The next morning, Yeomin woke up earlier than usual and applied a bag of ice cubes on each of her eye. Her eyes were swollen and red from all the crying yesterday. She tried her best to forget what she just encountered however, everything she did reminded her of him.

“Yeomin, what are you doing right now?” someone entered her room, making Yeomin sit up in surprise.

“Mother,” she whispered audible enough for her mother to hear. “I was just applying some ice to my eyes because they were red and swollen,” Yeomin stood up from her bed as she talked.

Her mother looked at Yeomin and clucked her tongue. “Hurry and get ready, we’re going to the company in 30 minutes,” her mother announced and walked out of the room.

Yeomin slumped back onto her bed and bit her lips. Another day of going to the company, she was actually surprised of how she lasted every single day at the company. She doesn’t even learn nor do anything.

Whilst making her way down the stairs, she stopped as she remembered that Eun Mi will be at the company. *How am I going to face her?* she thought.

“Yeomin!” Her mother called.

Snapping out of her thoughts, she walked out to the car. *Just ignore her Yeomin, just ignore her.*

Yeomin did feel guilty for deciding to ignore Eun Mi even though she did nothing wrong, but how could she face her? Eun Mi figured out that she likes Luhan and she even said that she’ll ask Luhan for her but now, seeing as Luhan didn’t feel the same way towards Yeomin, it hurted her and it was embarrassing.

Sometimes, she thought to herself why did she fall in love –or whatever they call it- in the first place? Love just hurts. Well, that’s what she thought.

Arriving at the level, Yeomin walked out of the elevator and down the corridor. It was quiet and everyone seemed to be at their desk working. Spotting Eun Mi sparkling the window from afar, Yeomin stopped.

As she turned around, Eun Mi looked up and spotted her. “Yeomin!” She called; making sure her voice wasn’t too loud to disturb the colleagues. When Yeomin didn’t turn around but kept walking, Eun Mi placed down the towels and took off her glove before running towards Yeomin.

After turning Yeomin around, Eun Mi’s expression flattened as she noticed Yeomin avoiding her eyes and shrugged off her arm from her grip.

“Yeomin, what’s wrong?” Eun Mi questioned, concern showing in her voice.

“Nothing. I need to go,” Yeomin replied bluntly and walked off.

Eun Mi stood there, speechless. Yeomin had never acted this way towards her before. What is wrong? Did something happen to her? Eun mi suddenly grew worried and she made a note to herself that next time she sees Yeomin; she will interrogate Yeomin into telling her what is causing her to act this way, whether she likes it or not.

Fortunately, that ‘next time’ came very soon. As Eun Mi took on her 15 minute break, she was walking towards the janitor room when she saw Yeomin walked towards her from the opposite direction.

Placing her sanitary equipments onto the side, she walked towards Yeomin who had no idea Eun Mi was coming.

“Eun Mi ah,” Yeomin said, shocked.

“Yeomin, are you okay? Why are you trying to avoid me?” Eun Mi went straight to the point.

She only had 15 minutes and if she didn’t get any information during that time frame then she won’t be able to work properly.

“I’m fine. I’m not avoiding you,” Yeomin replied, stepping to the side and continued walking.

Eun Mi flung her head back and caught up with Yeomin. “What are friends for? You’re supposed to tell me what’s wrong and we can solve it out together! Not avoiding me? Yeomin, you’re avoiding me right now and you know it.”

Yeomin looked at the ground and played with her hands. “I just have a lot to do at the company,” she muttered. It was hard. It was so hard for her to lie to her first and only best friend.

“Bull. Since when do you care about the company?” Eun Mi retorted.

It was true. “Yeomin, you know you can tell me anything right?” Eun Mi looked at Yeomin pleadingly.

When Yeomin didn’t reply, Eun Mi started bringing up random topics. Most of the time, Yeomin shook her head. Time was ticking and Eun Mi needed to get through this, fast.

“Is it something that happened at home with your father?” Eun Mi questioned for the umpteenth time.

Yeomin shook her head.

“Did something happen with Luhan?”

There it is. Luhan. Yeomin looked away, trying to ignore the pain of her tightening heart.

Eun Mi softened at Yeomin’s expression. Somehow, she didn’t like where this is leading to. “What happened with you and Luhan Yeomin?” Eun Mi spoke in a much softer tone.

“Eun Mi, do you pity me? Is that why you are became friends with me?” Yeomin questioned, looking straight into Eun Mi’s eyes.

Eun Mi looked at Yeomin, confused and dazed. “No. Where did you get that idea from? I became friends with you because I know that you are someone I could trust. A friend I could lean on and a friend that isn’t like other girls-” Eun Mi stopped halfway and stared at Yeomin. *Did she?*

As if Yeomin read her mind, she replied, “The other day, I came to visit Luhan at his workplace. I saw you two talking and I was close enough to hear everything,” Yeomin muttered.

