Luhan was literally surrounded by bubble tea. He couldn’t decide which flavour he wanted to drink first so I ended up taking a random cup, stabbing a straw into one out of frustration from just watching him decide and forced it into his mouth. A few people stared at the amount of bubble tea that was sitting on the table as they walked by and couple high schoolers giggled when they saw Luhan in his own world.

“You should try some,” Luhan said, holding out the straw close to my face.

“No thanks,” I mumbled, pushing the straw away.

“It’s really good. Try some,” He persisted, putting the straw near my lips.

“Luhan, no. Stop it, I don’t want to drink that,” I almost growled at him.

“Why not?” He asked with a sigh.

“It’s not healthy. It’s full of sugar.” I replied.

“It tastes so good,” He commented, stabbing another straw into a cup.

I noticed one of the bubble teas had black markings on the side. Frowning, I reached over and grabbed it and pulled it closer. I looked over at the girl at the front counter and realise the black scribbles on the cup was actually a phone number.

“Are you going to drink that?” Luhan asked curiously when he caught me staring at cup.

“No, there’s something on the cup.”

“What is it?” Luhan questioned, taking the tea from my hands and looked at it carefully.

“Call... me... Seul Mi.” He read out slowly. I rolled my eyes.

“It’s her number, you idiot.”

“I don’t have a phone,” Luhan said dryly.

“Well then, you can’t call her.” I muttered in reply. Luhan pushed the cup to the side and continued drinking. I was surprised that he didn’t need to go the bathroom yet.

When I saw who came into the store, I wanted to just sink into the booth seating and disappear. I recognised those eyeliner rimmed beady eyes anywhere. He looked over to my booth and I couldn’t tell if he saw me or not since his friends were distracting him. I really hoped he didn’t see me.

“Oh shoot,” I breathed as I tried to duck my head down and covered my face with one of the menus sitting on the table.

“What’s wrong?” Luhan asked me, looking around. I pulled his head down and glared at him.

“Don’t look! He might have seen us.” I hissed. For a few moments, we stayed like that until I pulled the menu away and looked around slowly. Luhan looked at me with a confused face when I ran a hand through my hair.

“I think he’s gone.” I mumbled in relief.

“Well, well, well. Look who we have here,” I turned around to see Baekhyun standing in front of our booth. That jerk faced idiot is going to die. I swore loudly as I threw a hand across my chest. I was seriously going to have a heart attack.

“Holy crap,” I cursed out in surprise.

“If it isn’t the wonderful Kwon Minyoung,” He mocked.

“What you want, Baekhyun?” I asked in annoyance.

“Move over,” He said to Luhan and pushed himself into the booth. “That’s certainly no way to speak to your uncle. You should have more respect for me.” He smirked. I wanted to punch that smirk off his ugly face.

“You should have a lot more respect for me. After all, I am older than you – you should be calling me noona,” I retorted.

“Sorry, no can do. I am your uncle.”

Byun Baekhyun is the younger brother of that wretched woman my father recently got married to – Byun Baekhee.

“Piss off. Don’t you have other important things to do like go eyeliner shopping or something?”

“You need to work on your comebacks, my dear Minyoung.” He taunted. I seriously wanted to strangle him right now but if I touched a single hair on his head, you can consider me dead once my father finds out. I clenched my fists together and I somehow managed to bang one against the table with loud thud. A few people turned to look at us.

“You seem really angry.” Baekhyun commented.

“Thanks for stating the obvious.” I said sarcastically.

“Minyoung,” Luhan called out with a worried tone. Baekhyun snapped his head in Luhan’s direction and stuck his hand out.

“Hi, I’m Baekhyun, Minyoung’s uncle and you are?”

“Luhan and I need to go the toilet.” He replied in a hurry before dashing off to the bathroom, leaving me alone with Baekhyun.

I always turn into a psycho maniac every time I’m with Baekhyun. At my father’s wedding reception, I actually threw a punch at Baekhyun and strangled him to the floor. Tao literally peeled me off of Baekhyun and had to restrain me. Let’s just say, I didn’t stay until the end of the reception and Baekhyun spent the night in the emergency room.

“Cute boyfriend you got there. What happened to Chen?” Baekhyun said with a smirk plastered across his face. “I didn’t think you were the type to move on quickly.”

“Luhan’s not my boyfriend and my personal matters are none of your business.” I replied.

“Hey, I’m just an uncle who’s looking out for his niece.”

