Chapter Twenty Five

Mina stirred in her sleep as the morning sunlight seeped through the window, rubbing her eyes, she slowly opened them to see her self wrapped up. Looking up Mina examined Jiho’s face, he looked so peaceful while he was sleeping. Like a child, Mina brushed her finger over the bridge of his nose and over his lips. Jiho immediately snapped his eyes opened as he felt the slight tickling of Mina’s finger on his lips.

Smiling down at her he pulled her in closer and snuggled his head in the crook of her neck, Mina giggled as she ran her fingers through his hair. Mina parted her lips to say good morning to Jiho but was surprised when Jiho’s lips brushed against hers, sealing them together in a kiss.

Pulling away they both stared at each other, this was pure bliss; nothing made them happier than being in each other’s arms.

“Morning beautiful.” Jiho whispered as he kissed her nose.

“You’re so cheesy, stop.” Mina giggled as a blush spread across her cheeks.

“Oh you know you like hearing it.” Jiho laughed as he cupped her face with one hand, he never would’ve thought that this girl was what he was missing. The girl in front of him was what he was longing for all these years, someone that would be his rock; someone who would support him and make him feel warm inside.

“Not as much as your kisses.” Mina reddened even more as the words flew out of mindlessly, she quickly averted her eyes from his out of embarrassment.

“You’re so cute, did you know that?” Jiho chuckled lowly as he moved her face towards him again before planting a kiss on her lips, she gave out a relaxed sigh as their lips brushed.

“We should probably get ready for the day.” Mina said as she tighten her hold around him.

“But I want to stay in bed all day, can’t we do that?” Jiho asked giving Mina his best puppy-eyes.

Mina pushed his face away and laughed as she flipped the covers over and scurried out of bed, “No we can’t, you need to go to the office and tidy things up before the wedding and I have to go shopping with Junhee today.”

“You’re no fun.” Jiho said as he grudgingly got out of bed as well before running up behind Mina and wrapping his arms around her waist. “I miss you already.”

“I’m not going to be going anywhere.” Mina said smiling as she turned upward to plant a kiss on Jiho’s lips, “Now be a good boy and get ready for work okay?” Mina swiftly pried Jiho’s hands away and entered the bathroom to start doing her morning routine.

“I’ll be leaving now.” Jiho said as he straightened out his tie and stride over to where Mina was, she was currently trying to find an outfit to wear. But finally gave up and picked a plain T-Shirt and jeans, she was going to be trying on dresses today anyway so it didn’t really matter.

“Okay bye sweetie. Come back at 8 tonight okay? I’ll be making dinner, don’t miss it.” Mina said as she started to walk towards the bathroom to change before being pulled back into Jiho’s chest.

“No kiss?” Jiho mumbled as he breathed in her scent, she smelt so sweet.

“You’re such a big baby, what would you do if I suddenly disappeared for a week?” Mina teased raising an eyebrow at him.

“Isn’t that obvious?” Jiho asked with a raised eyebrow right back at Mina, before breaking into a goofy smile, “I would die.”

“You’re dramatic too. I don’t think this marriage will --.” Mina started with a smile playing on her lips before Jiho stopped her mid-sentence with a kiss.

“I agree with you too. This marriage will be perfect.” Jiho chuckled waving goodbye as he left the room.

What am I going to do with you? Mina thought as she laughed a little at him, he was really someone special. But Mina still loved every aspect of him, he was someone that she could never replace because no one else would take up that much space in her heart.

“Hey!” Junhee exclaimed getting up from her seat, she pulled Mina in a tight hug before releasing her and holding her at arm’s length, “Are you excited to pick out your dress? I picked out some that would be perfect for you earlier already, here let’s get going!”

Mina chuckled a little seeing that Junhee was so excited, she was glad that she was able to become friends with Junhee quickly because she never had the chance to make good friends with girls since she was always too busy to actually hang out and socialize. She wondered how excited Junhee would be when U-Kwon finally proposes to her and wed her.

Walking into the dressing room Mina spotted her mother and little brother sitting on the white love seat that was placed in front of a mini-stage, probably for the bride to show off her dress when she finally gets it on. Mina face immediately lit up as she quickly walked over to her mother and brother, “You guys came!”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Junhee called us and thought it would be nice if we surprised you.” Her mother said as she got up and embraced Mina in a hug, she was relieved that Mina now had feelings for Jiho and he was the same with her. Her mother would feel an immense guilt her entire life if her daughter was stuck in a forced and loveless marriage.

