Stanley arrived at the place the red-haired lady talked about earlier. There, he came face to face with the store called The Purple Spoon Supermarket and headed inside. When he made it inside, the man encountered the red-haired female talking to someone at the counter. Stanley noticed she took out and put on a magenta cap and matching robe with a nametag. Squinting his eyes, it read ‘Hilary.'

Could that be her name?

“Oh, hello again.” She noticed him standing at the front door and waved.

“H-Hey, do you remember me?” Stanley asked.

“It hadn’t been too long since we last saw each other...” Hilary brought up and tilted her head in confusion.

“Uh, right, my bad...” This situation got more awkward by the second.

“So, did you come here to apply for a job, or are you here to shop?”

“Uh-huh, do you already work here?” Stanley asked.

“Yeah, I’m doing an early shift,” Hilary explained to him. “Thanks again for earlier, I was afraid I’d be late for this because I despise being late for work.”

“I see.” I’m pretty sure everyone resents that. “So, where is your boss? Is he here today?”

“Yes. You can find the boss in the office,” Hilary pointed at a door from the far end of the area. “He can be stingy, but he means well.” She whispered to him as she darted the place to make sure no one overheard her.

“Thank you,” Stanley replied, extending his arm. “I’m Stanley; it’s nice to meet you.”

“Same here,” Hilary replied, shaking his hand, “It’d be nice to work with more people that I’m familiar with and know.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t agree more.”

“Don’t you have somewhere to go?” Hilary reminded him.

“Oh, right, my bad. I better get going then.”

On his way to the office, Stanely looked around the area, noticing the empty shelves along with the multiple lights on the ceiling, which appeared to be symmetrical. Stanley wondered why Hilary seems to be different from other people he’s met in his life. Then, annoying ticking sounds interrupted his thoughts. His eyes twitched as he searched the place for where the clocks were, or at least, where the noise originated.

Without looking, Stanley bumped into a door. As he rubbed his head, the door creaked as another man peeked his head out before opening it all the way. The older, grumpy man raised an eyebrow as he inspected Stanley, who stood in front of him.

“You know we’re not open yet, right?” He questioned.

“Um, sorry, but I’m not here for that...” Stanley murmured. “I wanted to—”

“Are you here to apply for a job?” The boss guessed.

“Yeah, how did you know?” He asked as he got up from the floor.

“You looked at our help wanted sign out on the window, right?” Stanley nodded in response. “We seem to be running low on workers recently; I’m not sure why, but...”

“Please let me take this job; I’ll do anything!”

“Oh? I don’t take weak or lazy employers...” The man warned him. “However, I do like your attitude; you seem to be in full spirit too, so why don’t you try out your skills by taking the robe and being the cashier?”

“You mean it?”

“Sure, you’re good with people, right?”

“Uh... sure thing.” Stanley lied. He bowed. “Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity; I swear I won’t let you down, sir.”

“Don’t mention it, kid, now get going.”