You sipped your tea, cautiously eyeing Mina who sat stretched out on the chair beside you. She was humming to herself, a song you recognized from the café you were both currently sat in. The way she looked at Inseong was the opposite of subtle. It felt odd, you noted as you took another sip from your tea before putting the cup down.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better, too.” You broke the silence somewhat awkwardly. Mina turned her attention to you and narrowed her eyes.

“Nine days and I don’t even get a text!” She huffed. “If Inseong hadn’t told me where you were I would have called the police. Do you have any idea how worried we all were?”

You squirmed uncomfortably in your seat. An arm tucked around your waist and you felt yourself pressed against the warmth beside you. Your heartbeat sped up, and you let your gaze drop from Mina to study the coffee table. It was mahogany. There was a scratch on the side, it looked old.

“I was unconscious for most of it. I’m sorry, Mina.” You said. Mina sighed.

“It really did a number on you didn’t it? I’m glad you don’t have to go back to that stupid internship.” She said, cutting you off before you could answer. “Yeah I know it’s tragic. I didn’t say I wanted your ty boss to go missing. No matter how much of a pain she is.”

“How have things been at the dorm?” You asked, desperate to change the topic. Ahyun’s disappearance weighed on you. The woman had been unkind to you, and in a sense it was a relief you wouldn’t have to go back there. And that very sense evoked tremendous guilt in you.

Mina shrugged, taking a bite of the carrot cake Inseong all too gleefully delivered to the table. You noticed the host staring at Mina from another table. He grinned and gave you a small wave. There was definitely something weird going on. He was just a little too happy. It was unsettling.

“The zombie apocalypse seems to have passed, for now. Yoona is still sniffling but she will be for another week or so. You’re safe to come back.” Mina coughed, the sound was very similar to ‘Heejun’. You glanced over at the man beside you, who smiled pleasantly.

“It sounds like you may still be sick.” He said, then leaned closer to whisper into your ear. “You should stay another night at my place. Better safe than sorry.”

“Absolutely not! You’ve had her for a week and a half already! Don’t forget who introduced you two!” Mina puffed up her chest. She did have a point. You smiled, patting Heejun’s hand that still sat snugly on your side.

“I have a lot of homework to catch up on. I didn’t even watch any of the lectures yet.” You agreed, albeit somewhat begrudgingly. Heejun seemed like he was about to protest, but remained still instead. A moment later you heard the familiar jingle when the café’s door opened. Heejun’s grip, that had been rather loose, tightened.

“So this is where you spend your time.” Said a voice you hadn’t expected to ever hear in this context. You jerked up and turned around, spotting your mother who was looking around the café with a very judgmental expression.

“Mum, what are you doing here?” You asked.

Her eyes fixed on you in an instant. She marched towards you, aiming her umbrella at Heejun who shifted away from you. His face sat blankly as he looked at her. You couldn’t put your finger on what it was, but something was off about it.

“What am I doing here? What are you doing here? Did I raise you so poorly that you’re galivanting about in this… Host club?” She spat the word out like it was poison. You flinched, sinking in on yourself. “And what is this I’m hearing about you changing your major? Mathematics? Honestly, have you lost all sensibility?”

Your tongue felt like it was stuck to the roof of your mouth. You tried to give her an answer, but couldn’t even bring yourself to make eye contact. When you didn’t respond, she turned her withering look to Heejun. He didn’t flinch. He hadn’t moved at all while she unleashed her complaints. You weren’t even sure that he was breathing.

“And you, you think you’re suitable for my daughter? My daughter is dating a waiter, God I didn’t think I could be this embarrassed.” Somehow, that did the trick. You could stand to hear her berate you, or rather you couldn’t stand up to that, but Heejun?

You stood up and turned towards her, raising your gaze to look her straight in the eyes. She glared at you, but you wouldn’t be swept away. All your life she’d controlled every tiny aspect of who you were, but no more.

