Chapter 49
“Mmm-mmm-mmm, mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm.”
Humming to himself as he organized the display shelf, Koi caught the suspicious gaze of a man inside the store—a customer and a friend of the store owner.
“Something good happen today?”
“Sorry? No, why?”
The man, arms crossed, uncrossed one hand and pointed at Koi’s face.
“You’ve been smiling. Even humming a tune.”
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
The man gave Koi a once-over, then fixed a suspicious gaze on his face. Like he was up to something. But Koi just tilted his head with a bright smile and a puzzled look, then went right back to humming and doing his work. The man kept watching him with clear disapproval.
Ten minutes left.
Koi glanced at the clock and barely stopped himself from hopping in excitement. Not once had he ever closed the store even a minute early—in fact, he usually worked overtime. On weekdays, the store closed at 10 p.m., but between closing up, cleaning, and taking out the trash, it always took at least another hour.
If he tried to start cleaning early, someone always showed up right before closing to mess things up again or dump more trash. Plus, whenever he was caught tidying up early, he got scolded for making customers feel unwelcome, so he had no choice but to work right up to the very last minute before wrapping up.