Don't
Of course I didn't reach for Baek Serin.
I'd only taken a single step closer, and she startled so hard she hunched in on herself. She was always like that—provocative with nothing but her mouth, then utterly unable to hide how flustered she got the moment it was actually in front of her. This morning had been the same. Which meant she was aware of it herself, at least a little.
The awkwardness drove me into the shower, and Serin didn't say a word. I let lukewarm water wash the heat off my skin, but what had just happened kept surfacing, until it felt less like water running down me than sweat.
Honestly, holding out was brutal. How many men could turn down a temptation like that so easily? If Baek Serin had simply turned toward me as she was, I might have given in right there. Even if she just hadn't looked away... no.
I stood under the stream a while longer, shaking the thoughts loose, when Serin's voice came through the door.
"...Hey. My parents said they're stopping by for a bit, so I'm gonna run home."
"...Yeah."
I turned the water down and listened through the quieter rush, in case she had anything else to say. Soon enough, her voice came again.
"I'll call later, so... pick up."
"Go on, then."
The mood had sunk in a strange way. Not long after, I heard the door lock click shut.
Anyone looking in would've thought we'd had a full-on fight. What was there to get this awkward about? Maybe that was part of why I hadn't been able to reach for her in the first place. Both of us with no idea what to do, the air going stiff between us.
...We really were terrible at dating.
I got to the PC bang and gave the person from the last shift a quick hello.
Part-time at a PC bang. It was close to home, and the kiosk handled most things, so aside from one catch it was pretty manageable. That catch being that I spent more time in the kitchen than at the counter. The AC blasted cold enough that I could catch my breath, but there were plenty of moments I wondered if I'd turned into a cooking machine.
On top of that, the owner always dropped by the PC bang around this hour. Maybe that was one reason people on this shift didn't last.
"You're here."
"Yeah. Nothing going on?"
"No. They said the keyboard at seat 42 and the speaker at seat 50 are broken."
The owner nodded—got it—and headed straight for the smoking room. He wasn't a bad guy. If anything, he was pretty laid-back. Still, having to see the boss that often sat a little heavy when you were the one on the clock.
Anyway, maybe I should've been glad it was a slow hour. Students were banned from the place to begin with.
Of course, there was an event that showed up every lunch hour.
...Ramen.
Why did the owner only schedule one person for this slot? I might have resented it a little. One bowl went out and the orders exploded in a chain, and after I'd been sweating buckets for a while, the owner always handed me a drink.
And then...
The mood wasn't exactly right for what I had to say, but what could I do.
"Boss, I think I have to quit."
"...Ah. Was it too much?"
A small sigh slipped out of him. Why did it feel like he was simply accepting that the inevitable had arrived?
"No, it's not that. Just... something came up, and I need to take a little time off."
"I'll try to find someone as fast as I can. Can you stay through the handoff?"
"Of course. I'm sorry."
Thankfully he didn't look all that put out. If anything, he seemed a little sorry himself.
We talked about this and that, and then I noticed a familiar silhouette beside him. The owner must have sensed someone too. He glanced over his shoulder, leaned across the counter, and muttered.
"Eunhyeon. A girl like that working here, sales would go up, huh."
He probably thought she'd already walked past.
No decent answer came to me. And no wonder.
"...Boss. I can hear all of that."
"Aigoo... I'm sorry."
"...What are you doing here?"
"To see you."
The owner and I were equally thrown. He kept apologizing to Serin, and I just stared, wondering why she'd come all the way out here.
...And she'd even put on makeup. Since when.
"Boss, would it be all right if I came behind the counter?"
"If you know Eunhyeon... sure."
Had the owner always been like this? He was ridiculously fidgety.
"...If anything comes up, call me. I'm stepping out for a bit."
"Yes, take care."
I watched his back disappear like he was fleeing, and Serin's voice came right away as she looked around.
"Hey. Were you always the only one working?"
"One of them ran off last week."
"...Was that one a girl?"
"No, a guy..."
Was that what mattered right now? I was dying trying to cover two people's work.
"So what are you doing here early? You usually show up at shift change."
"Hey, I can't come see you?"
