Fifth|Chapter
Old Friend

I walked over to the reception desk, placed my handbag underneath the desk, and sat down on the chair just beside it. “Good morning, Liliana.” I smiled, and greeted my colleague.

“Good morning, Kibum.” He smiled back at me, and patted my back lightly. “It’s nice to have you back.” I nodded, with a light smile resting on my lips.

I focused on my computer screen, seeing the log in screen. I typed my username and password, before pressing enter and it welcomed me to windows screen.

“Is there anything I need to know?” Kibum nodded vigorously, and I restrained from scoffing and rolling my eyes. “Work wise, Kibum.” I said, he just chuckled, and I couldn't help but join him.

It felt nice to forget about the pain.

“Not really, we just need to manage the appointments, and rearrange some appointments, like usual.”

I nodded.

“Also, there's this letter that has to be sent out to all the employees because of the uniform. The boss wants to change it. I can’t be bothered to print out a thousand sheets of paper and hand them out. Can you do it for me?”

I nodded, and he smiled toothily. “Thanks.”

I hovered the cursor over the file that read ‘shared area’; I looked for the name Kim Kibum, and then clicked on the folder.

The document, I was looking for was the  only document on his folder. I clicked the document, and waited patiently for it to load, before clicking on the print button.

I excused myself from the desk, like I usually did when I needed to get up, and walked myself to the printers.

A few colleagues of mine greeted me. I decided to greet them back with a warm smile on my face.

I pressed the start button on the printer, and waited patiently for all the sheets.

Some colleagues of mine didn’t even bother to greet, I didn’t make the effort to greet them either. They looked at me, their eyes filled with pity. I didn’t want their pity, I didn’t need anyone’s pity.

I sighed, and walked back to my desk, not bothering to pick up the printing sheets. I sat down sighing loudly, which caught Kibum’s attention. “It’s going to be a long day.” I said.

“Goodbye Kibum, see you tomorrow.” I said, placing my winter coat on. Kibum bid a goodbye, and I walked out of the building, heading home.

I usually went to a nearby café near my house, but I wasn’t going to today, because Minho had texted me during work and informed me that he was going home earlier.

I walked past the café, dipping my hands into my pockets. “Liliana!” I heard someone shout my name but I could not recognize the voice. I still turned around and looked at the only person standing by the doorway of the small café.

“Oh, my God. Liliana, it’s really you.” The male walked towards me. He seemed familiar, but I could not remember the person’s name. The male hugged me, and I felt extremely uncomfortable but I didn’t push the male away.

He still held me in his arms when I asked the question. “Excuse me, but who are you?” I asked, pushing him away lightly.

“It’s me, Jonghyun. Remember?” He pointed at his face. My eyes widened and after the intial suprise I returned the hug.

“Oh my God. I remember, of course. You still look like a dinosaur.” I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle as I looked at his deadpanned face. “Thanks.” He said sarcastically.

I smiled, but I still felt uncomfortable for some reason.

His hands were still reasting on my waist. “Erm, Jonghyun.” I pointed at his hands; he just smiled wider before letting me.

“Do you want to pop in?” He asked pointing at the café.

Before answering, I looked down at my watch, taking a note of the time – quarter past five.

“Okay.”

He ushered me in, holding my hand. He was still the king of skinship, like I remembered from our high school days.

We took a seat nearest to the window, but before that, we ordered two cappuccinos. I placed my handbag down on the empty space beside me, and removed my winter coat.

 “How have you been? Has anything changed?” I asked him, eagerly to know more about him. It has been a couple of years since I last saw him.

“I’ve been here and there. What about you?” He took a sip of his coffee, before asking the question.

“I’ve been the same.”

He got my left hand examined the shiny ring around the ring finger. “Are you married?” I nodded, a little blush tainting my cheeks.

He let go of my hand, letting it thump on the table. I don’t know what had gotten into him, he seemed angry.

“Congrats.” He said not even trying to portray happiness towards me, but I smiled anyhow. “Are you happy?” He asked after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

I nodded vigorously. “Of course. I love the man I married.” He seemed callous towards my husband. It seemed like Jonghyun didn’t like Minho, even though they hadn’t met before. I had noticed from the beginning of the conversation about my marital status that his right eye twitched when I spoke about my love towards my husband.

“Do you know that feeling of falling in love all over again?” Jonghyun nodded, and eyed me dangerously. “Yeah, I felt that once.”

I didn’t really try to think of the meanings behind his words, I chose to ignore him.

“So, why did you decide to come back?”

He shrugged his shoulders, and eyed me dangerously again. “I don’t know, I missed people, I guess. I came back only a couple of days ago.” He took another sip of his coffee, before continuing to speaking.

“How’s Taemin?” It felt like I had been stabbed in my heart. That smile on his face, seemed like he was mocking my brother and me; Derision.

But it couldn’t be possible, he wasn’t around at that time.

“He’s dead.” He wasn’t surprised. He didn’t seem surprised.

“Oh.” Was all he said, no encouragement? No support? No nothing. He didn’t seem affected and it actually hurt more than to be pittied at.

I couldn’t stay there.

It seemed like he was laughing in my face.

“Ah, I have to go…It’s getting quite late.” Jonghyun nodded, and asked where I lived now, I wrote down my address, and we exchanged numbers.

It felt nice to see him again, but he still seemed like a total jerk.

“I hope, you know, get better.”

I grabbed my handbag, and rushed out of the café. As soon as I was out, I let a incredibly loud sigh escape my lips.

“ing jerk.” I mumbled, pushing my hands into my winter coat pockets.

He still hadn’t changed, and it did make me somewhat happy but at the same time, his attitude had changed.

He seemed evil, in some sort.

I walked back home, and sighed loudly, feeling exhausted. The walk home was quite long considering the way I was walking.

I pulled out the key to my house, pushed it into the key slot and turned it, before pushing the door open. I removed my winter coat, removed my high heels and replaced them with slippers before stepping on the wooden flooring that belonged to the rest of the house.

“Minho?”

“In here.” I heard his voice; he was in the kitchen.

I headed over to the kitchen, and smiled at him. He smiled back at me, and I felt my stomach spin. I loved him so much.

He was sitting on kitchen chair, in front of the table. He had his glasses on, as he looked down at the paper work on the table. “How was work?” He asked, patting his lap. He placed the paperwork in his hands down, as I made my way to him. I sat down and straddled his hips, just before kissing him I wrapped my arms around his neck.

He wrapped his arms around my waist.

I rested my chin on my shoulder after breaking the kiss. “Ah, it was fine. Nothing really happened, but I did meet my good old friend.”

“That’s nice. Do I know that person?”

“I don’t think so; I haven’t really talked about him to you.”

“Hmm.” He hummed, I knew he was getting jealous. I could feel his grip around me tighten.

“Oh, Minho. There is no need to get jealous; I love you and you only. I didn’t marry you for no reason.” I chuckled, but he didn’t seem content.

“I’m not jealous.”