Chap 20.

YunHee POV:

I waited for Jaejin by the bus stop to go to work, which would start in 5 minutes. 5 FREAKING MINUTES. I paced back and forth impatiently with my arms crossed, drumming my fingers on my arm.  If I'm late, I might lose my job, but I really don't want to leave without Jaejin, cuz what if that ruined my chance for me to be his BBF?? I clutched my head in frustration, trying to decide what to do in this dilemma.  I was about to book it to the store, right when i heard Jaejin's voice calling my name.

"YunHee! Wait!!", he said breathlessly, running to where I was.

I looked at my watch, realizing there were only two minutes until my shift (and his shift) started. Looking back up, I saw Jaejin, who was at least a block away from me just seconds ago.  He slouched over, putting his hands on his kneed, panting.

"I thought'd you leave without me."

"W-why would I do that? Ha..ha.." I stuttered, guilt engulfing me.

There was a pause, and he straightened back up, and grinned.

"I guess thats true," he said, patting my head, and lead the way to the convenience store.

We were walking in silence at a fairly fast pace, since we were already some 3.56 minutes late for work. Then he broke the silence.

"Mianhae YunHee, you didn't have to wait for me...now we're both late," he pouted.

" That's okay...don't worry about it," I replied, although I was pretty sure I-- and him, was gonna get scolded big time by the manager.

He kept his head down, avoiding my eyes.  He seemed less cheerful than this morning, either it was because he was late and he felt guilty, or something else.

I cleared my throat. "S-so...why were you late anyways?"

"Oh...uhm...I was talking to Jonghyun hyung," he replied sheepishly,a glimpse of sadness appearing in his eyes.

" Ah... I see."

So was THIS Jonghyun's plan all along?? Stalling Jaejin so that I would be late for work because he (somehow) knew I was waiting for him??? I clenched my fists in annoyance.  How could he use his dongsaeng like that?  Not only will I get scolded, but your Jaejin dongsaeng will too!! Grrr...Jonghyun has no common sense.

I stomped the rest of the way to work, pushing open the door with such force that it almost knocked the wind out of the person who was standing on the other side of it, the manager.

Fume was coming out of his ears, his face similar to that of a pig with a red--like really red face.

"SONG YUNHEE DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT TIME I--"

At that moment, Jaejin came in from behind me, and stood in front of me.

"Joesonghabnida," he apologized,"It was my fault that YunHee was late, please don't blame her for my faults."

Oh my gawd. He did NOT just say that.  Manager is gonna whip you  'till ya ble--

"Ah! Jaejin-ssi! Of course I will not, I..I was just going to tell her to quickly get ready for work!" the manager said with a -up smile," I will let this time slip, but try to be on time as... as much as possible!"

What. The.  FUUA...????

"Thank you manager!" Jaejin smiled to the manager, while the manager smiled back poilitely, but a bit forcefully.

I stared in amazement at the wonders of what Jaejin had done as the manager walked past my side.

"You got lucky this time," he snarled, and proceeded to, well, walk past me.

I barely let that get to me, since I was still in shock at what had just happened.

Manager was nice? Those two words shouldn't even go in one sentence!  I followed Jaejin to where our uniforms were, and we quickly got changed(jeez of course they didn't change in the same room gawsh ;]).

A woman was waiting at the cash register, while her kid was ringing the bell on the counter continuously.  I slid behind the cash register, subtly taking that annoying bell away from the kid.

Today was a strangely busy day, and I had almost forgot to say thanks to Jaejin for saving my .  When the customers finally died away, I scurried to the isle where Jaejin was filling up the shelves, and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hm? What's up?" he asked, as he continued to put the products on the shelves.

"How..did you do that?" I asked, helping him place the items on the shelf.

"...What do you mean?"

"Back then.."

"Uh...you take the item in your hand and extend your arm and put it on the designated shel--"

"Not that!" I giggled," I know how to put things on shelves, I've been here longer than you."

He smiled and scratched his head with embarassement. "Then what exactly do you mean?"

