Chapter Thirteen

"Geez, wasn't it awfully busy today?" U-Kwon asked as he set down his lunch, about to eat it. He looked at Mina, her face was dazed as if there was something on her mind it seemed that she was like this the entire day. "Mina?"

"Huh? What? Sorry I was just--." Mina blushed as she stumbled over her words, she was still thinking about that kiss from this morning.

"Is something up? There seems to be something bothering your mind." U-Kwon said as he took a bite out of his sandwich.

"Oh, n-n-othing at all." Mina said sheepishly, her blush starting to creep up again. U-Kwon didn't need to know about what happened this morning because she knows all he would do is about it. He usually did that whenever a guy tried to hit on Mina when they went to outings back in high school, even if it happened months ago he would still try to bring it up in conversations.

"I know you're lying." U-Kwon said as he poked her nose, "Now tell oppa, unless you want me to bring it out of you in a harder way."

"It's nothing, honestly." Mina said as she tried to muster up the most truth-telling smile but it still didn't work on him. U-Kwon always knew when she was lying since he's known for quite some time now, he was the one who taught her how to lie too since she was always terrible at it.

"Minaaaaaa, do you want me to tell the whole shop about what happened at the night of July 4th?" U-Kwon asked, a smirk on his lips, he knew fully well that was the most embarrassing moment in Mina's lifetime and there was no way she would continue to be stubborn about this if he made a threat like that.

"No!" Mina shouted as she brought her hands up over U-Kwon's mouth in case he actually goes through with his threat. "Please don't."

"This threat will be gone if you tell me what's on your mind." U-Kwon said, even though it came out as muffled words.

"Fine." Mina pouted as she brought her hands down from his mouth and wiped them off on the front of U-Kwon’s shirt.

"Hey!" U-Kwon exclaimed.

"That's what you get for threatening me." Mina said as she stuck out a tongue at him.

"Point taken, so what's going on in that little head of yours?" U-Kwon asked as he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. She was looking brilliantly beautiful today, as if that was even possible. He should stop being so mesmerized by her since he needs to move on from loving her, knowing fully well that those feelings would never be returned.

"Well you see... this morning." Mina began, the same blush that made her face look childish crept up again as she remembered what happened for the 500th time that day. "Jiho ..."

"What did he do?" U-Kwon asked, trying to mask his concern tone of voice.

U-Kwon knew Jiho for a little bit now since the time his friends introduced him to Jiho once when he went out clubbing with them. U-Kwon didn't like Jiho at first but as time went on he found that him and Jiho had a lot of things in common therefore, they became friends. From what U-Kwon could see Jiho seemed to be a person that got what he wanted all the time.

He was an arrogant bastard but the girls seemed to still flock towards him like crazy. He was known to bring the hottest girls to bed and he could get any girl he wanted without a second of hesitation. U-Kwon hoped that Jiho didn't do anything to harm Mina because if he ever did, U-Kwon would take it into his own hands and beat the out of him. Not just a boy that wouldn't want to see the girl he loved hurt but also as a best friend that would do anything for her.

"He kissed me." Mina muttered quickly hoping that U-Kwon wouldn't hear it but he, of course, did. His heart clenched at the thought of Mina's lips on Jiho's, he instantly felt a ping of jealously as he imagined the scene. "on the cheek."

As those words flew out of U-Kwon felt a little relieved, a kiss on the cheek, like a greeting (Or so he told himself to try and comfort the feeling of Mina having any sort of physical contact with another male).

"Oh, he was probably just greeting you. He lived in a foreign country a few times so that's probably what he was doing, don't think about it too much." U-Kwon said as he took a bite out of his lunch, and poured his chips onto his tray for better selection.

"Oh! That's probably why-- I thought it meant something else… silly me." Mina said quickly as she took a bite of her lunch as well. She did feel a little relieved that the kiss was something causal and didn't have a significant meaning behind it. Although she couldn't explain why she felt an even bigger wave of disappointment washing over her, shaking her head she tried to push it aside.

"How are Jun-min and your mother?" U-Kwon asked trying to change the subject.

"Honestly, I've been so busy that I haven't had time to visit them. I think I'll probably do that today." Mina did feel bad that she hasn't visited her family for a while; she hoped they missed her as much as she missed them.

"Oh really? In that case if you visit them today I have something for Jun-min."

"You do? Kwonnie, I've told you countless times that you shouldn't spoil him like that." Mina said with a smile on her face, U-Kwon was always the sweetest with her younger brother.

"If I'm not going to spoil him, who else is?" U-Kwon winked as he got up to throw away his lunch, "Let me go to my car and get it."

Mina nodded as she opened her phone to text Jay so that he could drive her to her mother's house; moments later he replied with a yes and said he would be there when she got off of work.

"Here it is." U-Kwon said as he placed a box wrapped in shiny paper in front of Mina. "It's not much but..."

"U-Kwon, it's always enough, thank you very much. You're always the best with Jun-Min." Mina smiled as she pulled U-Kwon in for a hug.

U-Kwon was mesmerized by the hug for a split second as he absorbed in her sweet scent and the way everything about her warmed his body, "No problem, well I got to go now since my mother set up a date for me again. I'm taking your advice this time to go on a date, hopefully it goes well. I'll see you tomorrow." U-Kwon said pulling away as he started to head out the door.

"Bye! Thanks again! You're the sweetest~ as always. Call me tonight and tell me how it goes!" Mina said waving him off as she started to walk back behind the counter to get back to work.

----

Mina stood outside as she waited for Jay's car to come around the corner her fingers playing with the shiny wrapping paper around the box. U-Kwon was always good at wrapping presents - a trait that she could never acquire.

Mina suddenly heard the beep of a car and looked up to meet Jiho's eyes, she was quite startled to see that he was there instead of Jay -- she swore she didn't make a mistake and did text Jay instead of Jiho. She shrugged her shoulders and got into the car, trying her best to push away the events of what happened this morning out of her mind—she didn’t need it to be awkward the moment she saw him.

"Jay said something came up so I came in his place instead." Jiho said as he started to drive, trying to avoid any awkward silence that might pursue in the car.

"Oh I see, well do you know where it is?" Mina asked in a nonchalant manner as she glanced out the window, looking away from Jiho.

"Yeah, Jay told me. How was your day at work today?" Jiho asked a small smile on his lips, she wasn't making eye-contact with him -- which meant what happened this morning was still playing in her head.

"It was busy ... I guess." Mina said quietly as she felt his eyes on her, heating her body and making her blush in the process.

"Mmm..." Jiho nodded, racking his brain for some other topic that would make this conversation be a little bit smoother.

The awkward atmosphere was suffocating both of them but they didn't know ho