“Everything?” Eun Mi’s eyes widened in alarm.

“Yes everything. It hurts Eun Mi, is it supposed to hurt this much?” Yeomin looked away.

Eun Mi’s lips parted as she noticed tears streaming down Yeomin’s face. *Oh no.* She felt sympathetic  towards Yeomin and it was hard for Eun Mi to see her trying to stop herself from crying.

“I hate the feeling of being pitied. I hate it so much. I only tried to avoid you because I felt embarrassed. You’ve realised that I have feelings for Luhan and you even offered to help me so I’m embarrassed because Luhan doesn’t feel the same way I do,” Yeomin managed to speak through the sobs.

“Yeomin, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” Eun Mi embraced her broken friend in her arms. “Luhan isn’t even sure if he likes you or not so how would you know he doesn’t feel the same way?”

Yeomin rested her head on Eun Mi’s shoulder. Her head felt heavy and she started to experience miniature headaches. Slowly, she pulled away from Eun Mi and cracked a smile. “It’s okay. Why would a guy like Luhan like a girl like me anyways? There’s nothing to like. I’ll be fine,” she wiped off her tears.

“Yeomin,” Eun Mi called.

“It’s fine. I just need to remember that my feelings towards Luhan never happened and to forget it. Anyways, I’ll catch up to you later?” she smiled then headed off. “Oh wait,” she stopped and turned back. “Don’t tell Luhan anything okay?”

Eun Mi looked at Yeomin’s retreating figure and sighed. Looking at her watch, she groaned. “Back to work. Aish Luhan, you frustrating ,” she hissed and headed off. What can she do to make things better? But how could she make things better if Yeomin doesn’t want Luhan to know that she heard their talk?

---

Back at the chicken store, Luhan was working diligently when a certain customer surprised him.

“Kris?” his eyes bludged out of its sockets. “What would a rich young man come to this place for?”

Kris looked around the shop and sat himself down on the closet seat to him. “I need to talk to you,” he said as he crossed his legs.

Luhan scanned the small restaurant and when he was sure no one needed attendance right now, he pulled a chair over to Kris, sat himself down and crossed his legs.

“Man how can you cross your legs,” Luhan grunted as he unfolded his legs.

How embarrassing.

“So, why do you want to talk to me?” Luhan asked. “Do you want to ask me something about Eun Mi?” he raised a brow.

“How do you know?” Kris looked at Luhan with a surprised expression all over his face.

“It’s obvious that you like her,” Luhan nodded. “So, what do you want to know about my Mimi?”

Kris felt uncomfortable with Luhan’s question as he called Eun Mi ‘my’ and gave her ‘Mimi’ as a nickname.  Plus, he didn’t even know Luhan that well yet and he knows that he likes Eun Mi.

“Tell me everything,” Kris said.

“Everything? Don’t forget I still have customers to serve so there will be breaks in between,” Luhan informed.

“That’s fine.”

“Alright then, let’s start from the basics,” he clapped his hands. “Lee Eun Mi is her real name, she is born on January 11^th 1993, she likes the colour-”

As time went by, Kris knew more about Eun Mi and he started to take notes in his head as Luhan talked.

“Oh my god, let me get water. My throat is so dry,” Luhan excused himself.

Kris scoffed and rolled his neck.

“Some interesting facts about her are,” Luhan spoke, making Kris jump in his seat.

“When did you come back?” he asked.

“A few seconds ago?” Luhan answered. “Something interesting about Eun Mi is that, she knows a little bit of karate – that explains her violent personality, she loves cooking – I know a girl like her loves cooking, in kindergarten she used to be called the girl who eats glue because she ate glue,” Luhan tapped his chin. “Oh! She kisses the first person she sees when she is drunk!”

Kris’ eyes widened and he sat up straight. “What? She kisses people when she’s drunk?!” He spoke, almost shrieked.

“Yeap,” Luhan nodded.

“Does that mean she kissed you?” he waited impatiently for the answer as his heart thumped heavily.

Luhan slowly nodded and Kris’ face fell. His expression turned cold and his chest felt heavy.

“On the cheeks though, I managed to turn away when she tried to kiss me on my lips,” he carefully explained.

A flush of relief flew past Kris’ face as he sighed. *Thank god.*

“Excuse me!” Someone called.

Luhan jumped up from his seat and ran towards that person.

Kris crossed his arms and his lips. “Should I make her drunk?” he muttered as a smirk formed on his face. “No. Kris, what are you thinking?”