Chapter Five

It was only the very next day and the guys were pushing Minseok to walk Iseul to wherever she was going.  Literally.  Lu Han was the one that made the final decision, physically dragging Minseok over to where Iseul was hanging up her apron and pushing him so that he bumped into her lightly before rushing off like nothing had happened.  Iseul, having seen the whole thing out of the corner of her eye, felt her lips curving upwards into a smile against her will.

As Minseok bumped into her, she felt herself shifting sideways, and let out a little ‘oomph’ of discomfort.  He quickly, but gently, grabbed onto her arm to prevent her from falling over, apologizing profusely.  “I’m so sorry!” he rushed out, his hand still on her arm.  A blush was dusted over his round cheeks, a trait that Iseul was growing more and more fond of as the days passed. 

The fact that he was a little shy about whatever it was that he was about to ask her was also very cute in her eyes.  She had always liked the shy boys.  There was just something about their nature that she gravitated towards.  Perhaps it was because she wasn’t exactly an open book herself, she thought absentmindedly.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” she said quietly.  “Was there something that you needed?” At her question, his face bloomed with color.  Looking back at his friends, who were all giving him looks of encouragement and ‘go ahead’ hand motions – hell, Kris was giving him a thumbs up, the idiot -  he sighed in defeat.

“Can I walk you to wherever you’re going?” he asked in a rush.  Luckily, Iseul was able to make out what he meant.  Smiling slightly, she nodded immediately.  Then, she realized that she was heading towards the hospital.  About to take back her decision, she thought against it when she saw the elated look that crossed Minseok’s face briefly before he managed to conceal it.  “Great!” he blurted out.  Red was still crossing his cheeks, but slowly fading away now that the hard part was over.  And he had gotten a yes! Granted, it was only to walk her to wherever she was going, but it was a start, right? Right.  Laughing slightly, Iseul headed for the door. 

“Well, ready?” she asked.  Nodding, Minseok hurried after her, ignoring his friends who were making kissy faces at them behind their backs.  He flipped them off as he followed her out the door.

“So, where too?” he asked, burying his hands deep in the pockets of his black skinny jeans.  Glancing at him, Iseul didn’t answer, just took the lead and started walking the familiar path towards the hospital where her mother resided.  Shrugging, Minseok just walked beside her in silence.  If she wanted silence, well, he could do silence.

The walk was silent, but it was nowhere near uncomfortable.  The silence that they shared wasn’t because of a lack of things to talk about, but more so because they were both quiet people by nature, not needing to talk to fill up the empty air. 

Once they came to a stop in front of the hospital, Minseok looked towards Iseul in a mixture of shock and worry.  “Umm…” he started off.  She looked over at him, raising a brow.  “Why are we in front of the hospital?” he finally got the guts to ask.  Her head tilted down and she looked up at him through her lashes. 

“Because this is where I had to go,” she finally answered him after a few minutes of a tense silence.  Turning around, she made to leave but was caught on the wrist by Minseok.  Sighing, she turned around, ready to face the inevitable. 

“Why?” he asked.  She hesitated, debating whether or not to tell him the truth or to hold off on it for a little bit longer.

“Maybe…I’ll tell you later,” she told him before detaching her wrist from his hold and heading inside the building. 

“I’m counting on it!” he shouted after her, a slight smile forming on his lips.  If she said that she was going to tell him later, then that meant that there would be a later.  He would make sure of it.

After making sure that she got inside the hospital safely, Minseok returned home to his family. Ignoring the constant stream of texts from his group of friends, he happily watched a movie with his younger sister.