There is a small convenience store on the first floor of the studio apartment where I live.

And there is a part-time clerk there whom I run into quite often.

A woman who always stands at the counter with a quiet face, wearing thick, round glasses.

At first, I just thought she was an ordinary person.

But strangely, my eyes kept drifting toward her.

Though she seemed blunt, her hands were gentle whenever she took items from me, and she would give a tiny smile after a brief greeting.

---

Then one day.

I walked into the store as usual, but she didn't realize I had arrived.

She was behind the counter, glasses off, wiping the lenses.

I looked at her without thinking.

And I just froze right there.

She was beautiful.

Breathtakingly beautiful.

No other words came to mind.

The face hidden behind the glasses was far more beautiful than I had ever imagined.

It was so pretty it felt unrealistic.

But at that moment.

She looked up.

Our eyes met.

A moment of silence.

Her eyes shook violently.

And she covered her face with both hands as if to hide her bare face.

"……Did you see?"

A slightly trembling voice I had never heard before.

In that moment, strangely, my heart started racing.

Whether it was because her embarrassed look was cute, Or because the face I just saw kept flickering in my mind.

I don't really know yet.

But one thing was certain.

From that day on.

The first thing I looked for every time I entered the store Wasn't the items on the counter, nor the drinks on the shelves.

It was her, looking at me from behind her glasses.