Lovers in the Night II | Yang Jungwon

VI

On a Sunday, Yona and her dad decided to go around their central mall to shop for both essentials and nonessentials. This meant that her father was going to lose a lot of money. This is also partly why they went out together, he wanted her to help her find a job.

Today was a special day either way, it wasn't often when they'd bond because of how busy the man was.

Yona's dad was currently observing Rolex watches which she felt to be a waste of time. "Grandmama ran out of her medication," she impatiently announces. "I don't understand what we're doing at this place, Dad. We can't afford anything here."

"It's not bad to manifest," the man cheekily smiles as he longingly observes the trinkets. Yona rolls her eyes. "We'll go to the pharmacy last, I promise. Anyway, have you found a boyfriend yet, Yo?"

She cringes at the nickname. Ever since she was a child, she hated it because it sounded like 'yo.' It led her to attain the nickname by her middle school classmates: 'yo yo.' "No, love is fake. Also, when will I officially outgrow that nickname?"

Her father turns around and begins squishing both of her cheeks with his hands, "Never, Yo."

"Dad."

He defeatedly drops his arms. "Fine, I'm sorry." Then, he walks out of the Rolex store with a grateful Yona following him. "How's Jieum?"

"Excelling at everything as usual," Yona shrugs. Jieum was always like a second daughter to her father because Jieum's died before she was born.

"Is she still with her boyfriend?"

Jieum wasn't the type to stick to one relationship for an extended amount of time no matter how hard she tried. "Nope, they broke up."

"That's unfortunate." They begin walking through the mall. "Ooh, you should try applying there," he points at the PRADA store. "You could return your debt to me by buying me a bag."

"No, thanks. Grace works there," she grimaces as if just saying the name insulted her. Yona could recall the day she found out, she was simply looking around when Grace gleefully approached her with her Prada uniform, making her look broke in comparison to her. I mean, how dare she?!

"You have one-sided beef with the poor girl," he sternly begins. "What did she do to you?" It's because she's the opposite of me, she indulges in an internal monologue.

She suddenly feels her stomach rumbling. "Dad, I'm hungry."

He scans the area, "There's a Subway right there. Wanna check it out?"

"Alright." Who would say no to Subway? Actually, a lot of people would. Yona mostly agreed because the place was cheap-ish and she remembered her and Jieum going there a lot after school during their freshman years.

"Oh my god," a girl, who was on the phone, passes by them as she leaves Subway. "The Subway cashier is so fucking sexy."

As the two got closer and closer to the franchise, Yona began to recognize the face of the cashier. Yang Jungwon. In Subway uniform. She didn't know if this was funny or horrifying.

There was one person in line, so Yona was up next. She positions herself behind the person, and this is when Jungwon notices her. His eyes light up and his eyebrows raise ever so slightly, but he brushes it off nonchalantly.

"You know what I want," her dad pats her back and heads over a double booth table to claim it. She doesn't react because she began to analyze the boy.

She personally thought she had a pretty good BS catcher, so it disturbed her how she couldn't tell if Jungwon as full of shit or if he was a genuinely cool guy. As she walks toward the cashier, she folds her arms together. "It's the weirdo. Why are you everywhere I go all of a sudden?"

"Maybe it's fate." He smirks he eyes down his monitor, "What can I get for you today, Ma'am?"

She lists down her order and he begins pressing buttons. "I'm paying with cash," she ends off her order. "Seriously, though. I've never seen you around until recently."

The cashier chimes and the box opens, he collects the correct amount of change and gives it to her. "Fate." This answer was starting to tick her off.

"Fate is a fantasy people believe in to make it seem like the universe is doing them favours when it's really not," she frowns.

"Damn. I wonder what you did in your past life to make you so negative." These words rolled down his tongue in a way that made it sound like he knew the answer to his own remark, and it somehow sent shiver down Yona's spine.

However, as not-so-very-superstitious person, she deems these thoughts as dumb and as a reach. Rolling her eyes, she retrieves her change from him. She realizes she was being too serious and decides to poke fun at him, "As your classmate, you should've given me a discount."

"Sorry, Yona. I follow the rules," he half-jokingly states. "Now, move. You're holding up the line."

She whirls around to see one other person waiting. Yona scoffs, and a smile comes out as well. He was so annoying. She shook her head before moving herself out of the way.

As she began waiting for her order, her father approaches her from behind. "Is he your crush? He's got quite the face."

A bit startled by his sudden approach, she replies to the first part of his sentence, "What? No. We've just met, he's a new student." In regards to the second half, she observes Jungwon. He kinda did have a nice face. Maybe.

One of Jungwon's coworkers set down their order before Yona, so she takes the bag, eyes Jungwon for a moment, then walks away.

Her father pauses for a moment before trailing a step behind his daughter. "I feel like I've seen that boy around."

"Maybe it's cause he has the visuals any other K-Pop idol out there," Yona snorts. However, her cheeks subtly redden at the fact that she was somewhat complimenting him.

"No, I'm serious. He's awfully familiar," her father narrows his eyes. "His features strike me in a sense. Perhaps he's related to someone I know. What's the boy's name?"

She was a tad bit hesitant in revealing his name. Whenever she gave out a boy's name to her father, he would bring that boy up to her as a method to tease her. Girl-dad typa things. "Yang Jungwon."

"Yang Jungwon," he whispers underneath his breath. He takes one last glance at the boy as they walked away from him.