adora • lookism

16. Street Food Stall

Ari once again sat at the tables in the corner of her neighbourhood convenience store, going over her homework. It wasn't very late at night this time, so there were many more customers coming and going from the store, accompanied by the small sounds of people bustling around. Still, it wasn't so noisy that she couldn't focus, and it was better than being at home where she was at constant risk of rolling into bed and giving up on all the homework that was due by tomorrow.

She was tired. It had been a draining day, and she was just so, so tired.

Starting from that phone call from Neko, today had degenerated into a hectic mess in a matter of minutes. Dealing with the barely muzzled beast that was a drunk Samuel Seo was already stressful enough --- really, her heart still raced when she thought about how she could have become a teenage mom with a single moment of carelessness --- but the hour following Ari's shocking alleyway encounter had also been a dizzying, endless rush of movement: calling to request Manager Kim's help in taking care of things, returning Neko's call whilst also placating her anger, then popping back into the karaoke room to explain the situation to her friends. Neko had long prepared a mobile medical van to transport the weakened Inu, and Gangnam was only so big; Ari barely had time to catch her breath from the shock of a half-hard Samuel Seo (he was immense!!!) before having to jump into the van to start work.

Afterwards, she'd had to make things up to her friends by accompanying them to wherever they wanted, which had included a bowling alley, a crowded hotpot restaurant, and an arcade where Zack had almost gotten into a fight with a tall, particularly good-looking boy in a green jacket. The fight itself had only been prevented because Mira had dragged Zack off by the ear with a scolding and Ari had given the boy a (probably undeserved) apology and two big handfuls of 500 won coins, which he had kept asking for for some reason.

While fun, that all meant that Ari hadn't had the chance to do any of the homework she'd been procrastinating over the weekend. Hence why she was white-knuckling through her worksheets right now.

Pencil moving furiously, she listened idly to the convenience store part-timer softly humming a song that she could swear she'd heard somewhere recently. His voice was actually quite nice.

As the door chimed with the entry of another customer, Ari threw down her pen and ruffled her hair wildly.

"I don't get it," she groaned, slumping back into her chair. "Homework is the bane of high school students all over the world."

Should I just ask to copy Jay's? she thought. But she knew herself; if she did that once, then she'd do it twice, and then she'd do it all the time because Jay would never stop her. Then she'd never learn this concept properly, and then she wouldn't be able to set a solid foundation so she could keep her options open when it came time to take her CSATs, which would then mean that...

"Argh!" Ari said, kicking her feet a little to distract herself from her spiralling doom thoughts. "Why isn't my answer in the options? How come I'm getting a decimal?"

Helplessly thumping her forehead against her workbook a few times, she moaned, "Someone save me..."

"Um," said someone. "Excuse me."

A little embarrassed, Ari shot up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on and stared up wide-eyed at the speaker --- a beautiful woman in an expensive lady's suit, holding a box of energy drinks in hand.

"I don't mean to be nosy," the beautiful woman said, staring back awkwardly at Ari. She looked as if she wasn't yet sure if she regretted calling out. "But do you need help?"

"Yes!" Ari said in a bright, crisp tone. "I do! I need help!"

The woman came round to stand next to Ari's elbow, bending her head a little to peer at the paper. The ends of her long hair, dyed a warm brown, lightly tickled the back of Ari's bare arm. She smelled nice, a subtle mix of expensive perfume and fresh shampoo.