Chap 27

MinAh POV:

In the end, I was repaid with a detention after school for my unexcused late arrival to class.  But I guess I didn't mind, since that would mean I wouldn't have to be running away from those crazy people chasing after me at my school.  In addition, even though detention sounds pretty terrible, at least the people who actually aren't in detention would be shooed away. This way, I would have my own personal space--just like how things were before people knew about the existence of "ulzzang" Jinyoung.  Fei offered to stay with me after school, but I didn't want to bother her even more.  She's done a lot for me, and making her accompany in detention would be a waste of her time.  Unfortunately for me, my work shift today was right after school....which would mean I'd be inevitably, a little late. Thus, when the last bell of the day rang through the halls, I called manager Joori about my situation as I reluctantly dragged my feet to the detention class.

"Yoboseyo~" she sang through the phone.

"Anyeongaseyo, manager-nim, this is MinAh, Kim MinAh."

"Ah! Ne, MinAh~ What is it?"

I explained my situation to her, expecting her to be annoyed, but she seemed completely fine with it.  She even told me to take my time going to work.  She said its because I was willing to work overtime at night anyways.

Giving kind regards, I hung up, and walked into the detention classroom, where the teacher sat marking papers.  I knocked on the door, but he didn't even look up, his eyes furiously scanning the papers, vigorously scribbling all over them in red ink.  Taking in the fact that he completely ignored my prescence, I was tempted to just turn around and leave, hoping he had forgotten my late arrival to class earlier today.  Like he could read my mind, he immediately spoke up, in a monotonous tone.

"Kim MinAh, come here please," he ordered, his eyes still on the papers of students.

When I arrived in front of his desk, he abruptly dropped his pen onto the desk, and gave me a stern stare.

"I would have never thought of seeing you here in detention, Kim MinAh.  Mind explaining to me the reason you were ever so late to class today?"

"I...fell asleep. On the roof," I semi-lied.  It was true that I was in fact on the rooftop, except I wasn't sleeping, I was thinking--but I had no intentions to tell him what I was thinking about.

He sighed, looking slightly disappointed.  I could understand why, since I, being top of the grades at school, was supposed to be a "role model" for students, and arriving late to classes would uplift some negative opinions.  He pushed his chair out from under his desk, and threw me a piece of chalk. I didn't know if he was aiming at my forehead or not, but if he was, his aim was dead accurate. Luckily, I caught it before it could hit my head and snap in half.

"As a punishment, you must write 'I will not be late for class, as I should be a good role model for students' 100 times before I come back in 15 minutes.  After that, erase all the chalkboards in this room and dust out the erasers. You may leave once you're done."  With that, he collected his papers from his desk, and headed to the office.

I headed over to the chalkboard, and starting from as high as I could reach(which wasn't very high), began writing.

Writing on a chalkboard really is a pain.  As you press the chalk against it, chalk dust comes falling off from it, getting all over my uniform and probably also my hair. But being a person that can accept punishments when they've done wrong, I dealt with it and tried to get the tedious punishment finished as soon as possible.

After writing 100 lines of the same sentence, I was rewarded with an extremely cramped hand and chalk dust all over me. But, on the positive side, I had finished 2 minutes in advance and had the chance to clean the other chalkboards before he came back.

When he came in, he looked at it with an unchanging expression, told me to erase it, then told me to leave afterwards.  Once again, he left the room to the office.  Taking one last look at what I call a physical representation of a waste of time, I erased everything that I had wrote, and cleaned up.

Before heading to the cafe, I made a quick stop at the girls' bathroom, trying to get the majority of the chalk off of my uniform and without losing anymore time, hurried to the cafe.

 --

The soft sound of the chimes jingled as I entered through the cafe door, the warm aroma of coffee wafted through the air.  I was slightly out of breath, considering the fact that I ran the majority of the way there. 

"Yo! MinAh noona!" greeted Baro from the counter. At first, he gave me a weird stare, but then continued grinning widely as usual. Huh. Wonder what that was about.

"Anyeong MinAh-ssi," Gongchan waved from behind the counter, working at the cash register.

"Anyeong, MinAh," winked JungHwan.  I sheepishly smiled back to him, hoping I wasn't blushing.

I didn't see Jinyoung anywhere, but just shrugged it off, thinking he'd be in the bathroom or something.

"Anyeonghaseyo, sorry for being late," I bowed, and quickly proceeded to the bathroom to change.

After changing, I immediately got to work, taking down orders and cleaning tables. Jinyoung was still nowhere in sight, and I started to rethink that maybe he wasn't in the bathroom.

"JungHwan-ssi, where's Jinyoung today?" I asked while cleaning a table.

