Chapter 36

“Thanks for the drinks, Daehyun,” Yongguk said as the three of them exited the restaurant together that night.

“Sure, anytime, hyung,” said Daehyun, grinning.

“We should do this again sometime,” Youngjae suggested.

“That's not a bad idea,” Yongguk nodded in agreement.

It slowly started to dawn on him that he barely hung out with the two other guys outside the studio. Whenever Yongguk went out, he was always either with Himchan or with a bunch of other girls who were introduced to him by Himchan himself. It felt refreshing for a change to hang out with Daehyun and Youngjae for a change. Not to mention, both best friends were helpful with advice about their best friend, Annie, who Yongguk happened to find intriguing in so many ways.

Making their way across the street to their respective cars, Yongguk caught a familiar figure wearily exiting the grand hotel. Putting his eyes into focus, he realized it was Himchan. He appeared to be checking his surroundings which made Yongguk a little suspicious but he decided not to think much of it.

“Hey, it's Himchan hyung!” Daehyun announced garnering of Youngjae, who also turned to look in the same direction. “Yah Himchannie hyung!” he called out.

Himchan, on the other hand, seemed pretty stunned upon seeing his friends outside. “Oh hey guys!” he greeted them in return as he tried his best to appear calm and composed. “What are you guys doing here?”

“We were grabbing dinner across the street,” Youngjae answered. “What were you doing here?” he asked motioning to the giant building behind them.

“You know, I was just meeting up with some buddies for dinner,” Himchan chuckled nervously scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Really,” Yongguk scoffed. “You and your buddies could have met up with us, you know.”

“Oh,” his best friend replied, shrugging. “Well, I didn't know you guys would actually be eating across the street.”

“Well, we didn't know you'd be here either,” Yongguk retorted back.

“How about next time?” Daehyun suggested. “We were just talking about it.”

“That doesn't sound like a bad idea,” Himchan nodded in agreement.

As the other three were still conversing, a particular figure had come to his attention from inside the building. The beautiful woman was also glancing around at her surroundings as if attempting to remain inconspicuous. Making her way out the door, she glanced ahead and froze upon seeing Yongguk eying her carefully. Relaxing, she made her way towards him. “Oh well if it isn't Bang Yongguk,” she said with a smirk. “What a surprise!”

“Hello, Miranda,” he greeted her dryly.

“Oh Kim Himchan, I didn't expect to see you either,” she said briefly glancing at him.

“Surprise,” Himchan returned with his own dry greeting.

“And I see you've got some friends,” she smiled stiffly at Daehyun and Youngjae. “Hello, I don't believe we've met. My name is Miranda Shin. Nice to meet you.”

“H-hello,” both guys bowed their heads slightly, greeting her simultaneously.

Daehyun and Youngjae gaped upon seeing her for the first time. Well, they did see her a lot in the media outlets but they never actually seen her in person. They had to admit, she was a lot more beautiful in person. “What are your names?” she finally asked when they went silent, obviously ogling at her.

“I'm Jung Daehyun,” Daehyun managed to say, snapping out of his thoughts.

“I'm Yoo Youngjae,” said his best friend, still utterly speechless.

“Such nice names for such handsome men,” she grinned. Both guys flushed upon hearing her compliment. It was expected nevertheless. “Anyways, I should get going. Danny is waiting for me,” she announced glancing back at Yongguk and Himchan. “Good night, boys!”

“Good night,” the four guys murmured watching her retreating figure make her way to a car. The driver opened the door for her as she got inside then made his way to the driver's side. Soon, he drove off.

What was she doing here? Yongguk thought.

“That's Annie's boss,” Youngjae uttered finally, he was clearly dazed.

“Annie works for her,” said Daehyun, still gaping. He was also dazed.

“She's hot,” Youngjae and Daehyun said in unison with gleams in their eyes.

“Alright you two, snap out of it,” Yongguk's voice woke them from their slight trance. “I should get going. See you guys later,” he said giving them a slight wave before walking over to his car.

“Bye hyung!” the best friends called out to him.

“I should get going too,” said Himchan with a slight wave of his own then heading towards the opposite direction.

“Bye Himchan hyung!” they exclaimed as they watched him leave.

Once Himchan was out of view, he leaned against the wall breathing a sigh of relief. That was close, he thought as he made his way to his own car.

Meanwhile, Yongguk glanced at his rear view mirror at Himchan's retreating figure. Lately, he had noticed Himchan acting strange and had a feeling something was up. Shaking his head to himself, he shifted his attention to the road ahead then continued on with his drive home. He had to admit he was worrying for his best friend and considered having a talk but decided to put off on it for now. When the time was right, he'd get something out of Himchan sooner or later. Now just wasn't a good time, he realized.

“Hey! You never told me your boss was HOT,” Daehyun said as he munched on a bowl of popcorn. It was just him, Youngjae, and Annie waiting at his apartment for Lucy, Jongup, and Zelo to return with food. It was a Friday night and conveniently, they all had the night off which was a relief for Annie since Miranda NEVER gave her a day off. Ever since that night with Yongguk, she'd been too caught up with watching over Daniel that she had almost forgotten about him. Not one to pry into anyone's business, she kept mum about it since then. Never one to pry into anyone's business, she prevented herself from asking Daehyun or Youngjae nevertheless. She did not want anything to be awkward.

“Oh God, must you talk about her at this time?” Annie whined, rolling her eyes. “What does this have anything to do with me?”

“Uh, you work for her,” Daehyun scoffed as if she had the easiest job in the world.

