Chapter Two;

“No way.”

I shouldered my purse and stood up from my spot on the couch, causing Jongin, who had been standing in front of me, to take a step back to avoid collision. 

“Mina, calm - ”

“I’m leaving,” I growled, pushing past Joonmyun even as he reached out to stop me. Just being in the same room as Minseok again was making me extremely angry. 

Minseok, on his part, did not look all that happy to see me either. He had a little smirk on his face, and – oh, had he lost weight? His face was thinner than I remembered, and his hair was a lighter color, brown with hints of red. He wore dark jeans that were ripped at the knees and thighs, a black button up shirt, and an offensively colorful snapback. He was just as handsome as I remembered and I wanted to smack that smile off his face.  

“Mina, let’s stay and hear what this is about first.” It was Jongin who managed to stop me, latching onto one of my wrists to pull me back. 

“I’m not working with him,” I replied coldly, speaking loud enough for Minseok to hear. 

He just raised an eyebrow, face still impossible to read.

“Aren’t you curious at all? It sounds it could be an exciting challenge,” Jongin added. 

“Right now, all I can think about is punching him in the face.” 

Jongin let out a sigh, then tugged on my wrist to pull me back into him. He leaned down to whisper directly into my ear, voice lowered. 

“If you storm out now, then Kim Minseok wins,” Jongin said, patting me lightly on the back. “I don’t know exactly why you hate him so much, but just remember that.”

Jongin had a point. I frowned, but I let him shuffle me back into my old seat. He shooed Chanyeol up and sat down next to me. 

“Are you going to tell me what happened this time?” Jongin asked. 

I shook my head. Where would I even start?

“What’s going on?” Kyungsoo asked, confused, eyes flitting back and forth between Minseok, still near the door, and me. He must be new to this, because most people in the business would at least have an idea. Minseok and I were both pretty well known for pulling international jobs. 

Baekhyun just looked amused by the whole exchange. He glanced around, then also lowered his voice for just those sitting nearby to hear. “Word on the street is that these two used to be a thing,” he explained, shooting me a glance. 

I scoffed, rolling my eyes. “Stop spreading lies, Byun Baekhyun.”

“What, it’s true!” Baekhyun said defensively. “What’s what everyone says, anyway. You know there were rumors a few years back that you two were going to team up and become this legendary duo. Minseok and Mina, it caused a pretty big stir, you know? Anyway, something bad happened that they won’t talk about and now they hate each other.”

“We do not hate each other,” I tried to insist. The result sounded halfhearted, even to myself.

“Yeah, right. There is so much tension between you two right now, and you want to kill each other or each other.”

“I want to kill you, Byun,” I muttered under my breath. I reached out to smack him, but Jongin wrapped his arms around my waist, also trapping my arms by my side. Baekhyun gave me a smug smile and moved out of my reach. 

When I looked up again, Minseok had moved into the room. He was still staring at me, but this time his gaze was focused, hard. He looked angry, but beyond that, I had no idea what he was thinking. I could almost remember back to when Minseok was like an open book to me, back when we understood each other so well. I hated this new Minseok. 

Just then, the