Seeing his face after the long two day’s solitude was just too much for me. All the things that attracted me to him, the ones I tried so hard to suppress came crashing back to me. His smooth skin that glowed under the sunlight, his dark hair, silky-soft and glittering, his rosy cheeks and his twinkling eyes, it all was crashing down on me. My heart wanted to start beating like crazy again; I could not let that happen. Keeping a hold at my emotions I tried to act normal but it was really hard because all I wanted to do was just scoop him in my arms and hug him tightly.

I had lied to him that I had to go because of a family emergency, when in reality I was just moping around in a hotel room. I had read somewhere that to get over someone, you need to keep a distance from them for a while and slowly you start forgetting them and that’s exactly what I intended to do. I wanted to stay clear of Taemin for a while but it’s gonna be impossible because of the summer job. Should I just quit? Nah if I did that, Taemin would surely question my reason behind doing so. I just need to keep a distance from him for a bit, anyway they wouldn’t let us work together-together, right? I hoped so.

I hope Taemin did not notice my try to distancing myself from him, I mean I was trying to act as normal as I could, without letting go of the rein I had put on my emotions. It’ll work, right?

The bus ride to the pet shop was a very quiet one. At first Taemin tried to whip up a conversation about my sudden disappearance but I quickly put an end to it by saying that my aunty was ill and that’s why my cousin asked me to help him out. After that Taemin did not say or ask anything, I too stayed quiet.

‘Hyung, we are getting off here.’ Taemin nudged me when our stop came; giving him a half-hearted smile I got up and followed him out. His touch was as tantalizing as ever, why was forgetting your first love, so hard? Is that how Taemin was feeling about Minho? I bet he was, at least he had someone’s shoulder he could cry one, mine. I on the other hand had no one who would help me get over this, all I had was pillows to hug and cry on.

‘Hyung are you sure you’re okay?’

My eyes met his as I looked up. Those brown orbs were filled with true concern and something else, sadness! Why was he sad? I didn’t like when he was sad. Was he remembering that a**hole again? Wait, why am I even bothering? Lee Jinki, get a grip of yourself.

‘I’m fine. Let’s just hurry up or we are going to be late.’

He looked as if he wanted to argue with me about my obvious lie but then he thought better of it and just followed me.

The small bell on the pet shop door chimed as we walked in. The whole place was filled with noises of all different types of animal and the smell was a bit over-whelming but bearable. I actually loved this place as much as Taemin did, most of the time; we ended up here on our days out. Taemin would be cuddling bunnies and guinea pigs and would be busy with cute little puppies.

‘Hey, you two are here.’ The owner shouted merrily as he saw us from behind the counter. The guy had always been very fond of us and treated us like his own grand-children because he didn’t have any. I bowed a perfect ninety degree, like I always did and saw Taemin do the same from the corner of my eyes.

‘Annyeonghaseyo, Haraboji.’ We greeted in unison, to which he chuckled.

‘I told you guys before that you don’t need to be so formal with me. You call me haraboji, right? So treat me like one.’ He came round from behind the counter and patted my shoulder. He was one of the nicest people I had ever met and I was actually happy that I got to help him out during my vacation. I didn’t have my own grand-parents, so he was as good as them. The smile I gave him was genuine, after a long time, I finally got to smile genuinely again.

‘It’s good that you two came, because two of my workers had just left their jobs and I can do with a bit of a help. This old body of mine isn’t working as well as it used to. Hahahaha…’ He started laughing, holding his belly with one of his hands.

‘Haraboji, you’re not old.’ Taemin chimed in from next to the rabbit’s area.

‘Yes Haraboji, he’s right.’

Just then a blonde guy came through the door that leads to the storage room. He was a bit taller than me and was very handsome; the guy could easily be a model. Well even the pale blue uniform looked good on him, and it wasn’t a very flattering uniform.

