Your cold didn't get better like you had hoped it was - in fact it got worse. You had a shift on Tuesday but you gave it away because your sinuses made your head feel like it was going to explode. Jimin was actually the one who took your shift (it would be his first shift not in training) and he told you he hoped you would be feeling better soon.
You actually started thinking that you were treating Jimin a little harshly when you first got to know him. After all, he never really did anything to you to make you not like him - you were just judging him based on previous experiences and you never gave him the benefit of the doubt. You actually started feeling guilty about it, and you fully intended to get to know him once you were better enough to go to work again.
Thursday rolled around and you were starting to feel better. Your head felt less likely to implode and your runny nose turned into just the sniffles. You had a shift scheduled that night and you figured you might as well go in and make some extra cash.
Your shift was scheduled for 4:00pm, and your 2 hour afternoon lecture was cancelled so you were able to arrive 15 minutes before (normally, you'd be really pressed for time so you were glad to be able to breathe a bit).
Once 3:55 rolled around, you walked to the front and immediately checked with the hostess to see your section. It was a pretty good section with a lot of booths (for some reason, people liked to sit in booths so you knew you were going to be fairly busy (thank gosh). You also mentally cheered when she made note to seat a reservation of eight people in your section for 6pm.
Your eyes scanned over the seating plan and they stopped at Jimin's name. He had a slightly smaller section than you and it was right beside yours. You were happy to know that you would be able to get the chance to maybe get to know Jimin a bit better so you could stop being such a judgemental bitch.
You checked over your section to make sure that everything was good to go, and almost immediately after, the host gave you a table.
It was a group of 3 middle aged men, and you knew if you smiled a little too nicely, and giggled a little too loudly, you could probably get a decent tip from them. You let them sit and get adjusted before walking over to them.
"Evening gentleman, my name is Y/n and I'll be taking care of you today. Is there anything I can get you to drink?" Your voice was an octave higher than it normally is, and sickly sweet. If you were honest, you absolutely hated it but you couldn't shake the habit of having a "customer service voice." You don't know why, but you thought that maybe it made you more likeable you guessed?
Apparently the men seemed to like it, because they all shared a look and that's when the flirting started. "Well, I don't know sweetheart, what do you recommend?" You internally rolled your eyes - you personally found the flirting to be gross because these guys were close to your dad's age but student loans were piling up and it was completely harmless.
You recommended to them a draft beer that was on special - a pint being only $5 and it wasn't half bad either. They obliged and ordered a round so you left them to it and punched in the drinks.
When you leaned against the bar well, waiting for the beers, Jimin was just clocking in. You smiled at him and he didn't really acknowledge you. "Hm, weird." You couldn't help thinking. Maybe he didn't see you? You frowned to yourself, thinking:
"Oh god, what if I've been so awful to him he doesn't even want to see me anymore?"
That could be likely - sometimes when you don't like someone, you just give off a vibe and are unintentionally a bitch to them. "Should I apologize?"
"Wow, Y/n. What's got you troubled?" Your eyes snapped from Jimin to the evening bartender. She raised her eyebrow at you and smirked. "Maybe someone is on your mind? A new server by the name of Jimin perhaps?" You didn't like the way she was insinuating that you were thinking about him.
"I beg your pardon?" You needed to tread cautiously. Like yeah, you were thinking about Jimin, but not in the way she was strongly hinting at. Nope, absolutely not like that at all.
"Oh please, you wouldn't be the first server drooling over him and you won't be the last." Ah, exactly what you thought. You shook your head adamantly to try to convince her that you were not interested in Jimin that way.
"I am not drooling over him." You reiterated to really drive the point home. You glanced back and Jimin was at the host station, flustering the poor hostess and making her a blushing mess. "Ah, I remember being that young and naive."
You grabbed the beers that the bartender put in front of you and headed back to your table. You placed the drinks in front of the men and chatted with them as you took their orders.
You punched in their orders and observed Jimin as he greeted the table he just got sat. You stood by the POS system in hopes of getting to talk to Jimin. He walked past you and didn't even spare you a glance, and you hated that you felt offended. Like, excuse you but you had trained him and now he's acting like he's better than you?
"It's okay Y/n. He might be busy. Try not to jump to conclusions." You were trying very hard (thank you very much) to be understanding that he doesn't owe you anything, especially since you were (probably) rude to him on more than one occasion.
You walked back to your table and checked in with how the drinks were going down for them (especially because you recommended it to them and all).
"Oh, it's good thanks." One of the men started saying. "But I do have to say, it would taste better if you were the one feeding it to me."
You were absolutely floored. First of all: ew, and second of all: EW. But of course, you couldn't say that, because you're a professional and you didn't let your own personal issues (like mild discomfort at out of line comments by your guests) affect you. So, you grinned and beared it - literally.
You laughed off the joke (you knew it was a joke, and what else were you supposed to do?) and chatted mindlessly while you got another table.
You mindlessly walked around the restaurant, checking on your tables when you saw the hosts starting to put tables together for your reservation. You were so excited to finally get a big table and hopefully earn some good money from them.
The expo (someone who checks to make sure the orders are correct from the kitchen before sending it out to the tables) needed someone to run food, so you helped her out and when you came back, you were confused to see that the tables were pushed together but not in your section (like it was supposed to be) but in Jimin's section instead.
"Take a deep breath, it's fine. Maybe it's a misunderstanding." You had to admit, you weren't a hateful person at all, but Jimin was starting to turn you into one. But it was fine, everything was fine, you would just go to the host and ask what had happened, and everything would be fine.
You walked up to the host station after they had set up the table for the reservation and glanced at the seating chart. Low and behold, there was the reservation (that used to be in your section) moved to Jimin's section. You were highly confused because Jimin was still relatively new, and normally only veteran servers got bigger reservations.
"Hey, didn't that table used to be in my section?" You casually dropped to the hostess in an attempt of being sneaky.
"Yeah, it was but Jimin is such a sweetheart!" She exclaimed and you were confused. What did being a sweetheart have to do with taking a table away from you?
"Oh?" She was smiling so hard and she was blushing, and you were cringing.
"Yeah, he had said that because you are just getting better from being sick, he didn't want you to overwork yourself! How nice is that?"
Well, it seemed nice and all but it's not like you were in the hospital or anything. Like, you just had a cold so you doubted taking a big table would overwork you or anything. You were still suspicious about his true intentions because this wasn't your first rodeo. You knew how to handle a reservation.
You didn't have a chance to confront him until the host sat his reservation and he got their drinks. While he was waiting by the bar well, you walked over (under the guise of getting drinks for your table) but really you just wanted to ask him.
"Hey, I see my reservation got transferred to you." You said in the least accusing tone you could muster.
"Yeah, it did. Is that a problem?" His tone wasn't how it was when you were training him. Before when he spoke to you, his tone was polite, and friendly. Now, his tone just screamed cocky and arrogant. Maybe you'd been right about him all along.
"Well Jimin, I have to say. It's nice that you are concerned about me overworking myself, but it was just a cold. I'm not that sick." You were still being polite to him (you found it got you better results) but your resolve was fading and quick.
"Actually, it had nothing to do with you being sick." He smirked, and you wanted to punch it off his face.
"What do you mean?" "Deep breaths, just take deep breaths." You thought to yourself.
"Well, it's quite simple sweetheart." That nickname alone made you want to scream in frustration because his tone was oozing with condescending intent. "I just didn't think you could handle it."