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Chapter 55 - A Rival's Arrival

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"You have two names, huh?"

Hyukjae turns to Sungmin who is staring at him. It's already seven in the evening when they finished cleaning up the mess that the bad guys had caused in the ice cream parlor. Even though Manager Han scolded Sungmin, he was still kind enough to only deduct half of his salary and treat the guys to free ice cream after work.

"Why do you have two names?" Sungmin asks as he scoops a spoonful of strawberry ice cream. "I have never met anyone with two names, except for celebrities of course."

He replies, "'Hyukjae' is my given name. 'Eunhyuk' is more of a nickname."

Sungmin nods as a sign of understanding. "Why were those guys looking for you? Have you done something bad? Or," Sungmin raises his eyebrow. "are you a gang leader?"

"No!" Hyukjae denies. "They thought that I was the person they were looking for."

Sungmin nods. "Oh I see." When Sungmin turns around, Hyukjae calls him and Sungmin turns back to him.

"By the way, Sungmin... Can we go here everyday?"

Sungmin looks at Yesung and Ryeowook who seem very friendly. Sungmin smirks as he remembers his idea hours ago. Then he looks back at Hyukjae who is anticipating for his answer. "Sure. Just don't forget to order a lot whenever you go here. And take your friend with you as frequent as possible."

Hyukjae furrows his eyebrows. "Why?"

Sungmin winks. "It's a secret. Oh well, I'll see you soon? Maybe tomorrow?"

"If you want to," Hyukjae smiles. "Okay then. See you tomorrow. We'll go now."

Meanwhile, Donghae is glaring at the two as he mops the floor. Kyuhyun is beside him, wiping the tables, and Donghae cannot hide his annoyance. "That Eunhak whatever is getting on my nerves! He keeps on hitting on Sungmin like he's that handsome."

Kyuhyun just rolls his eyes. "He looks like a monkey."

"Exactly!" Donghae comments. "Look, he keeps on glancing at Sungmin! He's really irritating!"

Hyukjae and Yesung finally leave the ice cream parlor. Donghae triumphs in his mind.

"At last, he's out! I wish he would never go here again," Donghae hisses. Seeing that Sungmin's walking towards him, he composes himself. "Oh, hi, Sungmin!"

"You've been mopping that area for an hour now," Sungmin reminds him. "What's wrong with you?"

"U-uh, huh? N-nothing," Donghae smiles awkwardly, and Sungmin laughs. "Why?"

"I just wonder how Ryeowook and Yesung met," Sungmin then asks, "How did the two of them meet?"

"Well," Donghae sets the mop aside. "You were in the Philippines when they first met. Ryeowook and I were on our way to the grocery when we bumped into Yesung who was busy looking at his pet turtles that were inside an aquarium. Ryeowook apologized, of course. Then he noticed the turtles and told him that they were cute. That sparked Yesung's interest, I supposed, and said that the only person who told him that his turtles were cute was Ryeowook, and that a lot of people told him that having a pet turtle was weird."

"Having turtles as pets is indeed weird," Kyuhyun cuts in, emphasizing on the word 'indeed', and Sungmin gives him a cold stare.

"Seriously, Kyuhyun, shut up," he hisses then asks Donghae to continue then.

Donghae coughs then continues, "Then, Yesung asked him to be his boyfriend!"

Sungmin claps in excitement. Ryeowook hears it and corrects, "I-It's not like that! He just meant... a boy friend, not boyfriend!" He gazes at Kyuhyun who doesn't react. Ryeowook looks away when Kyuhyun turns to them.

"I don't think he would immediately ask him to be his boyfriend," Kyuhyun comments in a low voice. Sungmin smirks and Kyuhyun sees it, so he looks away. "Stop being malicious."

Sungmin gives him a skeptical look. "You're jealous, aren't you?" Kyuhyun leaves without any word. Sungmin laughs and taps Ryeowook's shoulder who stares at Kyuhyun until he finally enters the employees lounge. "He's jealous alright?"

"Probably not," Ryeowook sighs. "I guess he's just irritated."

"He's always irritated at Sungmin," Donghae comments. "I seriously don't understand my own best friend."

