The next day, Micha walked to school along with P.O and BAP. They were loud as usual but Micha was strangely quiet, puzzling the other friends. “What’s wrong?” Youngjae suddenly asked, pulling her out of her train of thoughts. Micha just shook her head and let out a nervous laugh to dismiss Youngjae but the truth was; she had found the perfect plan to help L.Joe out of his problem. Since it would be suspicious if she skips school, Micha had no other choice but to attend school and go to L.Joe as soon as school ends.

                Therefore, for the whole day, Micha was restless in her seat. She wanted time to fly and the school bell to ring faster than usual, so, she could go and meet L.Joe. “Are you okay?” Yongguk asked during recess time when he caught Micha glaring at the clock hanging on the wall while munching on her bread.

                “I’m fine,” she nodded and continued back to stare at the clock.

                “No matter how much you stare at the clock, it won’t go any faster,” P.O .

                “Oh, shut up, Pyo Jihoon,” Micha swatted P.O away.

                It felt slower today compared to any other day. Micha could not concentrate in anything as she was busy staring at the clock, hoping that it will tick a little bit faster for her sake but to her dismay it was impossible for such miracle to occur.

                Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick. The needle of the clock moved. Micha’s mouth parted slightly as it was only a minute before the last period ends and she would be free to go out of this place. “Ring, damn it!” she shouted in the middle of an ongoing lesson causing her classmate and the teacher in front, Simon D to look at her in confusion. She cleared and settled back on her sit but then the bell finally rang. “I’m going to toilet!” Micha told Yongguk and rushed out of the classroom.

                “What? Where? Huh?” Yongguk looked around and saw that Micha was gone.

                “Where did Micha go?” Daehyun asked.

                “I-I don’t know,” Yongguk scratched his head. “She said she’s going to the toilet.”

                BAP were left hanging as they stood in the middle of the classroom, looking blank until P.O showed up. “Why are you standing like some statue here? Where’s Micha?” P.O asked while slinging his backpack onto his right shoulder.

                “She went to the toilet?” Zelo answered hesitantly.

                “What?” P.O was in a perplex state.

                While BAP and P.O were in the classroom, figuring out Micha’s weird behaviour, Micha was already out of school. She was heading straight towards the ramen shop which belongs to L.Joe’s mother. “Hi, I’m here!” Micha stepped into the shop and bumped into L.Joe.

                “Why are you here?” L.Joe looked at Micha with narrowed eyes.

                “I’m here to help out, obviously,” Micha smiled. “Where should I start?” she asked.

                “You’re not starting anything,” L.Joe knocked her head. “Go home, Micha,” he instructed.

                Stubbornly, Micha stood in front of L.Joe with crossed arms while saying, “I’m here to help you out, and so, just let me. I’m not going to ask for anything just let me help you.” L.Joe stared at Micha as he was unable to find a suitable answer. “Come on, let me work here for a while until you get enough money to pay those thugs. You would need all the help you can get,” she pleaded.

                “Micha…” L.Joe was about to say but was interjected when his mother came out from the kitchen and came in between them. “Mom?” he stated.

                “Let the young lady help,” the mother said.

                “Omma!” L.Joe cried.

                “Really? I can?” Micha looked at L.Joe’s mother excitedly.

                “Of course you can, dear. You’re being so kind right now to help us out,” the mother said.

                “But mom…” L.Joe tried to reason with his mother but he cut off again.

                “Go and show her around, Lee Byunghun,” his mother warned him and then turned around to Micha with a soft smile on her face, “Thank you again, Micha.”

                L.Joe watched his mother left the two of them to go back to the kitchen with his eyes and mouth widened in disbelieve. “Lee Byunghun, you heard your mother right? I’ll be working here until you pay off those loan sharks, so, what should I do now?” Micha nudged L.Joe in the ribs playfully receiving a sigh from the male.