“You’re looking handsome as always.” Mina smiled as she ruffled her little brother’s hair.

“Noona! Where’s the hyung that came over to our house? I wanted to show him my new toy!” Jun-min said as he held up a small robot toy, a sweet and innocent smile on his face.

“Sorry, that hyung won’t be able to be here today since it’s a secret but next time we’ll take you to the amusement park okay?” Mina said as she pinched his cute cheeks.

“Yay! You have to promise me!” Jun-min exclaimed, pushing out his pinky finger for her to seal the deal.

“Alright, alright. I wouldn’t lie to you.” Mina chuckled, as she looped her pinky around his.

“Let’s hurry and get you in a dress!” Junhee said excitedly behind Mina as she started to push her towards the dressing room, there were a variety of dresses hung up for Mina to try on. Looking up at all the choices she had to try on, Mina gave out a loud sigh, this was going to be a very long day.

Pulling on the first dress with the help of the employees she finally stepped out after ten minutes of struggling with the straps and the zipping up of the dress. Mina took a deep breath and stood there, waiting for the curtains to open. After two minutes of standing there the curtains finally opened to reveal Mina in a stunning dress that ran down all the way to the floor, the mermaid dress hugged Mina’s curves effortlessly and Junhee gasped when she saw the dress.

Mina smiled meekly at the reaction of Junhee and her mother had a wide smile plastered on her face as well, her little brother’s eyes sparkled as he saw the dress that his older sister was wearing. He’s never seen her in a skirt much less a dress and he couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that the beautiful girl in front of him was his sister. Jun-min nudged his mother and asked who that person was standing in front of them, her mother let out a cheerful chuckle as she explained that it was his one and only noona.

“Noona!?!” Jun-min exclaimed as he took his little legs and planted them in front of Mina, staring up with his mouth opened in awe as he ran his hand over the silky material of the dress.

Mina blushed a little as she bent down to pat his head, “Do you like the dress?” Nodding furiously he gave a grin back to her before he stumbled back to his seat.

“Wait! Let me take a picture so we can compare after.” Junhee said before Mina could go back to the dressing room to change into another stunning dress. “Would it kill you to smile, sweetheart?” Mina blushed at the comment and gave Junhee a smile before retreating back into the dressing room.

The next dress was just as beautiful as the first but this one was a ball-gown and it also went down to the floor, the top of it was a tight corset but curved out at the base of the dress. The front of the dress was scattered with sparkly rhinestones and Mina received the same reaction as she did for the first dress.

One by one Mina tried on all the dresses that were on the rack and she was extremely exhausted by the end of the it all, she finally came out in the last dress and could barley hold up her smile for the picture. She was completely drained of energy and needed to eat a meal soon or else she was going to faint.

“Alright! Let’s go out and eat before we finally decide which dress was the best okay? It’s on me today since it’s a special day.” Junhee said as she grabbed her purse and started out the door, nodding and thanking the employees that helped throughout the day.

Jun-min was already sleeping soundly on his mother’s shoulder, after a while he sort of dozed off. Shaking him a little Jun-min rubbed his eyes open and looked at his sister’s face. “Time to eat Jun-min.” Mina smiled as she tugged on him, he finally stood up and grabbed his sister’s hand and walked outside.

“What do you guys want to eat?” Junhee asked as she gazed up at the sun, it was such a wonderful day; perfect weather for picking out MIna’s wedding dress.

“Anything is fine. I’m starving so I can literally eat anything right now.” Mina sighed rubbing her empty stomach.

“Well that was no help what’s so ever. Pick something! It’s your special day, I’ll cover it.” Junhee smiled as she hooked her arm around Mina’s.

“You’re spoiling me, I don’t like to be spoiled.” Mina responded, sticking her tongue out.

“You better get used to it since you’re getting married to Jiho! I can already tell that he’s going to shower you with things that you don’t need and spoil you to death.” Junhee giggled as she started dragging you towards a restaurant.