Sungmin blinks as he feels a little pinch somewhere in his chest. Kyuhyun is really irritated at him. He would always say that to him, that's why he keeps on irritating Sungmin in all things possible. Especially whenever we're together... maybe that's why he keeps on teasing me, because he wants me to be irritated. Yeah. Could be.

"Why did you suddenly shut up?" Kyuhyun, who changed his clothes, returns. "You're all blabbing and stuff."

Sungmin just stares at him. Here he goes again, he thinks. Kyuhyun raises his eyebrow. I think I should just limit myself from being too affected. Sungmin turns around without saying any word and leaves the three people.

"Sungmin is acting somehow different recently. I don't know why and how, but he seems different," Donghae talks again. Then he glares at Kyuhyun. "Seriously, what did you do to him when you're away?"

Kyuhyun smirks and walks towards the door without answering Donghae. "I'm leaving. Bye."

"You're already leaving?" Ryeowook asks, but he doesn't get any answer.

Sungmin tosses the table cloth on the table. "Ryeowook, Donghae, I'm sorry, but I would pass the cleaning. I'll just make up later," he says as he removes his black apron and throws it on the table. "I'll leave first. Bye!" He runs inside the employees lounge and gets his things before he finally leaves the ice cream parlor.

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"Hey!" Sungmin calls Kyuhyun who is walking in front of him. Sungmin runs towards him and holds his arm. Kyuhyun turns around, but he pulls his arm from Sungmin's grasp and walks away. "I said hey!"

Sungmin stands in front of Kyuhyun who has no choice but to stop. "What?" He asks.

"You're doing this to annoy me, right?" Sungmin asks back.

"What did I do?"

"You succeeded in irritating me, so can you please stop this?" Sungmin looks away. "I don't like the way you're treating me. You're always doing something I don't like."

Kyuhyun's expression turns into a blank one. "You can't always have it your way, you know?"

"I know! That's why you should stop making me feel like this!" Sungmin yells at Kyuhyun who smiles, then all of a sudden, his smile turns into a laugh. Sungmin raises his eyebrow. "What!?"

"Don't tell me... you're," Kyuhyun pauses, then smirks before he continues, "You have a crush on me now?"

"Yes!" Sungmin's eyes widen. He doesn't really intend to confess, but the feeling is overwhelming so he slips. "I... I mean... no! No! It's just that... Ugh! I hate you!" He runs away, leaving Kyuhyun dumbfounded...

...and happy.

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"You're stupid! Seriously stupid, Lee Sungmin! Now he's going to laugh at you forever!" Sungmin stomps back and front in his room.

He realizes that he made the most idiotic thing in his life, and it bothers him. Kyuhyun would seriously make fun of him forever. And he would have a reason and a way to blackmail him. And he can't use Ryeowook as a reason to avoid him.

He jumps in his bed with his face tucked onto the pillow. "I hate this!"

He doesn't know that having a first crush is really stupid and cheesy and whatnot. He still feels overwhelmed and he hates the feeling.

He lies on the bed and turns to the flower plant that Kyuhyun gave him. It's been a while, and finally, the flower has grown. He realizes that he was not able to water it for a very long time, yet it is still blooming. He sighs. He remembers that he's going to pass it on Friday. He is somehow regretting about having it passed without even exerting effort in taking care of it during the course of its growth. And he wasn't able to read that book that Kyuhyun gave him along with the plant.

His phone on the side table starts to ring and it cuts his thoughts. He freezes as he realizes that it could be Kyuhyun. "Ugh, shut up!" He yells at his phone as it keeps on ringing.

After a few seconds, it stops ringing, but it rings again after a few seconds. He finally decides to get his phone, shut it down and sleep - even if he knows he can't easily do it that time.

But when he is about to shut the phone down, he notices that it is a different number. He answers the phone. "Hello?"

No one is answering.

"Hello?"

Silence.

"Fine then. If you are just playing around, then go die-"

"Wait, this is Hyukjae," the person on the other line finally speaks. "I would just want to verify if you're Sungmin."

"Oh, Hyukjae, how did you get my number?" Sungmin asks. "I seriously want distraction right now so, good thing you phoned me. What's it?"

