Bright Eyes and Hair Dye

Coffee & Flowers

It seemed to work, though, as the woman scoffed, gave her one final glare, and then tugged her son away by one arm, his eyes still glued to the phone in his other hand.

Taesoo shook his head after their retreating figures, and she let out a relieved sigh.

"Thank you," she said, her tensed muscles relaxing as she turned to face him. "You have flour on your cheek."

She brushed her thumb over her cheekbone to demonstrate. He clumsily followed her movements until the white smudge was gone, then received a thumbs up from her.

"I think you could have handled it," he said once he'd dusted the cheek flour off of his hand. "I know they say the customer is always right, but sometimes you've just gotta be a bit more aggressive—I mean assertive, more assertive. You can't let them walk all over you."

She sighed again, walking back behind the counter. He followed after her. "I know. I do know, but I'm still new to the job, and I don't want to get fired when I've practically just started, you know?"

"I'm not saying you should punch anyone or anything. Just subtly call them out when they're being out of line."

She chuckled at that. "Mr. Kim, you can do that because you're in a higher position of power. I'm just a regular worker." His gender and body shape probably doesn't hurt, either.

Kim Taesoo was a middle-aged man practically built of pure muscle. Not the bodybuilder kind of muscle, though; his body was less defined and just, well, meatier. He also had quite the intimidating resting bitch face, although his personality was comparable to that of a golden retriever.

"Maybe." he shrugged. "You'll never know unless you try, though." He paused for a minute, before, "Hey, isn't it time you get off? You'll be late if you don't leave soon."

At his words, she turned to look at the clock on the wall. It read 1:15.

"Oh, crap. Thanks, Mr. Kim! I'll just put my apron away and clock out, then," she said, already moving to do it. "I'll see you tomorrow!"

She rushed into the back room, quickly untying her apron and opening the little cubby she had been given on her first day of work. She folded the apron up and placed it inside, switching it out for her purse. Almost as if sensing her presence, her phone began to ring.

She shut the cubby and dug through her purse for the source of the noise.

"Hello?" she said, holding the phone between her shoulder and her ear as she zipped her purse back up.

"I just got off," Da-Eun's voice came through the speaker. "I'll wait down in the lobby for you and you can meet me there, okay?"

"Alright, I'll see you in a bit." She went to hang up the phone, but Da-Eun spoke again.

"Wait, wait, wait! Guess who I just saw?" Da-Eun asked with a tone she couldn't quite place.

"Who?" she asked. Da-Eun worked as a stylist at an entertainment company, so she saw lots of people every day. A few of them were quite famous, according to Da-Eun. So she honestly couldn't guess who'd make her so excited.

"Do-Hyeon!"

This surprised her. "Really? I didn't think you'd see him. You guys work in completely different areas."

"I didn't either! Until I passed him in the hallway today. He's kinda miffed that you haven't visited him yet, by the way."

She winced at that. "Yeah, I may have forgotten to do that."