"Molla, he didn't say anything about being late to me...why?"

"Ah..nothing..just wondering.." I replied.

Following a momentary silence, he spoke again.

"...You worried about him?" he smiled cheekishly.

"Of-of course not!" I said back, not knowing why in the world I would be stuttering all of a sudden.

"Suuure...." he continued to tease. I pouted as he continued to chuckle at me.  Then, out of the blue, he began to pat my head.

I flinched a bit, slightly startled. He just laughed some more at my reaction.  " You do know you have some dust in your hair, right MinAh?"

"EH?!" I exclaimed.  I was positive I had brushed all of the chalk dust off. Besides, shouldn't the wind have blown it off while I was running here?? I looked down in embarassement. He continued to brush the chalk dust off of my hair, and at that moment, Jinyoung arrived through the cafe doors, still in his school uniform, his bag slung over one shoulder.

"Yoooo Jinyoungie hyung? Why're you late?" Baro asked, moving towards him and putting an arm around his shoulder.

"Aish...I was waiting for MinAh-ssi at her school, but I never saw her, so I just left...."

Wait. He was actually waiting for me?  It was certainly plausible....but I wouldn't have known, since I didn't exit out of the main entrance today. I felt a slight pang of guilt, realizing I had, in a way, stood him up without knowing it.

His eyes suddenly looked up, seeing JungHwan fixing my hair.  Our eyes met, and his mouth gradually formed into an "o" shape.

"So you were here all along!" he pointed, disappointment in his voice.

"M-Mianhae.." I shrugged sheepishly," I didn't know you would pick me up from school..."

His attention averted to JungHwan, who had stopped fixing my hair, but instead was resting his arm on my head. For a second, I thought I saw some jealousy in Jinyoung's eyes, his lower lip protruding a bit.

"I'm going to change," he stated. With that, he abuptly turned and walked stiffly through the corridor to the bathroom.

He didn't talk to me for the majority of the shift, only saying "take that order, clean that table," or something along the lines of that.  It made me feel guilty, like, really guilty. Was he mad because he waited for me at my school when I wasn't even there? I would understand why he'd be upset about it, but I already apologized, didn't I? And also, why did he look so annoyed when he looked at JungHwan and I? A million questions invaded my mind, and before I knew, everyone was getting off their shift...except Jinyoung.

"Jalga noona~" Baro said, as he gathered up his belongings along with Shinwoo, JungHwan, and Gongchan.

"Where are you guys going? Are you guys not working overtime?" I asked.

Junghwan laughed at my question. "No wayy, working overtime is no fun."

"Besides, I need to study for my chemistry final tomorrow," Gongchan  added with a slight frown.

"Shinwoo and I are gonna have a movie marathon!" Baro blurted out cheerfully.

Shinwoo subtly nudged his shoulder, then whispered something about how that was not a legitimate excuse.

"Oh...okay...well have fun!" I said, trying my best to sound enthusiastic.

One by one they exited the cafe, the cafe becoming significantly more quiet. Only the quiet buzzing of the fridge and lights were heard, along with the soft chatter of the remaining customers in the cafe.  There was around 45 minutes until we were supposed to close the shop and clean it up so that the cafe would be nice and neat for when it opens tomorrow morning.  There were only 2 or 3 customers left, and soon, they headed back to their homes as well.

Now it was only me....and Jinyoung.

He went to the entrance and locked the front doors and turned off the "open" sign, getting ready to close the shop. I was mopping the floor, until he finally decided to speak to me. It wasn't what I wanted him to say, but I guess it was better than no talking at all.

"Go take out the trash," he ordered, not looking up at me.

I made a face at his back, but proceeded in following his orders. I leaned the mop against the wall, and carried the trash bags out the back door.

I went out the back door to dump out the trash, pulling the large garbage bag into the alley.  It was a cool and somewhat chilly night, but the  fresh air felt nice compared to the tense atmosphere in the cafe between Jinyoung and I.  I stood there for a while, enjoying the cool breeze on my face.

"Yah! What are you doing? Get back in once you're finished throwing the trash out," I heard a voice say close behind me.  A warm hand pulled me into the cafe by the arm, causing me to stumble back.  I felt the warmth of his body on my back, as Jinyoung closed the back door and locked it. I assumed that he would immediately release his grip from my arm, but that didn't happen.  He continued to hold me close to his chest, my back feeling the heat radiating off of him. Silence surrounded us, neither one of us said anything. My heart was beating faster than usual, and it seemed like it was loud enough to sound through the whole cafe.  Afraid that Jinyoung might be able to hear my abnormal heart beat rate, I decided to say something.

