ‘I can’t get fired for stretching and getting water, right?’

            Youngjae took off his headset and stood up, stretching his back as he did so. Over the top of the cubicles he could see his co-workers hard at work. He slowly walked over to the small break area. While doing so, he saw smiles and hearty talking but, also some people who were as bored as he was.

            ‘Maybe I should bring in homework… that might be too distracting. Perhaps a word search book like Jaebum? That could work…’

            Youngjae filled up a paper cup with water from the cooler and looked around the break area once he reached it. He looked around and only then noticed no one else was up. Youngjae internally groaned and knew he still wouldn’t be able to talk to anyone.

            He didn’t think it was possibly but, now Youngjae even more bored than before. He sat back down at his desk with a huff. ‘I’m looking for a new job tonight—I can’t take this anymore,’ He thought as he put his headset on.

            He began calling people again getting only voicemails or people shouting at him that they didn’t want anything before he could get a word in.

            “This is so stupid,” Youngjae said under his breath. He quickly looked around, but no one was there to say anything to him.

            ‘Wait… I could talk to myse—no no I’m not that desperate.’ Youngjae sighed as he continued his useless calls. ‘I could sing… it is so loud in here that if I was quiet no one would notice.’ Youngjae looked behind him and stood up slightly to look over the walls he was surrounded by to make sure no one was paying attention to him before he sat down again.

            “I’m hurting baby,” Youngjae whispered hesitantly. “I’m broken down.”

            He paused at the longer silence only for the answering machine to start saying the usual things. He exhaled softly, his heart started to beat faster. Youngjae smiled, thinking about how dangerous he was perceiving this but, it was just singing and he had be told before how good he sounded.

            “I need your loving, loving. I need you now,” Youngjae continued, still whispering.

            He continued singing as he went through the usual routine, and still he wasn’t getting anyone to talk to. It was a really bad day for calling but, it allowed Youngjae to start singing a little louder.

            Youngjae was smiling as he entered another number,        

                        “…'Cause I really don't care where you are,

                        I just wanna be there where you are

                        And I gotta get one little taste.”

            He started swaying, a little dance, as he let the song take him away during the chorus.                            “…Sugar! Sugar!

                        Yes, please. Yes, Please.

                        Won't you come and put it down on me?’

            Youngjae immediately stopped as he realized two things at once. First, he hadn’t put in another number since right before the chorus and second, a person had sung along with the last few lines as the back-up singer.

            His mouth was slighting gaping as he sat there frozen.

            “Why did you stop?” A man from over the phone asked.

            “I…well… I mean… I’m not supposed to be…” Youngjae stuttered and stumbled, not sure what he should ask.

            The man chuckled, “You are adorable. I like your voice. Please sing with me?”

            “I… ummm…” Youngjae pulled on the collar of his shirt, trying to cool himself off.

            “How about I start you off?

                        Yeah, I want that red velvet

                        I want that sugar sweet

                        Don't let nobody touch it

                        Unless that somebody's me”

            The man paused, waiting for Youngjae to continue. Youngjae closed his eyes as he hesitantly began to sing,

                        “I gotta be a man

                        There ain't no other way

                        'Cause girl you're hotter than a southern California day.

                        I don't wanna play no games. I don't gotta be afraid

                        Don't give me all that shy

                        No make-up on

                        That's my~”

            Youngjae smiled as the stranger joined in on ‘make-up’ and continued on. The other sang with him, taking the back-up lines and Youngjae went with the flow of the lyrics. He was surprised someone else knew the song as well as him since there wasn’t any music accompanying them.

                        “Won't you come and put it down on me?”

                        “Down on me,” the man finished.

            Youngjae laughed.

            “Do you always sing to your customers to get them to stay on the line?” The man chuckled.

            “No, this is the first time. I was so bored today…” Youngjae bit his lip softly, “You have an amazing voice.”

            “You too, why are you a tele-marketer?”

            Youngjae shrugged, “I just needed something easy that paid well to get me through college.”

            “College? What are you studying? Must be something to do with singing.”

            “No no, I’m taking business.”

            “What?! That’s a crime!”

            Youngjae chuckled and leaned back in his chair, “How is that a crime?”

            “The whole WORLD needs to hear your voice!”

            “I’m not that good… what about you? Are you going to share your voice with the rest of the world?” Youngjae asked.

            “Yes, I’m a trainee actually but, I also go to school majoring in music emphasizing in vocals for now. I might switch it to something more specific later or maybe even music management.”

            “Wow,” Youngjae sat there in amazement.

            “You really aren’t planning on having a singing career?”

            “Oh no, I can’t sing in front of people,” Youngjae furiously shook his head.

            “Have you tried before?”

            “Well, no… but—“

            “Then you should try! What are you doing tonight?” The man asked quietly, his excitement made him start to speak faster.

            “I don’t have any plans so probably homework,” Youngjae said as he tried to remember all he had to do. His classes weren’t too difficult but, with midterms coming up he did have two papers due by the end of the month.

            “Homework?! It’s Friday!”

            “Yeah but, midterms…”

            “You should come out to open mic night tonight at 10pm at the Woodstock—wait, do you live in the Seoul area?”

            “Yeah, I do but—“

            “Awesome! So, you’ll come tonight?”

            “I don’t know…” Youngjae chewed on his lip.

            “If you are nervous about singing, I won’t make you but, if you see how much better you are than some of the people or want to wait until they are all drunk then maybe you will feel better.”

            “Will you be singing?”

            “Yes!”

            Youngjae thought to himself, considering the man’s proposal, ‘I would love to hear him sing again…’

            “So, how about it?”

            “I suppose I could—“

            “Great! It’s a date then!” He chuckled. “I’ll see you then!”

            “Wait! I don’t even know the address,” Youngjae said quickly before the other could hang up. “Also, I don’t know what you look like. How will I find you?”

            “Oh right…My name is Daehyun. Jung Daehyun. What is your name?”

            ’Daehyun… that’s a nice name.’ “My name is Yoo Youngjae.”

            “Well Mr. Yoo, I’ll be wearing… hmmm how about a white sweater and jeans.”

            “Okay… I’ll wear…” Youngjae looked down at his is button up shirt under a sweater and pants and internally groaned at his luck. ‘I don’t have time to change and get there on time. I get off at 9…’ “I’ll have on glasses, a black beanie, black jeans, and a red and blue sweater with snowflakes on it.”

            “Snowflakes?”

            Youngjae pinched the bridge of his nose, “I’ll be coming right from work.”

            “Oh, late day?”

            “I had school earlier,” Youngjae sighed.

           “Wow! Busy day… well, I’m glad you are still coming out! I can’t wait to hear you sing again,” Daehyun said.

            “But I didn’t agree to—“

            “Bye! I’ll see you at 10!”

            Youngjae stared at the phone as it went dead, “I’m definitely going to have to explain to him the concept to listening to things even if he doesn’t want to hear them.”

            “Hey Youngjae, any luck with customers today?” A co-worker asked as they walked by.

            “Yeah, I—“ Youngjae smiled dropped as he remembered that Daehyun was a potential customer he was supposed to talk to about the product, not setting up a meeting.

            ‘How… how did I get so distracted?’ Youngjae groaned and let his head fall onto his desk, ‘No more singing at work for me…” The word singing made him think of Daehyun’s beautiful voice and how he would be able to hear it again tonight.

            With that thought in mind, Youngjae picked his head up and resumed working. Meeting the face that went with Daehyun’s voice was what Youngjae would use to get him through the rest of his shift.

            Youngjae couldn’t help but smile as he thought about what Daehyun would be like in person. He chuckled, “Sugar~ yes please~”