"How'd you get the manager to accept your apology? That never works for me..."

He hesitated for a split second.

"Because the manager's a nice person! Isn't he?"

PRRRFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT. NICE?? D- did I hear wrong? As I state again, "Nice" and "Manager" don't go in the same sentence.

"No...seriously...how did you do it??" I pleaded.  If he was able to convince him to accept his apology by a simple "sorry", then I should be able to do that too, right?

I glanced up at him and he was staring back at me. He leaned towards my face, bending down to my height.

"Because."

"....because?" I urged on.

"I..."

"...?"

"Am magical."

He ruffled my hair and dissappeared with the empty crate that was was used to fill the merchandise into the storage room.

...WHY WON'T HE TELL ME THE TRUTHH...

I was determined to dig the truth out of him.  So, I will ask him again. After work.

Jaejin POV:

Once school ended, I went to my locker and saw Jonghyun hyung leaning against the locker, motionless. O.O What is hyung doing?  I walk towards him, but he doesn't seem to notice, so I started to wave my hand in front of his face.

"Hyung! Hyung! Hyung!" No answer.

"Hyuuuuunng~~" I whined.

His mouth started to move, but it was hard to tell what he was whispering

"Does YunHee....me?" was all I could catch.  Then he sighed, and slid further down the locker.

YAH HYUNG!" I shouted with a final slap to wake him up from whatever he was dreaming about...with YunHee?? O.O

His eyes went into focus, and he pushed himself off the locker (and the locker pushed him according to Newton's thrid law! TT^TT).

"Oh Jaejin," he said, his face still a bit blank, "when were you here?"

"I was here a while ago," I replied, now curious as to what he was thinking about that involved YunHee.

"Oh."

".....So.....Hyung....." I said casually,"what were you saying about YunHee...?" I acted like I was only a liiittle bit interested, but in reality, I was dying of curiosity.

"BWOHH?? YUNHEE? WHERE!!?" he asked, frantically looking around.

"Hyung, shes nowhere."  Things seem a bit strange... "What I asked was what did you SAY about YunHee just a while ago.."

"BWOH?? ME? YUNHEE?? Nothing!.....nothing..." he exclaimed, his face turning red. 

...What is going on between the two of them?

"Hyung.....are you sick?"

"Ahni ahni...just...its nothing," he shook his head, and walked away, crashing into one of the pillars while doing so. Confused, I tried to think of what hyung had said as i fiddled with my lock.

"Does YunHee...me?"  What is that supposed to mean?  What words can go inbetween? Could it be: " Does YunHee hate me?" , "Does YunHee like to eat lunch with me?" , or " Does YunHee want to eat icecream with me?".  I racked my brain for the possibilities, but they seemed to be endless.  Suddenly, it hit me.

"Does YunHee like me?" seemed to fit perfectly.  Firstly, if he was wondering if she hated him or liked to eat lunch with him or wanted to get icecream with him or whatnot, why would he become so nervous when I asked him what he was thinking about?  Secondly,  if it was one of those questions, why would he be so nervous even if YunHee was around?  And thridly, why would he have blushed??  Everything seemed to make sense. 

Did hyung like YunHee?

My heart felt heavy, like an extra weight had been added onto it.  Why though?  Its not like...YunHee is my......girlfriend.  After thinking just that, I felt a thousand butterflies in my stomach.  But WHY? Why do I feel so nervous about this?  What does it matter if Hyung likes YunHee or vice versa? YunHee and I are just...friends.

Remembering that I had work today again, I realized that I had told YunHee to wait for me at the bus stop.  I looked at my watch.  5 minutes til work starts???? Waaahhhhh....

I darted out the doors and started running to the bus stop. How irresponsible of me... how could I make a girl wait so long for me?  In the distance, I saw a dot that looked like YunHee, and shouted out to her, gasping for breath.

"YunHee! Wait!!"

She turned around, and I used up the last of my energy to sprint towards her.

We started to walk together to work in silence.  Was she mad at me for making us both late for work?