                Being the responsible one, L.Joe had showed Micha the basic which was to take orders from the table and also to take phone call orders. “When they’re done eating, put the dishes into that red basin and then wipe the table. If the red basin is full, you have to take out a new basin from the store,” L.Joe taught while Micha nodded obediently. “So, are you ready?” L.Joe looked at Micha.

                “Yes!” Micha grinned.

                “Let’s go,” L.Joe pumped his fist with Micha and they moved to the front to take orders.

                  The two friends started to work. Micha’s presence seems to have lightened up L.Joe’s mood as he felt touched by her care. He could feel that Micha was being sincere in helping him out and that had made him happier than ever. As time goes by, they started to enjoy working together and were becoming more in sync. Micha would take the orders from the table and L.Joe would take the orders from the phone calls. They took turns to pick up the dishes, wipe the table and wash the dishes. “That was the last one,” Micha wiped away her sweat and put away the last plate she had cleaned.

                “Thank you,” L.Joe mumbled and bumped into Micha playfully.

                “I’ll see you tomorrow?” Micha grinned and waggled her brow.

                “Don’t be late,” L.Joe replied and waved at her.

                Micha went out of the ramen shop with a smile on her face. The warm and fuzzy feeling she felt when she had help out a friend in need was making her excited. She was truly happy and said, “Micha, plan succeeds, let’s do our best for tomorrow!”

                For two days in a row, Micha would go to school as usual and would rush to the ramen shop when school ends. BAP and P.O watched Micha running off after school and got curious by her sudden weird behaviour that they decided to follow her one day. “Guys, I can’t go. My gang got some stuff to finish up today, Micha, gave us a mission for today,” P.O informed.

                “I’ll let you know once we find out what she’s hiding,” Yongguk told P.O.

                “Alright,” P.O nodded and jogged away.

                BAP had managed to catch up with Micha outside the school and they followed her closely. “This is the way to L.Joe’s ramen shop,” Himchan looked around the familiar route and continued on tailing behind Micha. After a while, they saw Micha stopping in front of L.Joe’s ramen shop. “She’s going in?” Himchan asked but it was answered right away when Micha walked into the shop with light steps.

                “She’s been going here for these few days?” Daehyun questioned.

                “Maybe she got addicted to the ramen?” Jongup suggested causing the other members to glare at him.

                “Let’s go in,” Yongguk said.

                “What if she’s only enjoying her meal?” Youngjae grabbed Yongguk’s shoulder.

                “Then... we’ll join her. Come on, Junhong-ahh,” Yongguk grabbed Zelo and walked ahead.

                Meanwhile, Micha was helping L.Joe to move some tables to make some more room for the customers. “Since you came to help out, the customers seemed to double up from usual. I can see new faces, new people who had never came here before,” L.Joe pointed out suddenly while pulling some chairs from the store.

                “Really?” Micha perked up and let out a nervous laugh. “Maybe I’m a lucky charm,” she said jokingly and smiled but the true story was, Micha had forced most of her ‘Geomyasaeng’ clan member to buy food from the ramen shop as she had also told them to help promote the ramen shop to increase the sales.

                L.Joe let out a guffaw and stated, “I think you’re our lucky charm.”

                As they were laughing at their inside jokes, L.Joe and Micha suddenly caught the sound of someone clearing their throat. When their gaze inverted at the entrance, they were shocked to see the 6 members of BAP standing there, emotionless. “So, what’s going on?” Youngjae asked and stepped into the shop.

                “I’m-I’m helping out L.Joe,” Micha muttered with her head lowered.

                For a second, the atmosphere was still. No reply. No objection. Not even a single word. Micha was waiting for their protest; instead, she heard Yongguk shuffling towards the counter and took out a few aprons. “So, what should we do?” Yongguk put on his apron and passed another 5 aprons to the other members.

                “Huh?” L.Joe and Micha looked at them.

                “You heard the man, what should we do?” Himchan straightened out his apron.

                “You’re helping out?” Micha asked.

                “Can we help?” Jongup replied Micha with a question of his own.

