Not a pet he wants

- - - -

If it was someone else, he'd absolutely pick up the way she always acted around him, he could know right away that she was madly in love with him ever since the beginning. But too bad that the guy she had crushed on wasn't just anybody she wished he could be.

Sulli had been very obvious about her feeling for a number of years. And yet, Choi Minho just thought of her as nothing more than his incredibly nice and extraordinarily submissive best friend.

They met through a mutual friend in high school. Sulli was on her duty for her part time work and the two came to get some dinner. Sulli could see that their mutual friend was actually trying to hook up herself with him but Minho, himself, seemed rather oblivious to the whole situation.

Since then Minho and Sulli occasionally ran into each other a few times a week for a few months. They eventually decided that they should hang out without their mutual friend since they got along together very well.

They had much more fun together but their mutual friend was so mad about it and that she broke up with both of them. Their ex-mutual friend was something of a horrible and Sulli just spent almost all of her highschool days letting her push her around but Sulli had never held any grudges against her. After all Sulli was still thankful to her that she introduced her to Minho. However, another real reason was that Sulli was too nice and passive to do anything about it.

That was years ago. Sulli and Minho discussed college at great length. Both of them wanted to study law and they eventually decided that they should enroll in the same university they chose. It was a long way from home but they had each other.

Minho graduated much higher in their class than she had. He always liked to joke with women when they went out to bars about how he had a y brain. They just didn't know that he was telling the truth, that he was thirty two and one of the best medical defense attorneys in the city. Sulli hadn't done nearly as well. She was working as a prosecutor for a district of Seoul.

It was Minho who decided he would stay in Seoul and it was he who asked Sulli to follow him. Sulli agreed right away because she loved him.

Neither of them were married and neither of them had any sort of serious relationships. Sulli had always been very grateful that the handsome and incredibly successful man found time for her despite his many flings. She actually suspected herself for being the part of the reason to why the women he dated never stuck around for a long time.

His exes never liked the dorky best friend followed Minho around like a lost puppy. They definitely didn't like that Minho treated Sulli better than he treated them or that video games were more important to him than they were.

Minho came over frequently like every other night. Sulli was really not sure why her tiny apartment was nothing compared to the gorgeous home he purchased a few years ago and yet he was still here so often that he purchased a home video game console to install in her apartment.

They had something of a deal worked out. Minho would play his game and he would watch cheesy chick flicks with Sulli if she accompanied him to play the game and made him dinner. Sulli always pretended to be bothered by this but in fact she secretly loved cooking for him.

When Sulli came home from work on Friday, Minho was already sitting on her couch playing his favorite soccer game. It was technically his couch, like most of the things in her place. The plasma TV was his too.

Sulli yawned and waved at Minho. "Good evening, Sunshine." She muttered as she stepped through the door and removed her shoes.

Minho grunted in response, not looking away from the TV. Sulli sighed, exhausted. She was used to Minho's' non-responses and knew better than to be offended.

Sulli plopped down beside him and let out a grunt. "You know, we're getting old."

Minho glanced her way for a moment, letting her know he was listening.

"My father always said that and now I've come to know what he meant." Said Sulli. "You know, I planned to get married before I was thirty and here I failed my attempt thinking that I'm already in my thirtieth. I haven't even been on a real date and I don't even know how many years it'd take me to finally settle down."

"You're just bad at meeting people." Said Minho.

Sulli bit her lip and cleared . His words stung, especially because they were true. "I know and how I wish I wasn't. But people always tell me that I'd make a good wife."

Minho shrugged. "You would. You cater to everyone, regardless of how much you actually like them. You really don't want me to go into this, Sulli."

Sulli sighed again. "Right. Sorry."

Minho fell silent for a while as his face twisted in concentration. He was trying to make a goal in his video game and Sulli assumed it was her fault that he had lost the first attempt to shoot. Minho shouted out in triumph a few minutes later as he made a goal.

"Why are you so concerned about getting married all of sudden anyway Sulli?" Asked Minho.

Sulli bit her lip. She couldn't tell him that her mother had threatened to disown her unless she started popping out grandbabies soon. Sulli shook her head and stood. "I don't know. I guess it's just that we're not getting any younger. I'm going to go make some dinner. What do you want?"

"You're changing the subject but I can't resist your cooking. It's better be something yummy!" Said Minho. Although his concentration was on the game but he had that big smile on his face that she couldn't resist.

Sulli laughed outright as she offered, "Is Kimchi Jjigae okay? Kimchi recipes from my mother are so good that my father claims to this day that they're the reason he married her."

"They are truly that good and I believe Kimchi Pancakes are what you're making me for breakfast tomorrow morning." Said Minho.

Sulli could hear the smug grin in his voice. "And what makes you think you're sleeping over?" She shot back.

"I brought beers of your favorite. And a whole bunch of movies." Said Minho.

Sulli sighed, defeated. Minho knew just what to do to get her. "Fine. You're getting soft tofu then." Sulli grinned at her own small victory when she heard the groan come from the living room.

"You are the only person I've ever met who gets excited about soft tofu, Sulli. It isn't natural." Said Minho. "I saw you store meats in the fridge so cook them."

Sulli's shoulders trembled with silent laughter as she pulled pork belly and Kimchi out of the refrigerator. She sliced the meat thinly and marinated the pork belly with the other ingredients.

Sulli looked around for the white wine she usually keep next to the stove and only to find it resting on top of one of the cabinets. She glared at the bottle.

"How did you get up there?" Sulli shook her head. "Minho! Get in here for a sec!" She called.

"But I'm playing a game!"

"You should have thought of that before you put my cooking wine on the top shelf, shouldn't you?" Groaned Sulli as she stood on her toes in a futile attempt to reach it. "Now stop being childish and give me a hand."

Sulli could hear his profane protest from where she was standing under the cabinet. "Minho, just pause the game and stop your ing already!"

Within moments, Minho was already behind Sulli. He reached far above her head and pulled the offending bottle down. He handed it to her and patted the top of her head gently.

"You're lucky that you have a big, strong man like me around to save you in these moments of distress." Said Minho.

Sulli snorted and snatched the bottle from his hands. "Yeah, whatever."

"What, I don't even get a thank you kiss?"

Sulli knew she was blushing. She bit her lip and punched his arm. "Out now sir. Go play your games. Maybe your lovely console game could kiss you."

Minho chuckled and hurried out of the room.

Sulli managed to cook the dinner without any more embarrassing events. Before too long, the game was off and both Minho and Sulli were stuffing their faces full of rice, Kimchi Jjigae and additional chicken dish. Stuffing was a relative term. Both of them had enough manners to know that it was only polite to eat slowly and chew with your mouth closed.

"Very good." Complimented Minho between mouthfuls.

"Thank you." Replied Sulli with her face lit up. Praise, especially from Minho, always made her feel better. "So, why are you here?" She questioned.

"I felt like it." Replied Minho.

"Don't you have a case to be working on? Or a date to be sweeping off her feet? Why would you come all the way here to play a video game when you also have that thing at your place?"

"Yes, yes, and I figured I'd be hungry later." Said Minho.

Sulli groaned. "If your date comes to kill me because you stood her up, I'm going to sue you."

An evil grin crossed Minho's face for a minute. "You'd never win over me, Sweetheart."

"Conceit! Yeah, I've had enough of you being mean to me after all. Now do you finish? It's time for drinks and movies." Declared Sulli as she picked up our dirty dishes. "I'll finish this and get the drinks, you put the movie in."

When Sulli returned from the kitchen with the snacks and beers, a horror movie had just started playing. Sulli sighed and sat with him.

Minho