“He is suitable. He’s made me happier than I’ve ever been. And yes, I am quitting accounting. I’m going to live my life how I want to live it, mum.” Your hands were shaking, but your voice was not. You wouldn’t back down. Not this time.

She scoffed. When you didn’t respond or recant your words, she started to chuckle. Her umbrella lowered and she stabbed the point against the floor. It rang clearly through the building. She took a step closer and Heejun immediately stood up as well, grabbing your hand. He squeezed it, and you squeezed back.

“You think it’s that easy, do you? You think, just because you’ve found some fancy boy that you can do everything on your own?” Your mother gestured wildly at Heejun, who remained quiet but unphased. “Well think again. I’m not paying for you to throw your life away. If you want to study mathematics and date this, this man, then you can well pay for it by yourself. We’ll see how fast you come crawling back.”

With those words she spun around and stormed out of the building. Heejun wrapped his arms around you before you realised you were about to collapse. His arms were strong and safe, and leaned against him as he sat you down carefully. No one said a word. The entire café was silent. Suddenly you felt embarrassed.

“I’m sorry.” You said, making brief eye contact with Inseong. “I had no idea she was… I didn’t think she would ever show up here.”

“Why are you sorry? It sounded like she had that coming.” Inseong grinned, getting up from his chair. “I’m sorry for the disturbance, we will be refilling all your drinks for free.”

With that announced, he set off to go handle their clients. Seoham and Dongwon immediately jumped in, and within seconds pleasant conversation picked up around you. Mina moved over to sit beside you and squeezed your hand, smiling encouragingly.

“I’m so proud of you. She needed to hear that.” She said. You nodded, but felt a lump form in your throat.

“I have no idea how I’m going to pay for tuition.” You whispered.

“Don’t worry about that. We’ll make it work.” Heejun whispered, kissing your cheek. “And you can move in with me right now.”

“I don’t think so! Didn’t I just say you’ve had her for long enough?” Mina protested, grabbing your arm. “But he’s right. We’ll make it work. We’re only going up from here.”

As encouraging as that sounded, you still had no idea where you were going to come up with that much money. Tuition was expensive, and it was possible she’d refund the semester she already paid for since it technically hadn’t ended. And exams were right around the corner, would it even be possible to find a job and make enough money to make even a small payment and study for exams? Of course you could skip the exams for the courses you didn’t need if you were going to change majors anyway.

“You can pick up the bookkeeping here. That is, if you can stomach to do accounting related stuff.”

You looked up to see the last person you might have expected. Jihun calmly placed a white binder on the coffee table and crossed his arms. Heejun’s hand squeezed yours tightly. You didn’t even have to look at him to know he was giving Jihun a foul look.

“I can look it over, not sure how much I can do for you. I’m not qualified to approve financial statements.” You said, reaching over for the binder. It looked particularly thin for how far you were into the financial year. But most information was probably digital. That’s how a lot of places did business.

“That’s alright. Sorting out this mess is a job of its own.” Jihun sighed. With the sigh you saw his face turn somewhat sad. “This isn’t pity. I actually could really use your help on this. How much is your tuition?”

This couldn’t really be happening, could it? You glanced over at Heejun, who shrugged. Jihun had already pulled out a check book and pen when you turned back to face him. Mina nudged you and you coughed, gripping the white binder in your hands.

“It’s nearly six million won per semester.” You almost couldn’t say it out loud. It was just too much money. Jihun didn’t seem phased, he just scribbled some numbers on the check, tore it off and handed it over to you. On it, he’d written fourteen million won.

“Wait, this is…-”

“Worth every last won.” Jihun said, emphasising every word. “It’s your problem now. If you’ll excuse me, I have some damage control to do.”

And with that he walked off. You stared incredulously at the check he’d just handed you. Jihun didn’t like you under the best of circumstances. Just how bad was the record keeping that he felt comfortable handing you more than twice your tuition fees just to sort it all out?