He's Not An Ordinary Customer

Chapter 4 : Customer Favourite

Saturday evenings at Titan Core Fitness were always exhausting. The gym transformed into a living organism of noise and movement the moment the sun began to set. Treadmills thundered endlessly against the floor, metal weights clashed together like distant machinery, and the scent of protein powder mixed with expensive perfume lingered heavily in the air-conditioning. Yet somehow, in the middle of all the chaos, Yira remained the calmest person in the building.

Or at least, that was how customers saw her. To the older members, she was patient. To first-timers, she was comforting.To frustrated clients struggling with memberships, payments, or schedules, she was dependable. No one seemed to notice the exhaustion sitting quietly behind her glasses. No one noticed how tightly she clenched her fingers whenever too many people spoke to her at once. And perhaps that was exactly why she preferred dealing with customers instead of coworkers. Customers eventually left. Conversations ended. Smiles could be rehearsed. People who stayed were far more complicated.

That evening, Yira stood behind the reception counter updating attendance records while soft instrumental music played from the lounge speakers. Her expression remained neutral as usual, but her movements were efficient and practiced, every task completed with almost mechanical precision. A middle-aged woman approached the counter carrying a pink gym bag. Yira recognized her immediately. Madam Farah. One of the regular pilates members. Before the woman could even speak, Yira gently slid a bottle of water across the counter.

“You looked dizzy after class earlier,” Yira said softly. “Please drink first before driving.”

Madam Farah blinked in surprise before smiling warmly. “That’s why I like you, dear. You always notice everything.”

Yira only nodded awkwardly. Compliments had always made her uncomfortable. The woman continued speaking for another few minutes, happily telling stories about her children while Yira listened patiently despite the growing pile of work beside her. Across the gym floor, Tengku Syazir Muzhir watched the interaction from beside the cable machines. And for the first time since meeting Yira, he looked genuinely confused. He had spent the last few days assuming her sharp expressions and sarcastic responses were simply part of her personality. To him, she had seemed intimidating, difficult to approach, and constantly irritated by his existence.

Yet every time she spoke to customers, she transformed into someone entirely different. Softer, warmer and almost gentle. It fascinated him more than it should have. Syazir had met many women before. Confident women, friendly women and beautiful women but Yira was strangely difficult to understand. She smiled for strangers but struggled around people who worked beside her every day. She looked cold, yet treated others with quiet care no one asked for, and somehow, that contradiction only made her more interesting.

Later that night, Syazir found himself lingering near the reception counter again under the excuse of “resting between sets.” In reality, he simply wanted to observe her a little longer. Yira barely acknowledged his presence at first. She continued typing reports while occasionally answering customer questions with calm professionalism. A young gym member approached the counter looking embarrassed after accidentally losing his locker key. Before panic could fully settle across the teenager’s face, Yira calmly reassured him and resolved the issue within minutes. No frustration. No irritation. Just patience.

Syazir leaned casually against the counter, watching quietly. It was strange. The more he paid attention to her, the more he realized how different Yira actually was from the image she tried so hard to project. Her intimidating expression wasn’t arrogance. It was defense. A shield carefully built around someone who clearly spent too much time carrying responsibilities alone. And somehow, that realization settled heavily in his chest. For the first time in a long while, Syazir found himself wanting to know someone beyond surface-level attraction. Not because she was pretty. Not because she entertained him. But because every small thing about Yira felt unexpectedly sincere in a world full of performances.

Meanwhile, behind the reception counter, Yira remained completely unaware that the man she considered the biggest disturbance in her life had slowly begun memorizing the smallest details about her.