38 Old Friend

June 23, 2021

Baekyeon University

"Woah, you really are a classical music lover, Yoo Eun."

Yoon Hee, who was looking through Yoo Eun's music folder on the girl's laptop, could only shake her head. She didn't expect that if Yoo Eun's music was only classical, there really weren't any pop songs in the folder.

"Classical music is better to listen to, Yoon Hee. If I'm studying, listening to classical music can make me focus more," Yoo Eun explained. The girl then sipped the drink she had ordered.

"By the way, in two weeks there will be a recital of a famous pianist. Would you like to come with me?"

Yoon Hee doesn't give an answer to the offer from the girl in front of her. She just looked at his friend with a serious look. "Thank you for inviting me. But my answer is no, thank you. I don't like attending events like that."

After getting rejected, Yoo Eun immediately put on a sad face. But she was eager to attend a rehearsal with her favorite pianist.

"But it seems like Young Dae will accept if he's not busy," Yoon Hee said, successfully publishing a smile on Yoo Eun's face.

"Is that right?" ask Yoo Eun to be sure.

Yoon Hee is sure. "Right. I'll ask him later."

"Woah, thank you, Jung Hee! You're my best friend!"

"Do you like my brother?"

"I really like him!"

"I wish you could be my sister-in-law," Yoon Hee teased, making Yoo Eun blush. The girl, surnamed Jung, glanced at the clock in the lower right corner of Yoo Eun's laptop, which she was still holding. "What? Ah shit! I'm late!" she exclaimed after knowing what time it is.

"Do you have class?" ask Yoo Eun to make sure.

"No. But I have an appointment," replied Yoon Hee, who was currently cleaning her face.

"Appointment?" Yoo Eun immediately narrowed her eyes, watching Yoon Hee who was putting powder. Immediately, she thought of something. "Yoon Hee, are you going on a blind date?"

Yoon Hee stops putting her powder on when she hears Yoo Eun's question. The next moment, she just laughed.

"Don't laugh. Just answer my question," asked Yoo Eun, trying to make her friend's laughter stop.

"No, I'm not going on a blind date. But I went to do an interview," Yoon Hee explained. "Mom finally decided to hire an employee, and she asked me to interview the person who applied."

Yoo Eun just nodding her head. She thought her best friend would go on a blind date, apparently to interview suitors. "Alright, looking forward to interviewing her, CEO Jung."

"Thank you," Yoon Hee replied with a smile on her face. "Then I'm leaving now. See you tomorrow."

~"~

Dainty Florist

Yoon Hee exhaled roughly for the umpteenth time in the last fifteen minutes. The girl looked sad because she was late to the store. When she arrived, the applicant who was going to apply for a job at her mother's flower shop was no longer there. Though her mother told her that the man was still waiting in front of the store when she was on the road, when she arrived, her suitor was no longer there.

The sound of tapping on the shop window distracts Yoon Hee. The girl saw a young man, who seemed to be the same age as her, standing in front of the store and smiling at her. Then the young man said something. Although Yoon Hee did not hear the voice of the young man, from the movement of his lips, she was sure if the person said, 'I am the one who wants to propose.'

A smile immediately expands on Yoon Hee's face because the person who proposed is back again. Not long after, she got up from her seat and walked to open the door for the young man.

"Welcome," Yoon Hee said kindheartedly after opening the door. "Are you applying for a job?"

"Yes, I applied for the job. It was because it was too long to wait, so I went to get a drink for a while," the young man replied. "This is for you, Jung Yoon Hee."

Yoon Hee is silent because the young man in front of her knows her name. She wonder why this guy knows her name? But the next second she thought if it must be her mother who told her name to this person. "My mother told you my name, didn't she?"

The young man shook his head in response. "No. I already know your name."

Yoon Hee's hair instantly stood up as she heard the answer. She even looked tense for fear that this person was a stalker.

The young man actually laughed at the expression Yoon Hee showed at this time. He felt the girl's expression was very adorable. "I'm disappointed in you, Yoon Hee. You don't remember me? Even though I just remember knowing the person who will interview me is a girl named Jung Yoon Hee."

Yoon Hee was still silent, staring intently at the young man's face. After looking further, it seemed that she was starting to feel familiar with the face of this young man. Her eyes narrowed, still looking at the young man. A name popped into her head.

"Kang Tae Oh?"

~"~

Laughter is heard among the young people who are currently relaxing on the sofa of the flower shop. Jung Yoon Hee and Kang Tae Oh are nostalgic about their stories from elementary school. Kang was Yoon Hee's best friend from elementary school to junior high school. The two were so close that even their friends said they could not be separated. But in fact, as he entered the second year of junior high school, Kang Tae Oh had to change schools because his father had been transferred out of Seoul. From that moment they broke off relations.

"I can't believe you're going to be thin like this," Yoon Hee said. "You were so fat until the last time before we split up."

"I also don't believe that this ugly girl turned into a beautiful swan," Tae Oh said.

"By the way, why do you want to work here? Are you applying for a part-time job?"

Tae Oh shakes his head because he happened to be sipping the drink he bought earlier. "I am applying to be a full-time worker. Then the reason why I applied here is because the owner is your mother, so maybe I can see you often."

"Ey, don't joke like that. Tell me honestly, why do you want to work here?"

Tae Oh chuckled. "All right. I actually love flowers, even when I moved to Daegu, there was a flower shop run by a grandmother. At that time I came there because I was curious, and then after a long time, every time after school I would come to the store, helping the grandmother sell her flowers and flower arrangements. I feel happiness when I arrange flowers.

"Finally, when I returned to Seoul and accidentally passed by this store that posted a job vacancy, I immediately thought of applying for a job because here I could definitely find happiness, especially since this store belongs to my little friend. So please accept me."

"It really touches your reason for applying here," Yoon Hee responded. "In that case, you passed the first stage. Now let's go to the second stage."

"Oh my god, why are there stages?"

"Of course. If you apply to a big company, there must be many stages, Mr. Kang Tae Oh." Yoon Hee then got up from her seat. "Follow me."