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-Minwon's Mansion-

15... 16... 17... days since he's been gone... I miss him so much...

[Wonwoo was counting the number of days on her calendar ever since she was separated from Mingyu due to his work trip.]

*Calling Mingyu...*

"Hello?"

"Hi, Mingyu. How's work?"

"The usual, busy."

"Are you okay? You seem-"

"-tired, I'm just really tired, and haven't been able to get ample rest since I started this work trip. It's the company's biggest project ever."

"Then I guess I shouldn't be disturbing you, just wanted to tell you that I miss you."

"Okay, I've got to go now, call you soon."

"I love you, bye, Mingyu."

"Bye."

*Call Ended...*

He's so cold recently, and he didn't even say it back...

[Wonwoo snuggled up in bed again as she didn't have anything else to do that day anyway, until noon. Afterwards, she got dressed and headed out for work.]

-Smile Flower-

"Hi, unnie!" Wonwoo greeted as she went into the store. "Hello, Wonwoo, you seem to be in a good mood today," Jeonghan chuckled, Wonwoo didn't reply but she just smiled. "I finally managed to call Mingyu in the morning after trying for so many days," Wonwoo smiled at the thought of it. "No wonder you're beaming."

"We have lots of orders today, surprisingly, even though we opened late today," Minghao said as she sorted the orders. "Three of us are working today so we should be able to get the orders out before we close today," Wonwoo put on her apron and started getting to work.

[Halfway through the day, the trio finally had some time to chit chat.]

"How's Mingyu and you? I heard from Junhui that he went on a business trip two weeks ago?" Minghao asked casually, upon remembering the conversation she had with her boyfriend. "Yes, it's been a really long two weeks, Cheollie went along with him too," Jeonghan spoke because Wonwoo has never been apart from her husband for that long and kept silent. "17 days to be exact, I miss him so much but that doesn't seem to be the case for him," Wonwoo started getting sad.

"Awww, poor baby, why do you say that?" Jeonghan went over to her friend and hugged her. "Thank you, unnie, it's just that he's been very cold to me recently and doesn't say he miss me when I say it to him-" Wonwoo sighed.

"-but I understand that he's busy and obviously I won't expect him to call me all the time," Wonwoo answered before she continued. "I wonder how do you do it, unnie? Two weeks is so long and I'm missing him like crazy."

"Well, it's not the first time and I'm used to it. That's what you get for being together with a company lead, but it's all good, since he tried to call me as much as he can. I still remember the longest he was ever away was a month, and I also missed him like crazy, but I gradually got used to it. No matter what, he'll always come back home to me, and that's what keeps me going," Jeonghan explained.

"Wow, you're remarkable," Wonwoo admired her beloved unnie. "You're so silly, you can do the same, he'll definitely come back home to you," Jeonghan stated.

"I heard he'll be coming back in a few days," Minghao stated as she looked at her friend. "Really?" The latter's eyes lit up. "He hasn't told you yet?" Minghao was surprised. "No, not at all, but how did you know?" Wonwoo got curious.

"Junhui told me, the guys had a call few days ago," Minghao placed the flowers on the table as they spoke. "That's the best news I've heard all week!" Wonwoo suddenly felt excited to see her husband again.

"I'll head to the mall to get some supplies for some of our orders, will get back as soon as I can," Jeonghan stated, leaving the other two to tend the shop as she went out of their store.

[After the short chit chat session, all three ladies went back to work and got the rest of the orders settled before evening.]

❤️

"Welcome to Smile Flower!" Wonwoo greeted as the doorchime rang when the door was opened, signalling that a customer entered the shop.

"Hello, I'm here to-" the customer stopped talking as he continued staring at Wonwoo. "Is there something on my face?" Wonwoo got self conscious and started touching her face. "No no no, I just haven't seen anyone as pretty as you," he started flirting with Wonwoo, as the other looked towards Minghao for help, she was not good at dealing with these situations by herself.

"Hi, I'm sorry, may we help you? I suppose you're here to order flowers instead of staring at my friend?" Minghao spoke as she stood in front of Wonwoo, giving the other an assuring pat. "Thank you," Wonwoo mouthed as she walked away from the scene. "Well, I was here to buy some flowers but if your friend served me, I would buy more," the customer started walking closer to Wonwoo.

"What would you-" Wonwoo was about to serve the certain customer before Minghao stepped in again, she absolutely couldn't stand people like this. "Excuse me, then we don't need your business, I'm sorry we will be closing soon, please leave while I'm telling you nicely."

"Why won't you let her serve me? It's not like I would do anything to her," the said customer went over to Wonwoo and grabbed her hand, showing his strength as he looked her up and down, clearly checking her out. "Please stop this, you're making me uncomfortable," Wonwoo pleaded as she tried to get away but his grip was too strong.

"Look sir, I don't know what's your deal but you need to stop with this behaviour or-" Minghao couldn't finish her sentence as the other intervened. "Or what?" The customer smirked as he continued his advances. "Such a pretty little thing, and actually you're really pretty too, no wonder you have great business here." The customer turned his attention to Minghao and held her waist instead, with the other hand still gripping onto Wonwoo.

"She's not a thing, get your filthy hands off her," a voice spoke as the figures in the shop turned to see who the voice belonged to, a voice that the girls were familiar with. "Did you not hear me? I said get your hands off her!" Junhui warned again as he pulled Wonwoo and Minghao away from the customer, he looked furious which didn't go unnoticed by his girlfriend.

It's that look again... Was he doing this for me... Or for Wonwoo?

"And who are you?" The customer scoffed as Junhui stood in front of the girls. "You don't need to know, just get out of here right now before we ring the authorities, there's CCTVs all around," Junhui instructed as he pulled out his phone. "Just you wait, this isn't over yet," the customer glared at Junhui before he left the store with no other choice.