                Micha turned to look at L.Joe for approval as he sighed and smiled. “Okay, the 4 of us would be taking the orders from the table, another 2 people would have to wash the dishes and the other two would be in-charge of the delivery and taking orders from phone calls,” L.Joe announced as they cheered in joy and went to their own stations.

                Since Himchan and Daehyun had lost in the ‘rock, paper and scissors’ game, they were given the duty to wash the dishes meanwhile Micha, Yongguk, L.Joe and Zelo were in-charge of taking the orders from the tables. On the other hand, Youngjae and Jongup would be taking phone call orders as they would take turn to deliver it to houses. As soon as they had caught on about their responsibilities, the 8 friends started to work.

                Customers had poured in thanks to Micha’s clan members since they were responsible of spreading the news about the ramen shop to citizens. People of all ages come and go as they had to bring out new tables to ensure that the shop would be able to cope with the number of customers that were coming in. “Miss, over here!” one of the customers called as Micha hurried to the table.

                “Yes, what would you like to order?” Micha took out her notepad.

                “How much does it cost to take you out for a date?” the male customer asked. The customer seemed to be the same-aged as Micha since he was wearing school uniform too.

                “Why you…” Micha was about to throw one of her powerful punches when suddenly Yongguk came in the picture.

                Yongguk flashed his smile and said, “That’s the cheesiest lines ever to pick up a girl.”

                “Yah!” the male customer was about to burst but stopped his action when he caught Yongguk glaring at him like some wild beast. “I would like to order now,” the customer squeaked and Yongguk settled back into his friendly smile.

                “Yah! Zelo-ahh, this kid wants to order, come here,” Yongguk called out for Zelo.

                “Thanks oppa, but, I’ll be fine,” Micha uttered.

                “Just attend to female customers, leave the male customers to me,” Yongguk said before heading off to take some more orders from a new customer.

                “Hyung! That’s not fair! Why are you only washing the chopsticks while I’m struggling with the rest of the dishes?! It’s not fair! It’s not fair!” Daehyun whined at Himchan who just smirked at him and continued on washing the chopsticks.

                The older male looked up and said, “Chopsticks are a lot too. There are two sticks! I’m doing as much as you are!” Himchan stuck out his tongue and Daehyun as he turned his back towards Daehyun sulkily.

                “Hyung!” Daehyun called him out again but this time Himchan ignored his calls.

                They had been working diligently for almost 8 days straight. They would go to school in the morning and then go to work as soon as school ends. No one had complaint that their bodies were aching but instead they went home with a smile and waved goodbye saying that they would again the next day. One day while they were busy working, Micha went to a more private spot and fished out for her cell phone. “Yah, where are you? Are you going to come or not? Have you spread the news about this ramen shop to the others?” Micha called one of the members of ‘Geomyasaeng’ clan.

                After scolding that one member, Micha dialled a different number and said, “When are you going to order the ramen? You better do it fast or else you won’t be able to see the light tomorrow,” she started to warn her members.

                As soon as she got off her phone, Jongup came closer to Micha and said, “Are you threatening your members to buy food from here?”

                “Maybe?” Micha chuckled.

                However, L.Joe suddenly called out for Micha saying, “Yah, go and attend table 5.”

                “Yes, sir!” Micha saluted cutely and went off after patting Jongup’s .

                “That girl,” Jongup shook his head and smiled alone but his momentary peace was interjected by Youngjae shouting, “Yah, Moon Jongup, it’s your turn to deliver those noodles! I’ll take the calls for now!” With a sigh, Jongup cracked his knuckles and went to the kitchen to take the sets of noodles to be delivered.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hello to my loyal readers^^ I apologize for the late update... I was suppose to update yesterday but some stuff happened and I didn't have the time to do so:( Sorry again, but I'll  make sure that I'll update as soon as I finish writing the next chapter, so wait for it:D What did you guys think about this chappie? Hihi... Comment, comment... Hope you enjoyed this chapter, BYE!