ʙʀᴏᴋᴇɴ ᴄʟᴏᴄᴋs

Chapter 5: Late

She was running late to everything that day.

Late to school, late to her morning shift, then late to her friendly date with Soon and Tae.

"I'm sorry. I've been late to work and school today." She sighed as she caught her breath, sitting down.

Tae smiled. "That's okay-"

"Oh is that her?!"

She turned to a familiar voice, her co worker, "Miss-I'm-late-because-I-have-a-date?" He said and she rolled her eyes. "Sorry." She said. "Daniel, can you go and tell Boss I won't be at work tomorrow so ask someone else to cover my shifts?"

"Really? You won't go to work?"

Soon and Jae were talking about getting matching rings while Tae was trying not to stare at her and the mysterious guy.

"Yeah." She said. "Please?" She asked kindly.

He smiled, "it's fine. I'll cover your shift tomorrow-"

"Really?" She asked in disbelief. "What's the catch-"

"No catch. If you're missing work it's something important." He didn't question her and she smiled at him. "Thank you, Dan. I owe you."

"You really do." She said, "I'll catch you in a couple minutes at work. I need to eat before we deal with the customers." He gave an exasperated sigh and she chuckled, watching him disappear.

Tae felt weird.

It was the fact that he felt special after Soon told him that she never smiled like that. But to see her smile and even slightly chuckle with some random guy...

"Who is he?" Tae finally asked, feeling a bit disheartened.

The man was handsome. He was as tall as Tae, maybe even a tiny bit taller, his hair was sleek and black, ruffled, and he had a tattoo on his ring finger, the number 6 as a Roman numeral, his skin was flawless and he looked like an idol. Period.

"Oh. Daniel. A co worker of mine." She said.

He simply nodded and took a sip of his lemonade, avoiding her eyes.

She finally realized he was quieter than usual, and there was just an awkward silence.

"Did... I do something wrong? I'm sorry, I'm not very social-" She quickly said.

He shook his head immediately, "no. No. You did nothing wrong." He said and she smiled at him.

Soonyoung caught it as she just nodded to whatever Jae was saying.

"This might be the last time I'll see you for the rest of the year." He said and her eyes widened.

"That's..." She was a bit nervous of saying the wrong thing, "upsetting."

No! She came off as too desperate is all she could think.

"Really?" He smiled at her. "It's upsetting for me too."

God he reminded her so much of him.

"But maybe this doesn't have to be the end of our time." He said, and she cocked her head at him. "'End of our time'?" She questioned at the odd wording, and then he got flustered. "I mean, like, we don't have to stop talking to each other-"

"No." She smiled, and then his eyes widened, thinking she rejected him, "I like that phrase. 'End of our time'..." she dozed off again for a little bit, "oh but yeah. You can have my kakao."

He grinned as he took her phone to enter his.

"Great." He was in a much better mood.

"Great." She repeated. "Oh I bought you something."

His eyes widened, "bought me something?"

"Well. Bought you all something." She said as she reached for the bag below her, Tae feeling a bit embarrassed for thinking she had especially bought only him something.

"Here. Soon. It's that blanket that you cried for for days when it sold out." She handed Soon a small box, and soon squealed as Soonyoung gave an air kiss to her, as she rolled her eyes. "And Jae, it's that weird thermo phone case you wanted but couldn't find anywhere," she handed it to Jae and he gasped exaggeratedly, "and Tae," she said, "I don't know you too well but..."

"You can never go wrong with a golden mug." She handed it to him, as it had his initials on it, and the mug looked expensive (no it wasn't real gold), but someone did a hell of a good job creating it.

Her face looked tired yet relieved when she handed it to them.

She had worked extra shifts, (which was 3am to 10pm on the weekends).

"I know they aren't much but I hope you like them." She said.

"Even thought you act so cold you are just the fluffiest bunny ever!" Soonyoung said as she grinned at her. "What she said." Jae grinned at her too.

She sighed and she looked to Tae.

"I love it. A lot. Like a lot, a lot." He said and she chuckled. "I'm glad." She said. "It was hard to find a gift for you especially since your fans probably give you bags of Gucci and Chanel so..." she shrugged.

"No~ you have no idea how much I love it. And the price doesn't matter. You could've given me a chocolate bar and I would've been happy." He said.

"Danm it." She said and the 3 laughed.

She forgot to check her broken clock and Tae smiled. He had known for a while that her watch was broken since she always checked her phone right after.

"Are you serious!" She said as she saw she was twenty minutes late to her shift. "I have to go!" And just like that she disappeared.

"Well Tae. I think you're smitten by her." Jae said and Soonyoung's smile faded as she looked up at her boyfriend.

"Me?" Tae said. "I mean... no. Yes. Well no." He had a hard time picking an answer. "Agh Whatever Jae!"

"It's her ex boyfriend's death date tomorrow." Soonyoung quietly, yet flatly said.

Everyone's smiles faded. "..."

Which is why she asked to skip work tomorrow.

Taehyung felt terrible for her. He cleared his throat, "How many days does she work a week?"

"6. Reserves the last day for studying usually." Soonyoung said and Tae clicked his tongue.

Poor girl.

~•~

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