Jongho knew Yunho wasn't okay, even though the tall man kept claiming he was. Jongho noticed how Yunho eyed the row of mirrors uneasily before turning around to lean against the sink, and Jongho knew Yunho did that to avoid looking at his own reflection.
"You know it's not true," said Jongho, staying close to the door to give his friend the much needed personal space. "Whatever you heard on the phone. It's not true. And it doesn't matter."
"But I'm worse than a chatbot..." Yunho muttered, too quietly for Jongho to hear.
Jongho stood in silence for a while as Yunho stared at the dirty tiles on the floor to hide his watery eyes.
"Their opinions don't matter," Jongho continued, approaching the distraught man. "Don't let people define who you are. You know yourself better than anyone else, so stop caring so much about what other people say. It's only going to hurt you." He said the same thing hundreds of times before in a similar situation, but it never seemed to stick with Yunho.
Yunho let those words provide temporary comfort. He understood everything Jongho wanted to say; the problem was he couldn't make his heart listen. Pictures of the outside world - the work, the headsets, the people - floated into his mind involuntarily.
To Jongho's surprise, Yunho straightened up, turned around, and faced one of the mirrors. "Do I really know who I am though?" he asked quietly, examining the person that looked strikingly similar to him.
He saw the pale face and dry lips that matched his slightly wavy but fading orange hair, and a pair of dark eyes stared back, as deep and as inscrutable as two bottomless wells. It was only a few seconds later that Yunho tore his gaze away as if burned by the sight of himself.
"What I think of myself is very different from what other people think of me," said Yunho, gripping the edge of the sink when he felt his body heat up in humiliation.
Jongho suppressed the urge to sigh. It was tiring to keep repeating the same things, but he knew Yunho needed the reminder and he was the only person who could give them. "That's because they don't know you. You're an amazing person. Don't let anyone else convince you otherwise."
Yunho nodded with his lips pressed together.
This time, Jongho let out a sigh. Neither of them ever said anything, but it was obvious that Jongho's consolation could only help to a certain extent.
"That's why I'm telling you to just find another job. I don't want you to keep getting hurt. It's hard to watch and not be able to do anything, you know?" Jongho's attempt to keep the conversation light-hearted failed when he revealed his honest thoughts.
One thing Yunho hated more than his tendency to overthink other people's opinions was burdening his friend with his own problems, so he ended the conversation in the most unsuspecting way he could think of.
"It's fine. I'm just being silly again, like always. Thanks for the talk. We should go back to work."
Jongho raised his eyebrows, not buying Yunho's act at all. It didn't matter though, because the tall man was already striding past him to the exit.
Back at his desk, Yunho took a deep breath and put on his headset.
"Only two more hours to go!" Yunho turned to his right at the voice and saw his colleague smiling at him, so he smiled back.
Feeling better, Yunho pressed the button to start receiving calls, but his mouth went dry when the call connected. Fortunately, his brain was wired to greet the customer on autopilot.
"Hello, how may I help you this afternoon?"
It was a relief that he was able to finish the whole sentence without being interrupted.
"Yes, I'm calling to ask about logging into the online banking," the customer replied.
Yunho forgot to speak, temporarily mesmerized by the soothing quality of the stranger's voice. No one sounded this good, not when filtered through the cheapest headphones in the market.
Thankfully, the customer continued speaking. "I forgot my password but I'm having trouble resetting it."
Listening to his client's problem gave Yunho a chance to snap out of his trance. He asked a few follow-up questions and soon found out that he was talking to Song Mingi, and that Mingi changed phone numbers, which meant he couldn't complete the two-factor authentication required to reset his login password.
That meant Mingi had to make a trip to the bank to change his account details.
Once Yunho realized that point, he was forced to recall the previous call he made and how it ended when he tried to explain the purpose of visiting the bank in person.
"Is there anything I can do?" Mingi asked.
Yunho recognized the purely inquisitive tone, but he was still struggling with the mortifying memory from less than fifteen minutes ago, so he began to apologize profusely, even before answering the question properly.
"I'm so sorry Mr. Song. I'm really sorry for the inconvenience," Yunho said, trying to get the words out so fast that he stuttered as he explained the only way to reset Mingi's password.
The long silence that came afterward scared Yunho. He thought about his broken speech towards the end and realized how unprofessional he must've sounded. Covered with cold sweat, his hands trembled, and for a fleeting moment, the idea of ending the call floated temptingly in his mind. He'd rather face the consequences than to hear what a stranger had to say about him.