“Yeah and I can care less if she's hot or not. She's a ,” Annie spat out as if her words left an aftertaste.

“That's not very nice to say,” Youngjae chimed in.

Annie gaped at Youngjae. “Oh God, not you too!” she exclaimed. “What the hell's the matter with you two? What did they put in your cheesecake?” she pointed an accusing finger at Daehyun.

“Nothing!” Daehyun immediately answered. “We just happened to meet her...”

“You've met her?!” she exclaimed, clearly stunned at this realization.

“Yeah, we met after your little date with Yongguk hyung,” Youngjae answered.

“It wasn't a date,” she immediately cleared the air. “And how--?”

“We hung out with him after he dropped you off and happened to eat at a restaurant just across the street from that high-end hotel,” Youngjae said. “Afterwards, we ran into Himchan exiting the building and not long after Yongguk spotted Miranda. She came and spoke to us momentarily.”

“I hope you guys didn't tell her you were my friends,” Annie finally said.

“It was only a brief meeting,” said Youngjae, taking a handful of popcorn. “She seemed pretty nice.”

“Oh sure she's nice,” Annie sarcastically remarked, “She's only nice to your face.”

“She thinks we're both handsome,” Daehyun beamed.

“She was just buttering you up,” Annie said glaring at him. “And what is this about seeing Himchan? What the hell was he doing at that hotel?”

Youngjae shrugged. “He was meeting up with some buddies for dinner or something. I couldn't really remember. Miranda came up to us before he could elaborate.”

“I see,” she nodded slowly furrowing her eyebrows.

“However, one thing was brought to my attention,” Youngjae finally said.

“Which was?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

“It's probably just me but Yongguk and Himchan kind of tensed up when they saw her,” he noted aloud.

Her eyes widened. “Really?” she huffed. “Maybe it's because they're intrigued by her attractiveness. She has that kind of effect on men.”

“Makes me wonder why that pig of a husband of hers would cheat on her,” Daehyun finally said. “She's hot.”

“Yes, Dae, I get it. She's HOT!” she barked back. “Now will you two idiots stop? I don't care for talking about her at the moment. It's my night off. I would appreciate it if we talk about something else other than my horrid boss! Thank you.”

Daehyun sneered. “Alright, boss,” he muttered.

“So... how are things with Yongguk hyung?” Youngjae finally asked.

Annie sighed. “Fine,” she answered curtly.

“You don't sound too sure,” Daehyun remarked tossing another popcorn into his mouth.

Annie turned to shoot him a look. “Everything's fine,” she assured them. “There's really nothing going on with me and Yongguk.”

“It sure didn't appear that way that night...” Youngjae muttered. “Do you like him?” he asked bluntly.

“Why are you asking me?” Annie blushed, looking away from her two best friends.

“I asked a simple question, Annie,” Youngjae continued.

“How about this?” she offered. “I do happen to find him attractive.”

“That's a start,” Youngjae nodded in understanding.

“I think it's too soon to figure out my feelings for him at the moment,” she finally said. “I learned my lessons from the other guys...”

“Oh yeah, I remember,” Youngjae chuckled.

“What about Himchan hyung?” Daehyun chimed in.

“What about him?” she asked turning to her other best friend.

“What do you think of him?” Daehyun resumed with the questioning. “Do you find him attractive?”

Annie sighed and considered Daehyun's questions for a moment. “I find him handsome but that doesn't mean I'm attracted to him,” she answered honestly. “Why are you bringing him up all of a sudden?”

“Well for starters, I think he might be developing something for you too,” Daehyun answered wearily.

Her eyes widened. “Oh ,” Annie muttered.

“What?” Daehyun furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

“This wasn't supposed to happen,” she muttered rubbing the sides of her temples with her hands. “I can't have both best friends be into me! Crap, crap, crap...” she panicked.

“Well, I'd hate to break it to you but I think this might be the case,” Youngjae added.

“You're not helping the situation all that much,” Annie scowled at him.
 

Youngjae shrugged. “Just telling it like it is.”

Before long, the door flew opened and in entered Lucy, Jongup, and Zelo with bags of food in hand. “Food's here!” Lucy announced making her way inside.

“Don't say anything,” Annie hissed to Daehyun and Youngjae before they proceeded to help set the coffee table.

A/N: Hi guys! Here's another update for you! I'm sorry if this chapter was kind of dull... >.< Anyways, I had a crappy day at work. People were being a bunch of s and it just ruined my night and I was working for 4 hours too! Ugh! Sorry for the rant. But in the hopes of forgetting about it, I wanted to listen to something soothing so I resorted to wanting to listen to "Coffee Shop" by our boys. It made my day slightly better. However, the highlight of my night was when I went to dinner with my sister and her boyfriend and he brought his cute Mexican friend. He was so HOT! I tried my best not to act like my weird self so I kind of had to watch myself so I couldn't exactly be myself with him. Sadly, he's off-limits (I mean he's single but still off-limits) because he knows my sister's boyfriend and he doesn't seem interested in me. I know he's out of my league too. The end.

I have accepted the fact that I will stay single for quite some time. I'm okay with it and I've learned to embrace it. I tend to take guys as they come. But so far, the guys I've met recently... I don't feel a spark with any of them. However, seeing this cutie made my night a little better. Anyways, enjoy this chapter! I'll try to update again tomorrow! :)

P.S. As I was writing this chapter, I was listening to "Bow Wow" by our boys lol. I like that song. It's catchy and the song was the inspiration for this chapter lol. Especially when DaeJae was ogling at Miranda.