Minna POV

The weeks went by and I spend all of my time with the boys. I was officially part of the gang and I loved it. Of course I still had my moments but somehow whenever I was with them the pain felt bearable, like a constant dull ache instead of the pinching pain.

Even though I spend a lot of the time with the whole group, I found myself spending more and more time with Kyungsoo. He somehow understood me in a way that the others just couldn’t.

It was a cold day in the start of December when he told me. I remember how the snow had become thicker and the days had turned colder and darker.

It was right after school and we were sitting in a ramen shop waiting to place our orders. The aroma of the food made my stomach growl even louder and I could only imagine how chewy the noodles would be, how tender the meat would be and how the vegetables would crunch between my teeth.

I was still in my daydream when the noodle ahjumma came to take our orders.

“Ah Kyungsoo ah! I haven’t seen you in forever! How is everything?” She greeted him. She was a little, busty woman in her fifties. Her face was warm with small cracks where her eyes should be. I guess that she smiled so much that her eyes always were gone. He gave her a warm smile back and answered, ” It’s all right, busy with school I guess. How’s business?”

Her face lightened up as she spoke, “Business is good but I miss your performances here! You should bring the boys here some time again and then you can play here! I will give you noodles on the house!”

“I definitely will!” His eyes were warm and caring and his face looked so genuinely happy. The blank face he usually had in school had melted away for the day. 

“So is it just the usual? Two pork noodles, one with …” The noodle ahjumma faltered as she saw the look on his face. “I’m sorry Kyungsoo-ah. I didn’t think. I was just so happy to see you again after that accident.” She looked genuinely sorry.

His face that before had been so happy now looked like a lost puppy. He cleared his throat and gave her a half-hearted smile. “It’s okay. I’m okay. Just the usual yeah, but I don’t think that Minna would like anchovies in her noodles”, he said and cracked a smile that didn’t really reach his eyes.

“No, no anchovies for me please”, I said politely. A sudden memory flashed before my eyes and I wrinkled my nose at the thought of the anchovies in a bowl of noodles.

“Minna-ya let’s get some noodles! I’m starving here in the cold!” Jongin said with pleading eyes. We had just met up at the train station near my school. I had only been there for 3 months after I moved to back to Korea and I still hadn’t been able to make any other friend than Jongin, whom I met at the park. He kind of just stuck to me and to my own surprise I didn’t mind it. I actually liked it.

“If you have the money to pay for it, then I’m all up for it”, I said did merong. He gave me a mischievous smile, grabbed my arm and almost dragged me toward the noodle shop.

“What are you doing?” I said confused.

“My mom gave me some money this morning! The noodles are on me!” He grinned. His smile always made me happier. His smile could always brighten my day.

If he wanted me to do something, he could always flash that smile and if that didn’t work his pout would make me do whatever his heart desired. The funny thing was that he knew but never did he use it against me unless he knew I somehow wanted to do it.

We chose seats in the back and I started looking at the menu but he snatched it away. “I’m the one who’s paying, so I will be the one who decides!” He said. I just sighed and rolled my eyes. He always had these weird ideas and I had learn on the hard way that he would do them, even if it meant that I would have to hold hands with several kids who wanted some candy.

I never ever wanted to experience that again. In the first place I had troubles being with a lot of people on the same time and sometimes I would get panic attacks if there were too