That thought was dismissed when the soothing voice came through the speakers again.
"Hello?"
"Mr. Song?" Yunho held his breath, his heart already beating preemptively to what was bound to come.
"Sorry, I think the line went dead for a second, but I heard everything you said. Thanks for your help."
For a while, Yunho didn't understand what he was being thanked for. He stared straight ahead at his screen without actually looking at it, feeling like a fool who geared up for a fight that never started in the first place.
"Hello? Can you hear me?"
"Yes, I can hear you." Yunho wanted to smack himself for sounding so patronizing.
"I just want to thank you again. It must be hard, being nice to us and helping us when we can be a pain in the ass sometimes."
Yunho's ears tingle and he thought he was going crazy because Mingi's voice had the soft yet husky quality that made it sound like someone was talking straight into his ears, instead of noise from a bad speaker.
"It's just," Mingi went on, followed by a small chuckle. "I have a job that requires talking a lot too. It's very different from yours in some ways but very similar to yours in others. Oh, I'm just rambling now, am I? I'm probably keeping you from your work. I should hang up now."
Like the greeting, the words came out on autopilot as Yunho slowly digested what he just heard. "Thank you for your understanding. Feel free to call back if you have any other questions."
"Bye," said Mingi, and that was the last word Yunho heard before the call ended.
Still slightly dumbfounded by the unusual call, Yunho pushed the button to stop incoming calls and leaned back in his chair. He had never experienced anything like that before.
Sure, there were nice customers who sent their courteous thanks instead of shouting rude words with no regard for the person at the receiving end, but no one had ever expressed gratitude and empathy for Yunho's job.
And no one called him nice before.
A warm sensation radiated from Yunho's chest and spread outwards around his body. For the first time at work, he smiled.
Yunho's good mood persisted for the rest of the day, so it wasn't a surprise when Jongho asked about it as they got off work together.
"Ok man, spill. What happened?" Jongho had to pause here to hold his scarf so it wouldn't flap crazily in the wind and hit his face. "You went from a pile of melted snow to a whole snow fortress in the span of thirty minutes!"
Yunho wasn't wearing a turtleneck but he felt as if he was because of the way his neck heated up. Smiling, he replied, "I got a nice customer today." He retold the rest of his story, keeping in almost every single word of the conversation he had with the person called Mingi.
Jongho noticed how fast Yunho was speaking with his unnaturally high-pitched tone, so he turned his head to look at his overly excited friend, but could only blink in surprise when he saw a tinge of red decorating the other man's cheeks.
It couldn't be from the cold, and it didn't look like it was from dry skin either. Yunho was blushing, and Jongho almost laughed at his cute friend's infatuation with a stranger's voice. He held himself back only because he didn't want to ruin Yunho's good mood.
Yunho finished his dramatic recount of the event and Jongho was thinking of a suitable reply when a phone rang.
"It's mine," Jongho said, taking his vibrating phone out carefully so it wouldn't slip out between his gloved fingers. The caller ID wrote Manager Kim.
Jongho picked up the call, while Yunho politely angled his body away to give the other some privacy.
Even though the call lasted less than a minute, Yunho could tell from Jongho's rigid tone that it wasn't good news.
"What happened?" Yunho asked as soon as Jongho put his phone away.
"Hongjoong-hyung wants me to take the night shift tomorrow," replied Jongho. He, like Yunho, might have a good relationship with their boss, but they still had to listen to orders. "But it's Friday and I have plans."
Yunho watched a frustrated Jongho kick a small pebble on the ground. The same thing happened to him before - it was even more annoying that they added the night shift just to assist people who wanted to do online or mobile banking at night.
So Yunho could empathize well, and he wanted to cheer his friend up. Maybe it was his good mood; he felt suddenly generous and an idea came to mind.
"You know what," he said, before he could change his mind. "Why don't I take that shift for you?"
"What? No, you can't! One shift is bad enough for you!" Jongho couldn't do this to his friend, but as he turned to Yunho, his eyes were wide with anticipation.
Yunho's smile stretched into a grin. "It's okay. I have to find some way to repay you for helping me through my breakdowns, anyway."
-
Mingi made his first appearance! (Even though it's just his voice)
But what's going to happen in the night shift...?