“Shut up, will you? You’re only my ‘uncle’ because your wretched sister married my father.” I said, irritated.

“Speaking of your father, I heard you had an argument with him again.” He said, dismissing the insult I made towards his sister. “You haven’t spoken to him for two weeks already.”

“Oh geez, I didn’t know you were counting.” I scoffed.

“My sister’s annoying me. She wanted me to talk to you back your father.” I looked at him indifferently.

“You’re not exactly the person I’d want to talk to anyways.” I said to him.

“It’s not like I feel safe talking to you after you sent me to the emergency room,” I smirked at his statement. His hands flew straight around his neck. “I didn’t think you were going to strangle me.”

“Expect the unexpected when it comes to me.”

Baekhyun left when his friends called him after they finished ordering their drinks. He told me to clear things up with my father and that his sister wanted me to come over for dinner one time. Like hell, I was going to do anything he asks me.

I sat alone for a couple of minutes when I realised that Luhan still hadn’t come back yet. I looked at all the bubble teas on the table and sighed. There was about seven, unopened bubble teas. I took all of them and placed them into the plastic bag and went to search for Luhan.

When I made to the bathroom, I found Luhan surrounded by a bunch of girls. They were all giggling at what Luhan was saying. I couldn’t exactly here what he was saying since girls’ laughter drowned his voice.

I walked closer over to them and cleared my throat. That caught Luhan’s attention and the girl’s too. Some of them look at me with a bored expression while others look at me with a confused look on their pretty, little faces. Luhan’s eyes widened when he saw me and made his way by my side.

“Minyoung-ah, there you are.” Luhan said with a smile. He moved away from the girls and walked over to me, slipping his hand into mine, his fingers intertwined with mine.

“Luhan, what are you doing?” I whispered to him, furrowing my eyebrows.

The group of young girls look at me with a funny expression, I couldn’t make out what their expression were but I could tell they didn’t look too pleased.

“Play along,” He whispered back.

“Who’s that?” One girl asked.

“This is Minyoung, my girlfriend. Pretty, isn’t she?” He said with a lively tone. The other girls grimaced when they looked in my direction.

Out of the blue, Luhan pressed his lips against my cheek and immediately, I felt my face flush. I didn’t even know why I was reacting that way but it was weird. Feeling the embarrassment kick in, annoyance and anger overcame me. I pulled my hand away from Luhan’s and stalked right out of the bubble tea shop.

Luhan and I were in the elevator, going up to my apartment. Neither of one of us said anything since we were at the bubble tea shop until Luhan pressed the emergency stop button.

“What the hell are you doing?!” I yelled at him. Suddenly, Luhan got down on his knees and hugged my legs.

“Please don’t be mad at me!” He cried.

“Luhan, get up!” I screamed at him, pushing his head away.

“I only did that so the girls would leave me alone! They were so scary! I was so relieved when you found me. They wanted me to go to some club with them. They wouldn’t let me leave. I just wanted to go home.” He rambled on. “I’m so sorry!”

“Luhan, seriously let go of my legs and get up!”

“Forgive me first! I didn’t mean to lie but even you said it was normal for people to lie!” He said.

“Get up or I won’t forgive you.” I said with a sigh. As soon as he heard me, he got up and stood up straight. He turned to me with an expectant face.

“Does this mean you forgive me?” He asked, his voice filled with hope.

“Yeah, whatever.” I said, pressing the emergency stop button again. The elevator began moving again. “Never do that again.”

“What? Lie?”

“Yes and don’t kiss me.”

“Okay, I got it! I won’t kiss you anymore.” He said, sounding slightly dejected.

“Good.” I replied, a strange feeling coming over me.

When we stepped out of the elevator, we found Yixing standing in front of my apartment door. Luhan also noticed Yixing and quickly walked up to him and introduced himself. Slightly taken back, Yixing introduced himself shook his hand; this time Luhan introduced himself as my cousin not my boyfriend.

“Yixing-sshi, is there something you need?” I questioned.

“Uh… I was wondering if I could use your washing machine to wash some of my clothes. My washing machine broke and the technician said the earliest he could come is two days from now.” He said, scratching the back of his head.

Before I could even answer him, Luhan butted in. Luhan should does have the knack of butting in every aspect of my life.

“Sure, you can use ours!” Luhan said cheerfully. Yixing raised his eyebrows in surprise and thanked me profusely. When Yixing went back into his apartment to get his clothes, I pinched Luhan in the side.

