It has already been 15 minutes since Mo-yeon has been waiting for her best friend. She is sitting on a table with two chairs and sipping her latte. She turns her head towards the entry door to look for her, but she sees someone she has least expected to see. She sees as Yoo Si-jin enters through the doors and starts looking here and there. Thanks to her presence of mind that she turned and head and looked somewhere else, that he didn't see her. After a few seconds, she turns her head his way and sees that he is still there but has sat down already doing something on his phone. Just when she left out a sigh of relief, her phone rang. Si-jin turned his head at her direction, but she has turned her head another side.

As Si-jin watches the girl and she doesn't move an inch, he grows suspicious. He was looking at her when someone put their hand on his shoulder making him yelp in surprise. "Hey, take it easy. It's me", the person said. He let out a sigh and said, "What are you? In a horror movie or what? Did you really have to scare the hell out of me?", he whined in frustration. "It wasn't something that should scare a big man like you", Myung-ju said with a wide smile. 

"Come with me. My friend should already be here", she informs him and looks around the cafe when she spots the girl she was looking for, "Oh, there she is. But, why is she looking that way?", he looks to the side where her sister is pointing, and is surprised to see the girl whose phone rang a few minutes ago. "Let's go". Myung-ju held his hand and started to lead the way. 

"Mo-yeon", the girl turned around with a smile when her name was called because she knew whom did this voice belong to. But, her smile faded the moment she saw Myung-ju gripping on a man's hand, who was none other Yoo Si-jin, whose eyes were also as wide as saucers after seeing her. Myung-ju read her best friends's face and said, "I forgot to tell you before that he is also coming with me. Don't get too surprised", Myung-ju said, obviously shocked seeing her that way. Even if her friend didn't knew that she was bringing a third person she would never get this surprised. 

Mo-yeon stood up as a sign of respect. "Your boyfriend?", Mo-yeon asked sounding a little disappointed. Si-jin looked at his sister in surprise. "What are you saying Mo-yeon?", Myung-ju said eyeing her, "How can I have a boyfriend?", she continued and Mo-yeon looked at her confusingly. "He is my brother", Myung-ju eyed Mo-yeon to help her. "Ohh, yeah. I..I..just thought that you.... were hiding a secret boyfriend from me. I am glad it's not the case", Si-jin relieved. Myung-ju mouthed a 'thank you', "And, he is my brother. I have talked about him to you earlier. But, this is the first time you have met him, right? And Si-jin, I already told you about this meeting", Myung-ju introduced them. They both just smiled awkwardly at each other and then looked somewhere else. "What's wrong with you two?", Myung-ju said and both answered in unison, "Nothing".

"Never mind, let's order something first", Myung-ju suggested. "I already ordered something for me while waiting for you", Mo-yeon answered in a low voice. "Is something wrong with you? Are you not fine?", Myung-ju asked in concern, sensing the very low voice that the other was speaking in. She was wondering what was wrong. Her best friend, the Kang Mo-yeon she knew looked so confused and distraught today. Whenever she is late for their meeting, Mo-yeon would shout at her and scold her. Wait, it can't be because of her brother, can it? "I am fine", Mo-yeon replied in tone that managed to send shivers down Myung-ju's body. 

They three sat down. Myung-ju was looking through the menu, while the other two had awkward silence between them. "I will order for you, Si-jin", Si-jin nodded his head. "One espresso and two lattes, please", Myung-ju said to the waiter. The waiter wrote it down, bowed and left. Si-jin looked at Mo-yeon who laughed a little after hearing the order. Feeling embarrassed, he looked towards Myung-ju with a frown, "You think I am going to have two lattes all to myself, right here?". "You got it wrong. One is for you and one is for her", she said gesturing to Mo-yeon. "I told you I have already finished mine. There's no need", she argues. "And I will ignore that", Myung-ju replies. "And I will take that up later", Mo-yeon says with a smile.

"Right, I want to tell you something. Si-jin is also a speed-skater, just like you", Myung-ju says motioning to him. "He sure is", Mo-yeon replies finally looking at him and he also looks at her. Myung-ju turns to her brother and says, "You wanted to tell me something about yesterday's match? What is it?". Si-ji smiles with trouble, briefly looking at Mo-yeon. He can't tell about the other woman losing from him, right in front of her. Mo-yeon looked at him, which Si-jin thought was shooting daggers towards him. Myung-ju turns towards the other girl "Mo-yeon, you also wanted to tell me something. About the person you competed with yesterday? And how it was super annoying", she asks and Mo-yeon instantly looked at her with wide eyes. While Si-jin looked at her with eyebrow raised. "No, it's nothing like that", she said. The waiter placed their coffees and left.

