26 ~ Advance

Sujin stared at her baking buddy as she finished serving Myungsoo his coffee, but he didn't leave until he had given Mihi a meaningful, almost flirty smile. She, apparently, didn't even notice it seeing as how she just went on with her work as if nothing had happened.

"Hey Mihi, don't you think you're seeing Myungsoo a little too much lately?" Sujin frowned.

Mihi turned to blink at her. "He's a regular customer, so it's only natural that I do."

She raised a doubtful eyebrow. "And is it only natural that you've been having lunches with him too? I know he's good-looking and all, but spare your own boyfriend a thought or two. What are you going to do if he starts thinking that there's something going on between the two of you? And you wouldn't be able to blame him too, from the looks of how things are between you and that Myungsoo."

Mihi left what she was doing and sighed. "Myungsoo and I are just friends. And besides… he's Daehyun's boss."

Sujin gasped in surprise. "Daehyun's b-b-boss?! Then that means that he's…"

Her friend nodded. "He's Kim Myungsoo, the young CEO of one of the country's largest conglomerates."

After a few moments of silence, Sujin suddenly snapped her fingers as a thought came to her head. "I got it! You don't want to refuse his advances because you're scared that he will do something to Daehyun's position in the company!"

Mihi furrowed her brow. "What?"

The other girl flung her arms open exaggeratedly. "It all makes sense like this! The girlfriend is being friendly to her boyfriend's boss so that she doesn't offend him and cause trouble for her boyfriend." Sujin grinned at her friend. "Isn't that right?"

"No."

Sujin frowned. "Oh gee. Well, it's not a good situation either way. That boss of Daehyun's clearly has fond feelings towards you. And not in the 'just a friend' kind of way either, Mihi. You should clear things up with that Myungsoo before things go too far."

The reprimanded girl looked over at her friend in disbelief. "What are you--" She shook her head. "He doesn't have those kinds of feelings for me."

"Either you're blind or you're just being delusional. Any normal person can see it. And if Daehyun was around to see you two together, then it would definitely not go by unnoticed either."

Mihi froze at that. It was true that Daehyun didn't like her being around Myungsoo, but he had always expressed that to her under the guise of it being what Yongguk asked of him. Then… could it be like Sujin suggested? That Daehyun could have possibly noticed it too? She didn't know what to think.

First and foremost, she didn't believe that Myungsoo had those kinds of feelings for her. And putting that aside, he knew that Daehyun and her were together as well, didn't he?

"Does Daehyun even know that you actually know his boss as well?" Sujin continued.

Mihi nodded slowly. "Yeah… he does. And Myungsoo knows that we're together as well."

"Wait," Sujin cut in. "Myungsoo knows about your relationship with Daehyun and he's still pursuing you?" She clamped a hand over for a few seconds before releasing it to speak. "It's like you're the main lead of some k-drama where all the hot guys go after you!"

"Sujin!"

She pouted. "Okay sorry. But seriously, you need to set things straight with Mr. CEO. Otherwise it'll just all become complications that will come between the relationship between you and Daehyun. And your boyfriend's coming back in three days, right? So you should have a talk with Myungsoo sometime before then."

Mihi pondered over her best friend's words. She was right after all, assuming that everything she had said about Myungsoo was actually true. But she was still finding it hard to believe that he liked her that way, especially given the blood relations that he had with her own brother.

She left Sujin to the customers and wandered into the kitchen with a troubled expression. Mihi sighed as she leaned against the kitchen counter. Jongup peered at her curiously as she continued standing there being absorbed in her thoughts.

"Noona? Are you okay?"

"W-wha?" She broke out of her thoughts and gave him a small smile. "Yeah… yeah. I'm okay."

Jongup frowned. Something was definitely not right. "What's bothering you Noona?"

Mihi glanced over at him reluctantly. She didn't want to bother him with her own troubles, but since it wasn't likely for him to just let it go without at least hearing what was troubling her, she decided to just tell him anyway.

"Do you know that customer who regularly comes in? Myungsoo-ssi?" she asked.

Jongup nodded in response.

"Well… do you think that he just thinks of me as a friend?" she continued a little hesitantly.

The teenager shook his head almost instantly, much to her surprise.

"What makes you think that Jongup?"

He grinned a little shyly. "I guess a guy can just tell when another guy looks at a girl a little differently," he shrugged. "Just like when I could tell that Daehyun-hyung liked you, Noona."

Mihi blushed a little. "You… You knew back then that he did?"

