ღ Chapter Twelve ღ

As the weeks wore on, two of the interns were eliminated, leaving only 3 of us left in the running. Because of that, I dropped several shifts at the Café, and now worked only two days a week to that I would be able to focus more on the internship.

Minjung could be counted on to visit me each time during my shift, however, and drop words of encouragememt.

“You’re smarter than them both and you work hard,” she told me over the counter as I prepared her a cappuccino. “You will get it, Jae-in ah, don’t worry.”

The thing that I hated the most about Minjung was that she was so nice to the point where I couldn't even hate her. We had becomes friends rather quickly, and I found it impossible to dislike her.

In the end, it isn't really her fault that Lu Han likes her more than me, so I couldn’t even blame her for that one.

I had told her that Kris and I had broken up and she seemed genuinely distressed.

“What?” she breathed, eyes wide. “You two are so good together.”

“It was mutual,” I told her, shrugging. “Don’t worry about it, Minjung. We were growing apart and are better now as just friends.”

Things weren’t awkward with Kris now either, even after I had kissed him and then cried all over him. If anything, we had gotten closer. His quiet demeanor seemed to take in everything and nothing escaped his notice.

“Let’s go walk by the river,” he would say after dinner, standing up and stretching.

That was the best thing about the location of the EXO dorms-it was only about a five minute walk to the trail along the Han River. Kris liked taking walks and jogs by the river, but his movements have been limited ever since his debut. Now, he was only able to sneak out under the cover of darkness, and I was happy to accompany him.

I slipped on my cardigan, turning to him as he put on his own dark gray jacket. I reached up and pulled the hood over his head, then down to cover most of his face. Still, he was too recognizable.

“Damn you and your height,” I sighed, giving him a shove. “Even if passerbys don’t recognize your face, they’re going to do a double take because you’re a giant.”

“Oh shut up, shorty,” he retorted, reaching for his keys. “Let’s go.”

I heard Minseok and Yixing whispering, and a moment later, Yixing let out a snigger, followed by, “bye mommy and daddy!”

“Yeah,” Minseok added, “have fun by the river and come home soon!”

I ro