𝗗𝗘𝗝𝗔-𝗩𝗨 | ᴀᴛᴇᴇᴢ

𝗧𝗪𝗘𝗡𝗧𝗬-𝗧𝗪𝗢 ─ 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗡𝗧 𝗪𝗘 𝗠𝗘𝗧

Somi was a nervous wreck. She had been staring at the paper the employees had to fill in and sign at the end of their shift, yet, it seemed to her as if she was facing the toughest math tests she had ever encountered. Her eyes kept darting from the blank spaces she had to write in, to the clock behind her, ignoring how uncomfortable it was for her back to continue moving and twisting back and forth. Even Dan-I had noticed her anxiety, despite being in the shop for only five minutes.

"Are you not feeling good?" Inquired the latter as she halted her steps right in front of the cash register whilst holding a bag of oat flakes.

The blonde girl almost jumped when she heard the colleague's voice, cursing herself for being like an open book when overwhelmed by strong emotions at that moment, "I'm fine, thanks." She replied pretty coldly but realised it only when Dan-I had already reached the shelf where the bag of oat flakes should've been placed, her long, light-brown hair swung on her shoulders.

Somi wasn't feeling good, obviously. That day would've been the day when someone else, or better, strangers would've come to know about her talent that she had maintained as a secret for twenty-two years and she couldn't still comprehend whether it was a good idea. Luckily, Mingi had accepted to help her, so she wouldn't have been considered crazy by the rest of Ateez, even if, being labelled as insane would've opened a door that led to freedom.

The clock stroke five o'clock, which meant that Somi's shift had officially terminated. The girl rushed to count the collection and change into her everyday clothes. As she was checking her make-up, her phone emitted a funny sound that signalled she had received a message. She interrupted brushing her eyelashes with some mascara and grabbed her phone to check the notification. It was a message from Mingi warning her that he was waiting outside the store to escort her to his car.

"Oh, someone's got a date." Cooed a voice coming from the door to the bathroom, making Somi jump on her feet and lose the grip on the mascara brush, which firstly hit her eye, staining her lid and part of her eyebrow arch, and then fell in the sink, decorating the white pottery with black lines that reminded cat scratches.

"Dan-I! You scared me!" Complaint the blonde girl while she picked up her make-up.

The other girl snickered with a feline grin on her thin lips, "Who is he?" She asked maliciously as she swiftly made her way to her colleague to playfully poke her arm.

Somi rolled her eyes and threw the mascara in her make-up case and zipped it closed, "I'll let you know if the date goes well." She brushed off her colleague's curiosity.

Unexpectedly, a shadow caressed Dan-I's features, her pink lips curved downward and a wrinkle appeared between her eyebrows, "Is he... Ji Woong?" She inquired reluctantly with a thin voice.

"What? No!" The blonde girl almost shouted. She had never looked at Ji Woong as a possible beau, in her opinion they were the exact opposite and had nothing in common except for the workplace. Dan-I's question had opened a drawer in Somi's mind and it made her reflect on a possible prototype of an ideal man that could meet all of her standards. First thing first, she preferred a man to be taller than her but for the rest, she realised she didn't have many pretensions. Slowly, her brain started picturing the figure of a man, which gradually appeared as if re-emerging from a thick white cloud.

Her heart skipped a beat when Mingi revealed himself in front of her.

A slap landed on her shoulder, bringing her back to reality, "Then, you better hurry. you can't make him wait for too long." And Dan-I abandoned the locker rooms, slamming the door close. Somi wondered if what she had assisted in was a row of jealousy or simply her way to act. She shrugged her shoulders, shaking off also that feeling of uneasiness that had begun to grow in her chest.