"Wonwoo, are you okay?" Junhui looked at his friend with worry in his eyes. "Are you hurt anywhere?" Junhui inspected for any injuries.

He didn't ask me first...

"Erm, I'm okay now, Junhui. You should check up on Minghao, she-" The mentioned was already looking at the scene and felt like she was intruding something. "I'll put these flowers back, don't mind me," Minghao stated as she immediately left the two, but her teary eyes didn't go unmissed by her best friend.

He did it for Wonwoo, not me.

"You really should've checked up on Minghao first, she was also harassed by that creep. Plus, she's your girlfriend." Wonwoo nagged at her friend, knowing clearly how Minghao felt, she was also familiar with that feeling. "I know, I'm trying my best, it's just a different feeling when I'm with her and with you."

"What? Junhui, how could you say that? Do you know how she would have felt if she heard you?" Wonwoo questioned, unbeknownst to the two is the fact that Minghao was already standing near them and also heard the conversation.

So that was what it was about? He still has feelings for Wonwoo? Then why did he ask me to be his girlfriend?

"It's hard to explain, Wonwoo, don't make things difficult for me, please," Junhui went away to sit down as he didn't want to argue with his friend further, he was also confused with his feelings yet again but he knows deep down inside that he was jealous that the guy was touching his girlfriend, he just didn't want to admit it.

"You can't just avoid it, Junhui, you decided to commit to a relationship with her," Wonwoo insisted on solving the problem, it was frustrating to see her friends like this. "Committing to a relationship doesn't necessarily mean I have to have feelings for her, Wonwoo, it doesn't work like that. Are you telling me that Mingyu had feelings for you when you got married?" Junhui argued back.

"That was not what you said when Minghao was chased by another guy, and why are you dragging Mingyu into this?! This is about you and Minghao not Mingyu and I!" Wonwoo started to get angry. "Then what was I supposed to do? Watch Minghao run off with another guy? Of course I had to say that so she will stay with me."

So our relationship was just a pretense? He lied about his feelings for me...

[That was the last straw for Minghao, she couldn't listen anymore and went to the storage room to avoid this conversation, she knew only worser things would come out of it. Minghao was very hurt by the man she thought was the love of her life.]

"That's so selfish of you, Junhui, you're unbelievable," Wonwoo was disappointed at her friend, she can't believe he would say something like that. "You're not the Junhui I know. Why did you come here in the first place then?"

"I told him to," Jeonghan answered as she walked into the store, completely unaware of what just happened. "I saw what happened so I called him because I know Seungcheol and Mingyu are out of town, and I figured we won't be able to stop that guy."

"Yes, here for that and to send you girls home since it's pretty late now," Junhui sighed as he recalled the situation. "I ended my shift at the hospital just in time anyway."

"We will pack up and head out soon, you can wait for us in the car," Wonwoo stated as the other nodded, she didn't want to see him because she feared she would say something she regretted. "What's up with the two of you?" Jeonghan sensed something weird but shrugged it off when she didn't get a reply.

"Ming, let's get ready to leave," Wonwoo went to inform her best friend as she spotted the other frantically wiping her tears. "O-okay, I'll be out when I'm done packing here," Minghao was backfacing the other. "Sure, take all the time you need," Wonwoo stated, she knew what was up so she let her calm down.

[Minghao took only five minutes to pack up before she came back out and followed her friends to the car, she didn't acknowledge her boyfriend as the other stared at her. Junhui was prepared to open the front door for her but his girlfriend walked to join her friends at the passenger seat behind.]

She's clearly still mad at me... How much of our conversation did she hear?

"You're not sitting in front?" Jeonghan found it weird and Wonwoo tapped her unnie's arm, signalling her not to ask and understanding the signal, the elder didn't probe further. "No, I'll take the backseat tonight," Minghao answered as she looked out the window, lost in her thoughts.

Maybe this was wrong to begin with... We should never have started this...

[The whole trip was very quiet, Junhui dropped off Jeonghan first, followed by Wonwoo.]

"You should have a good talk with her," Wonwoo mentioned before she left the car, which didn't go unheard by Minghao, who still remained silent since the beginning of the ride.

"Thank you for sending me home, see you tomorrow, Ming," Wonwoo waved to the couple as she spoke. "See you, Won," the first words Minghao spoke since she got on the car.

"Minghao-" Junhui started but was cut off by his girlfriend. "Just send me home, Junhui, I'm really tired," Minghao spoke, she was drained from all the emotions she felt earlier and didn't feel like talking about the issue at hand now.

[The ride to Minghao's place was very quiet and Junhui didn't know what to say to make things better so he figured that he should stay quiet, he kept looking at the viewfinder to make sure she was alright.]

Why did I fall for Junhui... I wished I didn't so I wouldn't be so hurt right now, my heart hurts so bad... I wished I was Wonwoo so he could love me...

[Minghao started tearing up as she thought about all the silly thoughts.]

"Minghao?" Junhui called his girlfriend, when they reached their destination, but didn't get an answer back.

She fell asleep...

[Junhui decided to carry his girlfriend into her room as he remembered that she gave him a spare key to her house.]

"Thank you for sending me home, you can leave now," Minghao said as she turned her back against her boyfriend, once she felt the comfort of her bed, she didn't want him to see her cry.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Minghao, I'll come pick you up after work," Junhui stated before he left. "If it's too much trouble for you, then you can stop, I'm able to come home myself," Minghao stated as Junhui just listened, he didn't want them to start an argument so he quietly left.

He left, without saying a word again...

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A double update to make up for the long wait, wanted to show some progress of the plot as well! :) Thank you for reading, feel free to leave comments and feedback on the story!

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