"It's not that. You get bored."
I turned my head. Serin, who'd been glaring at the junk on the counter, threw her gaze at me.
"It's more boring when you're not around."
"Ah..."
...I should probably be glad no one was around.
"So, you finished packing?"
"Yeah. There wasn't much to begin with."
"...Hey, so the movers already left?"
"Yeah."
The plain answer left me stunned. So the place was sitting empty right now.
"Hey, shouldn't you get back fast?"
"Oh, that's fine. My parents said they'd stop by for a bit. I heard your mom's coming too?"
"...Huh?"
She hadn't even contacted me. Was there really something going on between our mothers?
"While they're there, they're putting in furniture and stuff, I heard."
"...And my opinion?"
"Do you need one? Or what, you don't trust my mom?"
That was dirty. Seriously. Of course it wasn't that I didn't trust her. But accepting the whole thing like it was obvious felt weirder, didn't it? I really couldn't figure her out.
"Or what, you got something hidden at home?"
"No. I already cleared the closet anyway."
"...Or youuu, ummm..."
"...What."
Baek Serin trailed off out of nowhere and swallowed the rest. I watched her, waiting to see what weird thing she was about to say this time. Before long she parted her hesitating lips.
"I heard... guys can... have that... sometimes..."
"...Hey."
I didn't need her to spell out what she meant. Where did she even hear this stuff?
"I don't have whatever you're thinking."
"You... don't?"
"What are you even saying, out here?"
"If you don't, then fine..."
I stared blankly as she ducked her head and looked away, and right then a food order came in, so I stood.
"Don't come into the kitchen. The boss will actually yell at you for that."
"...I know that much, okay?"
"It's hot in there anyway, so just sit here. If anyone comes, tell them you're not staff."
"...Okay."
I left her there and headed back to the kitchen. Leaving her alone bothered me a little, but what choice did I have? I couldn't put her to work, and it wasn't like Serin liked games.
I wrestled with the pans for a while, and when I came out of the kitchen a couple of guys were crowded at the counter. I started over, thinking maybe something was wrong with a computer—then a voice thick with irritation stopped me cold.
"Fucking—just get lost. I said I have a boyfriend."
Whoa.
Whoaaaa...
I set the tray down in a hurry and ran to Baek Serin's side.
"...Is there a problem?"
The guy who'd been sneaking glances at me flinched instead, his voice shrinking small.
"...Ah, no... sorry. We didn't know she had a boyfriend."
I stared blankly as the two of them fled. I didn't recognize their faces, so they probably weren't regulars. What was that?
I watched their retreating backs a moment, then asked, late.
"What'd they say?"
"Trying to pick me up."
"...Hey, hitting on the part-timer? Isn't that way too played out?"
"And the two of them were being assholes about it together."
I didn't pick at her for swearing. Because, well.
"Want me to go have a nice long talk with them?"
"...You planning to kill somebody?"
"They went after my girl. That's the least I should do."
Baek Serin shut her mouth at once. Nothing followed.
Anyway, I hadn't told Serin, but this PC bang was especially bad about that. The girls who worked here quit fast partly because the work was hard, sure, but with a clientele mostly in their early twenties, this kind of thing happened now and then. Enough that quite a few of them had asked me for help. Which was why I'd told her not to come if she could help it. Seeing it with my own eyes left a rotten taste.
I'd been quiet for a while, sour about it, and Serin seemed to notice and spoke first.
"Forget it. I suddenly feel better."
"...You bipolar or something?"
"...Hey, can I hit you just once?"
"If you want to, go ahead. I can take a hit from you."
Silence again. I snuck a look at Baek Serin. She was staring into empty air.
I wondered why she was like this today, then decided not to think too hard about it. But... how to put it.
"Hey, Baek Serin."
"...What."
"Don't wear makeup."
"...Damn it, hey, who do you think I'm trying to look good fo—"
The face that had flared up froze at once, and her cheeks started to heat. Her eyes, with nowhere to go, wandered this way and that before they finally dropped to the floor.
"...Nnh, ah... okay."
...Show up looking like that, and of course men latched on.