“You can’t do things without my permission. What if he’s a creeper? You can’t just welcome him into my apartment like that?” I said in annoyance.

“Minyoung, relax. He’s a good person.” Luhan said, patting my shoulder.

“How would you know that?!” I looked at him, incredulously.

“I’m an angel. I know things.” He said with a wink before running into his room.

There was a knock at the door and it was Yixing. I led him to my laundry room and showed him how to use the washing machine. After he loaded his clothes into the machine, we sat the island bench in my kitchen.

“I’m really sorry for bothering you at this time. I just really needed to get my washing done since my mother’s coming over tomorrow.” He explained.

“It’s fine, Yixing-sshi.” I replied.

“Just call me Yixing. There’s no need for honorifics.” He said with a small smile; there was his dimple again.

For a few minutes, there was an awkward air between us. I offered him drink but he said he wasn’t thirty. He suddenly got a call and walked out of the kitchen. Coincidentally, I also got a call as well. It was Tao.

“What’s wrong?” I answered.

“Minyoung! Finally, you answered. I’ve been trying to call you for the last four hours.” He nagged.

“Tao, what’s wrong?” I repeated.

“You lying minx!” He laughed.

“What on earth are you talking about, Huang Zitao?” I said in monotone voice.

“You told me Luhan was your cousin from your mother’s side! Chen hyung called me the other night asking about your new boyfriend.”

“What did you tell him?!” I almost yelled at him.

“Relax, I happen to be smart enough to realise what you were doing.” Tao let out a loud chuckle. I sighed in relief, clutching my chest.

“I would have skinned you alive if you ruined my plan.” I seethed.

“I know.” He replied, bitterly.

“I saw Baekhyun today.” I told him.

“First time since the wedding?” He asked. I could hear the amusement in his voice.

“Yeah.”

“Well, what did the bastard want?”

“Apparently, Baekhee got him to talk to me. She wanted me to patch things up with my father.”

“Are you going to?”

“Of course not. I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s his fault.” I replied, stubbornly.

“Anyways, do you ever plan on turning up to work again or are you going hide in your cave forever?” Tao quizzed.

“I’m coming in two day’s time. Why? Did you miss me that much?” I joked dryly.

“No way! I’ve been free from the witch for two weeks. I’m loving it!” He said.

“Hey, did you just call me a ‘witch’?!”

“Yes and I gotta go! Goodbye noona! I love you! Please don’t kill me!” He laughed before hanging up on me.

The washing machine finally finished the cycle as soon as Yixing walked back into the kitchen. He didn’t look too good. It looked like something was bothering him but I didn’t want to ask. After all, I barely knew him. I didn’t want to into his personal matters.

“It’s done?” If it wasn’t already obvious, he still asked.

“Yeah.”

We walked into the laundry room and I helped him get his clothes into and placed them into a basket he got from his apartment earlier. I led him to the door and saw him out.

“Thanks again, Minyoung.” Yixing grinned. Is it weird that I may or may not be slightly attracted my new neighbour? I think it’s the dimples playing a stupid little trick on my mind and as if just on time, Luhan walked out of his room in dressed in a pair of penguin boxers and grey singlet.

“See you around, Luhan!” Yixing waved before I closed the door shut.

Luhan opened the fridge the kitchen and took out the milk carton and a tall glass. He sat there slowly drinking the milk.

“Minyoung?” Luhan called out. I looked up at him before replying.

“What?” I snapped.

“Do you believe in soul mates?”

What are you up to Luhan?

“I don’t know…” I shrugged.

“What about love at first sight?”

I let out a bitter laugh before replying with straight face. “Now, that’s a load of crap. Love at first sight, my .”

“How about miracles?”

“If there’s a miracle that will make you go away, then yes. I do believe in miracles.”

“That’s not a miracle. That would be a wish.” He pointed out with a small shrug. “Besides, angels don’t grant wishes. We can only perform miracles. Genies are the only ones who can grant wishes.”

“Are you telling me genies are real?” I blurted out in surprise.

“Oops!” He squeaked. “Maybe, I shouldn’t have said that.” He got up and washed his glass before settling it back onto the drying rack. I stood there dazed, trying to process what he just said.

“Yah! Are you telling me genies do exist?!”  

“Night, Minyoung!” He said, rushing into his room.

“Luhan, answer me!” I screamed at him.

If genies do exist that means I just need to find one and once I find a genie, I can make a wish to get rid of Luhan!

I really am going insane. 

wordcount: 2.6k