Chapter Sixteen

Throughout the day Jiho tried to not think about Mina but as time passed he found himself thinking about her every second, it was hard not to. He had a feeling that she was in danger of being harmed, he barely could focus on his work due to these thoughts.

He let out a loud sigh and decided to call her, he needed to make sure she was still okay even though he knew that she was probably at work.

Jiho looked at his phone and thought if it was really the wisest choice at the moment, he still had a pile of office work he needed to get through. But he can't get any of those things done if he doesn't know Mina was alright, he finally gave up and dialed her number.

On the other line Ailee's song played in his ears, he smiled at her choice in waiting tones.

"Hello?" Mina's voice said with slight confusion, why was Jiho calling her?

"Hey." Jiho replied shortly after, he didn't know what to say but a wave of relief washed over him when he heard her voice.

"What do you need?" Mina asked after a few seconds of silence, she was still working but thankfully it was break-time so she had a little time to talk.

"I was just seeing how things are going for you." Jiho said looking out the window of his office, it was a very nice day today- the sun was up high and there were big fluffy clouds in the sky.

"I'm on break. Aren't you busy? You should get back to work." Mina said subconsciously twirling a piece of hair around her finger, she felt as if she was talking to her crush over the phone for the first time.

"I'm not a child, Mina. Besides I can't concentrate right now a certain person has been clouding my mind all day." Jiho said softly, he could imagine her in her work uniform with a cute bun on her head.

"Well tell that person to go away~."

"Go away."

"What?"

"You said to tell the person to go away." Jiho said with a smirk.

"You're so childish. Stop lying and get back to work." Mina said casually despite the blush that was already showing on her face. She quickly hung up before he had time to reply.

"Aish that girl hung up." Jiho said as he heard the dial tone, "Well now I know she's still safe."

Jiho drank a sip of his lukewarm coffee and made a face before calling Jin to get him another cup, he quickly started to look through the photographs the camera took again. He knew he saw those people before, he just can't wrap his head around who though.

He meets a ton of people throughout his life and made some good friends and surely enemies but still matching up the names to those suspects was a hard a choice. He tossed the photograph to one side and thought the police should be able to handle all of this anyway.

Opening up a folder he got started on his work, this was surely going to be a long and tiring day. He just wished that this whole thing would just blow over because it was hard enough as it is already, not to mention that the company was going to have a big party celebrating the new marriage of Jiho's.

There were going to be big and important people there but now he had to push back the date, he sighed in frustration as he rifled through the files. Everything looked so not interesting but this was the kind of career path he chose to do since pursuing his music wasn't one of the things his father was very happy about.

At least through his father he got to meet Mina, one of the best things that's happened to his life so far. He smiled as he remembered back to the dream he had that morning, maybe one day it wouldn't be a dream at all.

"Jiho." Jiho looked up to see Jay carrying two coffees and the lunch boxes that Mina had given him earlier that day. “Jin said he had to go run some files to another company, so here I am.”

"Thanks, Jay. What a shock today has been, huh?" Jiho asked as he took the steaming coffee from Jay's hand.

"That's true. How the cameras didn't catch those criminals is a feat in itself, I mean we have the best security guards and cameras but still this happens." Jay said as he sat in the seat in front of Jiho's desk. He opened one of the lunch boxes and started to eat, he hadn't eaten all day due to the troubles at the office.

"And how they got into the house without us knowing is another thing. How did they even break into my office at home? There's two different codes to get in." Jiho said sighing as he opened up his own lunch box. He looked at the contents inside and smiled, Mina made this with her heart and he could tell. It was sweet of her to make him lunch besides the fact that she also made one for Jay which made him feel less special.

"I guess they just have their ways around, these criminals are getting smarter each day. I'm worried about Mina though, she's the top suspect for this case." Jay said looking at Jiho's face, Jiho’s expression slowly turned darker.

"If they lay a single finger on her they're dead." Jiho said as he pushed his lunch aside, he couldn't really eat no matter how delicious all the food Mina made him. He just didn't have an appetite when it came to situations like this.

"Maybe they don't have to." Jay said as he thought up a plan.

"Are you saying that we should hide Mina away? That would help with the questioning from the police too, if she's not there maybe they'll actually work and try to find the real culprit." Jiho said as he thought of how hard it'll be without Mina, he could barely stand a day without her how was he supposed to be away from for god's knows how long?

"That would be the best choice right now I think. Just until this case is closed then we can have her back at the house, I don't want her hurt as much as you do Jiho. But you know she won't leave without a reason."

"That's what I'm worried about, she may have disliked being here in the beginning but now due to her stubborn personality she won't leave without a reason."

"What should we do then?"

"I think I know what to do." Jiho said wondering if this plan will turn out really well, he may have to hurt Mina in the process but it's all for protecting her. She'll understand that, right?

"Well we can talk about this more thoroughly later, eat first. You need the energy considering you still have those piles of files to go through. I'll get back to work and see how the case is going so far." Jay said as he got up from his seat and packed up his reminding lunch before leaving. "Don't think about anything too drastic for this plan, you tend to overdo it a little sometimes."

"I'm not a child, Jay. I can handle this." Jiho said as he took a sip of his coffee. Was it really the smartest choice though? He had no other choice anyway, he didn't want her to get hurt and hiding her would be the best choice.

Jiho sighed as he took some of his lunch and forced it in, he still had to eat even though his whole body was rejecting food. He tends to be like this when he was too worried, overworked or too stressed.

----

Mina looked at the weather outside and frowned, it was such a beautiful day but she was stuck inside. She loved the bakery, yes, always have- but wasting such a sunny day like this was a pity. She hasn't been able to fully enjoy a nice relaxing day outside since she's moved to Jiho's home. She wondered what he was doing right now, probably going through boring and mindless work.

"Can I have a chocolate scone and two slices of