"Jinyoung-ssi...what are you do--?"

He sighed, pulled me closer so that my back was actually physically against his chest, and he rest his chin on the top of my head. I swear, someone in another building would be able to hear my heart beat it was beating so loud. Jinyoung's hand was still tightly wrapped around arm, and it seemed like it wouldn't have any intentions of letting go anytime soon.

"W-what are you doing?" I asked again shyly, feeling like my heart was gonna beat right out of my chest. This is not normal for a heart to beat so fast....I should go to the doctor sometime soon.

"You don't like it?" he mumbled, as I felt his chin move on the top of my head as he spoke.

"Ani....that's not it..." I muttered, almost inaudible.

I was very confused.  First, he completely ignores me during work, and now he's being all intimate? What is he trying to do?

His other arm slowly draped over my shoulder, as my heart did a somersault and the blood rushing to my cheeks.

"MinAh...." he trailed off.  Just the sound of my name made my heart flutter even more in this strange situation.

"Ne...?" I squeaked.

"Hm? Oh, nothing," he started. He took his chin off of my head and rested it on my shoulder." I just wanted to say your name," he said casually. His warm breath tickled the nape of my neck as he spoke, sending a shiver down my spine.

The heat rising to my face failed to cease, despite my efforts in trying to do so. For what seemed like hours ( strangely enjoyable hours) he kept his arms comfortably around me, his head continuing to rest on my shoulder. I did not know why I didn't object to this, but there was something inside me that didn't want this moment to end, wishing that life included a pause button in it.

As much as I enjoyed this, I was still thoroughly confused.  Why was he doing this all of a sudden?  It irritated my how he could ignore me one time, then all of a sudden be so close to me the next.

So, being the moment-ruining person that I am, I struggled out of his embrace, flinging away his arms from around me, and turned to face him.

"Yah! What are you doing??" I said, abashed. I tried to look him in the eye, but couldn't bring myself to do so.  Instead, I took short glances alternating from him and the floor.

He tilted his head to the side while shoving his hands into his pockets, and sighed. He wasn't looking at me either, but was concentrating on digging the heel of his shoe into the floor. His expression looked slightly annoyed, just like the one when he was looking at Junghwan and I.

"What's with you...." he muttered under his breath, a slight dip forming in between his eyebrows.

"Bwoh?" I said, slightly taken aback. I should be asking him that question, not the other way around.

"Nevermind," he sighed, and turned around.

I crossed my arms as he started walking away, unsatisfied with my unanswered question.

"Yah!" I yelled after him, "Answer my question!" I stormed after him into the storage room, as he pretended to not here me and put the cleaning supplies away. I stood at the doorway waiting for an answer, but it never came.

I'm not usually a violent person, but due to my frustrated (and confused) state of mind, I kicked the door furiously, and stomped into the room so I was right behind Jinyoung.

Apparently, that wasn't a very good idea.  Behind us, there was a small click, a creaking sound, then a loud slam. Hearing that noise, Jinyoung quickly whipped his head around, stared behind me, then stared at me with wide eyes as I stared back at him cluelessly.  Why did he look so panicky? I swear I could see him break into cold sweat.

"MinAh......" he whispered, keeping his eyes on the door.

"What?" I looked behind me, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, except that the once open door was now closed.

He took a step forward, and with a few large nervous strides, reached the closed metal door.  He rattled the handle a couple of times, and right then, in my mind, everything clicked. I opened my mouth to say something, but didn't know what I could say.  Still facing the door, Jinyoung spoke up.

"MinAh....why did you have to kick the door........."

"Uh......" I trailed off, standing there hopelessly, knowing that this time I was the reason that we were stuck in a cramped storage room.

"Great.  Was this your plan, getting locked in a storage room together?" he asked with a hint of sarcasm and fake enthusiasm.

I looked away guiltily, biting at my lower lip.  Not at all my intention, Jinyoung. Not. At. All.

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OTL SORREEHHHHHHHHHH I am such a terrible author TT^TT  Its been nearly two weeks since I last updated, and I'm sincerely apologetic for taking so long.  School this year is really busy and yea...I don't want to bombard you with excuses cuz you prolly don't want to hear them -hidesinacorner-

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SOO~ special event :3 Thanks again for everyone who is reading and subscribed to my ff XD And as a repayment (ish), I will be reccommending fanfictions in the A/N sections at the end of chapters....and it could be your ff that I share! (: If you're interested, post a comment on this fanfic about why you like my fanfic, and I will choose one comment/aff member that will be the one featured! :3  I will read through the stories that you've written, and choose the one I like best and share it right here! SO if you're interested, hurry and post 'dem comments LOL <3