Pop-Up Store 정호석

Chapter 14

The War Within Herself

Staring at the pop-up store building before them was Yeona and Gayoung with two contrasting reactions. Yeona was jumping up and down, exhilarated while Gayoung stood still, feeling the impending doom overwhelm her.

"See, no regrets! You and Hoseok are definitely going to date!"

Yeona exclaimed with a plastered bright smile. 

"I'm already regretting this,'

Gayoung muttered as Yeona dragged her into the building. Gayoung's eyes darted around the building frantically, not wanting to see Hoseok as he might think that she liked him and was stalking him by working here. However, at the same time, she wanted to see him as well.

"Welcome to your first day. You will be restocking items. The items are in the storage room. If you notice that the shelves are getting empty, just restock,"

Yoongi muttered monotonously without even making eye contact. His face was blank as hardly any emotion could be seen on it. Seeing a familiar face, Yeona exclaimed,

"Oh! It's you! Remember us? I'm Yeona and she's Gayoung!"

"I know it's you guys. I just chose not to acknowledge,"

Yoongi muttered, turning around and walking back to the counter while stretching and groaning like an old man. Yeona just giggled and shrugged her shoulders before running around the store like a kid, checking for empty shelves. Gayoung, who was left all alone, stood still as her heart started racing. 
The building suddenly seemed so small. It seemed like she might bump into Hoseok at anytime. She shook her head. Why did she care? He was just a random staff member that she coincidentally met many times. She didn't care, no, not at all. Gayoung clenched her fists, determined to get through her first day at work. 

"I can do this, I can do this!"

She muttered, scanning the shelves like a robot and looking for empty shelves. Just then, she spotted one. The same shelf with towels that she had made a mess of the first time she came to the pop-up store. Her heart skipped a beat as embarrassment washed over her. Distracting herself, she rushed towards the storage room. She came out with a large box of towels and placed them on the floor.
She started placing each towel delicately on the shelf. Every towel was placed perfectly, row by row, side by side. Until, she felt a customer bump into her. Her breathing hitched. Her body immediately clenched up as her hands started shaking. She looked behind her to see a male dressed in all black walk around observing the items being sold.
She started breathing rapidly as beads of sweat formed on her forehead. She shook her head, trying to keep her focus and placed a towel on the shelf. However, her hands shook violently and her surroundings started spinning. He did it on purpose, he did it on purpose! The voices in her head screeched.

Just like that, the towels all came tumbling down. 

And like the towels, she came tumbling down as well.