Chapter 52: Relative Deprivation
Ten minutes after Ha Giyeon arrived at the café, Son Suhyeon showed up.
Ha Giyeon wanted to talk to him, even for a moment, but just as Son Suhyeon stepped out of the locker room, a wave of customers rushed in, leaving no chance for conversation. Distracted by his attention on Suhyeon, Ha Giyeon ended up making a mistake.
The drink was supposed to be served hot, but he’d mistakenly handed it out cold. Ha Giyeon bowed his head and apologized multiple times, but the customer’s anger didn’t subside.
Even though he quickly remade the drink and handed it over, the customer didn’t leave—instead, he began swearing at him. By this point, it was clear the man was just using the mistake as an excuse to pick a fight and vent his frustrations. But since the customer kept raising his voice, Giyeon had no choice but to continue apologizing in order to avoid making a scene.
That was when Son Suhyeon stepped in.
The customer flinched at the sight of Suhyeon, who was much larger than Ha Giyeon, but when Suhyeon also apologized, the man raised his voice again.
“I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“Ugh, hiring kids like this for part-time work. Don’t disgrace your parents—use that time to study instead.”
He roughly grabbed the drink and stormed out. Giyeon glanced up at Son Suhyeon, whose head was lowered. He’d heard far worse things himself and didn’t think much of it, but he was genuinely worried that Suhyeon might have been hurt by it.
Especially since he’d already seemed upset from what had happened earlier at school.
Son Suhyeon turned away and went back to work, and Ha Giyeon didn’t get a look at his face. Thinking he now had one more thing to apologize for, Giyeon pushed down his guilt and rising anxiety, and focused on his tasks.
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