"Well, I asked Yesung for Ryeowook's phone number, and then I called him and I asked for your number. Ryeowook gave it to me," Hyukjae answers. "But don't blame him, alright?"

"It's okay, I give my phone numbers to a lot of people, but no one actually calls and texts me, so... it's fine," Sungmin laughs. "Funny that Yesung has Ryeowook's number already. Tell your friend he's doing it right."

"Huh?"

"I mean... uhm, you see," Sungmin pauses for a while, thinking if he would like to share his plans of making Kyuhyun jealous using Yesung, but he decides not to. "Don't mind me."

"Anyway, I just called to tell you goodnight... Then I'll hang up now if you're busy or if you're already sleeping-"

"No!" Sungmin stops him. "I won't mind if we'll talk right now."

"Okay then. The house is so boring without anyone," Hyukjae starts the conversation.

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Sungmin keeps on yawning while on his way to the ice cream parlor. He and Hyukjae spent the night talking about random things, and the latter was pretty interesting. Hyukjae was a funny person, and he's slightly more mature than Donghae.

He told him that he had pending project in Biology, about his family, about everything under the sun. Hyukjae seemed interested in all of that and Sungmin, got interested with everything that Hyukjae told him. He learned that Yesung had a band, that he was from the States and he would be staying in Korea for his last year in high school, and that he had a younger brother.

It was a fun experience talking about things he never imagined talking about with others except Ryeowook who was his best friend.

And he was happy to have more friends, just like what he hoped for even before.

From afar, he sees a lot of guys renovating the ice cream parlor again. He gets curious so he runs towards the ice cream parlor and sees Manager Han in front of the establishment.

"What's happening? Is the ice cream parlor being demolished?" Sungmin frantically asks.

Manager Han chuckles. "Of course not. Someone learned about what happened yesterday so they were sent here to refurnish the ice cream parlor. And guess what, I'm not going to deduct your salary because that gentleman told me so."

"Really!?" Sungmin excitedly asks. "Who is that amazing, marvelous, splendid person so that I can thank him?"

"Wow, that was more than half of your vocabulary," someone comments. Sungmin recognizes the voice, and he gets annoyed on the spot, but he chooses not to answer back because he is too happy. Sungmin turns again to Manager Han.

Manager Han turns to the black limousine parked not far where they are standing. "The man inside that limousine is the person you are looking for. His secretary was the one who told me though, because he chose not to go out."

Sungmin does not wait for another word. He runs towards the car, but there are twelve bodyguards who prevent him from going nearer. He gets mad and tries to get nearer by using force, but one of the bodyguards tells the others that Sungmin can get near. The other eleven bodyguards move away and Sungmin almost pushes his face on the window.

"Thank you so much! Whoever you are! Thank you!" Sungmin bows endlessly even if the person never opens the tinted window. After a few minutes, all body guards leave and ride the other car, and the limousine drives away. Sungmin waves goodbye until the limousine is finally out of sight.

Kyuhyun walks near him and whispers, "I guess you have something to explain later."

"I am too happy so don't spoil it," Sungmin says and walks away. "As if I need to explain something."

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"Is this okay?" Yesung asks Hyukjae who is looking outside the window of the car. "First, you revealed your real name to him, second, you asked your men to refurnish the ice cream parlor for him."

Hyukjae bows and smiles. "You know, Jongwoon," he looks at Yesung. "I've never felt this way towards someone before."

"Not that I am against you, but you're the son of one of the richest businessmen in the world, and Sungmin is just... well, he's not that ordinary kind of person but he doesn't match you in a way, right?"

Hyukjae takes the folder on his lap and opens it. "I feel that Sungmin is different from any other person who would do things just for money. And I think I fell in love at first sight."

"Love at first sight, huh?" Yesung looks outside the window.

"Sir," his secretary interrupts. "Where are we going next?"

Hyukjae puts the folder named 'Lee Sungmin' back to his lap and looks at his secretary. "Lee Law Firm."

His secretary smiles and nods.

Lee Sungmin. I will do everything to make you mine.

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《Kyuhyun, Hyukjae and Donghae. So haba ng hair, Lee Sungmin. HOHOHOHOHO》