‘Are these the people you told me about Haraboji?’ The guy asked as he set down the box he was carrying. He straightened up and held his hand in front of me,

‘You must be Lee Jinki, right? He talks about you a lot. He is practically in love with you. Thank your starts that he doesn’t have any grandkids coz he would’ve married you off to one before you coulf even blink.’ He chuckled. ‘My name is Kibum by the way, Kim Kibum.’ He said as he shook my hand firmly. I could feel a good vibe from him, we would be friends in no time.

‘Yah! That’s not true at all….well maybe. But I would’ve asked his opinion first!’ Haraboji laughed along with Kibum and I. ‘Kibum would show you guys around, not that you need it. This is almost your second home! But he’ll show you what needs to be done, okay?’

The shop door chimed again, announcing a customer and Haraboji left us with this Kibum guy. Without me knowing, Taemin has come back next to me and was scowling at the blonde who sported a look of amusement as he looked at my friend.

‘And you must be Taemin, the bunny guy! Nice to meet you.’ I saw Taemin frown but he shook the guy’s hand nonetheless, what was his problem?

‘Nice to meet you too..’ he grumbled.

Kibum turned back to me with a smile and holding my hand, he dragged me along with him. I was shocked at his boldness at first but I guessed it was normal so I let him drag me to the storage room, a light footstep told me that Taemin was following us as well. Why couldn’t I still get him out of my mind?

‘You already know where everything is inside the shop right? But this here is where we’ll be working most of the time okay? So this is where we store everything, from pet food to pet toys, everything. I usually look after the animals but now that you two are here, we can do it in rounds? And Onew you can help me with sorting out the supplies and Taemin, you can do the shelving job. All you have to do is make sure the shelves are always filled with supplies, simple, right?’

Taemin nodded and so did I.

‘So Taemin you can start in the shop, you get to look after the animals first, okay?’

‘Okay, but don’t we need our uniforms?’ Taemin inquired. Yeah that was a good question. Where were our uniforms?

Kibum scratched his neck and gestured for us to follow him to another room. It seemed like a changing room of sort, with a big shelf with a few uniforms in it.

‘Well take your pick guys. And I’ll wait for you two outside.’ He left us there to change.

‘Hyung, what do you think of that guy?’ Taemin’s soft voice was like honey to my ear and for a moment I forgot that he asked me anything and just stared at him, it was going to be a lot harder to forget my un-requited love if we were always this close!

‘Hyung! Are you even listening to me?’ His voice nudged me back to reality.

‘Yeah, he seems like a great guy. Why do you ask though?’ I turned around and busied myself with examining the uniforms and trying to find the right size for me.

‘Nah, I just don’t like him. I don’t know why but I just have a gut feeling about him.’

Kibum seemed like a friendly, nice guy to me. So, what was Taemin talking about? I shook my head and said,

‘You think too much Taemin. We are here to work. Let’s just do that, Okay? If you don’t like Kibum, you don’t have to be friends with him, you know? And hurry up or we’ll be late.’ I found a uniform that seemed about the right size and walked to the opposite end of the room to change. It was also because I did not want to see the guy I loved so much change in front of me. Who knew if I would be able to control myself!

As I changed, I thought about what Taemin said about Kibum. He had to be wrong right? When I played our whole conversation, I could not find anything that indicated that the guy was nothing but a nice-guy-next-door type. I guess Taemin’s gut feeling was wrong. Well it wouldn’t be the first time; he thought Minho was the greatest guy on planet earth not too long ago!

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Dun Dun Dun...new character entry...you're probably like

but trust me I have a plan for him to be the catalyst to Ontae's confessions....hmmm

I have a new idea for this story and I'm so excited about it :D Being the geniuses you are..you probably have the inkling of what's to come...

So umm yeah maybe I was too excited...but oh well...enjoy...I might upload another chapter today...if I can finish it LOL...

AND OMOMOMOMOMOMOMO...thank you so much for the views....and comments...I LOVE YOU GUYS...yes you too...my silent readers <3