Chapter Thirty-Seven

Jiho carefully wrote a note and set it on their night table, he placed a soft kiss on Mina's temple as he threw over his coat before carefully exiting the room. Jiho pulled out his phone and text U-Kwon to meet up with him, he should definitely know all about this already since he was Mina's best friend after all. Though Jiho was a little disappointed that he wasn't the first to know he still felt grateful that she was able to muster up enough courage to tell him. She must have been in so much pain throughout these past few weeks and it pained him every time he looked at her but he'll make it right again. He wasn't going to abandon her, that was out of the question because no one in their right mind would abandon someone in so much need.

Jiho sighed as he started his car and started driving to a small cafe to meet up with U-Kwon, he had to see if U-Kwon knew something else. There was no way that the guy was just a mere stranger, how can a mere stranger follow Mina all the way to that island? It wasn't a cheap plane ride either which meant that the stranger had some sort of money on him, plus no one would follow someone they didn't know to that long of a destination. Jiho finally arrived at the cafe, getting out he immediately saw U-Kwon sitting down at a table inside. Jiho couldn't read his facial expression but he knew that U-Kwon must be feeling the same kind of pain that Jiho was feeling, someone that they deeply cared about just got wounded badly after all.

Jiho sat down in front of U-Kwon and waved over the waiter, after taking both of their orders the waiter left quickly seeing that there was a heighten tension between the two men. “So, what do you want to talk to me about?” U-Kwon asked first, breaking the slicing silence between them.

“Mina, she told me about it yesterday. I assume that you already know what I'm talking about.” Jiho said getting straight to the point. U-Kwon nodded at Jiho, his eyes saddened at the mention of Mina. “So, tell me about the guy. You must know who he is.”

U-Kwon quirked an eyebrow at Jiho, how did he even know that? As if answering the question Jiho said, “Husband's intellect, that guy is not a stranger to neither of you. Am I correct?”

“No, he's not. I don't know if Mina remembers who he is since it was a long time ago when they meet each other. And the acc-” U-Kwon started to say as the waiter set down their drinks in front of them, thanking the waiter U-Kwon picked up his cup and took a long sip.

“Accident? What accident?” Jiho asked quickly when he heard the hesitation in U-Kwon's voice, he leaned forward to get the full details. “U-Kwon, spit it out I am her husband and in order to protect her the way I should I need to know everything.”

“Fine, fine. Mina still doesn't remember the accident because it damaged part of her memory but the guy, his name is Woo Bin. He was completely obsessed with Mina when we were both in high school, he was a year older than us but he had his eyes on Mina the minute he saw her. He tried really hard to get her attention but everything failed for him, of course it was because I was blocking his way. I saw who he was before and I didn't want Mina to get into any sort of trouble with him. This guy was a player, he picked up girls and tossed them away easily. He was also in some sort of gang so there was no way I was letting Mina be acquaintance with that bastard. I knew he was planning something, he always was when he couldn't get what he wanted. That was why I stuck to Mina like glue when I was at school with her and I walked her home every day because if Woo Bin saw the opportunity to get her alone he would surely take it. But one day my practice ran late and I had no choice but to send Mina home by herself, of course, during this entire time she had no idea who this Woo Bin kid was and his intentions. She barley heard the name Woo Bin to begin with so she never saw his face nor knew that he was dangerous. I thought it was going to be okay because Mina was heading straight home anyway, all she had to do was get on the bus and then get off when her stop came. But unknown to my knowledge the bus was running late that day due to some sort of traffic jam so Mina decided to walk home like she usually did but this time alone...”

Mina wondered why U-Kwon was constantly pestering her about going on the bus this one day because he couldn't walk her home, it wasn't like she was a child she was a seventeen years old for crying out loud. She was a grown high schooler and she could make it home by herself just fine, plus the sun wasn't going to go down until another four hours. Mina only needed to walk half an hour to get back to her house, humming to a tune she heard from one of her friend's music player she continued down the sidewalk. Cars whizzed by her and the sky was clear, she chewed on her bottom lip as she wondered how her test scores were going to be. Of course she usually aced all her tests considering she needed to keep up her grades so she'll be able to graduate early but the test she took was extremely hard, caught up in her thoughts Mina didn't notice a tall figure falling into step beside her.

“The sky is looking good today, huh?” The tall figure finally spoke, a smirk on his face. Mina snapped her eyes opened and was surprised that there was someone beside her now, she didn't even hear any steps behind her but maybe it was blocked out by her humming.

“Uhm yeah I guess.” Mina replied back, she had no reason to not be friendly.

“It's going to get dark soon too, are you sure it's safe for you to be out and about like this?” He asked with a mischievous smile on his lips. He's been waiting forever to able to talk to her and now he got the chance to he wasn't going to let it slip by without a little fun.

“The place I'm going to isn't that far away so I'm okay, but uh, where are you going?” Mina asked stopping in her tracks and looking up at the model-like figure of the stranger before her.

“I'm walking you home of course I can't let such a pretty girl like you be snatched up by some stranger.” He chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her shoulder and pulled her close to his body, he continued walking dragging her body with him.

Mina tried to push him away but he was brutally much stronger than her so she just let out a big sigh, “Says the stranger that is restraining me from personal space.”

“I'm no stranger Mina, oh no. I'm your friend, Woo Bin. Nice to meet you.” Woo Bin said as he let go of Mina's shoulders and did a little bow, he chuckled again as he stood back up.

“How do you know me?” Mina asked now a little skeptical, she's never seen him in a day of her life but now noticing his uniform she could tell that he went to the same school as she did.

“Ah, right. How can you not know one of the top student of the school? Especially one that is extremely beautiful such as yourself.” Woo Bin said as he placed a finger under Mina's chin and rising it for her eyes to meet his.