"What's wrong with you both?", Myung-ju asked. "Nothing", they both said again in unison. And as the heavens were with them, Myung-ju's phone rang. "Your phone rang", Mo-yeon motioned to Myung-ju's phone. "I can hear that", she said irritatingly. Mo-yeon and Si-jin were trying all they could to not to look at each other. "Really? Okay, I am coming over", Myung-ju said and hanged up."What's wrong?", Mo-yeon asked. "There's going to be a surprise inspection in the dorm. I think I need to run. After all it's already more than 8", Myung-ju said as she stood up. Si-jin also stood up and was about to walk away, when Myung-ju held his hand, "What? Didn't you say there is going to be an inspection. I also need to run then", he said.

"It's only for the girl's dorm, so you are safe, for now", she assured. Si-jin let out of sigh of relief and sat down again, while Mo-yeon didn't say anything and listened to their talk. "I will be leaving now. I have a friend who is in the next shop and she is also leaving. Si-jin, why don't you drop Mo-yeon to her dorm. It's going to be quite late", Myung-ju suggested and looked at her brother who showed nothing. "It's fine, Myung-ju. I can return by myself. There is no need", Mo-yeon said with a smile, but saw the other getting up, "Hey, Myung-ju! Listen to me!", Mo-yeon shouted but her friend just waved her hand and left. She left out an irritated sigh.

 

After a few moments of awkward silence, Mo-yeon stood up and said, "You don't need to drop me. I am fine by myself". She was about to leave but then he stood up too. "My sister trusted you to me", he said. "What?", Mo-yeon obviously didn't get that and retorted. "Ahh, what I mean is, she asked me to drop you, which is something I should do as a gentleman, especially when it's quite late for you to go alone", he said without a break. "That's what I am saying. You don't need to. I am fine by myself. Thank you", she said, bowed a little as a sign of respect and left. 

Si-jin sat down again. It isn't his fault, now. He, very gentlemanly asked to accompany her and she refused. Being the same gentleman, he can't force her. So, he sips the very last of his latte, and looks at the time, his eyes widen when he saw the time. It was already 8:30 and it was dark. Now, no matter how many times she refuses him to drop her, he can't let her go alone in the dark. 

He picks up his bag and hurried towards the exit. He leaves the cafe and starts to look for the girl. And there she is. 

 

He watched as Mo-yeon walked down the road. Even if there were a lot of people at the road at this hour, he decided to accompany her. At first, he thought of calling her out, but then decided against it. Because she had already made it clear that she wanted to go alone. So, him insisting to accompany her is not going to help. He decided to just follow her from behind and ensure that she has reached her dorm safely. And can then tell his sister that he has sent her safely, just as she had asked him to, with surety.

There were quite a lot of people on the road going in the same direction as hers, but Mo-yeon always felt that someone was specifically following her. Whenever she turned around, she saw no one suspicious. Her university was not that far now, it was only a one way road, so she planned something.

Si-jin had been following her and now it seems to be the end as her university is approaching. He has seen her tilt her head several times and whenever she used to do that he would hide behind a tree or a pole, or would meddle in between the crowd. He noticed that his shoelace was loose, so he bent down to tighten it, but as soon as he stood up, he saw that Mo-yeon was nowhere in sight. There were no right turns, or left turns on their route now. He searched here and there, but there was no sign of her. He sighed in defeat and stood in the middle. Just then someone nudged his shoulder.

 

"As far as I know, your university is on the other side. May I ask what brings you here then?", the person asked with a blank face. "I-I-I came to buy something", he gave an excuse. "Ohh, and what could that be?", the person asked in curiosity edged on her face. Si-jin smiled nervously and replied, "Clothes". "That's so convincing. But, you came here to buy clothes made of all-purpose flour? Or Kimchi?", the person asked with a bright smile. He gulped nervously and looked around them. His excuse has betrayed him because there wasn't a single shop of clothes around, just groceries. "You didn't let me complete. I came to buy clothes and some grocery", he said, now satisfied. "I wonder why someone need grocery when he lives in a university dorm? And more importantly, why come all the way here when his university also have grocery shops around? I am curious", the person said, the smile changing into a frown. "I like the choco-chip cookies of this shop only", he found another excuse.

