Woohyun POV

I tapped my foot impatiently as I waited for Minji in the restaurant where we were dining.

After our phone call on Saturday, I had no choice but to meet with her in person to hear a proper explanation. She was under explicit instructions from me to not contact Hana. Minji wasn’t dangerous – at least, I didn’t think so – but I needed to hear her reasons. Right now.

Where was she? Probably arriving fashionably late, as per usual.

“Babe, are you angry at me?” I looked up from tracing the table patterns with my thumb to see her standing above me. I stood up automatically to take her coat and offer her a seat.

“I don’t know,” I replied carefully. “Do I have a reason to be? Why are you contacting Hana?”

She her tooth. “Gee, Woohyun, you really do care a lot for someone who is supposed to be part of your past.”

“She is part of my past, but my past isn’t something I forget easily. Minji, you know that.”

There was a tense silence. We both stared at each other in the eye.

“I wanted to know what she was all about, okay?” She finally broke it off, and then laughed nervously. “God, I can’t even have dinner with my boyfriend without being interrogated. Stop it, Hyun. Now, let’s order.”

During our meal, I noticed that Minji kept stealing glances at a table seat behind me. I couldn’t see whom, as my back was facing, but I could tell that it was making her more uncomfortable as the night progressed.

“Minji? Who do you keep staring at?” I put down my knife and fork and turned around, only to see a couple of our age seated adjacent to us. “Who are they?”

“No one,” she brushed off suspiciously, getting up from her seat to obviously avoid the question. “Please excuse me, I need to go to the restroom.”

I nodded, extremely curious. Minji always fidgeted when she was nervous about something.

I carried on eating. There was a loud ruckus behind me; a guy was shouting loudly over the hustling noise of the restaurant, and a girl was yelling something back equally fiercely.

It took me a while to realize that it was Minji was the screaming.

I wiped my mouth quickly and got up out of my seat, following the source of the sound. What the…?

“Hey,” I said in my best captain voice, reaching the area near the bathrooms. “What’s going on? Minji, are you okay? Is this guy bothering you?”

The man who was sitting behind us, a skinny guy with curly hair and a mixed complexion, was standing protectively in front of the girl he was dining with. He scoffed rudely when I said this.

“What’s your problem, man?” I said, frowning. I grabbed Minji by the waist and pulled her behind me.

“Nothing.” He smirked. “Not a problem with you. But her,” he nodded at Minji, who was cowering behind me.

I looked between them. They were staring daggers at each other. I really wondered what was going on. Obviously, they had a history.

“Can someone explain what is going on? Can you stop staring at my girlfriend like that?” I said, annoyed. I hate to be the only one left in the dark.

“Girlfriend?” He smirked again. “Tough luck, bro. Ask your darling to explain. I’m out before she tracks my phone again.” He wrapped his arms around his girlfriend and stormed out of the restaurant.

I gave Minji a long look. She had fearful eyes, rimmed with smudged mascara.

“We’re going too. Waiter, please,” I signaled a waiter walking past us curiously. “We’ll have the bill and the remainder of our meal to take away, please. As soon as you can.”

I paid and left the restaurant swiftly, tugging Minji behind me on my heels. Getting in my car, I turned to face her.

“Please,” I said icily with my best smile. “Explain.”

She sighed. “You don’t know everything about me, Woohyun.”

I laughed bitterly. “Obviously.”

Minji bit her lip. “In – in eleventh grade – “ She began. She took a deep breath and sighed. “He was my boyfriend. And things got a bit out of hand. He – he had to get a restraining order against me.”