jookyun/ first love

chapter 8: at the shop

As soon as the two arrived at the store, Jooheon felt that something was off. It was a Saturday and there were no costumers at all. It was only the two of them. Jooheon grabbed Changkyun by his wrist and held him back. "Something is wrong" he mumbled. Changkyun looked at him, utterly confused. "Why?" he asked and looked around, trying to find anything weird. "Changkyun. You aren't stupid. Think about it. It's a Saturday. And we are the only costumers." Jooheon answered. "Oh. I haven't even noticed that" Changkyun said and grinned. "But, don't you think that it could just be a coincidence? I mean, a small shop like this one probably has days where no one shops here. I don't believe that something is off. And even if something was off, you would still have me to protect you" Jooheon snorted. "Do you really think that you could protect anyone? Because I don't think so." Changkyun's smile dropped. "No need to be this harsh" he mumbled and pouted. Jooheon chuckled. "I am joking. But still, I think something is off" Changkyun shrugged. "Let's just grab the stuff we need and leave. It won't take that long" he mumbled while already looking around. Jooheon agreed with a sigh, but the funny feeling in his stomach remained.

So, the two started walking around, grabbing everything they would need to cook anything remotely healthy. Jooheon, however, couldn't stop himself from looking around from time to time. At one point, his glance brushed over the cash register. no one was there. Jooheon frowned and grabbed Changkyun's wrist again. Changkyun turned around and looked at him in surprise. "What's wrong?" he asked. Jooheon nodded to the cash register. "No one is here" he whispered. Now, Changkyun was a little confused as well. "Well, I mean, the cashier could be in the storage room or something" Jooheon faced Changkyun and asked: "Are you saying this to calm me down or because you believe it"

Changkyun just grinned and continued to look around. Jooheon kept as close to him as possible, he was starting to feel scared instead of weird. The two had grabbed everything they would need and strolled over to the cash register. Jooheon hid behind Changkyun as much as he could and waited for the cashier. But no one came out of the storage room. Changkyun was about to hit the little bell that was placed on top of the cash register, but Jooheon held his arm back and shook his head. "What if someone is holding the cashier hostage. I don't want them to come out and get us too!" Changkyun laughed.

"Why are you so dramatic? I highly doubt that anyone would hold the cashier of such a small shop hostage" Jooheon looked around. "How do you know?" Changkyun sighed and leaned over the cash register to check whether the storage room was open. "I don't know for sure, but if I was participating in a robbery, i wouldn't rob such a small shop. Imagine robbing this shop, opening the cash register and realizing that it is empty. No, i don't think a robbery or anything is going on. I am worried tho. Should we go and check on the cashier? What if they are injured?"

Jooheon stared at Changkyun as if he was a ghost. "Are you crazy?" Changkyun shook his head. "I really want to check on him. I will feel bad if i don't do it. You can stay here, if you want" With that he walked around the cash register and approached the door. It wasn't completely closed. Jooheon started to panic. "Changkyun!" he squeaked. "Wait! I won't stand here alone!" He hurried over to him and together they entered the storage room.

As the shop was small, the storage room wasn't huge. But it was extremely full. Tons of different goods were stored away in the room, stacked onto each other and not secured. Boxes were standing in the middle of the room, at the walls and the stacks had different heights, so the room was a labyrinth. Changkyun carefully walked towards the other end of the wall while Jooheon was still trying to decide if he wanted to stay back or follow Changkyun. He decided that staying back was worse, so he hurried forwards until he was right behind Changkyun. The younger boy grabbed Jooheon's hand, without looking back. "Stay behind me" he whispered. Jooheon whispered a "yes" back and held onto Changkyun's hand as hard as possible.

The two walked around another corner, when they heard a voice. It seemed to be a man speaking and he was whispering, so Changkyun couldn't understand everything he said. "Jooheon, did you hear that?" he whispered, looking back to see a horrified Jooheon. "Yes, unfortunately" the older boy replied. Changkyun started to get nervous well. There absolutely was something weird going on, but he couldn't just go back now. what if the cashier needed his help?

So, he continued to walk towards the voice. After a few minutes, another voice started talking, louder than the one before. "How long are we going to do this? Just answer us. Even my patience will run out at some point!" Jooheon held back a gasp. The two approached the next corner of boxes and Changkyun let go of Jooheon's hand, gesturing to the boxes. Jooheon understood. Changkyun wanted him to stay there and hide behind the boxes. And Jooheon was very happy to do that. Changkyun did the exact opposite. He carefully and quietly stepped towards the corner and peaked around it.

He turned around to Jooheon, his eyes as big as the moon as he mouthed: "Fuck" Jooheon gulped. Changkyun pointed right beside him. He wanted Jooheon to take a look as well. Before really thinking about it, Jooheon hurried over to Changkyun and very carefully peaked around the corner as well.