"Do I look like a fool to you? Is 'I am a fool' written on my forehead?", Mo-yeon asked, voice raised. "Really Yoo Si-jin? Hiding behind poles and meddling in the crowd? Really?", she continued. "And excuses like these! At least first look around, use your brain and then give such useless excuses, huh?", Si-jin decided to stay silent all the time. "Tell me. Why did you follow me?", Mo-yeon asked, voice now back to normal. Si-jin now decided to speak-up, "It was quite late. It won't be good for a girl to walk on the streets of Gangnam alone, at night". "Why didn't you tell me?", she asked another question. "Didn't you already made it clear that you can go alone, by yourself!", he replied. "If you knew that, then why the hell did you follow me?", she threw another question, annoyance. "Myung-ju asked me to drop you at your dorm safely but you said otherwise. I can neither argue with her nor I can with you. I got no other choice", he reasoned.

Mo-yeon stood for a while looking at him. In fact, he actually did walk the opposite path to ensure her safety, she can't shout at him. "Ok then. Come, let's go together, it's the last few minutes", she said pointing forward. Si-jin looked at her with wide eyes because he absolutely wasn't expecting this. When Myung-ju talked about her, she said that her best friend is so stubborn, yes in the little encounter they had, he can notice that, but now she is agreeing with him.  "You walked the opposite side, for a reason. Drop me then", she said with a smile. "Let's go", Si-jin replied and started to walk ahead of her.

 "Hey, you. Wait for me", Mo-yeon screamed and ran to his direction. 

 

The walk wasn't that long, and they arrived at Mo-yeon's dorm. "Thank you so much", she thanked him. "No problem", he replied, "Go in now. I will leave after you go in". "I think you should just leave now. I am afraid it won't be good if you stay here for another minutes", she said. His brows furrows in confusion, "Why? What is wrong?".

"It definitely won't be good if I am caught with a man at night. That too, the 'god', with whom I lost a match a day before. Suming it up, I don't want to be on the front page of the university's student website tomorrow", she explained. Si-jin hums in reply, "I can understand. I have also been in this situation before. So, no worries". "You were in this before too? Who were you sending off?", she said, smirking. "No, it's not like that. Actually, I.....", before he could even continue, she laughed and said, "I was just kidding". She continued to laugh and he stared at her with a smile. After a few seconds, she stopped laughing and looked at him, "I will be going then", she said and started to walk towards the dorm. .

"Kang Mo-yeon!", she turned back when she heard him calling her, "You really did good yesterday", he said.

Mo-yeon smiled, which he thought could melt him and said, "Thank you. You did well too". And then walked up the dorm. 

He looked at her going up. When he ensured that she entered, he turned and started to walk back, with a smile. 

 

Si-jin entered his dorm room with a smile. His roommates were all awake, and looked at him with questioning faces. "Hey, what's wrong with you? And, what's with the smile?", Woon-geun asked, pointing at him. "Me? Nothing is wrong. What can be wrong? Anyway, smiling is good for health", Si-jin replied, earning stares from everyone in the room. He climbed up his bunk bed, and went to sleep straightaway.

"Emergency meeting!", Cheol-ho shouted. All of them gathered on the table, sat closely, and whispered, "What's with him?", Gwang-nam asked. "I don't know", Woon-geun and Cheol-ho said in unison. They looked at Dae-young, who didn't respond. "Deputy captain, do you know something that we don't?", Woon-geun asked. Dae-yound adjusted himself and said, "After leaving from the celebratory party, I called him. He told me that he was going to meet his sister. But, he also said that his sister, Yoo Myung-ju is coming with her best friend. What do you all comply?", he explained and asked straightaway. "Did he get a girlfriend? This soon?", Gwang-nam asked. Woon-geun smacked his head, "You can't say that, yet". Gwang-nam rubbed his head. "Ok, then our mission for now is", Cheol-ho said and the other three continued with him, "To find what's behind that smile". 

 

Hope you like it!

 

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