Jongup nodded again. "From what I can see, Myungsoo-ssi really does like you Mihi-noona. But you have Daehyun-hyung, so you need to make sure that Myungsoo-ssi understands that."

She let out a small laugh. "Yeah, that’s what Sujin said too."

Jongup went off to do his own things, leaving Mihi by herself in the kitchen trying to gather her thoughts again. She stared at the second hand of the analogue clock on the wall, watching as it ticked with every second that went by.

*It's funny how it's so hard to see things involving yourself when others find it so obvious to see.*

~~~

"Mihi, are you sure you don't want me to drop you off? I don't want you going home by yourself at this hour."

Youngjae had come by the café to pick up his girlfriend, who stood by his side nodding at his suggestion.

"It's okay, but thank you," Mihi replied. "There are still a few things I want to sort out before I go home."

"We can wait for you," Sujin suggested.

Her friend shook her head and giggled. "It's really okay. You two should go on your late night date together."

Sujin blushed while Youngjae grinned and tightened his hold on her waist. "Alright, you're the boss."

Mihi smiled teasingly at her friend as they left. "Bye! Have fun!"

When they were gone, she got out the record books and took a seat at a table near the counter. She wanted to get the stocktake done before she left so that she could do the ordering early the next morning.

"Mihi?" a voice suddenly called out.

She got up from her seat and turned towards the entrance to see Myungsoo.

*Oh snap, I must've forgotten to lock the door* she thought to herself. *If it was Daehyun walking through at this hour, he probably would've started scolding me about how careless and unsafe it is.* She smiled to herself at that thought, before bringing her attention back to the man standing at the door.

"What brings you here at this time?" she asked.

He walked over to her and smiled back at her. "I guess I wanted to see you."

Mihi visibly froze. Usually, she would've just laughed off an answer like that, but now that Sujin and Jongup had made her aware about his possible feelings for her, she didn't know how to react.

"Mihi?" he called worriedly. "Are you alright?"

She peered up at him without answering and took a deep breath. If she was going to talk to him about it, then now would be as good a time as any.

"Myungsoo…" she started a little weakly. "You are aware that I am in a serious relationship with Daehyun, right?"

His expression slowly tensed as he let out an awkward laugh. "Why do you ask?"

Mihi lowered her head. "It's just that…" She fidgeted with her hands and avoided eye contact. "Maybe I'm just over-thinking this, but recently I've been getting the feeling that perhaps… you don't think of me as just a friend."

When he didn't answer, she shook her hands and laughed nervously. "Sorry, maybe I really am just thinking too much but---"

"No, you're not," he suddenly cut in. "You're not over-thinking it."

Mihi stopped and stared at him with wide eyes. *W-What? No way…*

Myungsoo stepped closer towards her. "I like you Mihi, as more than a friend. And I really hope that you'd understand that."

She looked away, shaking her head more to herself than at him.

"Mihi--"

"No," she interrupted, looking up at him again. "I'm sorry, but I'm with Daehyun. And not only that, you're also a blood relative of my brother's. That kind of makes us..."

"Don't say it," Myungsoo replied. "It's not like that. The two of us are not related in any way like that."

"It doesn't matter," Mihi answered, "because I can't return your feelings. I'm with Daehyun, and the one I love is Daehyun. I'm sorry, but please understand that."

Myungsoo strode over to her and held her hands in his. She tried pulling them away, but he kept his hold on her. "Mihi."

She slowly stopped and listened to what he had to say.

"My feelings for you are sincere, Mihi. I won't give up just because there's someone else." He peered straight into her eyes, and she felt guilty for being so close to someone other than Daehyun, despite it being unintentional on her part.

He started leaning forward then, and Mihi's eyes widened in alarm when she realised what he was going to do. She pinched her eyes closed in fear.

*No… No!*

As if in slow motion, a third pair of arms suddenly wrapped around her body and pulled her away from the man. The familiar person cradled her body protectively to his chest as he glared at the offending person standing before him.

Myungsoo's face darkened when he realised who it was.

Without even needing to look up, Mihi knew who it was. There was no way she would mistake it. She smiled to herself and hugged onto him as a lone tear escaped from her eye.

*…Daehyun…*

Sorry guys, it's been awhile since I've updated. But I hoped you all liked this chapter!

And now that I've thought through how I want to finish this story, I've realised that the end is quite near :P There aren't very many chapters left, but I really have taken my time in writing this story :O

Thank you all for reading :)