“I hope not, I’ll probably just return it all secretly.” Mina chuckled a little as she entered the nice restaurant, it was a mix between elegant but still casual. She could smell the aroma of the variety of foods that were inside, her stomach growled when she saw some of the foods the customers were currently eating. Clearing she asked for a table of four and quickly got seated.

“You know he’ll be mad at you if you ever return any of his gifts, he’s really sensitive inside. He once got me a birthday present one year and it was something I absolutely did not need, you don’t even want to hear what it was but I was at the store about to return it when I saw him in the store strolling around as well. Then when he saw the item in my hand he gave me a scowl and didn’t speak for me for two months, two months.” Junhee said throwing her hands up for exaggeration.

“Geez, I don’t want him to ignore me for that long… I don’t know how I’ll be able to cope with myself…” Mina said out loud before actually realizing what she just said and blushed madly, it was such a cheesy thing to say.

“It’s okay dear, I’ll give him a heads up that my daughter works for her things and doesn’t need to be showered with useless gifts.” Mina’s mom said nodding at her as she opened up the menu and searched for something delicious inside.

“Omma! I want that!” Jun-min exclaimed clutching to the side of her arm and pointing at one of the pictures in the menu, his mother smiled down at him and nodded in approval.

“Is everyone really to order?” A voice spoke, all four of them looked up at the handsome waiter. Mina studied him closely and wondered why he looked so familiar but decided it was probably because she saw so many people in her bakery that everyone just started to look like someone she knew.

“We’re ready.” Junhee said as she folded her menu down and started listing down the orders that everyone wanted, there was going to be a ton of food and they all just hoped they’ll finish it all. But due to the starvation state they were all in, it would probably not be a problem.

“Anything to drink while you wait?” The waiter asked as he slipped the pen behind and ear and looked directly at Mina, Mina looked into his eyes and it seemed that he was thinking the same thing as her; they have been acquaintance with each other before.

“Some tea would be nice.” Junhee said breaking the eye-contact between the Mina and the waiter and turned to look back at Mina to continue their conversation.

The waiter nodded and gave a dashing smile before retrieving back into the kitchen to put in the order, Mina looked as he went back into the kitchen. She definitely knew him from somewhere but she couldn’t place her finger on it, she shrugged her shoulders and turned back to Junhee, tuning back into the conversation.

The food arrived twenty minutes later and it all looked spectacular, they were all grateful as they started digging into the variety of entrees laid in front of them. After the meal they paid and before Mina could follow along with everyone else out the door, the waiter from earlier grabbed her hand. Surprised, she turned around to look up at him, he was quite a towering height over her. He searched her eyes for something, a spark of recognition, anything.

“You don’t remember me?” He asked, his voice barley audible. Mina looked down at the way he was holding her hand to which he let go of quickly and blushed. He scratched the back of his neck and looked back at her, waiting for a reply.

Mina slowly shook her head and replied with a sorry before turning back towards the door, she could see Junhee chatting with her mother but glanced back to give her a concerned look. “Wait! You’re Mina right? Here, this is my number. Please call me, it’ll be important.” The waiter said as he passed her a crumbled piece of paper with his perfectly neat handwriting on it, a trail of numbers on the paper.

“I, don’t think--.” Mina started before he shoved the piece of paper in her hand and squeezed her hand lightly.

“It’s important, make sure to call.” He said giving her back a sad smile before turning back and walking away from her.

Mina was beyond confused on why this stranger decided to give her his phone number, even though she vaguely had a feeling inside her that she knew exactly who he was but couldn’t remember. Mina let out a sigh and slide the piece of paper into her pocket before walking out to meet everyone else and gave them all a reassuring smile.

“Are you alright? What was that?” Junhee whispered as she looped her arms around Mina’s and started to walk back towards the wedding dress shop.

“It’s nothing.” Mina replied averting Junhee’s eyes, how can she tell her that some stranger said he wanted her to meet up with her for god’s knows what? It would probably freak her out and that was something she didn’t need to bother herself with.

“Okay… but if you need to talk about it, I’m here to lend an ear.” Junhee said as she opened and held the door for Mina to walk through.

“It’s really nothing, don’t worry yourself about it.” Mina smiled back before walking back to where her dressing room was an hour ago, Junhee was skeptical at what Mina was saying but decided that Mina would tell her when the time comes.

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