new haunt ; jongdae & hyunah
It’s odd how Jongdae never seems to get tired of seeing the same shelves every day. You’d think he would, especially with no burning passion to sell instant noodles and keep all the stock displayed neatly, but there’s something refreshing about just standing behind a counter and being someone that all these strangers interact, sometimes on a daily basis. It’s almost as if you get to become part of their routine; you hold that little part of their life.
Not to mention the people watching. So many times of people came through the store doors; future idols, choreographers, vocal coaches, fans, lost souls in need of a quick chocolate fix. He’d watch the nature of them all if he could; the way they move, the way they stand, what they choose from the chocolate selection.
And well, he’d met many of the most important people in his life in this very store. Jongin, for example. Hayi, too. People he’d no doubt watch grow into stars. That itself was an honour. But these people began to hold a little part of his life, developing in some cases into larger portions, and he’ll forever be grateful to this silly little convenience store job for that.
It’s a surprise he doesn’t know everyone at the company, sometimes. When he thinks about how much time he spends here, and how much time they seem to spend defying their diets and making him promise not to tell their managers; he really should probably know everyone by now, but he’s far from it. He thinks, though, even if he had met everyone, they probably wouldn’t remember him.
She seems to be staring blankly at the merchandise and Jongdae entertains the idea of going over and scaring the shit out of her, but he gets the impression from her attire that she’s a trainee and he can’t afford to go upsetting any more trainees, for fear of his job. So when the shop empties finally, and it’s only the two of them left, he leans against the counter and calls out to her, to make sure she’s okay. “You alright, sweetheart?”
She's so intent on a misplaced magazine- it's a vogue korea, carelessly shoved into the spot where CeCi issues go and it's been bothering her idly for the past five minutes but she hasn't reached out to move it yet because she's not really completely thinking about it or the shop she's standing in -that when spoken to she jolts. Her eyes move quicker than he mind and she's vaguely thinking of a documentary about alligators she watched and remembering how their water eyelids open slowly and for a moment she thinks she might look like that, dazed and not there and waking up from being awake. "Excuse me?" Her voice is a little sharper than intended, because she's spooked, totally jarred out of whatever thing she had actually been mulling over. Her hand rises to her chest to cover her thumping heart and she really thinks that being so scared in a convience store is a little over the top, but she can't help it. He's just doing his job and in his defense she probably seemed catatonic. "Excuse me, sorry, I'm fine." Grabbing the annoying magazine because she knows it's got an article about a close friend in it she brings it up to the counter with her and lays it down. The candy selection wasn't very promising so she looks at the gum choices now, humming and picking something minty up, dragging freshly manicured and painted nails over the nutrition facts without looking at them really. She's been here for what seems like hours so she might as well buy something. Gum never goes to waste. So she tosses a second pack onto her ever growing pile, side stepping to check what she can get to drink without going back to the coolers, not yet really looking up to meet his eyes until she's found something coffee or coffee flavored to add. He's not familair looking because most of the time she prefers to make the walk down the street solely for the outside air, but he's not hard to look at and she gives him a makeup-less smile just to be polite. "Can I pay for this stuff?"
