Back to work
“Nah, I just came back to make sure you hadn’t burned down the place while I was gone, or turned it into some sort of ritual sacrifice club.” Thomas watched Eun-Mi approach. He wouldn’t tell her, but the place looked more or less…well, great. Not that she didn’t absolutely possess the skills to do so, but he was more impressed by her work ethic to keep it that way even when he wasn’t around for a whole week.
“The keys? I thought you knew already! The one with the little notch on the side next to the ring is the one for the store room,” Thomas said with a smirk, as if it was obvious.
He finished wiping down the glasses in front of him (it was a pretty slow day so far) and turned just in time to receive the pat-thing on his head. Surprised at the almost nice, familiar gesture, he looked at her, his expression inquisitive but mostly unreadable.
“Oh, so we’re done pushing people into water now?”
“Nah, that’s just a weekend hobby. I’m a waitress at a dingy pub on weekdays. A pub, for some reason I cannot fathom, that people still go to when the owner takes a week-long break.”
Eun-Mi reached into the cupboard above the sink and took out a little container of loose tea leaves. She grabbed a mug with her other hand and dropped the items by the kettle. The actions were habitual now; sometimes she would do this without realizing, and a few minutes later, she would have one or two mugs of hot tea in her hands and no recollection of how they got there.
“And the ritual sacrifice club? I was really hoping you would ask about that. We meet up every Friday night and offer bunnies to the gods,” she added with a wink. “It’s very therapeutic. You should join us some time.”
Letting her tea seep in the mug for a while, she walked back to the table and stared at the set of keys, a small frown forming on her face.
“Which little notch are you talking about? Practically all of these are dented in some way, since you drop them so much. I’m surprised they even work at all.”
