Encounter
Twenty-Five
❝01 encounter;
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i'm holding my heart in my hand. i chose a life that was for me. - error by vixx
Leo pushed open the door to the convenience store that had become so familiar to him over the years.
“Hi, welcome,” the store clerk at the cashier called out cheerily, too cheery for a guy who had to work a slow overnight shift in a boring part of town. He currently had his back towards the front, and Leo cast a quick, indifferent glance at him before going straight for the freezer. He pulled the door open, grabbed three cans of beer, and nudged the door close with his foot.
He shuffled to the counter and placed the cans down. The clerk turned around and gave Leo a wide smile. “Is that all?”
Leo grunted in affirmation.
The clerk, unfazed by Leo’s coldness, nodded and was about to scan a can of beer when he stopped and stared at Leo, scrutinizing his face.
“What?” Leo snapped.
“Ah, it’s just that... I’d like to see your ID, please.”
“What?” Leo said again, more incredulously this time.
“Just to check your age,” the clerk said, gesturing towards the cans on the counter and then to the sign behind him that said “No sale of alcohol to persons under the age of 19.”
Leo narrowed his eyes. “I’m born in 1990.”
“Technically, you can be any age you claim to be...” the clerk said nonchalantly and then smiled. “Take it as a compliment that I think you look young. Please just cooperate?”
Muttering curses under his breath, Leo pulled out his ID from his wallet and slid it across the counter. The clerk picked it up and checked the year of birth. 1990.
The clerk smiled to himself and was about to return the ID when the day of birth caught his eye. November 10.
“Oh?” He looked to his left at the calendar hanging on the wall. “Oh! It’s your birthday in a couple of minutes!”
Leo stiffened visibly and then frowned. He snatched his ID back from the clerk’s hands. “Just scan so I can pay and leave,” he said in a low voice.
“Oh, of course, of course,” the clerk nodded and quickly scanned the beer and accepted Leo’s credit card. He was grinning as he handed Leo’s card back. “Happy birthday, though! May I sing you happy birthday?”
Leo didn’t reply and impatiently stuffed his card back into his wallet.
“Silence means consent!” the clerk called out excitedly and started singing. “Happy birthday to you!”
Grabbing the cans off the counter, Leo glared at the clerk and cut him off mid-song. “Mind your own business.”
The clerk was taken aback. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Did I sound that bad?” he asked innocently.
“You... talk too much. Shut that trap of yours or I will make you,” Leo seethed before storming out of the door.
Right outside the store along the sidewalk, there were plastic tables set for customers, and Leo sat down at one and popped open a can.
It only took three minutes before he was no longer alone.
Leo didn’t bother to look up, but the unwanted presence didn’t move or say anything either.
Finally, Leo snapped. “Which part of ‘mind your own business’ did you not understand?” He glanced up and caught a glimpse of a name tag that he had not noticed before. Inoo Kei.
The timid boy wrung his hands together. “I just wanted to apologize. I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have bothered you like that...”
Leo rolled his eyes and took another gulp out of his can of beer.
With pursed lips, Kei nodded slowly and then started to inch away from the table and back into the store.
Except for the occasional car driving by, there was silence. And Leo welcomed it, along with the dark thoughts that flooded his mind every year during this time.
As midnight came and went, signifying a new day and a new year for Leo, he scoffed and whispered to himself, “Happy birthday, Taekwoon. Happy birthday.”
And he was twenty-five.
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(A/N).
goodness, this was a terrible first chapter.
I'm so sorry the story starts off with such terribe writing!!!
I promise the future chapters will be better, hehe~ I hope you like it so far, unnie!!
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