"Mianhae YunHee, you didn't have to wait for me..now we're both late."  Because of me, she might have to deal with that crappy manager of ours.

"Its okay...don't worry about it," she said politely, making me feel just a taaad more guilty TT^TT

"So...why were you late anyways?" she asked.

That brought me back to the conversation (if you could call it that) with Jonghyun.  Was my guess right, that the girl beside me likes Jonghyun, and Jonghyun likes her back? My chest felt heavy again, even though I could not think of a reason to why it should feel that way.

"Oh..I was talking to Jonghyun hyung," I said with a smile, trying to sound un-gloomy.

"Ah...I see."

The rest of the way there, YunHee seemed sort of mad.  Her steps were heavier and I noticed her hands were clenched.  Did I say something wrong? D:  She began to walk a bit ahead of me, pushing open the store door while almsot hitting the manager. Oh..this is NOT good.

I could hear shouting even from outside the store, and decided it was time to step in.

"Joesonghabnida. It was my fault that YunHee was late, please don't blame her for my faults."

I knew that he would (or should) listen to me, since I am the son of the person who pays him.  As expected, he politely excused the both of us, and let us get on with the rest of our shift.  I glance over at YunHee, who was staring at me like I was some fascinating creature. Keke~ how cute.

I got on with my work, my mind caught up with all this Jonghyun and YunHee stuff.  Am I guessing correctly on what Jonghyun said?   Because if I'm not, I'm just getting myself all confused for no reason.  I picked up the cans of juice and placed them onto the shelf, when somebody tapped me on the shoulder, breaking my train of thought.  I turned around, to see YunHee looking up at me, curiosity showing through her eyes.

" How did you do that?" she asked.

Was she asking on how I got the manager let us off so easily?  I didn't want to tell her just yet that I was the owner's son, or else it might seem like I'm a person who takes advantage of people because of their status. Even when I was a kid, my father told me not to make alot of friends, since they might be taking adavantage of me, since he is not only the owner of the convenience store, but one of the biggest companies in Korea, and the convenience store is merely one of the small branches of his company.

Plus, I've got a feeling that if I tell her, it might ruin our friendship...somehow..

I glanced back down at her and she was still gazing up at me with those big, wide eyes.  I was ablout to blurt out the truth, but I caught my tongue right before I made a big mistake.  Maybe I should just pretend that I don't know whats going on.

"...what do you mean?"

The questions urged on, and I tried my best to drag the conversation away from the point as much as possible.  But then she had to go all specific.

"How'd you get the manager to accept your apology? That never works for me."

What am I supposed to say now?? I don't want to tell her the truth, but I don't want to lie to her either...I peeked down at her again, her beady eyes staring right back at me. Was I taking too long to answer?  Is she getting suspicious?? Oh noess~! I have to think of something quick D:

"Because the manager's a nice person! Isn't he?" I lied.

I heard a sigh afterwards, and peeked down once agan.

"No...seriously...how did you do it??" she pleaded.

I wanted to give in to her, but I kept strong, knowing that it was probably best to not tell her.  I took a deep breath in, and leaned in closer to her, trying to think of another excuse. Bad idea.  Once I did, I realized that my face was reaaaally close to hers, and my mind became muddled and my heart started to feel like it was gonna beat right out of my chest.

"Because," I said bluntly.

"....because?"

"I..."

"...?"

"Am magical," I blurted out unconciously.

I straightedn up and looked down at her after what I just said, to see hanging open, her eyes wider than ever before. Puahaha, how cute. I ruffled her hair, and turned to walk towards the storage room to avoid any future questions.  As I walked, I thought over what I said, checking to see if it was a believable excuse.

....

Did I say that I was MAGICAL? Once I entered the storage room, I leaned against the cold, concrete wall, and wacked my head with the crate I was carrying. What a great excuse,Lee Jaejin, what a great. excuse. TT^TTT

Waah sorry for making that chap so long...and so crappy x.x

Thanks to my new subbies:

♪ LeslyeAkira

♪ fluffyonigiri

:D

Since its spring break, I'll try to update more often ahaha (: