Living

Chapter 6: Some Firsts

Se Hee could feel that this was not a normal occurrence in the cafe and felt that she probably made a mistake for which she is going to get reprimanded. She felt hotness in her head and the back of neck because she had been in the office for almost a minute now and nobody had said a word. The owner was reading a document and the manager was silently observing him. Heyong Sok was pale and she felt that he would faint any second now. 

After two to three minutes, which felt like eternity, the owner finally addressed Se Hee and asked

"How was your first week?"

"It was very good" Se Hee replied instantly

"Is that so? What was good about this week? What did you learn?"

Se Hee sensed that honesty was not what was required at this time so she answered with tact 

"I learnt the menu of the cafe and also the items that customer can order outside of set menu. I also learnt how to take orders and how to serve those orders to customers on their tables."

The owner squinted his eyes a little bit and tried to read Se Hee's face, he could tell that she had something else on her mind, so he prompted her

"And what do you think about it? Do you like it?"

Se Hee didn't know how to answer this, she couldn't say yes, but felt that she shouldn't say no, and she could not think of a clever way to evade the question either. While she was weighing the right words to say she didn't realise that her silence had been taken as a no. 

That is the thing with silence, if you are asked a question and you don't answer and stay silent, the other person assumes the answer on your behalf. 

The owner felt bad, he had high hopes for Se Hee, he hoped that she would see the bigger picture. He wanted her to know everything there was to know about his business and craft, everything. He wanted her to see that on her own and Se Hee's evident disappointment made him sad. He wanted to explain to her but he was cautious, he knew that the way Se Hee was hired, the staff already suspected something and if he gave Se Hee any evident preferred treatment it could hinder his plans for training her properly. 

So, he said in his usual cool and relaxed manner

"So you don't like it. That's understandable. What do you want to do then?  Continue here or leave?"

Se Hee was shocked, she felt tears gathering in her eyes, she could not show weakness, but she knew that if she even made a slight noise, she would lose control over her tears. She felt a lump in her throat and her face was visibly red.

So, rather than saying anything, she shook her head vehemently.

"Alright then, and you, what do you think about her first week? She was shadowing you!" the owner addressed Heyong Sok. He wanted Se Hee to gather herself

"She is okay I think, does not hinder my performance and quietly follows me and does whatever she is told. I have showed her all the different tasks that are my responsibility here."

"That's good then"  the owner replied

He then picked up the document he was reading, looked at the manager and said

"I will finish reading this at home and we can discuss tomorrow, keep up the good work"

He then started to leave, and that's when the manager and Heyong Sok said goodbye to him and Se Hee copied them. 

The manager looked at Se Hee with compassion and told her to finish the remaining tasks with Heyong Sok before finishing for the day.

When Se Hee came back home, she was tired and exhausted. She fell asleep and didn't wakeup until the next morning, Amman and Appa did not have the heart to wake her up especially because she worked the whole week without a day off. This naturally made her late for work and she rushed to get there in a manic state.