Loila’s POV

Mir turned and faced me. He looked really angry and I felt guilty, if only I didn’t mention Bae. “Why does Cheondung get one and I don’t?” He said through gritted teeth. Thunder grabbed my shoulders protectively.

“Because she likes me better.” It was his turn to poke his tongue out.

“Thunder! I like you both equally; it’s just that Thunder asked first.” I was trying not to pick sides; they’re so hard to keep happy.

“Why does Bae get one?” Mir sulked.

“I made it so I could-”

“Why don’t you go marry him!? It’s always about Bae!” Mir shouted, I instantly thought of what Dae said before she left, “…When Mir gets angry, it’s because he cares…”  I shook the thoughts out of my head. He was acting like a child; I promised Bae I would make him something. I would have left the pastries at home but Hy probably would have stolen them for her tea parties. I took a deep breath to try and calm down but Mir was tapping his foot, which annoyed me greatly.

“Do you want me to marry him!?” I snapped. I felt so ashamed afterwards that I wanted to run up and hug him, but I was too stubborn to do that.

“See if I care.” He turned his head away from me.

“You’re an idiot!” I threw my arms in the air and forgot that I was holding the container. It flew out of my hands and landed on the floor, the contents was spread all over the pavement.

“Oh…” I was surprisingly calm, almost forgetting that we were just fighting. I squatted on the floor and picked up the small pastries, they were still intact but I couldn’t give them to someone, too many germs. “They were for my Dad.” Thunder leaned over and helped dust them off.

“We could always make another batch…”

“Yeah, I suppose so. If I made it once I can make it again.”

“I’m so sorry!” Mir bowed which made me feel taken aback. “It was my fault. I didn’t know it was for your Dad.” I stood up and patted him on the back, he didn’t move from his bowing stance.

“No, I was the one holding the box. I’ll just make some more. I’m sure Bae and Dad won’t mind.” I leaned down to try and see his face, his eyes were shut tightly and his teeth were clenched.

“I always jump to conclusions before getting all the facts!”

“I do the same thing; it’s what makes us awesome!” I patted him on the back once again and only noticed then that Thunder could here the whole conversation. “Now, stand up before someone notices you, fans might detect me again. I don’t need more death threats!”

“That’s not funny Loila…”

“I’m kidding!” I laughed uneasily.

“Loila!” Mir squealed childishly as he wrapped his arms around me. I hugged him back and turned to Thunder, who was standing on his own, not knowing where to look. “You may as well join in; they’ve probably already got pictures!” I waved my hands at Thunder, beckoning him. He ran over and joined our hug.

“Group hug!” He shouted gleefully.

Mir’s POV

“Group hug!” Cheondung shouted. Loila had her eyes closed but I could see Cheondung glaring at me. I stared back angrily and stepped away from the group hug.

“Let’s go get ice-cream, Cheondung’s paying!” I jogged down the street towards the ice-cream store, only to run back to drag Loila. We discussed flavours as we waited for Cheondung’s wallet to catch up.

Loila’s POV

“I think I want chocolate.” Mir stated while fighting the urge to press his face against the glass, I was fighting it too. I had been to this ice-cream shop before when I was babysitting Hy, it seemed so long ago.

“I want vanilla!” Thunder cheered. They both looked at me, Thunder raised an eyebrow. “What about you?”

“Um…” I was at a loss for words, were they seriously making me pick favourites? “Strawberry, please.” I brushed a curl away from my face. “I’ll go find a seat.” I sat on a tacky chair while Cheondung bought the ice-cream for us. Mir ran up to me and tugged on my clothes.

“Come sit next to me!”

“I just sat here. Besides, if we sit there, Thunder can’t join us. It’s only fair because he paid.”

“Aw! But I want to share my ice-cream with you!”

“I don’t really like sharing food.”

“You don’t? What if you had a boyfriend?”

“Well, I like using my own cutlery, have you got two spoons?”

“No. I know something else we can share though…” He gave a small grin.

“What?” He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek, giving a triumphant smile towards Thunder, I flushed. Thunder had been carrying the tray and he had started to shake. Mir ran over to him and grabbed the tray before it fell.

“Be careful!” Mir slapped him on the back; although he was smiling, it looked like it would have hurt. “Hey, Loila, sit next to me!” Mir waved.

“Sky, I have your ice-cream…” Cheondung grabbed it off the tray and patted the spot next to him. “Again?” I mentally face palmed myself.

“Uh… I suddenly remembered that I’m allergic to ice-cream-”

“I’ve bought you ice-cream before!” Thunder cut in.

“He saw through it…” I whispered to myself. “Um… I need to go to a cooking lesson?” I stood up and started to walk away.

“You sound unsure…”

“Loila, why are you leaving for cooking? Stay here and have fun with us!” Mir put his arms around Thunder, who shrugged Mir off him.

“I really should go.” I bowed.

“Loila, cooking’s dumb, just stay.” Mir was his ice-cream cone ferociously. I would have worried about him getting a brain freeze if it wasn’t for his last statement.

“What did you say?” I knew what he had said, but I couldn’t accept it. I didn’t even blink; I needed to see his every move. “It’s because he cares.” Dae’s voice kept telling me.

“I said stay here with us. Cooking can wait, it’s not like cooking’s important.” My eyes widened in anger, he had said it; cooking was unnecessary. Thunder gave a little yelp and Mir stopped his cone. “What?”

“Mir…” Thunder held up his hands like he was trying to calm an animal, he could feel the tension in the room.

“You kiss me and force me to pick favourites!? Stop being so childish!” I looked at Thunder who slowly let his hands drop. “Mir, I don’t think I can forgive you for that, not for a long time. You just said my passion was useless, I get that from my Dad and I don’ need that from you.” I was getting quite familiar with this tone; I had been using it so much lately. I exhaled quietly. “I’m sick of wasting my breath on you. Sorry Thunder.” I said quietly as I walked speedily out of the store. I felt sorry for Thunder because he had to pay for everyone; I made a promise to myself that I would pay him back later, for now, I needed to see my Dad. I needed to clear up one major problem before I even thought about apologising to Mir.

I knocked on Uncle Rod’s door. His house wasn’t particularly grand as he had made it out on the phone. He made it sound like it was some sort of mansion when in fact it was just an apartment, maybe he was talking about the inside. “Come in, come in.” Rod ushered me inside and I couldn’t stop my eyes from taking in every detail. It was a big apartment, compared to my old one and it had a huge lounge room that looked too big for two people. It didn’t really have a colour scheme but each room had a smartly coloured feature wall and most of the furniture looked like the Dae’s, which made me wonder how they could afford it. Dae had worked almost every day to get to her living standard, as far as I knew; Rod and Dad didn’t work at all anymore, and if they did, it certainly wasn’t hard. Uncle Rod sat on the couch and put his feet up on the coffee table. “What brings you here? It’s normally neater but you didn’t give me much time get my maid to clean it.” I tried not to gasp. Where is this money coming from? Maybe he worked in a gang, he was very charming.