"MinHo, what's your mystery? What's the mystery of Lee MinHo?” DaeSung had asked.

I tried to act natural as though I was not interested when in fact I was dying to know. It's funny how DaeSung had asked the exact same question that I was burning to ask.

MinHo looked confused for a moment. Then the corner of his lips began to curl upward into a smile. "What do you mean by mystery? There’s nothing mysterious about me,” he said, "You don't think I'm mysterious do you?” he turned to ask me.

"No, I mean yes. Yes!” I said, thank God, ape language-free.

Well done, ChaeRin, your first normal words to MinHo in this year, I mentally applauded myself.

"Mysterious? Me?” MinHo said softly, full of disbelief.
"Well, for one, why are you always sleeping in class?” DaeSung asked.

"That's a mystery?” MinHo chuckled, "Well, I'm sleepy,” he answered curtly.

I rolled my eyes. That was like asking the birds why they fly and they answer because they have wings.

"Yes, but why? Why are you always sleepy? Don't you sleep at home?” DaeSung pressed on, "It's not like you’re a bear who has to hibernate for 3 months. There must be a reason why you’re always sleepy. What do you do at nights?”

Yes, DaeSung was talking all that in one single breath and no, he's not that timid anymore, well not to me and MinHo anyways. I bet he would still run away fast when he sees his three clowns bullies.

MinHo laughed quietly to himself. "Well?” DaeSung pressed again.

MinHo cleared his throat. "Well, there's actually nothing mysterious about me at all,” he said. "What do you want to know?”

Wow, that was the longest sentence I had heard MinHo said to date.

"Are you a vampire or something? Do you hunt humans at night? That rumor is not true, is it?” as brave as he would like to sound, I could clearly see that DaeSung was quivering with fear while waiting for MinHo’s reply. I bet if MinHo said that the rumor was true, he would go off running to Mrs. Choi’s desk again.

"There's a rumor saying that I'm a vampire?” MinHo sounded amused.
"Well, is it true?” DaeSung, on the other hand, didn’t sound amused.

MinHo chuckled. "Not really. I-”

Work as a night club bounzer?
Joined the mafia when I was 14?
Street race for money?
Am an undercover agent?

"-work the night shift at my father’s grocery store downtown. It's a 24-hour shop. I always finish my work at around 4 in the morning so I don't get enough sleep.”

What??
My face fell.
That was the reason why he was always sleeping?

DaeSung breathed out a sigh of relief.
That scaredy-cat was actually thinking there might be a possibility of MinHo being a vampire.
What a dork.

"Why are you working, anyways?” DaeSung asked.

MinHo shrugged. "Just for the extra cash. If not for the job, I'll be bored at home.”

"How come you always get good grades if you’re working at night and sleeping in class?” I asked.

MinHo looked at me in surprise, probably because I talk like a normal human being now.

"Well, I only managed the cashier so I study whenever there's a free time.”
"What about your homework?”
"I do them after school before I take my evening nap.”

DaeSung and I said our "Oh” in unison.
Heck, that didn't sound mysterious at all.

"Okay, so why don't you talk much at school?” DaeSung asked.
"I don't have any friends in school. So who am I supposed to talk to?”

Again, DaeSung and I said our "Oh,” in unison.
Heck, that was even more NOT mysterious.
Even a small kid can figure that out.

"So where do you eat lunch? You always seem to rush somewhere,” I said.
"There,” he pointed toward a large tree a few hundred meters from where we were seating right across the field. We followed our gaze toward the direction he was pointing at. "It's quiet there. I can eat and sleep alone there.”

For the third time, like idiots, DaeSung and I said our "Oh,” in unison.
Heck, this does not even fall in the category of a mystery.
If anything, Lee MinHo wasn’t mysterious at all.
As a matter of fact, my dog Chicky was more mysterious than him!

In fact, I have to say this. 
If anything at all, Lee MinHo was boring.

I heard YeJin sighed from behind me. She was sitting under the tree, looking at the field; still absorbed in her own world. Now that’s what we call a mystery; not this working-at-a-store, no-desk-partner, I-eat-lunch-alone-because-I-want-to-sleep guy.

God! And I wasted two freaking years over this 'mysterious' guy?

Then, DaeSung asked him the question that I have to admit that I was dying to know prior to the non-mystery unraveling. "Do you have a girlfriend?”

I was holding my breath waiting for his answer.

MinHo shuffled in his seat. "No,” he replied.

DaeSung grinned at me and wiggled his eyebrows dorkily. I gave him the look and he immediately looked elsewhere.

To my surprise, I wasn't even excited to find out he was single. I guess, knowing him as the ordinary but hot guy had turned off my crush on him. He was a completely different person for me. Like I said, I did not like him for his looks. I wasn't like one of the shallow girls who had liked a boy for their looks.

Well, okay, the looks part was only partial. He was my crush because he was mysterious. 

Now, come to think about it, I am shallow. God, I hate myself!

"Then, why did you ask DaeSung to tell those bullies that he’s your friend? They don't even know you,” I said.

MinHo inhaled deeply. "Well, I thought they knew me and will come straight to me so that I can handle them. I'm surprised to know that they don't even know me.”

So YeJin was right, he was disappointed that he was not popular among guys.

"But how are you going to handle them?” DaeSung asked.

"I have my own way of handling bullies. If there is anything that I hate in the world, it would be bullies.”
"And how is this way of yours?”
"You'll see.”
"You won't, like, hunt them at night and out their blood, right?”
"DaeSung, I'm not a freaking vampire!”

That got DaeSung to keep his mouth shut.
But I was far beyond satisfied with his 

"Why do you hate bullies? Do you happen to have experience of being bullied?” I asked.

MinHo looked deep in thought for a moment. "I'll tell you the story some time later,” he sounded defensive, like he wasn't really happy that the subject was brought up.

"Hey, look at you,” MinHo suddenly said, looking at me.
"What?” I asked.
"You can talk normally now. I thought you have a brain damage,” MinHo said.

I blushed to a deep shade of crimson while DaeSung laughed his a.ss off. "I am normal,” I said defensively.
MinHo just looked at me with a confused look.

It was awkwardly quiet for us now. It’s like we all ran out of things to say. I was munching on my kimbab when suddenly I felt YeJin's hands gripping my left arm.

"What?” I asked.
"I have something to tell you,” she said.
I followed her to the spot where she was seating earlier. I guess she didn’t want DaeSung and MinHo to hear what she was about to say. I could see DaeSung gave us a questioning look.

YeJin sighed again.

"What do you want to tell me?” I asked.

YeJin seated herself beside me and took a deep breath. Gosh, the suspense was killing me.

"Remember those hunks that we saw at Freezing Cool?”

Who could ever forget the two stupid Greek Gods who called my hair ugly and my bag stupid?! Why did YeJin have to bring them up? I was perfectly happy forgetting about them.

"Yes, what about them?”

YeJin tucked her hair behind her ear nervously. "Well, remember how I said that I think they’re from YeSung’s school?”

"Yeah, so?” I still didn’t understand where she was going with this, "Oh, by the way YeJin, I forgot to tell you this. We've finally figured out about MinHo's mysteries. Heck, turns out he's not a mystery after all. And he really didn't know that he wasn't popular among guys. He thought he was.” 

I continued to babble non-stop about MinHo's not-so-mysterious mystery while YeJin waited impatiently for me to finish. "He's working for his father's shop, for God's sake and people say that he's a vampire. How f.cking stu--”

"ChaeRin,